Monday October 8th- we went fishing. We had booked a sport fishing trip but didn't really get that. What we got was great for the kids though so we didn't complain. They took us to a beach called playa Costa Blanca, it was a beautiful beach that I'd heard of but hadn't visited yet because you can't get there by car. We snorkeled for a while and then headed back for fishing. They had pretty ghetto fishing poles for us to use but it worked well for the kids, Carter was first to pull in a fish, Grandma followed shortly after. Then Logan pulled two in at a time!! In the end everyone was able to catch at least one fish except Camryn who did not have much luck that day, but still had a great time.
Tuesday October 9th- we stayed home this day. All the kids went to pottery class that afternoon and the adults tried to catch up on some work and sleep. That night Jeremy and I went out on a date. October is the slow season here in San Juan so the first two places we tried to go to were closed but the third one was open, we enjoyed another great meal on the beach for about 25 dollars.
Wednesday October 10th- we hit the road again and headed to Granada. Once again we took our tour guide, Irlanda. She helped us find Granada, then helped us find our hotel where we checked in. The boys favorite part of the hotel was the huge chess set that was in the courtyard. We put our stuff in our rooms and headed out to see the town. Once to the main square we found a couple horse drawn carts to take us for a tour of the town. It was definitely the best way to see the beautiful colonial architecture and hear about the city. They dropped us off at an amazing restaurant for lunch. We went back to the hotel, hit the pool then the girls went out for a little shopping. I didn't love the shopping in Granada, more tourists means higher prices and we didn't end up buying anything, but we still had a great time.
Thursday October 11th- we went on a boat tour of the islands in Lake Nicaragua. There are a total of 365 islands, some large some very little. We all decided owning an island there would be pretty amazing. Our favorite island was monkey island. We went close and threw the monkeys some bananas we had bought, one monkey named Lucy was even allowed to come on the boat and get her own bananas. She was so cute, I definitely wanted to take her home with me. After Monkey island we stopped at another island that had a local family. They lived in some huts there and fished early in the morning, taking their catch into town by 6:00 to sell to the restaurants, they also grew crops there. The family consisted of a grandma who had 18 kids and over 40 grandkids, most of them living right there with her still. They were a beautiful, hard working family. We ended the tour at a restaurant and had another great meal, after that we headed back to the hotel and picked up our car and headed home.
Friday October 12th- we spent another day at home. The kids had drawing class that afternoon and we spent some more time in the pool. We shopped for Camryn's birthday bash. I went to a lady's house to order a cake. I told her that I had a daughter that I needed a cake for her birthday. She asked her age and I said 13, she said "three?", I said "thirteen" then I told her that she liked horses, she got all excited and said "Ponies?" and I nodded. The next day when i went to pick up the cake I had Camryn with me, when she saw Camryn she got a worried look on her face and brought out a cake with a pony on it. It was more appropriate for a three year old, I quickly told her that it was great and we loved it. I think she wondered what kind of a 13 year old would like a my little pony cake but Cam was just fine with it and it tasted really good so that's the most important thing.
Saturday October 13th- the big birthday, I have a teenager :( We had a great day. That morning we woke up and opened the few presents that she had, Logan had made her a card, Grandma had brought her a gift as well as a few cards from friends and family at home. We had decided that we wanted to give her an "adventure" for her birthday instead of stuff. First off we went zip-lining. We invited Camryn's new friend Molly to come with us. She's an awesome girl, she's fluent in Spanish, English and Italian. We're super excited to get to know her better. The Canopy tour was awesome, we all enjoyed it, even Logan went without any hesitation and loved every minute. After the zip-lining we went to lunch and then Camryn and I went to get massages. After the massages we hurried home to get ready for the party. We had invited some of our friends including Julie and her family, Kelly and her family and Irlanda and her family. We ate, talked, broke open a pinata and then Camryn ended the night by playing volleyball with Sergio (Irlanda's son) and Shirley (Irlanda's neice). I think getting to play a little volleyball was Camryn's favorite part of the day so we have already planned to get together with them later this week for an actual game on the beach. She's already mastered the art of being a teenager, including the eye roll (she's had that one down for a while thanks to Aunt Noelle :), the dodging pictures maneuvre, the pouty face, I'm hoping since she's had these pretty well mastered she will move on to the next stage of life quickly???? actually, she's still pretty sweet, as far as teenagers go so I guess I shouldn't complain too much.
Sunday October 14th- we went to church in Rivas. It was fast and testimony meeting, and Logan wanted to bare his testimony and asked me to come with him. I was forced with a hard decision- do I bare my testimony in English or try in spanish. I decided to try in spanish, it was very short and very broken but I was able to say a few basic things and I felt good about it. In sunday school and relief society I actually understood some of the lessons given. It was the first time that I was able to follow along and understand quite a bit of the lessons, it definitely made me realize that my spanish is coming along.
This morning Jeremy left us :( It was a sad day. Logan cried quite a bit. Our lives will be more boring again, which might be ok for a while since we've fallen quite a bit behind in school and work. we have four weeks until Grandpa and Jeff and Carol come, we're starting the count down again.
I must say that Nicaragua is definitely starting to feel like home. We've met so many amazing people, both locals and expats. I'm already starting to feel like our time is not going to be enough, and yet I'm WAY excited to get home and see everyone again. We will definitely be coming back to Nicaragua, probably just for short periods of time to visit, but we will be back.
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