Fun Festival

We recently had a festival close to our house. There is a "country club" nearby that opens up it's facilities to the surrounding neighborhoods, including ours, for one day each year. The kids love it because they have playground equipment and a kiddie pool... the adults have a good time, too! These guys are climbing a pole that has been covered with oil to reach presents at the top. Number 6 is on his way up... it ended up taking several hours, multiple tries, and 7 guys to get up to the top. (That poor guy on the bottom!)


Michael and I thought it would be fun to do some face painting, but the kids only wanted it on their hands. It didn't take too long before we had a massive crowd and ended up painting for 2 hours!


The kids were so excited to play on real playground equipment- I don't think this could hold many more! (You should see the pool!)

Neighborhood happenings

We've been here 4 months now already- hard to believe it has been that long. The time is flying by! Language is continuing to go well and we are making lots of friends in our neighborhood. We had a few days off this week in between units at school so we hung out with our neighbors, did crafts with the kids, played badminton, and went to a wedding. Check out our new pics!

Our friends' wedding... and you thought I liked pink. At least I didn't make Michael wear it! :)

Little boys in the 'hood... They loved drawing pictures with their new markers and stamps.

First the girls made hair ties with their new ribbons, then they made pictures with stickers and glitter. They wanted to say a special "thank you" to Emma and Mattie for sending them such fun stuff to play with.

School Holiday

Craft time with some of the neighborhood girls.

These past two weeks have been a school holiday for everyone, including us. We did a lot of hiking, visited some nearby caves, waterfalls, volcanoes, and hot springs. It has been a good time to hang out with our friends and not have homework to do. We also got together with some fellow Americans to celebrate the 4th of July- we had hamburgers and shot fireworks with our neighbors (see the link below for more pics). We had lots of fun, but we are ready for school to start again!!

School Field Trip

Our first school field trip... in a long time!!! Complete with bus ride and bag lunches! We had a great time. We went to the top of a volcanic mountain and saw this really eerie, milky white lake, surrounded by fog.
We would have never thought we would be cold here, but we are actually freezing in this picture! (That's why I'm standing like a nerd). Check out the link below to see more pictures of our day.

Before & After

This is our kitchen table before our package from America.

This is our kitchen after our package from America- look how cheerful! THANK YOU!!!!!

Home Sweet Home

This is a picture of our new home. We LOVE it!! We live right in the middle of a massive housing complex where we are literally surrounded by people on every side. Perfect for language learning. Our neighbors are very friendly, always full of smiles and ready to help us.This would be a picture of our oven. Yeah, that silver box sitting on top of the stove. I am yet to master the art of baking in there, but we are at least able to warm things up and toast our bread. If you have any good stove top recipes, I'd love to have them becuase mine are running out!