Two Month Limit

For whatever reason between this year and last year Ezra and I seem to have a two month limit as to how long we can be in Guatemala. This year it came down to money mostly, as much as I hate it you really do need it to do stuff. So here is a little collection of photos from the last week or two of our time there.


Guatemala is so very mountainous and lovely.


Smooches.


Cristian and his mother, Ezra's abuelita. (Don't you love Cristain's curly unicorn?)


Droofy, the one kitten that we chose to keep of the original six. He sleeps, a lot.


We bought our milk fresh every morning from the neighbors who had milking cows. Ezra drank and drank and drank the milk. Classy moustache.


The turtle came to check things out.


Watch out! He says he's a fish superhero!


Here are the kittens right before we gifted them to the neighbors, who by the way were fighting over them. Everybody thought that they were angora, even though they are not, and for this reason every one wanted one, two, or three. Apparently you can sell angora cats here because the people who live in the mountains eat them. Sorry kitties.


Ezra loved being in the hammock and spent a lot of time there. We will miss you Guatemala.

Hair ut

Here's one last picture of the boy with the shag/Beiber do.


And here with his new, unfortunately somewhat military, hair cut! He also has some strange orange substance on his face...


Oh it must be from the Cheeto puffs. Yep. McDonald's and Cheetos. Yikes!


And here's the other thing that he's doing now, sitting in my clothes hamper on the sidewalk in front of our house.

Boys in Blue

He gets so dirty so fast!

Old McDonalds

I think we go to Mcdonalds too much. It's different here though, it's a classy joint.

Sunday Funday

Sunday is the only day Cristian doesn't have to work so we made the absolute best of it last weekend. The night before we planned what food we wanted to make and in the early morning I drove the motorcycle to the market and got all the supplies, which included buying the meat of a cow's udder. Yes I tried it, no I didn't like it. It was really tough surprisingly! I thought it was going to be like butter. Anyhow, Cristian likes udder so he lucked out that I didn't like it (I guess).

The only other note about the market that morning was that I actually got good prices. Usually the vendors take advantage of me not knowing the price of things and way overcharge me. An example from the last time I went to the market: I asked how much the mandarines were, she said 5 for 10Q, I only had 5Q, she said “Oh I will gift them to you then, for your son, and sell you 2 mandarines for 5Q”, I gave her the 5Q and she gave me the 2 mandarines, later I realized that she did not gift me anything as that's even more expensive. On Sunday's visit to the market I paid 1Q per mandarine (not from the same lady). Thanks dude with the wheelbarrow of mandarines!

So when I got home Cristian marinated the udders and then got to work making a kite. October is kite flying month here in Guatemala and the kites are not plastic and covered with commercial characters. They are largely homemade using paper, needle, thread, glue, and thin sticks. Cristian and his brothers made dozens of kites every October when they were young of every size, but he hadn't made one in roughly a decade. He spent most of the morning piecing it together.


When it was finished Ezra and Cristian made a fire to cook lunch (yes, fire roasted udders). Ezra really enjoyed making the fire and when it was done he sat in his chair around the fire and even had a poker stick. Such a Minnesotan. Cristian didn't understand. I made a pasta salad and some guacemole. The guacemole turned out really good, I think I've got guacemole down. The secret? Not so much lime juice. Well, I had put in too much lime juice the last time so that was the secret to this batch anyways. There are limes all over the ground from all the trees so it's easy to put too much in when cooking. Although the neighbor told me the other day that lime juice is good for relieving the itching of insect bites, so that's good to know and good to have in plenty.

We sat around the fire and flipped tortillas and ate a good, fire cooked meal. After a digestion period, we took the kite and walked the opposite way down our dead end street than normal, towards the river which is called El Rio Taco (accent over last 'o'). We crossed the river at a narrow point, zigzagged along the river bank and followed a stony path up for a short while. We arrived at this beautiful, sunny, stony piece of land that Cristian's grandmother actually owns. It felt as though we had walked far, but when I looked back over across the river we were aligned perfectly with our own callejon (dead end street, it rhymes with own). It was weird to see our familiar street from such a different perspective. The old men were propped up on the sidewalks in the same places, only viewed from the other side it appeared so strange.



We tried to fly the kite, but tragically there was no wind. Spending the whole morning to make and kite and then having no wind when you want to fly it is a bummer. But we had a lovely time walking around, especially Ezra. He collected sticks, jumped between the rocks, and walked along this pipe.



