Sleeping Beauty

On Friday evening Mitchell, Audrey and I enjoyed such a wonderful treat!! The Nicaraguan National Ballet company performed the ballet Sleeping Beauty. It was absolutely phenomenal! Aside from The Nutcracker, I can't think of a time when I have seen another live ballet. Mitchell has seen Nutcracker and Swan Lake. We have seen many operas together and after this performance of Sleeping Beauty we both agree that ballet may be even more wonderful than opera! I'd probably have to see Magic Flute again to know for sure!

I was in awe of the strength and athleticism of the dancers, especially the men! The physical exertion they can execute on stage is impressive enough but they do it so gracefully! Even Audrey was enthralled through the entire 2 hour performance!

The prima ballerina, Princess Aurora, was incredible!

Even though it was almost 10:00pm Audrey really wanted to stay and meet the princess in the lobby. She was truly incredible,

On Thursday we were sitting in the car in traffic on our way home from school and there was a guy in the road selling kites. On a whim I bought 3 of them and they turned out to be a really fun activity! Even Layne was able to get one to fly!

The first weekends of April and October are highly anticipated for all of us! It's the Semiannual General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We get to tune in via the internet from our home and listen to the prophet, apostles and other inspired leaders all weekend! The kids don't look so enthusiastic in the picture but they were intently listening for their "candy key words." I put out several bowls of different treats, each labeled with a gospel related word. When they hear the word they get the treat! It's fun and they really do listen!

I had the makings for pepperoni pizza in the fridge and decided to make them cinnamon roll style. It was a hit!

Saturday evening I took my little princess to the movies to see Beauty and the Beast. One of her best friends here joined us too! We both loved it!!

She looks sweet but she's a con artist! After the movie Audrey said she was super thirsty and needed water asap. The closest shop at the mall was a gelato shop. I went in intending to just buy the bottle of water but she sweet talked her way into a scoop of brownie gelato in a waffle cone!  **I think it must be the lack of front teeth and the slight lisp that she's got right now. It gets me every time!**

This is what bedtime looks like every night! Jammies on, read scriptures, sing a song, say a prayer, pile on dad and watch an episode....or several....of Studio C. Fun family traditions!

Bringing the Jungle Inside

The biggest news of the week is.......WE ARE OFFICIALLY RESIDENTS OF NICARAGUA!! This was no simple task! Our friend (and HUGE help) Pia worked really hard to collect and submit all of the documentation! We made at least 6 trips to the immigration office and several visits to a lawyer for authentication of documents. Not to mention the numerous documents I collected and had notarized or apostilled before we moved. This was a tough process but now we are half Nica!!

We all got our resident cards on Monday! 

Audrey is a little Moana obsessed. She LOVES listening to the soundtrack and making costumes. Do you like her raft and sail?

Our bishop at church sings in the Nicaragua National Choir. This year is the 25th anniversary of the national orchestra and they put on a great concert. The bishop and his wife invited me to attend with them and it was so great!

On Saturday the primary put on an Easter egg hunt for the kids. We started in the Primary room with a spiritual video about the Atonement and Resurrection of Christ. Then the kids descended on the grassy area outside to find some hidden eggs! We had lunch too and it was a great time!

Spiderman even made an appearance!

After the Primary Easter activity we took a little day trip to the nearby town of Catarina. Catarina is known for its nurseries and being the best (and cheapest!) place to buy plants. We let each of the kids choose a plant and then we loaded up our SUV with as many plants and pots as it could hold! Our house feels so much more homey and happy!

Audrey chose a Norfolk Pine tree. One of my favorites!

Not pictured are the large cactus, a second lengua de suegra (the tall narrow leaf one), a tangerine tree, a hibiscus, a large palm and 4 banana plants!

Audrey: "Mom what do I look like?!"
Me: "A first grader"  :)

Venterón

Last weekend Redick said he wanted a break from the beach. That was understandable, we did go to the beach 3 weekends in a row! Tough life here! He wanted to hike instead. We decided to check out a new spot called Venterón. It was really pretty close to home, less than an hour drive. Venterón is a tall hill behind Volcán Masaya. It has an incredible view of the volcano, the valley and a lot of rolling hill farmland. It wasn't actually a hike, per se, more of a walk up a really dusty road. 

