The Last Few Days of 2018

I spent the day after Christmas taking down all of my decorations and trying to get our house in order.  I am looking forward to decorating now that the holidays are behind us. 

On Thursday of last week we made a trip into Guatemala City to pick up some supplies.  I mainly needed to make a stop at PriceSmart.  It is similar to a Sam's Club back in the States.  I had a long list of food items we were out of.  In addition to shopping, we also tried out a new restaurant that recently opened in the Peri Roosevelt shopping center.  It is called Pizza Grizzly.  The pizza was delicious but what we went for and loved the most was the atmosphere.  It has a safari theme and reminded us a little of the Rainforest Cafe where we ate at Disney.  It has a large playland area that the boys really enjoyed.  I am sure we will be returning there again in the future. 

ready to enjoy Pizza Grizzly

the playland area

On Friday morning we drove over to Caoba Farms.  It is located just on the outskirts of town.  It is a local organic farm. They have a farm-to-table restaurant and a shop where they sell their products.  They have a farmers market every Saturday but I was needing some lettuce for a salad that night so we went on Friday instead.  I plan to return on a Saturday to see what all they offer.

Just as you enter there is a rabbit cage off to the side.  That is where Ben spent most of his time.  He loved petting the rabbits.

some of their produce growing

My favorite thing about the outing was running into Dr. Lou.  He was Cruz's delivery doctor.  It was so great to see him again and catch up.  I also got to meet his wife and some of his children.  It was fun for him to see Cruz and how much he has grown.

I spent the afternoon cooking for our evening guests.  Here is Ben helping me butter some rolls.  The boys love helping me in the kitchen.

That night we had a wonderful visit with our dear friends the Lubecks.  They were in Guatemala City for a few days and drove to Antigua to see us.  We always enjoy our time together!

Mrs. Diana brought us some of her cinnamon rolls and Christmas gifts for the boys. I already miss living so close to them.  I was a little sad and homesick for Chiquimula when they left.

Here are the boys clowning around on Saturday morning with my new selfie stick that Cruz bought me for Christmas.  As you can see, I think he was the one who really wanted it and used me as an excuse to get one.  He has played with it almost every day since Christmas morning. 

On Saturday afternoon we attended the birthday party of our neighbor friend Elesa.  She was turning 9 years old.

It was a fun party.

That evening we were at Cre8 Antigua for a family bonfire and lantern launch.  This is the same place that hosted the Christmas workshops where the boys made slime and houses.  They also host our homeschool meet- ups.  It is one of my favorite places that we have found so far since moving here.  They offer so many fun activities for families.  It has been a great blessing to us already and we are looking forward to more times there in the new year. 

They had hot dogs and s'mores to roast over the fire.

It was a little hot to look at. 

It was a really fun family outing.  There was a large turnout.  The kids all enjoyed running around playing and the parents got to mingle and fellowship.  The best part of the night was when everyone lit their lanterns.  We had never seen this done before but I loved it!  The idea was to make a new year's wish and then launch your lantern.  Here are David and the boys getting ours ready.

Seeing them all lit up and floating into the sky was beautiful.

such a fun night!

On Sunday morning we attended church with our new friends the Rozychi family.  They had also invited us to eat lunch with them afterwards.  We had a great meal and then spent the afternoon visiting while the kids all played.  We are enjoying their friendship and getting to know their family.

We returned home and I got busy planning and preparing for our New Year's Eve party.  I had a lot of prep work to do to get it all ready but it turned out to be such a fun night.  I'll share about it in my next post.