Guatemala Summary

the team (left to right, you figure it out): me, John, Jillaine, Edwina, Kim, Jim, Deb, Megan, Lupe, Heather, CJ, and Marvin (our cool driver for the week)

phew! so it's been an extremely busy 2 weeks since I've been back home. with our long Texas trip and then my trip to Guatemala 2 weeks later, I've been swamped at work and home. I promise I'll put away the laundry tomorrow Dana! :-)

First off, I want to thank Dana for the fantastic posts! it was great to see all the funny videos when i got home (Aria was asleep).

so let's see. my last post (when i was actually there) was from the city of Panajachel. if i had brought my blackberry charger, i might have been able to keep sending posts. I tried to send a post that Monday, but that's when my blackberry decided it didn't have enough juice to email 2-3 pictures and a nice chunk of text. that post in its entirety is here now:

7/14/2008
"Woke up early this morning and had a delicious breakfast, then drove from the catholic retreat in Xela to the village of Xiabaj (She-ah-BA) to meet the children at their school as well as the teachers and principal. The Highland support project has several people teaching the women in the village how to create jewelry, so they can have another form of income.

"The children at the elementary school had presentations for us from each grade. The kindergartners sang songs and played little instruments, other grades showed how they weave detailed patterns from memory, others danced, and still others made masa (a type of dough from corn) and cooked tortillas over an open fire inside a classroom!

"Now we are heading to meet the families with whom we will work with to build the stoves in their houses. Another 2 hour bumpy ride, yay!

"Interesting to note: I didn't realize, but Xela is 8k feet above sea level, and Xiabaj is 10k! At that altitude, shortness of breath is easily attained :-)

after meeting the families, we went back to the retreat where we had a nice dinner and relaxed, preparing for the next 3 days of work. the team started our devotional routine where we would talk about what affected us the most that day, and then we would have our "medicine" — tequila shots FTW!! seriously, we were told tequila kills the bacteria that can cause "problems," and no one had "problems" all week.

I've stolen some pictures from my new friends' facebook albums, here they are!

walking back from the school at Xiabaj: at 10k feet, it's cloudy most of the time

Drink your medicine...

The beginnings of our first stove — Jim and I built 1.75 stoves in 3 days...

The family at the second house where we built a stove

the cake — for one of the mason's surprise 69th birthday party. the scar on my face — they told me to come up with a cool story, but the quick and dirty of it is i fell on my face. yeah.

Fun weekend!

We had a fun packed weekend. Friday we went to a free concert at a neighboring town, which was nice, and Aria even stayed up a little past her bed time (we lived to talk about it, haha). Saturday we went to a friend’s house for a BBQ and we got to meet baby Eve who is 1.5 wks old! Sunday Goofydaddy and I parted in the morning so he could go with Aria to our church and I played in the flute choir at another church. We met up for lunch at our church picnic. Goofydaddy took Aria in the pool and she enjoyed it. It was hard to get her to take a break for lunch! I arrived with enough time to take a dip with Aria, put her in the stroller for a nap, get a bite to eat and then the skies opened up! It worked out great for Aria’s nap getting home so quick and well…we ended up taking a nap too on the couch while relaxing in front of the TV. We ended the perfect weekend with a fun bath too! My Aunt gave Aria some color tablets for the bath (sounds weird but I believe they are all natural). She loved it and I’m teaching her that red and blue make purple! Way cool. Thanks Tante Pia and family!

Goofydaddy's Return - Quick Update

Poor Goofydaddy. When he got home he gradually felt worse and worse. He thinks he ate something a little "off" on the way home. Our plans of going to my G-pa's memorial service together had to change. Goofydaddy stayed behind to get better, while Aria and I headed out Sunday evening. Separated again :-(

Aria did really well with me. I'm a pro at flying solo by now, so I didn't even think twice about going alone with her :-) She was really good. Thank goodness.

We are home now and I'm trying to get things back together and take care of some much needed cleaning.

So, WELCOME HOME GOOFYDADDY! And we are glad you are finally feeling better.

Here are a couple pictures from our trip:

Aria fiddles on the piano with my cousin before my G-pa's service

My sister poses with Aria and all her buddies

Day Seven & Eight

Yay! The last two days are done. Aria was surprisingly grouchy these two days and I'm pretty sure she's getting sick of me. We need to mix some Daddy in there desperately.

