Life Lately February 2021

 Here is a random look at our lives during the month of February.

David and the boys packing give away bags on a recent Saturday morning.  We keep food bags in our car to give away to random people that we encounter.  Many times this includes children who spend their whole days standing on the street corner with their parents asking for food.  The boys had the idea to include some fun bags for the kids (stickers, crayons, pencils, coloring books, etc.)  This has been a great way to include them in the project.  

My oven went out on New Year's Day.  We found a place in Guatemala City that could order a new part and they said it would take a month to get it in.  It ended up taking almost two months.  I was thrilled when we picked the part up on my birthday while in Guatemala City.  It felt like a gift.  Well, we installed the new part and now the oven still does not work.  Bummer!!!  Thankfully we have a friend flying back from the States in a few weeks and he is going to bring us another part.  I really hope it works!  In the meantime, I have been getting by with my small toaster oven, stovetop burners, and my Instant Pot.

The boys cooking lunch one day after school. 

He would eat black beans and eggs every single day if I let him.

Ben peeling apples for breakfast one morning.

While January was all about fort building, February became the month of wrestling matches.  It seems like that is all they did for weeks on end.  In this collage you can see David and the boys wrestling in the back yard.  Cruz built their wrestling "mat" out of a tarp and some cones to weight it down.  

They also decided that every commercial break of any show we were watching was wrestling match time.

It drove me crazy but they loved it.

We found a new (to us) import grocery store in Guatemala City.  It has been around for a long time but we have just never visited it before.  Puerta Del Sol #2 is the name and they had several U.S. items that are hard (or impossible) to find in Guatemala.  I was like a kid in a candy store walking up and down the isles.  The boys squealed with excitement to see this box of Reece's Puffs cereal.  It is their very favorite and we have never found it here before.  I squealed to find grits.  I bought two boxes and I hope it lasts until we get to the States. 

The boys doing art one afternoon.  I love how they took all of their crayons and sorted them into different cups.

We are introducing the boys to The Beverly Hillbillies series.  We are starting at the first episode and watching through them.  It has been fun for David and I to watch it again after having lived cross-culturally.  We can definitely relate to them trying to adjust to a new culture, people, and environment that is totally different than what they were accustomed to.  Even though the circumstances were different, the idea is still the same.

 

We went on another weekend camping trip with the Jarvis family to Finca Florencia.  It is our current favorite thing to do! 

 

It gets down to the 50's at night and can feel cool.  We have a large tent and two small tents.  We decided to put the small tents inside the larger tent to help block wind.  It works great!  I look forward to shopping for some cool, fun camping supplies while in the States.  

We spent a lot of time hiking and exploring.  We just love being in the great outdoors.  It is so peaceful there.

We rented horses and went for an afternoon ride around the park.  That was a fun experience.

We enjoyed night walks with glow sticks and head lamps and cooking hot dogs and marshmallows over the fire.

fun times with friends

I am already looking over my calendar and trying to find another time we can camp again.  We love it!

Thanks for reading!