A Photo Catch Up!

Back at the end of January we took a little family trip to Venteron. It's a hill between Managua and Masaya that overlooks Volcan Masaya. We have been there on a couple of other occasions and we previously just hiked or rode horses to the top of the hill and then went back down. We always looked down into the valley on the opposite side with interest so this time we drive to the top of the hill and then hiked down into the valley. 

Apparently I was in a selfie mood that day! In the background the blackened hill with smoke coming out is the active crater of Volcan Masaya.

Starting down toward the valley below. This rickety looking wooden structure is for mountain bikers to bank their turns at speed! It looks terrifying to me!

Down at the bottom there wasn't really much to see. It was all dry grasses and weeds. We did run into 2 brothers and their 3 teenaged sons. They were working on clearing a mountain biking path to cut across the valley and up to Volcan Masaya. One of the men works as a tourism coordinator in the area and soon he will be leading mountain biking tours to the back entrance to Volcan Masaya where there is a better view of the exposed lava lake.

The boys were so kind and let my kids have turns riding their mountain bikes. They were adult sized bikes so Redick and Reid needed a little help.

We learned that this abandoned and overgrown valley used to be cultivated farmlands. Back in the 30s to 60s a great variety of crops were grown here including: yucca, tomatoes, onions, peppers, watermelon, squashes, rice, wheat etc. Of course the 70s to the 90s were a terrible time for Nicaragua with revolutions and violent wars. In that interim this land was abandoned. Now that Volcan Masaya has become much more active the sulfur in the air makes farming impossible here. Not only is the air quality inhospitable, they also get acid rain which is a difficult problem for the few families who live in the area. Two crops have adapted to the conditions and are grown in abundance in the Venteron/Ticuantepe area, pineapple and dragon fruit.

The only landmark across the almost uniformly dry, grassy expanse was this rain water collection cistern. It was for the farmers 80 years ago to irrigate the crops.

This site has some great views of the active volcano! It was a totally clear day and all of that blur around the volcano is the smoke billowing up from the lava pit!

We plan to go back to Venteron at least once more soon. On the top of the hill, overlooking the volcano and in view of Managua off in the distance, Elder Richard G. Scott dedicated Nicaragua for missionary work. A friend of ours has a copy of the dedicatory prayer that was offered at that site on April 9, 1990 by Elder Scott. We want to have a family devotional up there and read the prayer for Nicaragua. 

Audrey and I got to have a date night! Her cousin Lily gifted Audrey a date night for Christmas to the princess salon for a manicure and a treat. Audrey had told me a few days before that she set a goal to try sushi sometime. We decided a date night was a good time to try!

Trying the first bite.

She likes it!!

Then she tried the wasabi. Hahaha!!

She loved this emoji pillow at the department store.

Unfortunately, the princess salon was closed.

We were not deterred! We bought a bottle of "mermaid" colored nail polish and took care of manicures ourselves.

I'm sure I have mentioned that we love the kids school! They have learned so much Spanish, made great friends, progressed in their education and get plenty of time to be physically and mentally active and creative. In addition to their core subjects they have weekly classes in music, art, theater, cooking, PE, and carpentry. Audrey comes home with some of the most fun and creative things she has built in carpentry! 

She designed and assembled this doll house for her beanie boo, Slush.

After seeing the movie Coco we have been on a mariachi music binge and Audrey came home with this adorable guitar!

When Audrey turned 7 last May she and Mitchell chose a hobby to pursue together. She settled on cooking and they have diligently worked through numerous modules of a children's cooking e-course as well as gotten to practice hands on in the kitchen many times. Audrey is confident and proficient using sharp knives, spreading, stirring food over the stove top, measuring and is beginning to be able to follow recipes. One Saturday afternoon in February she reached a great milestone! She cooked a dish completely on her own! It was an absolutely delicious creamy chicken and vegetable risotto.

Chopping a huge carrot. Notice the chef fingers!

The chef with her completed dish! It was magnificent!

I was inspired and tried a new recipe too. This is a Nicaraguan dish called Indio Viejo.

