We made it to Guatemala

Megan and I made it to Guatemala Wednesday. We were picked up at the airport and taken to Quetzaltenango, the city where we will be staying until December. The drive was beautiful, but pretty wild, as many parts of the highway were shut down from mudslides.

View Trip to Quetzaltenango in a larger map

A lot of the trip through the highlands looked something like this

Last night we stayed in a really nice hotel right on the central park. It was a little pricey, so we moved to a hostel temporarily until we can find a more permanent apartment.

This map shows a few of the places we visited yesterday and today.

View First Days in Xela in a larger map

Flicks From the Hill

Apparently, outdoor movies are a big thing in Baltimore. There are lots of them. 

This week we decided to go to one on Federal Hill with our friends the Rosas-Morenas. 

It's sponsored by the Baltimore Visionary Arts Museum so before the movie from 5-9 the museum has free admission. We only got to go inside the museum really quickly but I liked a lot of the pieces that we saw. 

The movie began at 9 o'clock. All the movie watchers sat on the side of Federal Hill and the movie was projected onto the side of the museum. This weeks the movie was The Princess Bride. I forgot how much I like that movie. We had a great time.

How Many Times Can two Grown People go to the Zoo in One Summer?

Let's see... this will make three!

Last Zoo trip was with my Aunt Deena and Uncle Randy and their grandkid Kaiden. 

On this trip we explored "the petting zoo " area of the zoo.

James found a turtle shell and we both decided to get into the hanging bird's nest. 

A couple of weekends ago, James and I went back for our last zoo visit. For Christmas my mom had given us one date a month until July. This month's date was a pair of zoo tickets. It has been VERY hot on the East coast this summer so we didn't stay for more than a couple of hours but we did make time to see my favorite little friend Sampson the baby Elephant. He is so cute.

We had a new fun adventure at the zoo this time around... Camel Rides! 

We had a wonderful time!

What I (James) get to do at work

Look What I Can Do At Work!

Light Painting!

Birthday Bash Extravaganza!

The last week of June is a BIG week for birthdays in our family. My little sister Amanda's birthday is on the 25th, my dad's is the next day, and James has a birthday the day after that. To celebrate, my mom set up a very fun weekend in Indiana. My dad and Amanda didn't know we were coming so we surprised them both. Here is a quick run down of the birthday events!

Wednesday:
Went to the DC temple
Drove to Indiana (well, James drove... I napped)
Scared the poop out of Amanda and Bob
James also got to meet Snooks. They were fast friends

Thursday:
Painted mailboxes for a couple of hours
Ate our first Maryland Blue Crabs (We gave my dad some crabs for his birthday)
Beat Michael Schulte at ladder golf

Friday:
Painted sign posts for a few hours
Went to an outdoor mall (Each birthday person was given some money to buy a present)
Went to see Kansas, Styx, and Foreigner in Concert!

Saturday:
Went to a Lebanon branch youth temple trip in Chicago
Went to Medieval Times
Watched the movie the Burbs

Sunday:
Went to church
Visited the Fagan Family
Drove back to Baltimore

We had a wonderful weekend with lots of fun things to do. My mom planned some awesome events. We were really sad to go.

Bananagrams!

I really LOVE games; like really love them. James and I play at least one game a night. I usually specialize in games that include dice or cards but I've recently become a fan of word games. My new found love is Bananagrams. See...

Here I am giving a hug to my new friend. He is just a bunch of tiles in a banana bag, but he is great fun. 

It's kind of like scrabble. Everyone starts out with 21 tiles. You build your own scrabble board with the letters that you have. Once someone has used all their letters, they yell "peel" and everyone takes one more. This just keeps on going until there aren't enough tiles in the middle for everyone to go another round. The last person to use up their tiles says "Bananagrams" and wins the game!

James and I have played this game quite a few times since we got it. Here is how the game looks when everyone is finished.