Not All Travel Days Are Good Days

Last Monday we drove into Guatemala City for a few days. Ben had his 18 month check-up with Dr. Figueroa, both boys needed vaccines, and we all got flu shots. While there we also got to visit with two teams who were overnight at our mission house. We got to see the team we had worked with the week before in Sayaxche, and also a team from Alabama led by our dear friends Allen and Laurelle Stoudenmire. 

We travel a lot with our kids.  We spend long hours on the road in the car.  For the most part they travel really good.   We used to have some portable DVD players on our headrest that kept the kids well entertained on road trips.  But, back in July our car got broken into and they were stolen along with the CD case holding all of the boys movies.  I am still upset about that!  We lost a few other things too but losing all of their movies is what made me the saddest.  So since then we have had to find alternative things to do in the car to keep the boys busy.  We sing, we play "I spy", we play "the quiet game" ha, and honestly we spend more time together without the movies, but I sure do miss them. 

Here are the boys doing what they do best in the car- dancing!

   When my kids hear music it just makes their bodies move. 

This is Ben "praising the Lord".  He waves those arms in the air and it's just too cute.

By late afternoon those smiles were gone.  They were tired, hungry, restless, and ready to get out of the car.  We were all four feeling this way, but only two of us showed it.  Here is what life with a 1 year old and a 3 year old is really like on any given day-

Oh Mercy!!!

We spent Tuesday morning visiting with the teams before they all flew back to the States.  We then headed out to our appointments.  I'll post about Ben's check-up later in the week.

Here we are with Allen and Laurelle.  We love them!

On Wednesday morning I took a few pictures of the kids before we left to drive back home.  I took their Halloween pj's to the City because it is always cooler there.  It is too hot right now at our house for them to wear long pj's. 

My Little Pumpkins

Here are the boys with the kids that live at our mission house.  I cannot believe how big they are getting!

Rebecca, Josue, Ben, Kaitlin, and Cruz

We stopped for lunch at Burger King near Rio Hondo on the way home.  It just opened this past year and has become our new lunch stop on our trips back home from the Capital. 

Ben on the slide.  Look at that sweet smile!  I could just eat him up.

And here is a video of him going down the slide.  I love how Cruz greets him at the end with a big hug. 

They might scream, cry, and have meltdowns (don't all kids), but at other times they can be the sweetest things we have ever seen.  I wouldn't trade those two for anything in the world, even on long, hard road trip days.