Stuff

I've said this before, and I'll say it again. It's been a long time since I blogged. I just haven't had a strong desire to do so. It's weird, but sometimes I really feel like blogging. I go through periods of time where it's a lot of fun. Then there are the periods of time that I just don't feel like it.

There certainly has been a lot of material very good for my blog in my life the last nine days.

Two weekends ago we prepared for our first house guests. Our dear friends J&D came from Chicago. They're there for school, but we knew them in Dallas. Preparing for a visit wasn't easy with out a car. But it wasn't impossible. We got the proper groceries, and had fresh pineapple, and mango waiting for them when they arrived. We also had little chocolate fondants waiting for them. John made them because it was his turn to bring dessert to work. He had enough left for us to have them with J&D, Malachi got one and so did P (the maid).

Their flight got in late. They finally got to the house after 10:30 that Monday. We stayed up late talking and catching up. Then we all crashed after long days. Tuesday they explored the little city we live in, Wednesday I explored with them. Thursday and Friday they went to San Jose on their own. They're very independent people. It was great for us because we didn't feel pressured to entertain their every minute (hint, hint).

Friday the 2nd we had the Embassy 4th of July Celebration. John and I both helped with set up. It was a TON of work. Then he had things he needed to do during the party, and I stayed with my new supervisor for a bit, and just kind of wandered around for a while too. After a very, very long day for the party, we waited for our rental car to show up at the hotel so we could drive it home that night and then leave early in the morning for the Volcano with J&D and the kids.

We waited...and waited...and waited. They never showed. So we got a new reservation
with a different company and went back to the hotel the next morning and waited...and waited.

/sigh.

Finally they showed up and it turned out to be the guy who we rented with before. He got us a Nissan Montero with three rows rather than the two cars we originally rented. We were really, really happy about that. I was happy we were all going to be in the same car and that I wasn't going to have to drive.

We went to a house (known as the Volcano House in our family) owned by someone in the Foreign Service and stayed one night. It's near the biggest volcano in the country. Unfortunately since we got such a late start we didn't get to drive up to and see the volcano itself. I told John that he and J&D could go see do a night tour at the National Park, but the hammocks rocking chairs called our names so after the kids went to bed we hung out on the porch for a few hours.

The next morning we woke up at 5am and went on a very, very short walk and had a great view of the volcano. It was pretty far away and to late to see lava, but still really cool. After breakfast we stopped at a looking point over the lake with a great view of the volcano. It was gorgeous. We have some great pictures, but I feel like pictures don't do it justice.

Then we drove to the beach. The beach! I love the beach. What a great first post for us to have!! We went to a new all-inclusive resort near Ocotal beach. It was fine for an all-inclusive, but I think they're starting to lose their appeal to me. While it's nice to have everything paid for, the quality seems to be better at smaller places. Especially the food. But we had a great time anyway.

J&D went home on Tuesday morning and we had a week of normalcy. Or did we?

That's right! We got our car! YAY!!!!!

It's been so great to take our selves shopping. I've been driving John to work and
picking him up. Today I ran erands and didn't have to rely on anyone for it.
Yesterday we went to Price Smart by ourselves - LOVE.IT.

Now we're preparing for more guests. We have a friend from high school coming in tomorrow with her boyfriend's sister. They come in late too, but we're still going to have pineapple and a sweet treat waiting (chocolate chip cookies this time).