We waited for wind to come and watched the rain clouds approaching. There was a small wind growing and we wanted to wait to see just that the kite would fly, but looming rain and darkness didn't allow it. As we walked back home the wind grew strong, but we continued and got home just before the rain started. Hopefully next Sunday the wind will be more timely in her arrival.



Ezra really enjoyed himself.




They are becoming closer each day, it's so so so so so so sweet.



There was this cliff and Ezra was very keen on standing right at the edge. I don't know how helpful the t-shirt pinch was for my nerves really.

Play Dough Power Hour(s)

Ezra and I spent roughly two+ hours playing with play dough today. Whew. It was intense. Who knew that a garlic press is the perfect play dough accessory? Hopefully I will be able to clean it out and use it for cooking again, but if not it was worth it.





It's a bit more difficult to occupy ourselves here as there are no libraries, parks, science museums, community centers, etc. Besides Play Dough we do a lot of puzzles, books, coloring, painting, and going out for smoothies.

7 Cats, One Parrot, Oso the Dog, 2 Armadillos

We have a bit of a menagerie going on down here, as usual. I think there was somewhat of a menagerie last year when we were here, but the mama cat had a litter of 6 kittens two weeks ago, upping the anti substantially. I'm sure once they're bigger, eating more and whinier I won't like them as much, but right now they are just so gosh darn adorable I can stare at them for a long time. Ezra can too. Although of course he is more interested in picking them up than gazing, which can get irksome since they sleep 90% of the day.

Ezra comes up with names for the kittens all the time, and the names he has suggested so far include: Droofy, Pantelones, Cup, Pan, Fork, Sinky, Vensy, Bobsvu, and Bobsy. We have more names than cats currently.






The parrot, Homero Jumprope of course, is up to his same old wiley tricks. He sure likes to nibble on the clothes I hang on the line. I figured out though that if he's gnawing on something that I don't want him to I just give him some peanuts (in the shell) and that satisfies his need to pick his beak.



I mentioned the armadillos, but really I've never even seen them. The story goes that someone was selling one male and one female armadillo, live, and Cristian felt sorry for them because they were tied up and looked scared so he bought them. The sellers intention was to sell them as something tasty to eat, but they were released into the backyard and are currently burrowed down somewhere out there. I'd expect baby armadillos considering the couple, which would be adorable. Although baby kittens and baby armadillos might be a bit much.

Still no photos...

Argh! We are having endless computer problems resulting in limited photographic evidence of our activities here. We are still bumbling right along here, getting pretty sick of beans and overly salty meat but trying to find alternatives that we can all live with. Seriously the food is the biggest problem right now for me! I remember the last time I lived down here that I got bored with the same old same old, but at this point my body is down right rejecting the typical food! I seem to only be able to stomach pizza, calzones, and popcorn. Oh and smoothies of course. I have always liked beans but at this time I just about wretch looking at them.

Pobres frijoles.

Ezra doesnt seem to be tired of the food, and has even taken a liking to corn tortillas much to his fathers delight. I couldnt care less about them, even though I have to buy 15 of them every day. Cristian cant eat without tortillas. The hand where the tortilla is supposed to be just hangs there limply. Poor Guatemalteco. We like some of the same things, like eggplant and chicken, but he likes everything dripping in grease, namely margarine grease. My poor grandmother, watching me cook with the palm oil horror day in and day out. Food is basic and necessary, and while I was worried about a lot of different things, I wasnt prepared for the confrontations of combating cuisines. Oh and he also likes MSG, as everyone does here. I shudder.

But he and Ezra are getting to be pretty good friends and its adorable. Ezra understands more and more and Cristian understands more and more too. Ezra says "Im hungry" and Cristian says "Tienes hambre?" Hes always been good at detecting what someone is saying.

We have more gall darned pets. Two more birds and one dog. The dog was fogotten at our house by a friend of Cristians who came over to help do some landscaping and proceeded to get wasted. So drunk you forget your dog, for two weeks. We assume the dog will stay. Hes ok, nice enough, when he isnt eating the toilet paper or burrowing Ezras shoes deep in the dirt!!! Just what I need. No more pets! I mean it!

Ok, well, I wish I could just sit and ramble but Im at the internet place by my house and theres no apostrophe button and its irritating. And I still have to make flyers for my English lessons.

Savor your favorite foods! Especially if those near and dear agree with your palet.

