Life Lately April 2023

Here is a look at our life during the month of April.

 

our family in Antigua

We enjoyed many outings in town taking in all the sights and sounds of the Holy Week season.

 

We had friends join us on several of those outings.  Here we are with the Johnson family.

 

our boys with the Johnson boys

 

 

my sweet friend Sara

 

David and Jon

 

The Jarvis family stayed overnight to enjoy Good Friday in Antigua with us.  Here we are leaving our house at 4:30 a.m. walking into town.

 

sweet friends!

 

Good Friday in Antigua

 

 

enjoying a tuk tuk ride home one sunny afternoon

 

Both boys love corn.

 

Off to take the California Achievement Test at Encounter Academy during Easter week.

 

Saturday tennis

 

beautiful flowers in town

 

 

We were invited to an Easter egg hunt.

 

 

 

 

neighbor friends

 

Easter party lunch

 

We renewed Ben's Guatemalan passport.

 

Friday coffee date while the boys were at Awana class.

 

Cruz began going to a youth group and is loving it!  We took Ben out for a Chinese supper on one of those nights to spend a little quality time with him.

 

They were invited to a neighborhood swim gathering and water balloon war.

 

So fun!

 

They were also invited to a swim birthday party for their friend Noah.

 

Another party for their friend Olivia.

 

 

 

Cruz got to spend the weekend with a friend in Guatemala City. He had such a fun time! 

 

In addition, we celebrated Easter, Ben's 11th birthday, our 27th wedding anniversary, took a work trip to Mexico, and left our boys home with Lauren.  It was a full month!

 

I cannot think of a better way to end the month than in worship.  I love singing hymns!

Antigua Flower Festival 2022

We recently hosted friends from our home State of Mississippi.  I will share about their overall visit in a separate post.  One of the things we did while they were here was attend the Antigua Flower Festival in our town.  It was the sixth annual event and it seems to grow every year.  It falls on the third weekend of November every year and was a great time to have them in town.  Everything is beautifully decorated with flowers and is a spectacular sight to see.

It is a popular event so parking in town can be a challenge.  We opted to take the bus in, which turned out to be a fun experience for our friends.  

 

Cruz and Sara Madalin on the bus.  It was a short ride but definitely saved us some walking.

 

Our crew ready to explore the town.

 

It was a beautiful clear sunny day.  It was also very warm! You can see Agua volcano in the distance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

me and my long time friend Malinda

 

 

We made a stop by Wendy's for Frosty-ccino iced coffees. It was a nice cold treat on a hot sunny day.

 

This was my favorite display of all! It was gigantic and gorgeous!

 

 

 

 

Live music was playing all over town.  The atmosphere was quite festive. Here was a marimba band entertaining the crowds.

 

Our family at the Central Park fountain. 

You could smell the flowers as you walked through.

 

We had lunch at McDonald's.  It is always beautiful there but was especially pretty all dressed up in flowers.

 

We ended the day at the artisan's market letting our friends do some shopping.  It was decorated also.

 

Malinda and I bought hats.  You cannot tell from the picture but they have embroidered flowers all around the rims.   They were a perfect souvenir from our day.

 

 

 

When we were all done we took tuk tuks back to our house.  That was another fun experience for them.

We returned home hot, tired, a little sunburned, and eager for showers.  I cooked supper and we spent the evening watching the Ole Miss football game.  It had been a lovely fun-filled day.