Spring Break 2016 (Post 1 of 2)

A few weeks ago we hosted some dear friends from back home.  It was Spring Break for them so we took a week off from school and celebrated together.   Reagan and Malinda have visited us in Guatemala two other times but it was before either of us had kids.  We had a really fun week together and crammed so much into a short amount of time.  The kids made it extra fun although extra tiring too, ha.  This post will cover our first few days together and then tomorrow I'll finish up our week in post #2.

They arrived really late on a Friday night so the boys and I didn't get to see them until the next morning.  After some warm greetings and hugs we ate breakfast and took a group photo before heading out for a fun day in Guatemala City.

Sara Madalin, Reagan, Malinda, me, Ben, Cruz, and David

We spent the morning at the La Aurora Zoo in Guatemala City.  We love our zoo and always enjoy getting to visit it.

Ben, Cruz, and Sara Madalin ready for some fun at the zoo

feeding the fish

watching the bears

We got to watch the tigers being fed which was really cool.

clowning around at the penguin exhibit

riding the train

me and Malinda on the train at the zoo

Having lunch at the zoo food court.

no trip to the zoo would be complete without cotton candy!

That afternoon we went out for ice cream.  It ended up starting a week long trend of having to eat ice cream every day. The kids loved it (and I did too!).  

ice cream

Afterwards we visited the park on Las Americas.  We bought the kids some tickets to ride a few rides and then they spent time playing on the playground equipment. They burned off lots of energy and had a fun time doing it.

ready to ride the roller coaster

who doesn't love bumper cars!!!

fun times!

I love Ben's face here.  He was having fun.

another ride on the roller coaster

Ben and Reagan on the roller coaster

the kids got a kick out of Mr. Reagan joining them on the playground

Cruz, Sara Madalin, and Ben

We ended the night with a trip to TGI Friday's for supper. 

Here we are having breakfast on Sunday morning at our mission house in Guatemala City.  McDonald's delivers there so we called in our order.  How convenient is that!

We then loaded up and made the trip to our house in Chiquimula.  It's about a 3.5 hour drive.

along the way we stopped for ice cream at Sarita's in Rio Hondo

After arriving at our home and getting them settled in to the hotel we ate lunch at the restaurant next door.  Here are the kids enjoying frozen orange drinks there.

We spent the afternoon swimming at the hotel pool.

We spent Monday driving them to some of the villages where we are working.  Our first stops were Nearar and Muyurco.  We hiked to the house where we have our weekly Bible study in Muyurco.  It was fun getting to show them a little of the ministry side of our lives.

Reagan, Malinda, and Sara Madalin hiking in Muyurco

We drove them through Camotan and Jocotan and showed them around where we used to live.

me, Malinda, and Sara Madalin in Camotan

We rode a tuk tuk from Camotan to Jocotan just for fun.  David went ahead in our car and picked us up.

We had a picnic lunch at the gas station in Jocotan before driving to the villages of Lagunetas and Churischan.

That afternoon we visited our local mall so the kids could play on the playland and get our daily intake of ice cream.  I was serious when I said that we ate it every day.  ha

cooling off in the pool after a long, hot day

We ended Monday with a cookout and outdoor movie night.  We watched Star Wars.

That's three days down and we still had three full days to go before they left.  I'll share about those adventures tomorrow.