Backyard Adventures

Welcome outside! (Yes, I know that most people's welcome mats face the other way, but my husband has rarely been accused of being like "most people"...so ours welcomes us out into Ecuador.)

 The kids and I had fun clearing out a little garden spot on the hill below our house. Now, this hill is technically our "backyard", but it is rather wild; secluded, but not secure - meaning that since there is no fence and limited visibility from inside our house, the kids are not allowed to play out there without supervision. It is, however, a wonderful place for adventures.

These are what we call "the ruins". They are in reality, the reasonably stable remains of an old house - in imagination, they can be almost anything, depending on the book you've been reading. :) There are also limes to pick, snails to find, BIG ant nests to avoid, etc. Taylor is already plotting what kind of amazing bow shooting course he and Levi can make out there. (Like I said, it all depends on what kind of book you've been reading. :)

We're back on line!!!

As of this last week, we have internet at the house! (Which also means our internet-based home phone number is set up and working.) We are getting to know the neighbor kids; they like to come over to play with the swords/guns, or to draw on the sidewalk with chalk.

Our kids are getting more confident in using their Spanish... proof being that they bought snacks from the vendor walking down the sidewalk with their own money the other day. :P

Though we are close to "down town" walking one way, we are also only one block from the Rio Puyo and the end of town going the other; the kids tried to "plunk" all the rocks in the other day, but there are still quite a few left.

Between various sicknesses and getting unpacked, school has been a little hit and miss this month, but we are still plugging along. One really fun project has been to learn the dialog between the Lord Jesus and Nicodemus out of the Spanish Bible...the older two acted it out as a skit for Papa today with the "help??" of Dan and Nate, who introduced them. I was the Narrator; Levi was Nicodemus, and Glory said the Lord's answers. (BTW white board marker wipes off chins just fine...in fact, Levi's beard kept sweating off before he was done with it.)