The Quince 2015

The fifteenth of September is Independence Day in Guatemala.  We have grown to love this day here.  It is filled with torch runners, racers, parades, typical music and dress, flags flying high and just an overall feeling of patriotism among the people.  We love to celebrate it and teach our boys about the culture of the country where they were born.

The celebrations begin on the 14th with the schools doing torch runs all day and night.  The younger children usually have their parade on this day and the older kids march on the 15th.  We love watching the torch runners!  This year they passed by the main road where we live. 

We had overnight guests with us this year. David and Glynis Miller and Perry and Brenda Walker were here for a visit.  The Miller's serve in Guatemala and the Walker's serve in Panama. I cooked a pot of taco soup and then made my traditional cake for our dessert-

Our Guatemala flag cake for Independence Day.

The next morning we took our normal holiday family photo.  Here we are on the Quince 2015.

We then walked next door to have breakfast with our guests at the hotel restaurant.

our family with the Walker's

We enjoyed a typical Guatemalan breakfast of eggs, black beans, fried plantains, cheese, cream, and salsa.  It was delicious and a fun way to start our holiday.

Perry loving on our boys after breakfast.

Here are my sweet boys all dressed for the Quince ready to go watch the parades.

Every town has parades and we imagined that Chiquimula would have some really good ones but instead we chose to drive out to Camotan where we used to live to watch the parade there.  It is where we have celebrated for the past three years and it just felt like going home.  In addition to the parade we got to see and visit with many precious folks that we know and love.  It was a fun, fun morning!   Here are some photos from the  Independence Day parade in Camotan, Guatemala-

The bands are our favorite!

Here is a short video of a few of the bands

I also love to see all the costumes.

One of the Quince queens

It has been my tradition to take a photo of Cruz sitting in the park in Camotan while at the parade.  Here he is this year.

And here he is in 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015.  He is getting so big!

We drove back to town and enjoyed lunch at a Guatemalan favorite- Pollo Campero.  

That afternoon we were invited to join a few other missionary families for a cookout.  We enjoyed grilled chicken, potatoes, grilled corn, and dessert.  It was good food and great fellowship!  We stayed out a lot later than planned but we all had such a great time.  Overall we had a wonderful day and enjoyed another year getting to celebrate the great country where we serve.