Aria offering me "wine" with her cheese

Yesterday was fun because we had a neighborhood street Happy Hour. This is always nice because Aria plays real hard and then goes to bed easily. It's just out front so I get some adult interaction with the monitor right there if she needs me (which she hardly does). Today we did the mall playground circuit - we hit the first mall early and then met up with Austin at the 2nd mall. That was fun because she was totally entertained with little help from me and it was climate controlled!

Aria and Austin taking turns on the slide

Happy Aria!

She had fallen asleep in the car, so when we got home she woke up too much to take a nap (she tried for an hour). This like never happens! So later in the afternoon we went to a grocery store and she slept through the entire thing - even going from the car seat to stroller and back. This evening was nice...Austin's parents invited us over for dinner and the kids had so much fun. They were REALLY interacting for pretty much the first time. It was the cutest thing...of course it's the one time I forget my camera. They got a couple shots, so I will have to get those from them.

Goofydaddy should be showing up in the middle of the night tonight. I'm so excited. I made it through the week. I knew I could do it, but I was just nervous about doing it all alone for so long. It made it much more manageable with all the help from my neighbors. You guys are the best!!!

I'm glad I have the week documented with the blog for Goofydaddy because I can barely remember yesterday! He has so many of her new things to catch-up on. I can't wait to hear his opinion of how much she's changed. And I can't wait to get the details of his travels.

Over and out!

Day Six - "A Big Froggy"

2 more full days to go! I can do this :-) Today she was pretty good and just routine. On the way home we stopped at a store and they had water toys on sale. So, I picked out a frog pool, squirty thing. Aria loved it even without the water.

A face only a mother could love - HAHA!

We went over to Austin's to play with the frog and the pool he has. Austin's dad sang Ring Around the Roses and it was so cute that Austin and Aria held hands. The evening went by so fast and soon it was bedtime. I had a fun time being with adults after work.

Ring Around the Roses

Aria gets squirted in the face!

Aria and Austin take a little break

Kevin finally sent a short e-mail. He said he scraped one side of his face...yikes! Hope you are ok Goofydaddy. We miss you soooooo much!

Day Five - "I lub Daddy!"

I LUB DADDY!

Ok, we're ready for you to come home, Goofydaddy. Things are going alright, but life if so much better with you around!

Aria slept in a little later this morning (7:15), which was nice. I was so worried about getting ready in the morning and it hasn't been bad at all. She had a good day at school too. The teacher caught on to Aria's poo schedule...I was being greeted since the end of last week by a poo diaper and not realizing it until I went to pick her up to take her up the steps (GROSS). One day it got all over my arm! Apparently Aria's got a clock in her pants, so the last two days they've changed her diaper before I got there. It's cool they figured it out and are on the look out for it (the last place would have never adjusted in this way). They are changing her earlier that hour as well, but she is just going RIGHT before I picked her up. So today when I arrived she was getting her diaper changed and I had a nice talk with the teacher. One thing she said is that Aria is one of the last kids to fall asleep at naptime. She talks and talks and says "nite-nite" like 50 times, haha! The teacher said it she's not keeping the other kids up because they are used to noises (thank goodness). Then she's one of the last to wake up, which seems to fit the nap-time Aria I know.

When we got home we went to the playground. She climbed up the stairs and went down the slide all by herself (with me waiting for her at the end of the slide).

Then after dinner we went back out and played in the neighbors sprinkler :-) I call it her pre-bath to get the bug spray and sunscreen off, hehe.

Day Four - "I fall down"

Folks, we have a faker on our hands.

Today is another good day. Although, Aria got upset for the first time this morning when I dropped her off. She seemed a little crankier than normal this morning. She just cried for like 30 seconds when we got to her classroom, but then I handed the little broom to her and she was fine.

This morning she also said to me after I pulled her out of the crib, "See Daddy." Awwwwww.

After school we pulled out the bubbles and Aria actually blew bubbles. I didn't know she could do this yet. She always used to put the wand in her mouth instead of up to her mouth. Just a couple weeks pass and there we have it...bubbles!

This evening I had flute choir practice and after going down the list of neighbors and friends to baby-sit for a couple hours, my wonderful neighbor Julie and her daughter came to the rescue (again)! She said Aria was good and I'm glad! I came home to a sleeping baby, so I'm happy with that.

