Kicking Off Our Christmas Break 2024

Our last day of school before Christmas break was Thursday, December 19.  It had felt like a long semester so we were all counting down the days until we got a much needed, extended break. 

 

We started the morning with a fun Christmas themed breakfast. 

 

 

We took our annual "end of the semester" Christmas photo.

 

 

That afternoon we drove into Guatemala City to celebrate.  Look at that beautiful sunset view!

 

 

We had supper at TGI Friday's at the Avia building in Zone 10. TGI Friday's has always been my favorite place to eat when we visit the city.

 

 

Afterwards, we walked through Fontabella to see their Christmas decorations.

 

 

The next morning we had plans to go ride go-carts in San José Pinula.  On the drive there we stopped by Condado Concepción, which is another beautiful mall in Guatemala City, to see their Christmas decorations and to eat lunch at the food court.

 

 

We then headed to Loops for some family fun.

 

 

As a Christmas gift, they always ask for a visit to the go-cart park.  It has become a Christmas break tradition.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

a video of our time riding go-carts

 

 

That evening we visited Oakland Mall.  It is so pretty and fancy at Christmas.

 

 

a video of some of the mall decorations

 

 

 

 

We had plans to go bowling, but there was a three hour wait.  Instead, the boys chose to visit the trampoline park in the new part of the mall called Oakland Place.  It was fantastic!  We'll definitely go back, but David and I will jump with them next time. 

 

 

the boys ready to jump

 

Their favorite part was the slides.

 

 

a video of the boys at the trampoline park

 

 

We ate supper at the food court and picked up some Dunkin' Donuts to go before leaving the mall.

 

 

A beautiful view of the volcanoes from Guatemala City (Zone 10).  From where we were, you could see Agua, Fuego, Acatenango, and to the left was Pacaya.

 

 

Guatemala City views

 

We had a wonderful time, and it was a fun way to kick off our Christmas break.  I love this annual trip that we make each year.  We all look forward to it, and it always creates some wonderful memories.  It is a family Christmas gift, and probably my favorite gift of all.

 

On a good day it should only have taken us 1.5 hours to drive back home.  This particular day, though, it took almost four hours!!  Guatemala traffic is terrible all year long, but at Christmastime it is insane! 

Life Lately March 2024

Here is a look at our family life over the past month. 

 

The boys began the month at a youth group outing to Irtra, which is a theme park in Guatemala City. They had an extremely fun day.

 

Cruz with his friend Canon at Irtra.

 

We had several game nights in March.  This particular time we were playing Aggravation.

 

Our local mall hosted a weekend of inflatables.  Ben enjoyed getting to play on a recent Sunday afternoon.

 

 

 

Cruz playing video games and talking to his friend at the same time.

 

Ben helped me in the kitchen a lot last month.  Here he is making chocolate chip cookies.

 

Ben making a chicken pot pie.

 

baking chocolate chip banana bread

 

 

Cruz washing dishes as part of his weekly chores.

 

We made a trip into Guatemala City to renew Cruz's passport.  He looks so grown up in this new photo!

 

You have to provide progression photos from the last time he got a new passport.  I always use birthday pictures.  It's fun to look back at how he has changed over the years.   This was the last passport we will renew in Guatemala.  When this one expires in five years, he'll be a freshman in college. 

 

I love this ceiling view from a local restaurant in Antigua.   It is very cheery and colorful!

 

I attended a brunch outing to celebrate my sweet friend Melanie's birthday. We had a fun time of fellowship around the table.

 

 

Homeschool is going great.  We took a week off for Spring Break/ Semana Santa.  After this current week, we only have six more weeks left before summer break!! We are all ready!  

 

As part of our Bible class we listen to an audio book missionary biography.  In March we learned about Francis Asbury and Samuel Zwemer.  During one of our classes the boys got out our old playdoh set and passed the time listening and building.  It was fun to watch them!

 

Ben and his friend Josue on a supper outing to Wendy's. 

 

the boys at Wendy's in Antigua

 

Cruz and I on an afternoon coffee date in Antigua.

 

David had a work trip to Mexico.  He spent part of the trip showing our boss around some of the Indigenous work areas there.  They had a wonderful time visiting with several of our IMB missionary families.

 

 

I was sad to miss out on these fun fellowship meal times!

 

He ended his trip helping lead a training for our Spanish language school students.

 

We were excited to pick him up at the airport when he returned home to Guatemala!  Here we are stopping for a meal on our drive back to Antigua.

 

I spent an evening out with friends looking at the sawdust carpets that were made in our neighborhood. Surprisingly, it was the only time I walked around and took pictures of carpets the whole season.

 

On Good Friday we took the boys to a go-cart park in Guatemala City.

 

On Easter Eve David attended the 33rd anniversary service for the Baptist church in San Andres Itzapa.

 

Lastly, we ended the month celebrating Easter.