Fiesta de los Agüizotes!! UPDATED with more accurate information since the original posting

Busy and fun week! Thursday after school we brought a friend and his mom with us on an adventure to Chocoyero Nature Reserve for an afternoon hike. This is one of my favorite places!! It's really close to where we live and because it is a protected nature reserve it's just a gorgeous and dense rainforest paradise! *We did have a snag in the plans. We made it to the waterfall and turned around rather than make the loop. Apparently Powerade is basically Ex-Lax for kids! Oops!*

Friday afternoon we met up with our friend in Masaya to enjoy the Dia de los Muertos Fiesta de los Agüizotes parade! It was incredible and macabre and loud and crowded and fun and scary and.....all the things! It was a very good taste of an authentically Nicaragua event.  Most of the pictures are poor quality since it was night and we just have cell phone cameras, plus we were mostly focusing on not losing any children since the road was absolutely packed with people! 

Los Agüizotes is a festival honoring Saint Jerónimo who is the patron saint of Masaya. Many of the costumes people wore reflect some of the traditional legends and stories of Nicaragua. 

Saturday morning the kids were invited to a birthday party for their friend from school. It was at Pizza Hut and they were so looking forward to it! It turned out to be really fun and they had a great time.  Audrey even won the first game which was really impressive because she had to understand the clown speaking really fast Spanish and not only follow his directions quickly but also answer questions quickly in Spanish! I had no idea she understood so much! Great job Audrey! Other than Audrey winning the game, the clown wasn't my favorite. WAY too scandalous for a group of 6 year olds! The pinata and pizza are always crowd pleasers though!

Saturday evening we were invited to a Halloween dinner and trunk or treat at the US Embassy! As much as we are loving the adventure of Nicaragua and are getting to know and love the Nicaraguans that we've met, it was really nice to be around other Americans! It was so comfortable to speak English and and feel the cultural familiarity for the night. They did a fabulous job with the party too! There were so many activities for all ages and interests. Good food and lots of fun!

Here is princess Audrey with a collection of protectors. Redick is a Ninja Turtle, Reid is Batman and Layne is Superman. Of course they all loved the trunk or treat! 

Sunday evening our condominium complex put on trick or treating too! Last week anyone who wanted to participate was invited to decorate their door/house so the kids would know where to trick or treat. This was a good opportunity to meet many of our neighbors that we haven't met yet. My fair skinned blonde kids get a lot of attention anywhere we go anyway. Add some adorable costumes and they scored a TON of candy!! Layne especially is quite the heart throb with adult Latin women. They go out of their way to touch his hair and his face all the time! Little Superman got so much candy that by the time we got halfway around the block I had to ask a neighbor for a grocery sack to empty his bag because it was too heavy for him to carry! Fun fun times!

Even though she was a princess on Saturday night, Audrey decided to be a Karate Girl on Sunday. 

Dia de los Muertos!

Busy and fun week! Thursday after school we brought a friend and his mom with us on an adventure to Chocoyero Nature Reserve for an afternoon hike. This is one of my favorite places!! It's really close to where we live and because it is a protected nature reserve it's just a gorgeous and dense rainforest paradise! *We did have a snag in the plans. We made it to the waterfall and turned around rather than make the loop. Apparently Powerade is basically Ex-Lax for kids! Oops!*

Friday afternoon we met up with our friend in Masaya to enjoy the Dia de los Muertos parade! It was incredible and macabre and loud and crowded and fun and scary and.....all the things! It was a very good taste of an authentically Nicaragua event.  Most of the pictures are poor quality since it was night and we just have cell phone cameras, plus we were mostly focusing on not losing any children since the road was absolutely packed with people! 

Saturday morning the kids were invited to a birthday party for their friend from school. It was at Pizza Hut and they were so looking forward to it! It turned out to be really fun and they had a great time.  Audrey even won the first game which was really impressive because she had to understand the clown speaking really fast Spanish and not only follow his directions quickly but also answer questions quickly in Spanish! I had no idea she understood so much! Great job Audrey! Other than Audrey winning the game, the clown wasn't my favorite. WAY too scandalous for a group of 6 year olds! The pinata and pizza are always crowd pleasers though!

Saturday evening we were invited to a Halloween dinner and trunk or treat at the US Embassy! As much as we are loving the adventure of Nicaragua and are getting to know and love the Nicaraguans that we've met, it was really nice to be around other Americans! It was so comfortable to speak English and and feel the cultural familiarity for the night. They did a fabulous job with the party too! There were so many activities for all ages and interests. Good food and lots of fun!

Here is princess Audrey with a collection of protectors. Redick is a Ninja Turtle, Reid is Batman and Layne is Superman. Of course they all loved the trunk or treat! 

Sunday evening our condominium complex put on trick or treating too! Last week anyone who wanted to participate was invited to decorate their door/house so the kids would know where to trick or treat. This was a good opportunity to meet many of our neighbors that we haven't met yet. My fair skinned blonde kids get a lot of attention anywhere we go anyway. Add some adorable costumes and they scored a TON of candy!! Layne especially is quite the heart throb with adult Latin women. They go out of their way to touch his hair and his face all the time! Little Superman got so much candy that by the time we got halfway around the block I had to ask a neighbor for a grocery sack to empty his bag because it was too heavy for him to carry! Fun fun times!

Even though she was a princess on Saturday night, Audrey decided to be a Karate Girl on Sunday.