Kevin e-mailed and said that his Blackberry is almost out of juice and he won't be able to blog. Apparently there is an internet cafe they can get to, but it's just a matter of finding the time. :-( I miss having contact with my husband!

Day Three - "I step a worm!"

Before Aria headed off to school we played outside for a couple minutes. She is always surprising me with the things she comes up with. I'm not fond of bugs, so it's possible that she learned this from me.

I step a worm!"

I believe that is the same stick from yesterday. She's very loyal to her sticks.

An Austin Powers trick. She actually got it turned all the way around.

It was so nice...when I got home from picking Aria up and running to the grocery store, my next door neighbor took Aria on a little wagon ride. (She is constantly surprising me with the things that come out of her garage. The car above is from them too.) This was just enough time to change, put the groceries away and start an easy dinner. Thank you Julie!!!

5 more days to go. Still missing you Goofydaddy!

PS Aria is working on "I love you daddy" and she should have it down in a few days. It's getting close!!!

Day Two - "Watch the bucket"

Today we had a good morning and we went to the 10:00 service at church. On the way to church Aria started babbling about watching the bucket - haha! Apparently that Water Park really made an impact on her. I had my camera with me and just turned it on while I was driving. My eyes were on the road...not in the view finder :-)

I think she says "Watch the bucket...I'm excited"

After a long nap, Aria woke up a little cranky. So threw her in the stroller and we took a walk around the neighborhood. I saw a stick she might like and I gave it to her. I think that cheered her up!

When we got back to the house, Austin was out playing in his new babypool. It was so hot out I thought it was a perfect time to enjoy a popsicle.

Daddy requests:

Aria asked for Daddy multiple times today. It's hard to keep track! We miss you Goofydaddy.

Panajachel

I tried to blog yesterday, but it didn't seem to go through, so I'll again today. We spent about 5 hours traveling on very poorly maintained roads to the town of Panajachel (pannaHashel). It is one of many towns around lake atitlan, which was a volcano, and another is still active (in the photo). Very nice food and bungalows to stay in, though no hot water. Showers were interesting... 

Today we travelled to chichi which is basically a market that is a city. It is the largest market in central america. We ate in our driver's family's restaurant. Delicious. Just arrived at Xela (shayla). We will be here until thursday. Tomorrow we go to our village in the mountain to begin work on stoves.

Day One

Aria and I had a busy day today. Aria went to her first movie! My company invited us to a free movie to see WALL-E. She actually lasted through the previews and and an hour of the movie. I was impressed with that. She started talking a little loud, calling out the colors she saw on the screen and saying WALL-E at the hour point! She also wanted to start walking around, so we just left because I didn't feeling like pushing it. There were tons of young kids (I'm thinking everyone else had the same idea as me with the free movie). We left at a perfect time because we met up with Austin and family (our neighbors) at the "the fountain". The kids played in the water and had a good time.

Aria jumped right into the fountain

Austin being silly

Aria and Austin playing

We got home in-time for a quick lunch and a nap. Then she woke up, had a snack and we were off to the Water Park to hang out with Austin and family again. HOW FUN! It was $7 for me and Aria was free...well worth it, I think. I liked it as much as she did. There was a whole section where the water wasn't higher than a foot and then a sprinkler area too. She did really well walking around in the water and didn't get to upset with the splashing and water in her face. There was a HUGE bucket on top of one of the structures and it would fill up, then tip over dumping gallons of water. I told Aria to "watch the bucket". She did and couldn't stop thinking about it either. She talked about it for 5 mins after I put her down for the night. She cracks me up.

Aria pauses for a quick pict before the fun starts (thanks Austin for letting her borrow your hat!)

The "bucket" is at the top of the structure behind Aria

Ok, I was looking through my pictures and this one was in there. HAHA! Look at that guy, did he know I was taking a picture of my daughter...not him!

Daddy requests:

• Aria called out for Daddy multiple times at the theater. She thought every man she saw might be Daddy.
• At lunch Aria said "Daddy at work." Awwwww
• In the parking lot at the Water Park she was naming all the colors of the cars and stopped at one and said "Daddy's car." It's funny because it was dark green and not a volvo, but it reminded her of her daddy regardless.

We MISS and LOVE you Goofydaddy! And I am so proud of what you are doing.

Airport fun!

