Day 3 Nica

July 12, 2012 Got up and had a pretty relaxing morning.  Then we went to a sisters home (rosa zipata) that Brandon baptized the daughter (dahinellia) for lunch. Azose al la val anciana, something that they serve at special occations. They had some girls come and dance for us. Brandon says that one of the dances that they did was a typical dance there. It was fun to see Brandon's interaction with members. He sure has been a great influence on the people here. They have very modest homes, cinder block walls-- tin roofs-- not much in the way of kitchens or bathrooms. Typical of poor countries. When it rained it is hard to hear anyone because of how loud the rain was on the ton roof. Then we drove up to Leon and saw the oldest cathedral in central America, we think. We took cover in the cathedral while it rained. Ate mango that people cut up and put into little plastic bags. And came back to Managua and visited another family that Brandon and his companion baptized three members of. The mother Sandra Eineda makes tortillas and sells them. Brandon has helped her make them and he showed us how it was done. Very good tortillas, we got to try one. Again they were very sad to see him going home.  We went to burger king for dinner and back to the hotel and to bed.

Day 2 Nica

July 11, 2012 Got up and made it to the church where the switches and things were at. We were there for about a half an hour before Brandon arrived. WOW, it was great to see him. It was a looooooonnnnnnnggggg meeting when you cannot understand what's going on. Then we were invited to go to lunch with all the missionaries that were leaving.  We went and rented a car and drove around Managua for a little while until it started to pour. We went back to the hotel and relaxed for a while. On our way to the mission presidents home for a little meeting (where I still could not understand a lot of what was going on) we pulled out of the hotel parking area and went around the corner. A policeman wanted us to pull over to the side of the road and we did. He told us that we illegally changed lanes (with a lot of help through Brandons translation) and he wanted license and registration, and he was going to give us a ticket. He took it back and came back and said he was going to give is a ticket, 400 cordobas, which is about $20 and take Brian's license away. He went back to his vehicle and a different cop came up and said he can take his license away and pay at the bank tomorrow or we could pay the policeman now. We chose the pay now option. All a bribe. The two just pocket the money. Later at the mission presidents home we found out that the police cannot take your license away either if it is not a Nicaraguan license. Brian thought it was funny and now he can say he has been pulled over in more than one country. Back to the hotel and got a small dinner during their "happy hour".

Nicaragua 2012

July 10, 2012 We left our home (Alena, Justin, Nicole, Brian and I),  at about 8:00a.m. Not long after we had left, Alena did not feel very good and we had to work to keep her cool and try to get her to not think about it. Remarkable we made to the airport where my parents were meeting us to take Alena and Nicole with them off to their home. Not 2 to 3 minutes after getting out of the truck and transferring bags Alena threw up on the ground. She was really nervous for some reason. She gets nervous about the security at the airport, but she was not even flying today.  We had to get Justin on a plane to denver for a week for his 12 year old birthday week, to spend with brian's parents. So we sent Alena and Nicole off with my mom and then after we got to the terminal my dad took the truck with him, and we were off to check us all in. Finding out our flight to Houston was delayed we got Justin off to Denver.  Its weird to watch a child go down the jetway and disappear. We found some lunch and then heard that Justin had made to Denver.  And then finally we were off to Houston where we found out our connecting flight to Managua was 2 or more hours delayed because of lightning in the Houston area. We are just descending into Managua now and it's about 11:30 pm. Where we will have to go through customs and then find a taxi to get us to the hotel because the rental car booth was only open until 10 pm.   By the way news from the Ziegler home says Alena is doing well and don't quite know why she got so nervous. Breezed through customs and immigration and got to our hotel at about 12:30 am.  Ready to be up at 6:30 to be at to the meeting where Brandon is in the morning.

Funny kids

Some day I will finish getting the Hawaii trip on here but have funny little story for now. When Brian wants the kids to get things done he will start to count and when he is approaching the number that they where suppose to have the task done by, and they are not done or still whining or whatever the case, he will say 2 and a half 2 and three quarters and so on untill they are done or he reaches the number and time is up. Justin told me tonight Alena was counting the other day (not quite sure what she was trying to get somebody to do for her)and she started counting and was approaching the number and said 2 and 3 pennies and another time it was 2 and 1 dollar.

March 3, 2012

Trying hard to keep things together. We were not invited to our first grandchilds first birthday party.

Hawaii trip......

Day one January 10th

We arrived in Hawaii at about 4:30p.m. We stopped at an L&L restaurant for dinner and continued up the coast to Laie. it was about 9:30. P.m. When we made it to the house. We talked with Stanton's parents and his brother Jimmy and sister in law Rachael.

It is always fun to do things with Stanton and Julie's family. We felt so welcome. It is like you are part of their family.

Really enjoyed waking up and hearing the ocean.

Day two January 11th

When we woke up we walked up the coastt to watch the sunrise. We saw several sea turtles in the water as they were swimming around.

We went to do some shopping at the flea market around the stadium and then a mall where we ate lunch at Buba Gumps.

We came back to the house and went swimming, it was pretty chilly. We got cleaned up and went to eat at Kenekes.

July 10, 2011

Why is it when you try to give advice to children, you don't understand them and you just don't get what they are doing.

I feel I am always doing and saying the wrong things.

April 8, 2010

The whole family went to see Alice in Wonderland, in 2D last night. It was a cute movie.

Later on as the kids were getting ready for bed, Alena made herself a pillow chair and said: "I need a pig for my aching feet".

She is such a silly girl

My kids continue to amaze me!!!!

