More Updates from Guatemala!

Mama and Islwyn climbing some ruins.  These ruins are part of a catholic church that is still in use today.  

More climbing.
Islwyn was enjoying sitting in the grass at the ruins.
Papa and Islwyn.
Walking around the ruins.  
Tropical flowers.
Trying to get  picture of Leslie and Aaron--but Islwyn is getting in trouble in the background.
These next pictures are from the main cathedral ruins in Antigua.  The church is still in use--and the ruins are behind the cathedral---which is on the central square.  Islwyn and Jonathan are exploring the catacombs.


Islwyn and Jonathan sitting out on a step.

The family at Dona Luisa's.  You can see the bottom of the volcano in the background.
Me and my dad outside Dona Luisa's.



Islwyn and his cousins having a good time.
Papa and Islwyn walking through Antigua.
Islwyn and Grandpa.


Jonathan at the fountain at La Merced.
Christa, Leslie, and Mom hanging out.
Peter.
More boys playing.
Islwyn having lots of fun with the cousins.

Happy Birthday Jonathan...and other events!

Jonathan turned 29 this year. And so he got a strawberry - rhubarb pie. Here he is blowing the candles out with Islwyn's help.More blowing.....the only candles we had were the ones that keep re-lighting. Anyway, you will notice the screen leaning up against his chair. We had to take the screen out of the window to install my window boxes. At the same time, I was trying to paint the trim of the windows--outside the house--without a ladder and though maybe I could paint them from the inside. But, that was like 2 weeks ago and I have still not finished my painting and the screen is still sitting there....

Islwyn has recently discovered that he can wash dishes. So here he is washing some dishes for me.

I LOVE helping mama!!

Here is Islwyn getting into his big boy bed. Unfortunately, at the time of this publication he is back in his crib. But that is ok. He is still really young to be able to sleep in a big boy bed. He did pretty good--except he kept falling out of his bed during the night. Which was really scary for him. Also, after about a week, he realized that he could just get up out of bed and come into mama and papa's room and PLAY--any time he wanted!!!! 1 am, 4 am, whenever!!! So, finally after being up from 1-4:30 this morning, Jonathan put the crib back together. He fell asleep after being in his crib about 10 seconds.

Islwyn the Negotiator

Last week Islwyn and I got ice cream treats TWO days in a row.  One day he even got to pick stuff to put in his ice cream and he got m and m's in his ice cream for his cone.  It was so exciting for him that he keeps asking for ice cream cone with num nums--at least 3 -4 times a day.  Well, today I guess he lost patience with not getting his cone with num nums and so he locked himself into our bedroom and would not unlock the door (he knows how to unlock it).  Then he asked for ice cream cone with num nums.  Over and over again.  Needless to say, he did NOT get his cone with num nums -- he DID get to stand in the corner for a minute though.  Sigh.  He is too smart for his own good.

More Guatemala!

I try to update everyone on funny things Islwyn has been doing lately--and I haven't been very good at it for a while here.  So I just wanted to share what happened with Islwyn today.  I didn't bring my camera--so don't have any pictures, but it was pretty funny.  We took Jonathan to a little petting zoo (just a local farm where we apple and pumpkin pick).  They have goats, a llama, and a horse I think.  Islwyn was super into the goats.  He kept trying to feed them and pet them and barely even ate the ice cream cone we got him because he was so interested in the goats and feeding them.  But one baby goat got a little over excited and got a hold of Islwyn's hair and started trying to eat it!!! Poor Islwyn.  Jonathan had to pull his hair out of the goat's mouth.  It shook him up a bit, but I explained that the baby goat was trying to give him kisses but didn't know he couldn't lick a little boy like he would another goat.  So the whole rest of the day--every little while Islwyn says, "Kisses, head, goat."  It is so cute!  I wish I had had my camera so I could have gotten some shots of him feeding the goats.  I was just kind of worn out from all the picture taking in Guate.  Anyway, below are some more pics from our trip.

Jonathan and Islwyn having lunch in the airport diner in Bangor.

Islwyn eating a donut and looking out the window at our plane to take us from Atlanta to Guatemala City.  

Playing with Minka when we first got to the LC.
Minka cutting Islwyn's hair!
Showing off his new haircut with mama.
Enjoying hanging out with grandpa during lunch.

Mama and Papa at lunch.
More Mama and Papa at lunch.
Our drinks at lunch.
Jonathan posing with his first Gallo beer (Guatemalan).
Mama and Islwyn at lunch.
Dad and Peter hanging out in the morning at the LC.
Mom and Dad at Dona Luisa having breakfast.
There are WAY more pictures to come!!

Guatemala!

We had so much fun in Guatemala. Islwyn loved playing with his cousins, aunts and uncles, and Grandpa and Minka (after he got over being shy), Jonathan really enjoyed seeing where I grew up and all the neat sights, and I loved just being home again. I have TONS of pictures to share, so keep checking in as I will update this blog with new pics every couple of days. Also, pictures of the wedding are now being uploaded to
http://www.flickr.com/photos/peterandchrista/
if you want to check them out.

We all got to go to the ruins of a convent built in the 16th century. It was later destroyed by an earthquake--but many of the parts of the building are still standing and are really neat to see.

Christian posing for the camera.
Leslie and Aaron by the central fountain of the cloisters.

The family standing in front of the nuns' rooms.

Islwyn posing as a Mr. Grumpypants in the gardens.
The family in the gardens.
Glamour shot of Wyatt.
Glamour shot of Emmanuel.
Glamour shot of Islwyn.
The boys looking at the fountain.
Mical posing by the pilas (where the clothes are hand washed).
Looking into the cathedral.
Becky and Tony and family coming out of the "round" room that has perfect acoustics.