July 22, 2011

Kind of an almost normal week.  Kids went to the orthodontist--looks like Brynne will get braces soon, and Dalton still keeps his (will this ever end)?  Thank heavens for insurance.  It's a long weekend--tomorrow celebrates when Guanacaste, the big province on the coast (where much of the tourism is) was annexed from Nicaragua.  Guanacaste was where we had the Bunnell Family Reunion earlier this month, and where these first two video clips are from (first is Braden repelling in a gorge, the second is Brynne on a surfboard on the Pacific; Brynne made some of the 40+ crowd envious with her natural comfort on a surfboard--during our first lesson when we were trying to just stand up for more than a few seconds, she was bouncing up and finding time to adjust her swim suit for modesty without ever missing a beat on the wave).

Thought we would have the car by now, but, still going through the licensing process.  We have paid for the second one now as well, so have the hope that, after not having cars of our own now for nearly two months, we will again have two by the end of the week.

Dayna and the kids are at Berlitz every afternoon (M-F) and are all progressing.  Braden now answers the phone in Spanish.  We get as far as "Hola.  Como esta?"  Dalton keeps getting asked to give prayers in church, and has actually done very well at holding his own with his youth group.  Brynne, a little shy about speaking, is also getting a lot of vocab down.

Youth group ("Mutual") has also been a great inroad for the kids culturally.  We appreciate this, but, it is an adjustment in some ways for mom and dad too.  For example, we thought twice as we saw Brynne drive off in a little "micro bus" about the size of a volkswagen jetta on Wednesday night, with about eight people crammed in it, to drive off for a young women's activity.

Dayna's cell phone disappeared.  And then the hotel phone quit working.  Pain in the neck.  But someone told us today how to go by a SIM card for a few dollars--think we're going to invest in one or two, and slip them into our U.S. phones that are sitting unused in a drawer.