This Weekend....

Its true...with our family, there always seems to be adventure...even when we aren't looking for it, it just drops in our lap.

Saturday evening, we were invited to some friends that we have in Cayo (about an hour from Belmopan).  So we got ready and left early, plenty of time.  As we drove into the town BEFORE the one we were going to, there were LOTS and LOTS of people along the streets, etc.  Well, this is the time of year that there are lots of celebrations, so we just thought there were lots of Saturday night parties.  Or maybe a parade just passed through.  Yep, it was the second option.  We quickly found out because as we turned right...to head to the little wooden bridge...the traffic was stopped for a parade.  So, we were early but now became late.  We sat and watched some girl doing the Punta ( a very provocative dance, that is cultural here), saw some random guys riding horses down the street and some bands playing music.  It was pretty cool from the cultural perspective, but we had to follow the parade over the very small bridge over the very full river.  And yes, a few people did wave at the "tourists" in the gray van.  It was kind of like a movie, us driving right into a parade.

We finally made it to our friends' house and had a great evening.  She is an amazing cook...and the daughter taught me how to make cerveche.  I can't wait to get everything at market tomorrow...I'm going to try it out.  They live in the hills of San Ignacio and built a 40 ft tower, that we climbed up in.  It was so cool.  They had hammocks to lay in up there.  It was fun, but nervous with Miss Erika, so high up.  We had a nice drive home that evening and a great day at church on Sunday.  We had another large crowd with visitors.  I helped Tori with the kids.

After church, lunch and naps, we headed to a field close to our house for a huge Central American Cultural celebration put on by the Mexican Embassy.  There were lots of people.  We watched a couple of dances then headed to get snow cones.  While we were enjoying our snow cones, a huge storm came through.  We ran under the tents like everyone else...so it was very squishy...and we still got a little wet.  The big white tents even collapsed in a couple of places from the fast amount of rain.  After that, it was very dark, and still raining a little, so we headed home.  So, we didn't get to see much.  The atmosphere just changes a lot when it gets dark...

One blessing is that the field is close to our house, so we were able to see quite a fireworks show right from our backyard.

See the boy behind Erika...selling the traditional corn on the cob with  mayo and ketchup...I think Ill pass:)

squished under the tent

it got dark so fast

Today, Erika and I did school in the morning, amidst all my cleaning and laundry etc.

Then we went to lunch with one of our visiting families on Sunday.  We went to this neat restaurant up on the hill, called Omega's.  The owner is from Canada and she just opened last December.  It was a beautiful place.  And Erika loved the little waiting area...and played over there so nicely.  Tori got some cute pictures of her playing.

The food was great and the atmosphere was beautiful.  It was nice to go somewhere different.  The kids were great as we talked.

and Erika loved the Santa glasses...

Here is a little video of the Central American Celebration...sorry for the crazy videotaping:)

And how can I forget to say that the weather here is amazing.  It has rained all day and has been in the high 70s.  Of course I miss the sun for drying my laundry, but this weather is so refreshing...I actually wore makeup today when we went out for lunch...and Lee installed box fans in the kids' windows, to get the cool air from the outside inside for the kids....Josh is already loving it.