The Final Navidad Post!

Wow! We gotta get through these Christmas posts so we can get to all the exciting recent happenings. So we spent a few more days in Santa Barbara after our trip to Guatemala. On this day we went to the beach with Raia, Jeff, and Veronica. It wasn't quite warm enough to be shirtless, but Ezra went for it. He found that scraper and was doing all sorts of sand sculpting.

Ninja lifeguard!

Later we went to the Sea Center and Ezra got to pet this swell shark! Pretty cool.

Ezra and Auntie Raia made some yummy Christmas cookies. Unfortunately Ezra didn't like them, but hey more for us! At least he enjoyed making them.

Grandma, Veronica and Ezra on Lil' Toot, a funny boat that takes you across the harbor in Santa Barbara. Smiles abound!

And Ezra even got to drive and blow the horn.

We passed by these sea lions and the tour guide told us that those in the water are the babies trying to get up on the buoy to dry off. The adults are not into letting their kiddos up however.

Sorry to post the butt shot, but the kids look so cute!

Santa Barbara sunset.

We went for a lovely scenic drive.

Sorry, this is blurry and not everyone looks there best but there's some element of cuteness I can't resist.

Ezra and Veronica riding the carousel right before we got on the train to head home.

The snowy mountains of southern Oregon.

Some Portland news forthcoming!

Hope y'all had a happy holiday season.

Navidad 2012: Guatemala (part 3)

Ok I need to warn you. This is Tia Sandra sharpening her knife to kill the turkey that we ate Christmas Eve. I decided to take pictures to capture the process, however gory that may be. As a meat eater I decided that it was necessary for me to watch an animal being killed for my consumption. For all you (2) meat eaters reading this who have not seen an animal killed for your consumption, I have captured it for you here. Don't worry, you can scroll down past the whole ordeal. There are more cute pictures of Ezra and his Guatemalan family to follow.

After you sharpen your knife you hang the chosen turkey upside down and tie it's legs together. It helps if you have at least two people to do this. Tia Sandra holds the bird while Isaac ties the legs. Angie steadies the turkey.

Then someone pipes up that the chosen turkey isn't the biggest turkey after all and another turkey is brought in to weigh in. Tia Sandra and Isaac deliberate.

Still unsure a third party is brought in to weigh the turkeys. Emmy, Isaac's girlfriend, suggests feeling the breast of the turkeys to compare as their weight feels very similar. In the end the breast of the original chosen turkey is larger and therefor gets to go to turkey heaven after all.

Alejandro, William's son, comforts the turkey in its final moments.

Ezra is upset about the turkey dying. Alejandro seems more neutral.

You might think I'm a bad mother for letting Ezra witness all of this, but seriously, if he eats meat he should know where it comes from.

YOU MIGHT NOT WANT TO LOOK AT THE NEXT TWO PHOTOS IF YOU ARE SQUEAMISH OR A VEGETARIAN OR A TURKEY.

To kill the turkey you slice through the neck. Blood spurts out and the turkey does not die immediately. It took two people to hold the turkey down for approximately 2 minutes after its neck had been cut off. It continued to make gurgle gobble noises as well, however that is possible.

The turkey is now dead. Thank you turkey for your life and meat.

I should have mentioned that before you kill the turkey you should put a huge pot of water over the fire so that it's nice and hot once the bird is dead. Putting the dead turkey in the hot water makes it a lot easier to remove the feathers. Here Angie and Tia Sandra pull out the feathers and voila! It looks like a turkey you'd buy at the supermarket just like that.

Btw after the turkey they also killed a duck and taking the feathers out of the duck took a substantially longer time because it has a bunch of little, tiny, downy feathers under the longer ones. So in a time crunch kill a turkey over a duck.

OK NOW YOU CAN LOOK AGAIN.

I took a picture of this picture of Cristian and William when they were young. This picture hangs on Great Grandma's wall and was taken at her house. Cristian is on the right and I can so so see little Ezra in his face.

The view from the roof of Tia Sandra's.

Here's Alejandro!

And here's Ezra pretending to be an old man. He was so convincing! I think he may just be a famous actor someday.

Trying on a completely different role here he plays the baby, cradled by his Uncle William.

One night we went with Karla to a nearby town to eat empanadas. I only took this one picture of the gorgeous church all lit up for Navidad.

Angie pushed him around all over the place. I need her around all the time to keep him entertained!

Outside of Odie, Edvincito & Frijolito's house they had some blaring music and pinatas for all the neighborhood kids. 

Frijolito was ecstatic!

Ezra and Frijolito.

Ezra, Frijolito & Michael, son of Duglas who is Cristian's cousin.

Here's the saddest picture I've ever seen. Not right. Just not right.

