Beautiful Pictures - Baru, Sunsets, Rainbows

Baru with the moon

Baru with the moon and clouds

I love rainbow pictures! This one shows up pretty regularly in the same spot right across the street. It's beautiful!



On a different day


A beautiful sunset!

And another...

Orange Kitty

Daddy Turned 40!

We recently walked across the border into Costa Rica. Ben had to attend a funeral in the States and it was way cheaper to fly out of Costa Rica than Panama City. He was gone for 8 days, and of those, he traveled for 6. It was a difficult time for him, but I'm glad he was able to go. This is the welcome sign on the CR side - quite sad!! 

Our "5 blonde kid" parade, as usual, got a lot of stares and "cinco hijos, todos son suyos?" (5 kids, they're all yours?) Yes they are mine, I do not walk around with other peoples' children - especially not when they look just like me. This, sadly, is the only other Costa Rica picture we could find.


I am hopeful that we can soon do some vacationing in Costa Rica as I have fond memories of places there on our honeymoon. Just not this border town.  .
We did pretty well while he was away, surprisingly, but we were very glad to have him back. He even brought us all treats from the US.



While he was gone, Ben turned 40! We were so sad to miss it, but we wanted to have a little party when he returned. The kids and I blew up some balloons and showered them down on him as he came through today.




As you can see, everyone was super excited to have him back home. Even the dog has been super happy.


All the kids picked out a few items at the local Todo a Dollar that they thought he would like and wrapped them up. He was pretty happy to open some olives, mushrooms, clips, cookies, peanuts, a drink and a Texas and California trivet. It was a fun little party that we had! 

Boys And Girls Club Summer Camp

The kids have been attending the Boys and Girls Club in Caizan for two
weeks. We go twice a week because it is a really windy, 25 minute ride
down the mountain. The scenery is beautiful though. Right now it is considered "summer" in Panama, so the kids are out of school and the club is doing a summer camp.

_{Playing a fun balloon trivia game.}

The camp involves doing a short Bible study, English class and then a
competition outside. I helped the kids out for the first few days by
translating in their classes since everything is done in Spanish.
Thankfully the teachers and helpers know a little English, so this
really helps, but I want my kids to learn Spanish.

_{My kids definitely stand out, but the Panamanian kids are slowly beginning to try to talk to them!}

In the English class, they go over body parts, colors, numbers, days of
the week, months, directions, etc. A lot of basic vocabulary. I am
hoping that my kids will pick up on some of the Spanish meanings for
these as they hear both languages. So far, they are doing okay!

_{A fun water game they played on a warm afternoon!}

Their favorite part is the competition that happens right before we
leave. There is usually some type of obstacle course that some of the
kids do that leads to a big event at the end. They have done a
tug-of-war a few times and the kids always end up screaming and having a
great time.

_{Tug-of-War is serious business!}

One part of the competition that is a new thing to me was this game
pictured below. The kids had to tie a string around their waist. Then on
the end of the string was a nail. They had to squat down and get the
nail directly into the mouth of a Coke bottle without using their hands.
It was a pretty good game to watch and looked like fun to do as well!

_{A fun competition game of getting the nail in the Coke bottle!}

We have only spent four days with these kids at the summer camp and they
are already opening up to us. Now, it is just time for us to learn
their names!

Gualaca Canyon and Other Early January Happenings

We recently went with our friends to jump in to Gualaca Canyon here in Panama. It was a beautiful place with crystal clear water. The kids (and adults) had a great time! This is the first view we had of it. So beautiful!!





Some were only willing to jump in while holding another person's hand. They would even occasionally turn around and wave after they landed. They said there were little fish in the water who would bite on them as they swam down the way.




Completely beautiful!
It was a great day with friends and we had so much fun getting to play, and it was beautiful there! Next time, I am going to be the first one to jump in so I do not miss out!!

Daddy jumps in!
D jumps in!

Above are 2 videos of people jumping in. :)

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This cutie was hanging around and looking sweet.

We are getting the kitchen mostly finished. We just moved the fridge up yesterday and we have some Fiestaware up on the shelves! It looks really nice. I'm happy with the way it is turning out! 

