My Birthday 2013

I wasn't sure how I wanted to spend my birthday.  We talked about many different options, but nothing really sparked my interest.  I knew we would be in Pana for the weekend and tried to think of something we could do on the way home between there and our house.  We could not come up with a single thing.  We ended up making a last minute decision to just stay in Pana an extra night and then travel home on my birthday.  I really didn't want to spend my birthday making a seven hour road trip, but it turned out to be okay.  I am glad we stayed the extra night also because I didn't realize how tired we would all be after the conference.  After eating lunch on Sunday we all took naps in our hotel room.  We ended up waking the boys up after three hours of sleeping so we could have time to swim in the pool before it got too late.  It was a nice, quiet, restful afternoon.  We swam for a while and then got dressed for supper.  Our missionary friend Carol stayed an extra night also to hang out with us.  That was fun.

We caught a tuk tuk and went to the Circus Bar.  It is a favorite place of many of the missionaries and especially the MK's.

We had pizza and French fries- two of my favorite foods.

David, Cruz, me, Carol, and Ben

Afterwards we came back and played with the boys in the room.  Carol joined us and we watched some of the Oscars on t.v.

Cruz slept until 7:00 a.m. on my birthday morning!  That meant we all got to sleep in late.  I woke up about 6:30 and went ahead and got dressed and ready for the day.  When they got up they gave me homemade cards.  I love those! 

Cruz "reading" me his card he made for my birthday.

David also got me this book.  One of the conference speakers had mentioned it and highly recommended it.  I had said in passing that I would like to read it.  I had no idea he even paid attention to me saying it.  I look forward to reading it soon. 

We ate breakfast at the hotel.  I love buffet breakfasts!

The view from my seat at breakfast.  Doesn't that just look peaceful!

While David packed the room and loaded the car Carol and I walked the boys down to the lake.  She took a few photos of us for me.

This is one of my favorite photos with my boys yet.

She also took a family photo of us.  I love it!

We then got loaded in the car and set out for Guatemala City.  Here's a little video I took of Cruz singing to me.  He melts my heart!

                                   

We stopped by our mission house to pick up some freezer foods and our cooler that we had left there.  I also got a dozen yellow roses.  We bought them from a street vendor who sells flowers on the corner nearby.

me, Cruz, and my birthday roses

He kept telling me that they were the same color as his shirt.

After leaving there we stopped by Burger King for lunch.  We ate and let the kids play a while before getting back on the road for the remaining four hours of our trip.  When we got into Chiquimula we stopped and picked up a pizza for supper.  Yes I realize we had just eaten pizza the night before, but like I said it is my favorite food, haha.  David also ran in to a local bakery and picked me up a cake.  It was an ice cream cake.  It was our first time to try one.  It melted a little on the 40 minute drive home, but was still pretty good. 

me with my birthday cake 

It was strawberry and vanilla ice cream in between two thin layers of cake.  It was different but good.  We have enjoyed eating on it all week.

They sang to me and we ate.  It had been a long day, but a fun one.  I am glad I got to spend it with my little family even if that meant we were all packed into our car together.  At least we were together.  In my mind that's all that really matters.