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 :-)