Saludos!

Hello, hello! Que tal a todos, and my deepest apologies for the lengthy absence of postings concerning the whereabouts and well being of myself and my guy. We are in fact here in Chiquimula, Guatemala where it is somewhat difficult to acquire the necessary means to access the internet from one's casa. It's a long story, but I should mention that one critical element of the down fall of staying in touch is the inability of a company called needabattery.com. I ordered a battery for my computer from them 2 months ago, and have finally received it. Yes, the lesson here is to check the consumer report before purchasing as I later found that this particular company received an overall F.

So here we are, living in an adobe house, getting a feel for life here a little bit more everyday. In general it is very tranquil, with folks setting along our quiet street talking about the rain, the heat, the price of corn, etc., as well as at least a dozen children of all ages running up and down, kicking an empty, crushed plastic bottle for sport. Many of them have actual soccer balls, but they appear to prefer the bottle- I suspect for the sound it makes scraping along the pavement. How about that for recycling!

Our house has one medium sized bedroom, an equally medium sized living room, a large patio, a large kitchen, and many fruit bearing trees in the expansive backyard. Our neighbors on one side are primarily chickens, with one large dog that likes to have conversations with our pet birds. Yes, we have multiple feathered friends as well as other pets. Currently we have one parrot (Homero Jump Rope), two small green birds (la Turra and Eyebrow), one cat (Gato), one duck (Patito Feo/Ugly Duckling), and one iguana who doesn't have a name because we rarely see him as he hangs out in the trees all the time feeding on insects and such. The iguana was rescued from Cristian's dad's neighbor's house where it was tied up in a plastic bag and had had its tail and fingernails cut off. Cristian is some kind of animal whisperer and had to rescue the poor creature, so here he is growing back more tail and nails every day and is nothing of a nuisance. The duck was also a rescue effort of Cristian, as its mother did not want it and would peck at it whenever it got close. I guess what happened was that there were two mama ducks and all but one of the first mama's eggs hatched. To save the egg it was placed in the nest of the other mama duck, but when her real eggs hatched along with the adopted one, she knew it was not her young and rejected him. The poor thing really just wants to follow someone around, and although sometimes I accidentally brush him with my foot no one is deliberately pecking at him here at our house. He and the cat get along very well, except when the cat thinks he's going to eat the duck, but the duck is growing faster than the cat so it's not a very good chance the cat will be successful.

The torrential rain has ceased thankfully, as our house is on a down slope from the rest of the yard and often times we found ourselves fighting to keep the water out of the house with brooms for longer than my arms preferred. Cristian's father's house was re-flooded, and this time was apparently worse than the time before (remember all you generous souls who helped out? Thanks again!). However, this time around many more people showed up to help clean and donate food and all of that so I am electing to not sponsor a fundraiser. Seriously, the river overtakes your house twice in a rainy season, you need to move. What's that saying, fool me once never gonna fool me again? Yes, the river has proven its strength as well as the imbalance of the environment. Move it or lose it.

What am I talking about weather when I should be giving the Ezra update? Right. Well, he continues to grow I noticed this morning when I put on his ball cap and it looked comically petite resting on top of his head. He is picking up some Spanish, he can count from one to five consistently and sometimes when I am speaking to Cristian in Spanish Ezra understands what we are talking about. A lot of the time I think that Ezra understands more Spanish than he lets on but, like all children, he often times prefers not to understand (like when the neighbor boy asks him for his toy back, or his father tells him not to strangle the cat) because he wants to continue his way. He's a little too obsessed with watching television which I let slide a bit mostly because it is all in Spanish and I figure it will help him to learn. We spend everyday together and I primarily speak in English with him (when I speak in Spanish he says, “Mama, please speak in English.”) so I think his progress of learning Spanish is slightly retarded by the continued English immersion for the majority of the day.

Here's a cute Ezra quote from the other day:

Me: “Where does your food go after you put it in your mouth?”

Ez: “Into your milks (breasts).”

Me: “And after that?”

Ez: “Into your tummy.”

Me: “And after that?”

Ez: “To Grandma's house.”

I've asked him these questions several times and he always answers in this way, and I don't suspect that he is joking as his delivery is quite serious.

Here's one more from this morning:

Setting: after doing number two in the potty he looks down at his work and remarks:

“Mama, there's a skateboard in there.”

His poop looked like a skateboard? Sure sweetie.

