We have a fish! We haven't quite swam every single day here but it's been close! Audrey is able to swim the length of the pool and float when she needs to breathe or rest. She's still practicing but I'd call her a swimmer! R&R are right behind!
The 3 big kids got to participate in a 1 week summer day camp at the school they will be attending. It was one of the best things we have done so far! The transition has been rough on the kids. They miss their friends, their freedoms and the familiarity of home. They have really struggled with the lack of social interaction since we are only just making some friends here. Summer camp was awesome! They loved their teachers, they made a few friends and they were entertained by someone other than me at a place other than home! It was excellent.
They got to have swimming lessons, cooking class, art, recess etc. So so great!
The kids are thrilled to have made a good friend in the neighborhood! He is 5 and only knows a handful of English words but the kids have a lot of fun together. You really don't have to have deep conversations to go out to the soccer field and score some goals!
This is Momotombo. One Sunday afternoon we took a long drive up in the green hills and passed this grand volcano. It last erupted in February 2016! Yes, only a few months ago!!
Audrey and Layne with a spectacular view of Masaya in the background.
The following pictures are at a fortress called Coyotepe. It was built in 1893, strategically placed on top of a large hill in Masaya. It has been used defensively by Nicaraguan military in many wars. It was definitely an eerie place to be. Underground there is a dungeon that held up to 800 prisoners. There are also torture rooms. On a happier note, it was donated to the Boy Scouts of Nicaragua and is now used for their Jamborees.
Before and After! Audrey got a haircut at a fancy high end salon! *I didn't know it was going to be so fancy. It was the one I happened to drive by and she needed a cut for school. We learned that fancy salons here charge $20 for a shampoo, cut and style. Nice!
Mitchell had a day off work on the big kids' last day of summer camp so we made the most of it with a morning date! This was a darling little brunch place near our house. After brunch we went to the local open air market, Huembes.
That hill is called Cerro Negro, literally Black Hill. It is utterly black in a sea of green hills as far as you can see! I bet you can guess why it's black.....it's a volcano! It last erupted in the early 90's but it is definitely still active!
Mitchell's co-worker Bruce took us on a hike up to the top of Cerro Negro. He brought along a friend of his to watch our kids at the bottom. It wasn't a very kid friendly hike.
We hiked down into the crater!
The smoke behind us is coming from one of the many sulfur vents down in the crater belching out gases from the earth's core!
Here we are at the top! Now, hiking up to the summit and then back down would have been fun but we opted for the faster and more adventurous route back down. We rented a sled, and some protective gear, and slid down the black soot all the way to the bottom! It was so awesome!
Nice huh? Mostly the jumpsuit etc was to protect my clothes from the black sand. It is literally ash from past lava flows that has been broken up into fine sand by the wind that blows against the face of the volcano. We were still covered in black ash at the bottom!
I'm about ready to go!
This is Mitchell coming down! It was fun!!
The kids cheered!
We drove out on to the lava flat afterward to let the kids have a try on the small hill. They, of course, loved it too! One of the best parts of the day was when our kids were sledding on the small hill a pretty large group of local Nicaraguans came over to see what we were up to. There were probably 8 adults and 10 or so kids. They had never slid down the hill despite living right there at it's feet. We let them have turns on our sleds and they had such a roaring good time! The adults tried it too and we all laughed until our sides hurt!
This is an interesting fruit we tried. You buy them in large bunches from guys in the street sellign them. They are called Mamones. I just learned that they are the same as Chinese Lychees. I have had Lychee fruits canned from the asian market but never fresh.
You break open the outer skin and a peach colored soft and kind of slimy fruit comes out. The flavor isn't really strong, just slightly sweet. I liked the first few and then the texture got to me. Kind of mucous-like. Haha!
We visited a dinosaur park with some friends! It was nice and shady and comfortable.
Yay for buying bikes! My outdoor kids were very happy!
Dragon fruit tongues. Yum!
The month of July was a challenge because Mitchell had to travel to the US for 14 days out of the 31 in the month. It was pretty rough but we made it through! While Mitchell was away on one of his trips the kids and I had a Family Home evening lesson about giving service. The kids were excited to make an action plan based on the lesson so the next morning Audrey made a Service Chart. She made 35 boxes on the chart and we all agreed that each time they gave service to someone they could mark it off on the chart. If they filled the chart by Friday we would get ice cream cones! You better believe they filled that chart right up and then some! Here they are with their prizes!
*No travel plans on the horizon for Mitchell. We are all glad for that!
1 comment:
What a fun update. Glad you're all doing well and getting to know new places and friends!
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