8.23.2008

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.

Jeremy (James's bro) and wife Sherry are still newlyweds....they just got married last November and went to Costa Rica on a honeymoon. They also got to schedule some vacation time and right now they are in: Ireland! I'm jealous. Luckeeee, that's all I have to say. I'm glad you guys are having so much fun!

Isn't it beautiful there? We decided to spend some of our saturday morning at the park....with a gigantic ball. Daddy and Cobin had tons of fun together.Some friends of ours bought the boys matching Mickey Mouse hats. Here's the new tooth!Lucas loves the stairs, so this week we've resorted to putting the sofa in front of them to keep him on the first floor. Cobin is so helping to his little brother, he pulled the sofa back when I wasn't looking and I came back in to check on them and found Cobin and Lucas side by side a step away from the top! Cobin was so supportive, encouraging him as I looked on. I have to keep my eye on these boys more than ever!

8.13.2008

Another Day in the Field

If Aaron Richardson can have his own blog, the least I can do is write on our Family Blog (this is James obviously). So I was reading Aaron's blog where he talks about the Chubb trail in Eureka, MO and I thought, "I wonder if he'd like biking out here with me on the narrow little paths between the corn fields surrounded by mountains..." So here is an example of what it looks like when I go out into the field to speak K'iche' and do ethnograpy with the locals. I go out with my K'iche' tutor usually two or three times a week; the bike rides usually last around a half an hour to an hour, and it pretty much all looks like this. I could take the car, but I have to leave it and walk quite a ways on foot, so it's just easier to take the bike. It is awesome, but the path in the picture is twice the size of most of the paths I have to go on, and I've taken out a few corn stalks on more than one occasion...It is certainly one of the things I will miss most about Guatemala. In K'iche' they say "tajin katinik ri q'ij" which means "the sun is taking a bath." Not sure why, but it is really cool looking. Ever see anything like it? (and no, it's not the camera. The sky really did this)
My favorite food is Ceviche. This particular bowl has octopus, shrimp, tomato, onion, cilantro, worcestershire sauce, ketchup, salt, and a ton of lime (or is it lemon?)
Like father like son!


8.08.2008

Bis-nieto

Bisnieto stands for great-grandson. I'm not sure if that's the correct spelling, but here Lucas is with his great-grandmother, Monnie.
Sometimes you just get those feelings that you're so happy to have your family and I've been getting them today. I know, who doesn't think that their own family is adorable, but I do. When Lucas starts to crawl he sticks his tongue out over his top lip and looks around, seemingly thinking "Where do I wanna go?...now that I can move on my own." He is looking more like his Grandfather Ronnie all the time, we'll see if it stays that way. Lucas has the softest cheeks, I can't help but kiss one every time I pick him up, and just after bathtime,he smells so good. I've thought about trying out the soap myself, but I just don't think it'd be the same. I love my babies!

8.05.2008

Adventures of the Weekend

Saturday morning we decided we wanted to check out the zoo here. We got there and there were venders everywhere at the entrance and we bought Cobin a little helicopter that works when you push it....it was only 12 quetzales which is equivalent to about $1.50. He loves it, paid more attention to that than the animals or the park. So what's a Guatemalan zoo like? Pretty small....I'll try to remember the animals that they did have: turtles, rabbits, jaguars, monkeys, coyotes, parrots, owls, racoons, and some possom looking things. They also had a few animals that I don't think we've seen before; all the animals were native and they had a map that showed where they are common in Guatemala. And again the playground was probably made in the 70's but it's better than nothing.

We were running late so we decided to get Wendy's, the first time since we've been here because it's kinda expensive, I was so excited to get a frosty! Well, on the way home we got into an accident, the worst I've ever been in. The Wendy's we were all excited about was wet all over the floor.. ) : No one here observes stop signs, they're more like slow down signs, and now neither does my husband. There was a van in the way and the other guy sped up to try to beat it, but James didn't see it. The other car was undrivable, the wheel at a 45 degree angle, but our car was relatively unhurt. This cheap Kia Rio sure is holding up for us! No one was hurt, thank goodness but it was a long day.....we all had to sit in the car through naptime, but of course no one was napping. Days like these sure do put life and the important things into perspective.

8.02.2008

Finally!

My little boy is pretty lazy. Lucas is finally crawling.

Grandparents, here's the proof:

He also has his first tooth poking through, though you can't see it yet, but mommy has felt it... And, in case you're wondering why it seems like Lucas is often in his pjs, it's because he is. He doesn't like me changing his clothes too often and I don't like a fussy baby, so some days he stays in his pajamas from one bathtime to the next. Who's complaining?