Cristian got Ezra a bike, but he can only ride it with us pushing him around which gets very tiresome. Life is a bit more tiresome here as everything takes much more human power than industrial power. There is not dishwasher, there is no washing machine, there is no Swiffer. I'm a bit of an environmentalist so I can find my deep appreciation for the exercise and interaction offered by the lack of mechanical luxuries. However, doing everything takes so freaking long and there are many, many times when I want to throw in the laundry and catch up on some reading rather than get my upper body work out.

I guess that leads into what exactly am I doing. At the present I am basically a house wife, which is a funny kind of job to be plopped into. One of the key reasons why I decided to haul us down here was so I could spend more time with Ezra, rather than having to work and put him in child care as I would have had to in the US. So in my new role I am able to do just that and I do enjoy it. We have our moments of insane frustration and grief, but overall we have a good time together and I like watching him learn new things every day, whether it be standing up to pee (“Like Uncle does!”) or cracking an egg or making fresh mandarin juice (his current favorite) or pouring himself a glass of water, there are so many opportunities to learn.

Which brings me to what I would like to be doing in addition to my current house wife chores: teaching. I have two potential students, a girl and a boy each 3 years old, but I am waiting for their parents to make up their minds about when, how long, and so forth. I am brainstorming fun activities and making worksheets and such, but am weary of investing too much at this point since my students are still only hypothetical. I am going to print up some business cards and put some flyers around town sometime very soon and hopefully that will jump start things.

In the mean time I am cooking a lot, as a housewife must. It is much more challenging here, as I have no idea what much of the food in the market is. At first I would only buy the things I knew how to cook, but soon that got old so I've begun to buy random things that look interesting and then Cristian tells me how to prepare them. For example, squash blossoms. So pretty, but what on earth do you do with them? Make a soup! I also bought okra the other day, something I know more or less how to cook, but have learned that okra is delicious bar-b-qued! Most of the weird looking fruit can be turned into a fresco (juice the fruit, add water, sugar and ice), an activity that Ezra thoroughly enjoys. I have not jumped onto the weird meat wagon however, even though Cristian has expressed interest in eating pigs ears. Yes, pigs ears. I see them in the market and I simply cannot buy them. I told Cristian that he would need to do something for me if I cooked him pigs ears, and I haven't figured out what humongous favor that will be quite yet. Cristian would also like to buy a whole, live chicken that he would then kill. I think this could be a good thing to do, but am a little worried about Ezra's reaction both to the death of the bird and his attitude towards our pets afterwards. I'll keep you posted about that.

We did make it to Copan a few weekends ago and had a super wonderful fantastic great time. I pretty much would prefer to live there, but alas it doesn't really seem possible at this point. It is so small and clean and the air is so fresh and the mountains... oh and the countless English speaking friends and amazing library. I had to tear Ezra kicking and screaming out of the library when we went it was so sad. There is not a library here in Chiquimula and it stinks big time. We will have to go to Copan very frequently and gain the trust of the librarians so we can take books home with us. The selection we have is getting a bit stale, although the care packages from Grandma are very helpful to liven things up.

Cristian and I are getting along alright. He works a lot so I feel like we hardly ever see him. He works Monday through Saturday, 8 to 6 with a 2 hour lunch break from noon to 2 when he comes home. This leaves only Sunday and since the house where we live needs a fair amount of work he spends all day busy working here. Of course one of the reasons we came here was so that Ezra could build a relationship with his father, and right now I don't see that happening. I'm sure it's happening much more subtly than I realize but at this time my first wish would be that they spent more time together. At this point when Ezra sees his dad he asks, “Is he going to work?” as though he doesn't belong in the house. I think the language barrier is a huge obstacle to overcome, as they can't really communicate and plus when Cristian is here I speak in Spanish to him potentially causing Ezra to feel left out because he doesn't understand what we're talking about and prefers to be a part of the conversation as anyone would.

At any rate, things are above average most days and the house is coming together nicely and my computer works so really who can complain. It's started to rain now, not torrential I don't need to get the broom, but our pet birds love to make all sorts of funny noises when it rains, especially the parrot. I think he really likes the rain. Oh and by the way just so you know, the birds are not in cages they just live outside in a tree near the patio. The parrot can't fly and Cristian clipped the other birds' wings, which I will have you know is just trimming their feathers not actually maming them in anyway. I wouldn't want a bird in a cage in my house. I don't like that.