Weekend trip to Laguna de Apoyo lookout and Catarina

Audrey didn't feel like going to school one morning. As I was talking to her and trying to coax her to class she sat on the floor with her head down. Audrey's best friends at school decided to copy her and it made them all giggle. Then they all got up and skipped to class together! Girls need girlfriends!

A tired baby who misses his nap can fall asleep anywhere. Layne is channeling his inner cat here.

We don't get up to the north part of Nicaragua as often as we would like, mostly because it takes 3 hours each way to get there. A few weeks ago we had a regional conference broadcast by satellite on Sunday instead of our regular church meetings. Since Mitchell and I wouldn't have our Sunday school class obligations that week we decided to take advantage and spend the weekend up north! 

Saturday morning we drove to Corinto in the department of Chinandega. The coastline there is a large bay and has the shipping harbor for Nicaragua. We saw a couple of giant freight ships coming in. We enjoyed a lovely beach day!

From the water our view was of the tallest volcano in Nicaragua! San Cristobal!

We tried to arrange an Airbnb ahead of time but didn't have any luck. However, right off the highway we spotted a really nice looking complex of lodges. We were sure it would be way too expensive to stay there but we were pleasantly surprised at a very reasonable price and breakfast included!

Reid collected these coconuts and decorated them as Kakamura (from the movie Moana)

The hotel even had a huge pool!

We attended church at a stake center in Chinandega. The cell phone camera doesn't do that volcano in the distance justice at all! It was large and looming back there!

One morning we all got in the car to take the kids to school and our tire was almost flat! Thankfully there was a nearby gas station and we got the tire filled. That bought me enough time to get Audrey and Reid to school and Redick to his dentist appointment. After the dentist the tire hadn't lost pressure but we definitely got it repaired! Redick and Layne were fascinated and loved helping!

This has been a dentist month for us all! I finally got around to scheduling dental appointments for us after.....way too long. All of the kids did great and only Redick had a cavity. Unfortunately, Redick had a large cavity that had broken off a piece of his tooth! He has never complained of tooth pain before and I had no idea. Fortunately, the dentist said it was not infected however, he needed a pediatric root canal and a crown. I learned that pediatric root canals are different than an adult root canal. It's not much more than a really big filling. Redick was given the option to be awake for it or be sedated. Once he found out that the sedation required fasting he opted for being awake. That kid is ALWAYS hungry and the thought of missing a meal was a no go. He was so brave and really a trooper. The novocaine shots were painful but he kept his head still and mouth open the whole time. His little feet were paddling back and forth but he did what he needed to do. Toward the end of the root canal his mouth was aching from the metal ring they put around the tooth and from the bite block. He cried for about 10 minutes while she finished up. I was so impressed that every time the dentist asked him to turn his head or open his mouth he did it, even knowing that it was painful. 

  

This was quite a contraption! The metal ring encircled the bad tooth and the blue shield was rubbery and meant to keep the ground up pieces of rotten tooth from going into his mouth. Redick and I talked beforehand about ways he could focus on other things to stay calm. He asked if he could bring earbuds and listen to the Coco soundtrack. You betcha buddy. 

He was amused at his face being numb afterward.

After the dentist we made a day of it and went to the arcade, which is a great way to turn $10 into $0.10!

On the second appointment to get the permanent crown placed Layne came with us. We repeated the arcade and they both got pirate patches.

We enjoyed ice cream sandwiches too!

Back at home Redick wanted a soft pancake for lunch. He made this sea turtle pancake himself and it turned out perfect!

People sell all sorts of things at the street corners but this was an absolute first! I was waiting at a red light and I saw a guy trying to sell a live squirrel! It caught me off guard and I started laughing hysterically! The guy saw me laughing so of course came to my window. I knew I had to get a picture so I rolled down the window halfway, I didn't dare risk the squirrel jumping into my car!!! I snapped a picture and gave the guy all the change I had. He and his buddies were laughing as hard as I was, it totally made my day!

Our new house has 2 neighborhood parks! This one has 2 playset areas plus a soccer field and many large shade trees that make the heat bearable.

Last fall the new baseball stadium was completed. We finally got to go to a game and it was so fun! More than anything the kids wanted to catch a foul ball and have the camera zoom in on us on the big screen. We didn't catch any foul balls but we did get featured on the big screen at least twice!