Some Down Time

Last Sunday we said Goodbye to our Church Family.

This is the girls' main Sunday School teacher. She's been a good friend and a special person for the girls.

My Mom and Stepdad came to visit us this week. We had planned their trip months ago, before we knew we were moving.

We took a much needed rest together as a family. We spent a few days swimming and playing in the sand. Michael and I had a long to-do list that we needed to get done before we left, and we did it! It felt wonderful to actually be able to let go of work things for a few days. Especially because we fly home July 3rd, have one day, and Michael starts work on the 5th. It will be a whirlwind.

So we played.

And relaxed.

And swam in the pool.

And swam in the ocean.

And practiced some moves.

It was a much needed break away from cell phones and work email and technology.

And now we are 5 days away from the next phase of our lives. Our last bag is almost packed. (Literally, it's at 38 pounds).

Dominican Republic

After almost two weeks of travel and living out of a suitcase in Haiti, we took a 7-8 hour bus ride to the capital of Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo.

The view as we crossed from Haiti into DR reminded me of the green Pacific Northwest:

We spent a few days at the beach with two other couples from MCC, enjoying time away from the internet and near a beautiful beach.  It's very rare that we take time away as a family, so this was a special treat, and we were ready to relax after a hectic several months. 

The beach looked like a postcard. 

Ruby was not super happy with the intense heat and humidity, but she was all smiles at the beach, with the nice, warm breeze.  

Me and my littlest chica. 

The colors were unreal.

We were mesmerized by the softest, whitest sand we'd ever seen, in contrast to the sparkling turquoise of the water and sky.

My little hams make the beach a lot of fun.

A couple attempts at a family photo.
Goofy Girls.

Attempt #2.

Awesome sand castle. 

For our girls, nothing is more fun than sand and water. 

You know it's fresh when the guy is selling live shrimp. 

We spent our last two days in the DR visiting friends who live in Santo Domingo. These are friends from our time in Pennsylvania and Michael and Tom studied international development together. They are working in DR with another development organization.

We got to visit each other two years ago in Honduras, so it was super fun to see them again, two years later, with 2 more kids in the mix.

Here's a flashback to two years ago, after we had just arrived to Guatemala, and spent a few days in Honduras:

Hanging out on some old Mayan ruins. 

2 couples, 4 girls

The 4 girls, ages (not in order) 3, 2, 1, and10 months in May 2013.

And fast forward two years:

We both have 3 girls, and our girls have a similar spread in ages. Lined up they were ages 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and 2 months. 

It was fun to visit Santo Domingo, the oldest city in the "New World," founded by Christopher Columbus' younger brother, and even more fun to reconnect with old friends.

Haiti

March was a busy month (really, we have no months that are not busy). We had a team retreat for a few days, and then our family went to Haiti and the Dominican Republic for 18 days. We had our annual meetings with our counterparts in other Latin America countries. It's always a good connecting time with other people in the same role as us, especially those balancing life with little kids. Last year these meetings were in Bolivia, and the year before was our first week in Guatemala. 

First time traveling as a family of 5. Everyone did great. 

Haiti was fascinating. There were still remnants of the earthquake, which was now more than 5 years ago, mixed in with intense poverty.
This was a view of Port-au-Prince as we took a bus and left the heat of the city for the cool mountains, where our meetings were held.

A common sight in Haiti. Overcrowding is an understatement here.

We visited one of MCC's projects, where they support a school. This was one of the students, getting to know Ruby. 

A few scenes from the countryside:

Road side drink service.

A few small tiendas (stores) in front, with houses that look like small sheds scattered throughout the countryside. 

Bananas. Or maybe plantains. 

We traveled to another part of Haiti. Most of the group took off for a few days to visit some more MCC projects, and a few of us moms and our kids stayed behind.

It was a pretty gorgeous place to be "stuck" with all three girls for a few days by myself.

The girls swam for hours every day. Hazel officially learned to swim and can now swim, unassisted. Of course, neither girl is strong enough to be in the deep end by themselves, but I am totally a proud mom that both girls could "dive" down and get toys from the bottom of the pool, and swim and kick all over. 

In this picture Ellie was the center of attention of this group of kids. I finally asked them to back off (as best as I could since they spoke French) as they started splashing her and getting in her face a bit. She's used to, when we travel, being goggled at for being a little gringa (white) girl, but I felt like these kids were too much in her face and not respecting her distance.

Idyllic beach playground. 

Time-out Time.
With Michael gone, the girls had some hefty tantrums and time outs. I had to snap this picture.
Both girls had lost swimming privileges and were told that at the beginning of swim time they'd have to sit out for a while. This may have been a more effective consequence if the pool hadn't been empty. Oh well.

The girls loved kayaking with Daddy.

We did a lot of traveling by bus and plane, and the girls did well.

Michael was able to see more of the MCC projects than I did, so I don't have much to share about the work there. Overall, our impressions of Haiti were a mix: the food was delicious, the difference between Haiti and DR was telling of a long history of colonialism and development. We kept wanting to speak Spanish and forgetting that we were in a French or Creole-speaking country.

After a week and a half in Haiti, we took a bus to Dominican Republic to spend some time resting and relaxing as a family and with a few friends. Pictures to come of DR.

A Caribbean Culture in Guatemala: Livingston

We traveled to Livingston with our MCC team for a relaxing team retreat. It's a town on the Caribbean Sea that we could only reach by boat, so we took a boat up the Rio Dulce to get there.

It was a beautiful 80-minute boat ride.

 On our first full day, we took a boat to visit 7 Altars, a set of secluded waterfalls that we trekked up a river to find.

 Michael and some of the staff decided to jump into the pools below.

 The girls enjoyed watching.

 Then we took the boat to "Playa Blanca" (White Beach) to relax and enjoy the sand and water.

 Hazel and Ellie loved every second of it. 

Ellie swam and swam. And swam.

And swam some more.

Our team seemed to enjoy the setting too.

 The next day we went to a local Garifuna organization to learn a bit about their food and culture. We took a cooking class to make a traditional Garifuna meal.

Quick history lesson: The Garifuna people are descended from West Africa but live primarily in Central America (Belize, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Honduras) with a huge population that has resettled in New York City and other major US cities. They have a distinct culture, language, and history, and are well-known for their music and dance.

 Freshly caught Red Snapper fish, ready to be filleted. 

 A couple of our staff preparing the fish. 

 Ellie helped shred the coconuts, while Hazel entertained us with some drums made from turtle shells.

 A lesson in how to cut open a coconut, using a gigantic machete. 

 Deliciosa!

 Though Michael isn't a huge fan of seafood, especially shrimp, he spent the afternoon peeling shrimp.

 Ellie found a friend, of course. 

The final product: a delicious coconut milk-based soup with shrimp-based dumplings...

...and coconut milk rice with fried red snapper. It was a fantastic meal.

The rest of our retreat we spent enjoying each other's company.

 Ellie played Minnie Mouse dominoes with three of our male staff.
Have I mentioned how blessed we are that our staff are so sweet with our girls? It's pretty awesome.

We swam. A lot.

We had a great trip, relaxing and bonding as a team. We also said farewell to two of our 1-year workers who left last week to return to their homes in Canada. 

On the way home from Livingston, we stopped as some Mayan ruins.

I'm impressed with the diversity that can be found within Guatemala. A diversity of cultures, climates, beaches, mountains, indigenous groups, languages, and food. It's a beautiful place to live and explore. Who wants to come visit?