Wednesday, February 24,2010

We had an enjoyable time at the Santiago Temple. It is a very small Temple with beautiful flowers and garden area around it, all nestled in a very busy city. It only took Brian twice driving around the block to get us to the gate to get in. It is on a busy one way street. Apparently, the key to the gate was a white shirt and tie because it magically opened when Brian's Dad got out to see how to open the gate. The temple President was very nice and came down to welcome us there. He was from the Provo area. The session was in spanish but they provided head phones for us. Then after the session we had some Italian food at the restaurant next to our hotel.

We are heading for home tomorrow evening. Not looking forward to the 9 hour flight to Atlanta and then the other two flights. I am also not looking forward to housework, dishes, laundry......But sure miss the kids a whole bunch!! We just called them on skype and Alena looks sad and is missing us also.

One thing that we have really been grateful for is the internet and the ability to call the kids every night through skype. If you ever travel abroad, it is a great way to keep in touch with those left at home. Brian even called the Wursten's and we are saddened to hear of the passing of Bonnie Shumway.

2-24-2010

Update by Brian.

It's 3:00 pm (Santiago time) on Wednesday. We are back in Santiago waiting in the hotel lobby to get into our hotel room. We left the coast early this morning to meet up with one of my Dad's old students. He gave us a tour of a drip irrigated Avocado, Clementine, Orange and Cherry orchards. It was interesting, the clementines were just starting to ripen and we "borrowed" a couple. They tasted great.

We are going to try to hit the 5:30 session at the Santiago Temple. More later.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Yesterday we took it kind of easy. Dwayne (Brian's Padre), has hurt his knee so we drove into Vina Del Mar to do some shopping and by the time we got there and found a place to park it was way after lunch. So we went to get some lunch at a restaurant. We walked by a table of four missionaries having lunch. One from Chile, one from Peru, One from Kentucky, and the other from Utah (Lehi). Dwayne decided to pay for the missionaries lunch and then they wanted to have a picture taken of all of us. We shopped and then just came back to the hotel and watched a movie.

Today we went up the coast to a little city called Quintero and spent a little time looking around up there and on our way back we stopped at a beach in Concon and took a horse ride along the beach. They did not adjust the saddles so it was not very comfortable. But it was still fun.

Seagull dive-bombing Brian because he was getting to close.










Crazy mountain bike racers in Valpariso, Chile.











Coast near Concon, Chile

























Coast near Concon
















Sand dunes near hotel.

Yesterday, we started off the day by heading to some sand dunes that are only about 5 minutes away from the hotel. It was really neat! It was fun to stand on the top of them and make little avalanches and watch the sand slide down the side of the dune.
We walked up the coast later and took a bunch of pictures of the coast line. Brian likes to take pictures of the seagulls and they do not like it much when you get too close to their nest. It looked like they were dive bombing him when he got too close. (luckily no white bombs fell on him!)

Dinner has been very interesting here in Chile. There are not very many people who speak English. With the help of an English to Spanish dictionary on the Ipod and a little pocket one, we kind of get there. We still get a few surprises however. The trip to the supermarcado was fun. It is interesting to see the markets and how items are packaged. There are not a whole lot of refrigerated and frozen items. The eggs are not refrigerated and the milk and most of the juices come in box type containers (kind of like the milk from Gossners- only bigger).

Today (Sunday – Feb 21) we drove down to Valpariso. We wandered around and ran into a mountain bike race that was coming down some of the steep streets of Valpariso. These guys were crazy. I’ll post a picture that Brian took of them riding out the side of a gazebo type building onto a ramp. Overall we just took it kind of easy.

February 19, 2010

Chilean pacific coast view from our hotel

The coast is a very rocky.

A little windy with and a hot chick (comments courtesy of Brian)

Blogger in action

Vina Del Mar

Brian and Dwayne went and rented a car and arrived back to the hotel (3 hours later), and we drove from Santiago to Vina Del Mar which is about 70 miles west on the coast of Chile. It is a very busy place. It is summertime here and lots of people vacationing. The resort it set on the coast and is ok. We went into find dinner (they eat very late here) and some groceries at the supermarcado. Everything is an adventure here. What you get to eat isn't always what you thought you were ordering. It would help if we spoke spanish a little better. OK maybe alot better. We found the supermarcado in the mall.

The water with gas got Lona twice today. Once we bought water from someone selling it on the street in Santiago and she opened it and got a shower. And then when we stopped for lunch on our way to Vina Del Mar, they bought more water and she opened it and got sprayed again.

February 18, 2010

Chile!
The flight from Atlanta to Santiago that left Atlanta at 8:30 pm and was a looooonnnnnnnnnggggggg 9 hours. With very little leg room and families traveling with little ones, we were not able to really get any sleep on the plane. After having to pay a reciprocity fee of $131 each to come to this country, and go through customs we got to our hotel just after 9 am Chile time. Apparently the US charges Chilean citizens to come into the US so they are getting even. We took a couple hours to nap and then we were off to look around for a little bit before we met Brian’s parents to do a little shopping.
We found out you have to watch what kind of bottle water you are buying. As strange as it sounds it comes with and without gas, (CO2). Kind of like my husband after a Mexican meal (HA HA).

We went over to one Brian’s dad’s previous PhD students’ home to dinner with his family. It was a wonderful evening and dinner took at least two hours and we were eating the whole time. Dinner seems to be quite a production at lasts a while.
When we got back to the hotel we used Skype to make a video call to the kids back home. Brian brought his laptop and a webcam so we could talk and see the kids. It worked really well once we were able to get an internet connection. It was great seeing the kids and knowing they are all fine. It worked particularly well with Alena because she does not communicate that well on the phone yet.

December 4,2009

Reflecting on past Christmases and we remembered Justin asking for Santa to put a carrot in his sock instead of an orange.

Brandon thinks we should leave out cheese for Santa.

Brittney (a long time ago) didn't want to go down stairs on Christmas morning- afraid Santa was still there.