Ezra took flowers from other graves to put on his Papa's. We meant to buy some flowers but no one was selling them on Christmas day. There were some people selling coconuts so we got some for ourselves and an extra one for Cristian and drank coconuts in the shade in the cemetery. We went that day with Cristian's dog Oso and one of his best cousins Noe. It was a special crew.

Oso went everywhere with Cristian. Every morning the two went to work together, Oso riding on the front of the motorcycle as Cristian drove. They went far and wide together. Cristian took very good care of Oso, always buying him food along with his own.

The neighbors told me that after Cristian was killed that Oso waited outside his house for two days. They tried to give him food and a blanket, but he wouldn't eat or go near them. When they carried Cristian to the cemetery they stopped at his work to pause, and they say that Oso jumped on top of the coffin, clearly aware that his best friend was inside.

Oso now rides around with Noe on his motorcycle much to the enjoyment of all those who they pass. Oso doesn't look as good as before; he's thinner and shabby looking and when we were there was only walking on three paws.

He's still a sweet dog and I think he remembered me. It was good to see him again. I'm glad that Noe is taking care of him as well as he can.

More or less it says: "We will keep in our minds your best smile and you will live forever in our hearts"

At the bottom it says "Remembered by his parents, siblings, and son"

Ezra asked me to read it to him a few times. He was kind of amazed to be mentioned. He said, "That's me."

We left Chiquimula that day headed for the capital because we flew out the next day. We got a ride with Karla and made it in record time (normally it takes 4+ hours; she drove it in 2.5). I did get some last shots of this beautiful, mountainous country.

Then we flew away.

Guatemala Navidad 2012 (part 2)

What else did we do? Some of our favorite things, such as going to the swimming pool! We have gone to this pool many times in the past and Ezra has some fond memories of coming here with his Papa.

 This year he requested that I take pictures of him with some of the characters painted on the walls. So here's Ez and Goofy...

Ez & Donald + Daffy...

And Ez & Minnie + Mickey in the shadows.

He spent more time playing on these swings than swimming.

Ez also painted some rocks. One day he went out and found two rocks and brought them to me saying "Mama! Let's paint these rocks!" So we went to the store and bought some paints and painted one for his Tia (Aurita) and the other for his Grandma.

For old time sake I washed my clothes by hand. It is strangely satisfying to see them all hanging on the line, scrubbed clean with my own hands.

Neil, Cristian's cousin & son of Tia Sandra (who you will meet later in the turkey slaughtering post) came over and played with Ez in the big hammock.

Then they played in the back of Isaac's car.

We spent a lot of time over at Tia Sandra's house. Her lovely daughter Zabdi braided my hair in this fancy fishtail!

This day at Tia Sandra's we were celebrating Isaac's 33rd birthday. In the picture from left to right are Julie (daughter of William, Cristian's older brother), Ez, Great Grandma Paola, Isaac, Diego (boyfriend of Zabdi), and Tia Sandra lighting the candle.

Isaac was embarrassed about the whole thing. He'd told me previously he doesn't like to celebrate his birthday but his family would have none of that! That morning Tia Sandra, her two children, Isaac's girlfriend Emmy and her three children all showed up at the house at 5 am and set off firecrackers right outside the window waking us up and giving us a fright! Then they came in a sang happy birthday and brought cookies, coffee, and fresh empanadas. It was fairly hilarious. Later I was talking with the neighbors about it and they were all laughing too. I feel like my neighbors would have called the police, but not in Guatemala!

Here's Tia Sandra and her mother, Great Grandma Paola. Sandra is Cristian's father's sister and Paola is his mother. They are both incredibly sweet women. Great Grandma Paola, aka Abuelita or just Abue, is a riot! During dinner Sandra was taking pictures of everyone and Abuelita would only pose holding a chicken foot in her mouth- ha!

Another of our old standby activities is to go to the mall. It's air conditioned and for whatever reason reminds us of home. Ez got some mint chocolate chip ice cream and took a ride in the submarine. Happiness!

Sending out the vibe at the mall.

Ez has always loved playing with his cousins Angie and Julie. They are William's daughters and live with the Abuelita. The LOVE their cousin Diegito!

The Abuelita has many, many animals. This one is a Piriguey and after it's mother died the Abuelita nursed it with a baby bottle. It's so cute! She also has two dogs, many cats, many birds (including parrots), turkeys, chickens, ducks, and giant fish in her pila. All the animals love her, and whenever she leaves they line up by the door awaiting her return.

Ez made some mud pie and tried to get everyone to taste it. No one took him up on it, and days later he told me that he ACCIDENTALLY tried some. No, it didn't taste very good he reports.