The coolest fact about Venterón we learned after we got home. On the top of the hill Elder Richard G. Scott gave a devotional and dedicatory prayer to officially dedicate the LDS proselyting effort in Nicaragua. This was on April 9, 1990. In 1990 there were only 3,500 members of the LDS church in Nicaragua. Now there are over 92,000! 

Cutie!

When we got out of the car to start the hike Redick grabbed his sword and Capitan America shield and proudly announced that he would be the 'scout' and walk in front to take care of any bad guys for us. 

This is the view of the back side of Volcán Masaya. The dark ash and smoke you see is because the volcano is 'technically' erupting right now! In December of 2015 the earth shifted and the bottom of the crater opened up to expose the boiling molten lava lake below!  

Redick took this family photo. :)

This weekend we took another fairly local trip to Hacienda San Hacinto. It is just 30 minutes or so north of Managua. 

Way back in the 1850s an American named William Walker decided to organize a private military operation and go conquering territories in Central America. He called his band of militants Filibusters. He was not officially sanctioned by the US government and his intent was to gain control of his conquered territories for himself personally. His terror permeated most of Central America and William Walker even managed to usurp complete power in Nicaragua and was the President of Nicaragua from July 12, 1856 to May 1, 1857.

On September 14, 1856 the Nicaraguans fought a battle against William Walker's Filibusters. There were 300 Filibusters against 100 Nicaraguan soldiers and 60 indigenous men armed with bows and arrows providing support from the perimeter. The battle lasted 4 hours and from the Nicaraguan side there were 10 deaths and 7 wounded and the Filibusters suffered 27 deaths.In the end the Filibusters retreated and the Nicaraguans declared victory.

Part of the reason we decided to visit Hacienda San Jacinto this weekend was to give the kids a chance to explore some wide open spaces with few if any limits. They had such a great time!! They ran as far as they could out in this field and then wound their way back. They climbed a giant 200+ year old tree and generally had a great time feeling free to explore. Freedom and exploration are much more limited and different in the city.

Rifles with bayonets that were used in the battle

This is an original painting depicting the battle at San Jacinto.

Iron work from the time

Audrey can tell you all about these Nicaraguan symbols. The national flower is the sacuanjoche, national tree is the Modroño and the national bird is the Guardabarranco. Also pictured here is Rubén Darío, a famous Nicaraguan poet as well as the lyrics from the Nicaraguan National Hymn.

Audrey can even sing the National Hymn for you!! *She fudges most of the words but isn't her pronunciation ON POINT??!?!? Her Spanish is coming along great!

Redick and Reid really loved being able to run off and explore. The area was huge and there was only low brush so no way to get lost.

This is the Hacienda. It was built in 1841

Later in the day the kids attended the birthday party of one of their friends that lives here in our condo complex. It was a huge bash with 2 inflatable water slides, a bounce house, catered food, popcorn and shaved ice. Along with the condo clubhouse pool, of course. It was very fun!

Here are some other random photos for posterity. 

It appears that Mitchell took a picture of me "putting the boys to bed." They often push their 2 twin beds together so they can tell stories at night. I love that Reid has his arm around me. 

Mitchell befriended a man at church who was investigating the church. When the time came, he asked Mitchell to actually baptize him. It was a neat experience for Mitchell and also for our kids to witness it. 

At the new school they are given a lot of freedom and materials to pursue their creative ideas. Redick's current fascination is with the face paints. He painted his own face here, it's supposed to be war paint. I asked him to give me a fierce look but it came off as more concerned than anything. 

These 2 are good buddies and love to do strange things to get a laugh! Here they were asked to go put on their jammies and they came down like this.

Reid likes to refer to himself as "the Sports Kid." He loves all things sports and can often be found outside kicking a soccer ball or hitting baseballs. He's getting pretty good too! The other day Redick said to Mitchell, "Reid likes sports and I like to draw." These are 2 of Redick's latest masterpieces. He used a step by step how to draw YouTube video to help and I think they turned out fantastic!

Pikachu

A Racecar