three more

need to put three more pictures in: Madison at the beach, Grandma at the beach, and the place where the birds made the new nest!

to be young again

Had a VERY enjoyable time at Crescent Beach last week. Kelli was up visiting with Keyton, and I was watching Madison. We decided to go to the beach, because it was nice, and the tide was supposed to be pretty low.

It was a bit of a hike to the water, but it was worth it! I love the beach, the smell of the ocean,and the sound of the waves. Madison loved walking in the water, even though the seaweed and sticks had come onto the beach, too. Keyton loved playing with a stick in the sand, and walking in the creek water- which was warmer and non salt!

It felt good being there, and I loved watching the little kids enjoy something new !

The other pictures I am showing are one of Madison's hadprints on the sliding glass door(courtesy of Ashley's cell phone!) (which I will miss presently, as their house is about done) and my big mistake of the spring.

I saw a bird's nest in my rhodedendron. I watched for days and never saw a bird in it, so I took the nest out, and to my surprise, there were three eggs in it! I felt terrible and put the nest back, but you know, it didn't fit the same and the mom never came back.(good thing we aren't like birds!)

Luckily, the birds decided to give it another try, albeit also a strange place, in our ornamental crabapple tree. Three little heads make lots of noise, and have ugly little top knots of feathers!

The parents are diligent, so I must be diligent also and keep the tree watered so the baby birds don't cook up in that tree!

So, hooray for beaches. fingerprints and baby birds!

another world

Well, we just got back from our Greeley-Central America trip. It was Stu's dream trip (minus the backpacking, riding on chicken busses, and staying in hostels). We first visited Timm and Megan and kids, and had a wonderful, bike riding and out to eat time!!It was very fun for me!

I will post one picture of Harrison- when there is company staying, he comes down sometime in the early monring, and camps out in front of the guest room door, waiting for the guests to wake up..very fun!

The next part of our trip, we flew to Managua, Nicaragua. It was very hot, and the people, well, it seemed like most of them, were very poor. The houses were made of tin and cardboard, and there were many people living in them. The garbage was awful....made me appreciate what we have, and feel a little guilty for what we waste. The people were nice, but I wish Erik had been with us to be our translator. Neither Stu nor I speak Spanish, so sometimes it was a challenge.

We climbed a volcano the next day. (it was also hot) The guide was nice- his name was Oscar.

I will put a picture of the volcano here, too, and the almost straight up and down side we had to go down....ack!

After Nicaragua, we went to a little island off of Belize, called Caye Caulker. 3 miles long, a mile wide. English speaking, and a mix of Brits who moved there, black caribbean people, and native hispanics. (with some spanish people, too) Had fun trying the different restaurants and going snorkeling . Stu went scuba diving one day. The wind blew and it was tolerable, but when it was still.....hot, muggy and mosquitoes by the swarm!!

After that, we went to a place an hour from Belize city to a little resort/cabin/cabana called Iguana Junction. The proprietors were Retired Brits- there were two other families staying there, and we shared breakfasts and dinners with all of them. It was fun! Loved the people and the food! We went innertubing through a cave with a very nice guide name Luis. We liked him and the tour so well, we went back for another trip before we left for home. We went to some pools one day and sat in the water(it was very hot there, too), and also went to Tikal, some Mayan ruins that were in Guatamala. Getting through the border was a hassle, and our driver, Hugh had his work cut out for him. That country is poor like Nicaragua. Belize is rich in comparison. Our guide in the ruins was weird.....oh well, you can't have good ones all the time!

We also had several missionary opportunities, as people we met had some interesting ideas about the church, so we tried to tell them what we really believe, and not what other people tell them.

Besides losing our lugguge for awhile and dealing with the heat, it was a fun and enlightening trip. I am glad we did it, but I'm also glad to be home!!