Kid Update

A lot of times, our blogs are about places we've traveled to and the fabulous pictures that go with them.  These are designed to make you feel envious of our rock n roll lifestyle where we jet set all over Central America, frolicking in the waves of pristine beaches, hiking around breathtaking lakes and waterfalls, and coming eye to eye with some amazing animals.


Well, the reality is that we are working stiffs, just like you.  The only difference is that we are doing it in a different country.  Entirely.  So, this post is not to bore you with the ins and outs of our jobs, but to let you know what's going on with our cherubs. 

For a couple of months now, Linnea has taken much pride in making numbers with her body.  Here is a 4.  She can also masterfully create a 1, 2, 3 (this is tricky), 4, 7, and 8.  They have been making numbers with their bodies in pre-K and she thinks this is quite swell. 


She is learning about careers and was visited by a doctor and nurse (both women!) last week.  She informed me that one of them made medicine (are they bringing in a pharmaceutical scientists to pre-K?) and the other one took care of sick people.  Now she wants to be a vet.  "Oh, you want to veterinarian and take care of sick animals?" I ask her.  "No, I want to be a vet," she tells me. 


She is learning about the letter "Ss" this week and she took her Sylvia doll to show-and-tell today.  This is also number 11's big week!


I had to cut and paste this from her class blog, because it's kind of funny, but also really nice:


Virtue of the month: Tolerance. Our goal is:  "I will show my love by caring for others."


Now to Dempsey.  These are his spelling words for the week:  find, night, right, ever, head, should, shout, toad, from, and hike.  Since about October or November, Dempsey has been getting 100% correct on his spelling tests.  Today, his homework was to read a story out of his basal reader.  Remember that from when you were a kid?  A basal is a collection of leveled stories that you read.  I remember them being pretty boring.  

Well, today he was so excited because the story was from the Frog and Toad series by Arnold Lobel.  It was the story where Toad made a kite, but it wouldn't fly.  He excitedly came home and shared that he got to read a Frog and Toad story for homework.  He read it to his sister.  So sweet.  


In math, he's learning how to count by 2's, 5's and 10's.  


He made a ceramic bowl in art class last week.  This is a school-wide fundraiser  where each student and teacher makes a bowl.  The bowls will be sold for 100 lempira each on March 18 to raise money for a day care center here in the city that provides free care for children whose mothers have to work, but can't afford child care.  The money raised will provide breakfast and lunch for the children of the day care for almost a year.  Linnea and I made bowls, too.


Today was picture day.

Dempsey is the "Person of the Week" in his class.  He made a poster to tell about himself and it was his idea to made the American flag.  Tomorrow he is taking the ipod to school to play some of his favorite music.  Here is the playlist:


"Puff the Magic Dragon" by Peter, Paul and Mary
"The 3 R's" by Jack Johnson
"Happy Lemons" by Ralph Covert
"Shape I'm In" by Free Peoples
"The Sharing Song" by Jack Johnson
"I Love the Mountains" by Orange Sherbert
"Mr. Moon" by Orange Sherbert
"Rhinoceros Tap" by Adam Bryant


On Friday, to culminate his special status in his class, he will bring a snack of Rice Krispie Treats to share.


I think this probably gives you an idea of our typical day/week.  Now that I look at it, I can see that it's a lot!  No wonder we're always wiped out by Friday.


So, we'll keep posting the beautiful vacation pictures of exotic and beautiful places, but just remember that our weeks are just like yours...

Thursday Haiku

just go to sleep now

so many thoughts in your mind

friday will come soon

Surfing Turtle Lodge Rocks

We just got back from a three day weekend near Poneloya, Nicaragua.  We stayed at the Surfing Turtle Lodge.  To get to the lodge you: 1) park your car 2) hop in a small boat and cross a "river", which is actually the ocean between the mainland and the island, and then, 3) meet the horse drawn cart for the rest of the way.  Once you arrive at the nearly deserted beach you find this great little gem that has been created by a great guy named Pedro Mejia.  We all had fun playing on the beach and swimming in the big waves of the Pacific Ocean.  At just around six hours from our front door we will be regulars at this piece of paradise.  Enjoy some photos of our trip:

Volcano on the way to Chinendega, Nicaragua

Here's our ride to Surfing Turtle Lodge...

                                                             At our beach

                                                     (that's D behind her in the surf - he's crazy for it!)

 

         Our cabina                                                                  Surfing Turtle Lodge

 

In the Pacific

And here is the link if you happen to be in Nicaragua: http://surfingturtlelodge.com/

Travel Time

Hello family and friends we are hitting the road again this weekend!  We are heading to the good old Pacific Ocean in Nicaragua! So for all of our friends on the West Coast, we have a plan.  Head to the ocean between 11:00am and 1:00pm on Saturday.  We will be playing in the water during the same time and if you get in the water (sorry about the temperature) we will be swimming together in the same ocean.  It will be like a big (very big) swimming party!  Then you can take pictures of yourself swimming in the Pacific and we will take pictures of ourselves swimming in the Pacific and with a bit of photoshop magic we will even have pictures from our swimming party!  We are excited to see the Pacific Ocean again after all this time, we hope you can celebrate with us!

 

Photo Courtesy of Surfing Turtle Lodge Poneloya, Nicaragua

Clouds and Mountains

Last weeks full moon rising

Low, evening clouds creeping between the mountains, seen from our balcony

There are times when we look out the window and we're in awe of the beauty.  The clouds create a dramatic picture and the mountains can either be covered by a low cloud or they are illuminated in a golden glow from a sun low on the horizon.  There is never a bad view from our place at night - always twinkling lights.  

Birthday Party at Bungalow!!

Dempsey celebrated his seventh birthday with seven friends last Saturday at Bungalow, a miniature golf course not too far from our house.  He made the invitations himself (a completely foreign idea here, most invitations are professionally made) and chose the kids he wanted to invite.  It was a great party.  The kids played golf, put together Legos, ate hamburgers and had cake.  The friends that he invited were so sweet, as the pictures show.

           Birthday Dude     

                                                       The golfers scope out the course

                                         

Getting the girls started on the course

Future PGA player - (this picture is for Nana)

Lego time - here is Diego, Gabriel and D -

these are some of his best friends

Cake Time!

Just a sweet picture