I'll be much better at keeping in touch from now on, I promise! Here's some pictures and videos from our first month here in Guatemala.

OH NO! The pictures are taking an extremely long time to load and I only have access for 10 more minutes! I will have longer access next time, I'm so so so so sos osososososoososso very sorry- only words this time. Boo hoo.

Bath Buddies & Video Vault

Maya came over for dinner last night and then they had a bath. Ezra went through a few emotional roller coasters.

And here's some videos from long ago and recently. The first is Ezra playing with his new trains and stacking blocks that his grandma got for him.

Here's one from when we were in Guatemala, poolside. So warm, so tropical. It's raining here.

Ezra loves to feed Big Bird his breakfast. Here they share french toast.

And this is from this morning at gymnastics class. These dog is rocking.

Hangin Out with Papa

Sorry about the lack of pictures, tales, and videos as of the past two weeks! I think I might have forgotten to mention that we were going to Guatemala for 2 weeks. We left the 18th of August and came back the first of September. It was a little long to be honest, but we did have some fun. A favorite outing was to the local swimming pool. In the above photo Ezra (Diego as he was called there) and Cristian relaxed on the swings. I did not relax on these swings because they're really freaking uncomfortable.

POOL SIDE

The boys do have similar tastes in footwear. These were left pool side along with Mama, who took the opportunity to take in some sun (and some pictures).

Will he catch him? He looks a little unsure...


He pulls it off! Ezra is completely fearless when it comes to jumping in water. That's a good thing, but a little scary. He also has no fear of any dog, no matter how large and barky. I haven't discovered many fears of Ezra, besides the absence of his dear, sweet Mother.

Here Ezra holds on solo. He really thinks he's 8 years old and can swim. He's always pushing me away in pools like, no Mom, I can swim, scram.

This is what happens when you believe him that he can swim. He pulled him up real quick like, don't worry. Ezra thought it was funny. Oh fiddlesticks.

Here's a little video of the boys in the pool, complete with excessive volume radio announcers speaking in Spanish. The one draw back to this pool is that they play the worst music really loud. Even worse news: Ezra liked it.

WATER VOLCANO

Getting out of the city, we headed to the Volcano de Ipala. This volcano is full of pristine, very chilly water. I have been here a couple of times before, but this was the first time with the Bunny Boy. The hike up usually takes about an hour, but this day it took about three. Ezra was not having it. I think he was just bored of being in the pack so he kept whining and wanting to get out. Once we got to the top and he saw the water he was all smiles. On the trip down we planned it better and he slept.
They've built a new road that goes all the way up to the top, but we opted for the hike. I think it is part of the experience. To really appreciate the lake, a sense of accomplishment is key. Not to mention being really hot and sweaty from the straight up hike.

This is a little fuzzy, but I still like it. Here's Ezra feeling pretty content after the dramatic climb.

Here's Ezra enjoying the clear, cool water with Papa handing him stones to throw and Anna, Cristian's Siberian Husky puppy, looking for chickens to chase.
(You might be wondering what a Siberian Husky is doing in Guatemala- sweating.)

We took a short hike up the the overlook. Ezra rests his eyes from the gorgeous vista.


Taking in the sights with some dirty little fingers.


We spent the night in a very comfortable little room. There were four beds. We used three and Anna (the dog, remember?) used the fourth. We brought up some food, and in this picture Ezra is enjoying some toasted bread with cream cheese. Papa looks on with a mix of amusement and disgust.

He really likes cream cheese apperently.

MOTO MECANICA
(Papa's work)

This is the only picture we took at the motorcycle repair shop where Cristian works. Here Ezra prepares to tour around with his father on a Choppy moto, a darling little thing that can climb mountains when needed. Buenicima moto, as Cristian would say.


THE NIECES

Cristian's older brother William has two daughters, Julie and Angie. He also has a son who was born the day after we arrived in Guatemala. I met the tiny guy once and he looked like a tiny, new baby. The grandma was excited to show off his "big" part in the nether regions. I took more notice in the extreme amount of hair that covered his arms, legs and head.
Anyway, back to Julie and Angie. Above is Julie, who is 7. She is crazy. She looks rather sweet here, hanging out in the hammock with her uncle.

However this photo illustrates her true nature. She always wants to wrestle. You'll be relaxed, maybe even about to fall asleep and she barges in and jumps you! I did not put up with her shananagans. Cristian is very patient with her, and pins her again and again until she gives up.