This kid loves his smoot movies. 

November and December 2017

Life here in Panama has been pretty good recently. The weather is nice and we enjoy being outside a lot. The kids have had fun and everyone is feeling well. These are the pictures that were taken in November and December. 

I love the way this plant looks next to the lighthouses that are all around the neighborhood. It turned out really cool in black and white. It's pretty big! 

 I got to hold a friend's baby goat and it was so cute! I think I forgot to mention that Big Mac died after we had had him about 10 days. One day he just didn't stand up and we got him some antibiotics, but I guess it was too late. It's okay though, just wanted to pass that along in case you were wondering how he is.

 I started doing a reading/English club with another 2 ladies here in town. One started it and then we joined in after we found out about it. The kids are so sweet and really smart. They meet at the school every Saturday morning to practice. But we are on a break now since it's summer here now.

 The kids wanted to color by the creek one day on a walk. They all packed up a coloring book and colors and took it with them. So cute!

 We had a great Thanksgiving meal with our small group at our place in November. It was a lot of fun and some really great food. We always enjoy having everyone over.

 I just planted this stick in the ground and it grew this. So pretty!

 We got to go to this trampoline park in David and the kids loved it. There were all kinds of things to play with - a few trampolines, a foam pit, a big jungle gym. It looked like lots of fun!

 The town had a Cabalgata. It's basically a horse parade where you watch pretty much all the cowboys and cowgirls in town ride their horses down the road. It was pretty fun to see some of the horses. I think this was an independence day parade.

 The kids let me take a pic of them on our rock! I thought it was pretty cute. It was possibly going to be for a Christmas card, but that didn't happen. So pretend it says Merry Christmas from Panama on the rock.

 We have done a lot of work on the house. Well we have done a lot and the contractor has done a lot. One thing we had done was have the roof painted from green to orange/red.

 We also have installed cabinets and granite in the new kitchen. It looks great (and this pic was taken in November, so it looks even better now)! It's a lon 12 foot island! Tons of counter space!!

 Of course Panama has a giant stuffed penguin sitting outside a store, so of course we needed to have our pic made with it. When I think Panama, I think penguins.

 Here is the master at work installing the open shelves and brick tile in the new kitchen. He's pretty handy and it's awesome! He did a great job.

 Hanukkah of course happened and we go to play dreidels and light our menorah. Each kid got to light the candles one night.

 This guy just loved getting to light the candles. He was all for it, even with me helping a little bit.

 The kids love spending time outside every day. On this day, it was watercolor painting outside that held their attention for a wee bit. Now we have art all over the house that they've painted.

 Night number 2 of Hanukkah.

 We also got to help Mrs. Este decorate her tree. We went to her house on Christmas Eve and helped serve a Ngobe church some dinner. Mrs. Este put it all together with the pastor who is their neighbor. She had the church people come over and eat a nice meal and everyone received a gift before leaving (chocolates and cookies wrapped in Christmas paper). The pastor did a little sermon and they sang. It was really a special way to spend the evening!

 Here is the finished product with Bella, the three legged sheep. Bella was a bad sheep and later ate a lot of the lights and pulled a lot of the decorations off.

 Night 3 of Hanukkah and a happy girl to light the menorah herself.

 These are my favorite plant here in Panama. Perhaps because they remind me of my honeymoon in Costa Rica. Heliconias are what they are called. I call them lobster claws. Great colors!

 Night four of Hanukkah!

 Rainbows are everywhere during this season. They're so pretty and so bright. They stay around for a while too. This one was practically in the field next to us. So pretty.

 Night 5 of Hanukkah. Everyone likes to watch the candles burn and then blow them out. Such a special treat when it's your night! Ha.

 This was right behind our house. It was awesome looking! You can see the edge of our house there.

I made this from a picture I took of Baru. We hope that you had a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. The kids were excited to have a fun Christmas morning. Then we had friends over for lunch who were in town as well. On New Years Day, we had a few friends over as well and enjoyed eating and hanging out. Now looking forward to what 2018 brings our way! Blessings to all of you!!