I stayed awake all night and played world of warcraft - I love that game. What can't it do? Ok. A little giddy from being tired. The taxi picked me up at 2:30am, and now our group is waiting to board our plane that will take off at 5:20. Amazingly, the TACA ticket counter was totally crowded at 3:00am! I didn't realize that many people. Would be flying to El Salvador on a Saturday morning... 

I hope this blackberry will work in central america. Otherwise the blog will be boring until I get back. Oh wait. Dana has some videos of Aria to share. I miss you already, Dana! And Aria!

Email test

I'll be in guatemala next week, so I wanted to test the email posting feature. I hope the cute picture of Aria shows up!

pillow gnomes...

I can honestly say i've never lost a sock in the laundry. ever. have you? have you ever lost other larger things? how about a pillow? well we have lost Aria's daycare pillow. we don't know how, but it is gone. the pillow cover survived somehow, but I spent about 2 hours on Sunday scouring the house for the lost pillow.

at the end of every week, Aria's bag of stuff (pillow, bed sheet, blanket, etc.) comes home with whoever picks her up, usually mommy. this past week it was thursday. Aria has 2 pillows, and the one that went with us for the 4th came home. I know cause i pulled it out of the bag when we got home late Saturday.

Now Sunday rolls around, and we've got to get her stuff together for Monday morning. We did a ton of laundry, and then started packing the bag, but no pillow. I looked everywhere. literally. I mean EVERYWHERE. totally objective, looking in the basement, the furnace, etc., where the pillow had no business being. i even looked outside, in case Dana dropped it by accident. so some pillow gnome must have made off with Aria's pillow...

had to post this, as it's driving me nuts!

trip to Texas part 2

After our fun times in Austin, we drove on over to Galveston which was where Dana's cousin's wedding would take place. We stayed in a beach house that had once been a 7-11 sized convenience store. the layout of the place was interesting, complete with "serial" bathrooms and wacky wiring (the refrigerator would turn off if you turned the porch lights off). but with a huge common area, 5 bedrooms and 3.5 baths, the proximity to the beach, and a nice pool, there wasn't much to really complain about. we even got to go out to a bar for the psuedo-bachelor party while Miss Aria slept (grandparents had monitor duty).

pool fun!

on the really hot day without AC, Aria slept like this (it was actually cooler outside in the shade). The AC did eventually get fixed and there was much rejoicing.

5 pool dorks:

Aria being cute and knowing it:

Mommy and Aria walking on the beach (this tactic was another way to get her to fall asleep)

The Mojito Fairy made her appearance after the rehearsal dinner, flitting from one person to another with her ladle and sand castle bucket. she simply would not take no for an answer. :-)

Aria loved sweeping in the morning - kinda like a parent cleaning up after the kids partied all night.

just before the wedding, it was Aria's naptime, she and i hid in the shade of the bushes during the ceremony.the groom's cake - the army men are funny! (he is a lieutenant in the Army)

i have no idea - either kung fu kick, or sumo stomp. you decide.

all in all, our trip to Texas was a blast! we had tons of fun, and would like to thank everyone who opened their arms in hospitality. Neil, Martina, & family - i will be better at Guitar Hero for the next time! Melissa - thanks for the fun tours of downtown! Joanne & Darlene - Aria loved your cats and their toys, and Dana & I loved Texas BBQ (oh yeah, Aria liked that too, she learned one of the best words that day 'meat')! The Galveston bunch - too many people to mention, but your company made the latter half of our trip so enjoyable. by the time Saturday rolled around, we were wishing the wedding was on Sunday instead. Courtney, thanks for the quick stop-over on our way to the airport. wish we had gotten pictures of the 3 kids playing, maybe next time. :-)

First day at the new school

(More on our second half of the trip later...) Yesterday Aria started at her new Montessori school. It was a successful day with an easy drop off and a very happy kid upon pickup. The teacher said she had a good day, played, ate and slept well. What more could we ask for??? The teacher also mentioned how she was such a talker! I'm glad Aria could open up and feel comfortable in her new surroundings. I'm really happy with this place.

She will be going 5 days a week now. Kevin has the morning routine while I head to work early. He drops her off at 8:45 and I will pick her up before 4:00. We decided not to buy the hot lunch, so I will be making her lunch daily. I'm actually looking forward to this part. She likes simple food and I can make sure she's eating super healthy :-)