Here we see Julie (taking a break from the wrestling ring), Ezra, and Ezra's second cousin whose name I didn't catch. This second cousin is of course Cristian's first cousin, the daughter of his mother's sister. The sister's name is Lola, and she is the proud mother of NINE children. Her oldest is nearly thirty and her youngest just turned four. She had the youngest when she was 48. I think that's the last one.
The house where Cristian lives is always full of people going in and out. I didn't know many of them, and figured they were friends or something. Turns out that they are all children of Lola. Everytime the door opened it was another of her young. She's a woman of basic pleasures, telling me she is poor but free, and finds happiness in having a tortilla and some beans. I'd assume that to mean some for all of her herd as well. Oh Lola. Always with a smile. And some sound advice about raising children.

Here's the other niece, Angie. She is older than Julie by just one year. She is much more tolerable than Julie, but not by much. She doesn't listen, she buys Ezra horrible food (lolipops, chips that seriously smell like poop, pure sugar drinks), and she's a little liar. Sorry Julie and Angie, but it's the truth. I don't know how Cristian puts up with these little sasafrases.
A little bit about why they are such the way they are: their mother is not around. I've never met her but apparently she has no interest in raising her children. She prefers to hang out in the street. What that means exactly I don't know, but the girls spend the majority of their time with William, their father, who is constantly leaving and coming back, leaving and coming back, to where I don't know. He jets around all day and all night.
The girls do spend some time with their great grandma as well. She cracks the whip on them and is, in my opinion, a glimmer of hope. She has them washing dishes and sweeping the floor. She wears a switch around her neck if anyone misbehaves.
I'm sure that they will turn out just fine, but I found them particularly irritating.

ANTIGUA

Antigua, Guatemala is a lovely little tourist town just outside of the capital city. We stayed here for two nights before we flew out. It is very conveniently located near to the airport and there are dozens of shuttles one can take to get there. It used to be the capital of Guatemala, but when the volcano that you see in the above photo erupted, it destroyed everything.
Antigua has been rebuilt is an antique style, with all the buildings following the style. See an example of this here and here.
I'm sure you can google it if you're interested, but basically there's tons of gringos, tons of overpriced restaurants, and really bumpy, cobblestone streets. It's lovely!
The above photo (and those to follow) was taken from an overlook. You can see the whole of Antigua and the volcano towering over it.

Here's Ezra being a little super model. His hair is getting so long! In the background you will see some gringos making out. On Ezra's feet you will find the hideous shoes gifted to him by his great grandmother. He loves them, it kills me.

A rare shot of mother and son, with Ezra taking a little ride on my back. (Did I tell you I cut my hair? I did, on my birthday.)

We had to do some more of those take a picture of yourselves with your arm stretched as far as possible. It's just hard to get everyone in the shot. Remember this from last time?

Doubly difficult to get everyone smiling.

Cristian doesn't like the up close shots so he requested a man to take this shot of us from a distance. I don't like these kinds of pictures. Sure you can see everything, but you can't see anything up close! Cristian and I have many differences. He likes tortillas, I like bread. He likes to eat the tongue of pigs, I don't. He wants to gain weight, I want to lose weight.
We have some similarities too, I suppose. We both like beans, salads, beets, lemonade, nature, The Simpsons, hammocks, and are both madly in love with Ezra (Diego to him).

Yes everyone called Ezra Diego while we were there. It was a little confusing for him. Well, quite frankly he just didn't pay any attention to them. They were concerned that he couldn't hear initially, but then I explained that I indeed don't call him Diego, but rather Ezra. They can't really say Ezra comfortably, the letter combination just doesn't jive for their articulation. So Diego was in Guatemala. I'm happy Ezra is back.

I face the challenge of helping him to unlearn some unfortunate habits picked up down there. One day he was throwing rocks at the neighbors' faces. Just as I was about to reprimand him, they started laughing! And they handed him more rocks! Just what he needs.
He also enjoyed slapping his father's face, and Cristian laughed about that too. He know slaps me, but I scold him. Oh Diego, just go away.

We're headed out to Minnesota for two weeks, leaving next Tuesday. I have five weeks off from school so we're getting around to see everybody. I'm really looking forward to going to the home land and relaxing in the hands of my parents. Fridges full of food, shimmering lakes, ready and willing hands to play with the Bunson Burner, ahhhhh yes.

More news sooner than later. Happy September!