Time With the G'kids

Saturday - Monday, we got to keep the grandkids while Ellen and Luke spent the weekend at a retreat center south of Denver.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles 

The 5:00am flight got us into Denver at 6:30am.  After taking the train to Union Station and switching to another 2 other lines, we arrived at the Littleton Downtown station.  Then we called an Uber driver and we were walking into the apartment before 9:00am.  Not too shabby.

We had a full day.  We took the grandkids to the local Library for free time at Legomanics.  David especially was in Lego heaven.

Lucy, say "Cheese"

 We took the kids to Chuck E Cheese.  They had never been before.

Just shoot me. 

  And I think our last time was 25 years ago.  It hadn't changed too much.  Just a lot of noise.  Since we never purchased tokens for our kids when we took them to Chuck E Cheese, we didn't buy tokens (or rather fobs) for our grandkids.  However, the g'kids didn't know the difference.  They were still able to have so much fun.  Somehow they learned how to jump on the small mechanical animals and rides many times.

After a couple of hours at Chuck E. Cheese, Glenn dropped me off at Arc (something like Salvation Army) and I picked up some desperately needed jeans for growing boy, David.  And of course I picked up some other pants for Emily and Lucy.

We learned of a "Break Bread" meal at a local Methodist church and took the kids there for dinner.

The kids were absolutely 

E.X.A.U.S.T.E.D

 by the time we got them ready for bed at 6pm.  They didn't make a peep nor did they object when we said it was time for bed.  GrandDad and Grammie were exhausted too, since we had taken the early morning flight to Denver.

I think GrandDad was pretty exhausted at Chuck E Cheese too as he tried to get some  
"pizza and quiet".

Sunday, we chose to go to the Cherry Hills Church. We nicknamed it the "Bubble Church" because of the Bubbles floating down from the ceiling in the Children's area.

After church, we went to a fancy McDonalds and then did a local Letterbox!  Fun.

All in all, we had a great extended weekend with the 4 grandkids.  

 I enjoyed rolling the girls' hair up at night, playing "kitchen" with Emily and Lucy and just loving on them.

David (6 1/2) Emily (nearly 5) Lucy (3) and Elizabeth (10 months).

Antigua, Panajachel and Beyond

We had the blessing to take Bob and Shirley and Bob's brother and sister-in-law out to Antigua and then to Panajachel the next weekend.

Bob and Shirley have been coming down to Guatemala for over 10 years to lead modules at SETECA.  This year, they brought down Doug and Brenda from Canada to experience the beauty of Guatemala.

 After church on Sunday, we drove up to Antigua to explore this unique city.

We stopped to see veteran missionaries, Paul and Ruth Philippi.  We enjoyed seeing her beautiful flowers in her yard.

Then the following weekend, we took the 2 couples to Panajachel for a few days.  Glenn took me out to celebrate our 38th Wedding Anniversary in Panajachel.  Sweet.

 Side note: The restaurant credit card charge system was not working and Glenn did not have enough cash to cover the dinner. The "Maitre D" let us walk out and come back to pay the next day:).

We connected with 2 ladies from California and New York in Panajachel. They joined us for some of the excursions around Pana such as going to the butterfly farm and San Antonio Palopo and Santa Catarina, Palopo as well as the CrossRoads Coffee Shop. Fun. Then, on Monday, we drove them back into the city, took them to the Cemetery, City Dump and their hotel. They were kind to treat us to a late lunch.

The mind of a man plans his way,
But the Lord directs his steps.

Proverbs 16:9 

 

It is always good to see how God directs our paths.

Breakfast and Lunch

The other morning, Glenn fixed me waffles.

As an added bonus, we enjoyed the delicious breakfast out on our patio.

Then we enjoyed lunch on the patio.

Grilled Chicken, fresh green beans, baked potatoes and salad.  Can't get better than this!

Bike Ride

Recently, Glenn and I took a Saturday morning bicycle ride and rode up to the San Kris Mall.  It was a pretty good challenge.  To those who know the area we live in, it was basically up hill the whole 35 minute ride.

We chose to ride on Saturday, because the traffic is very light.  And because of the road construction where the road was closed over 2 years ago, we did have to walk our bike along the trail to avoid the construction area.

We did enjoy Fresh-squeezed Orange Juice.  It wasn't your Orange Julius, but it was pretty good.

Pineapple in Our Yard

I looked out my kitchen window and saw a pineapple growing.  Juana, who comes once a week to do light house cleaning, and our local "green thumb", had planted it several months ago.  I understand it can take up to 18 months for 1 single pineapple to grow.

So, in a few weeks, we'll enjoy this delightful fruit.

Galatians 5:22-23

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance against such there is no law.

Christmas Holiday 2017

Christmas Holidays 2017 was very quiet this year for us, except for the fireworks that exploded at midnight all around us.  

For New Years Day, Glenn grilled chicken out and I prepared black-eyed peas, stuffing, salad and biscuits.  It was such a beautiful day, that we sat out on our patio.

Glenn goes went to the Guatemala City airport to pick up Ken and Cindy who were returning from the US, and he came home with Oscar.  Oscar spent the night with us and then the next day was able to get access to his house. We were up past midnight on our patio, watching the fireworks.

We also picked up Natalie several days later, and she was able to stay with us one night before she headed back to her home in San Juan and back to teach in the small village of Chivoc.

We watched my favorite show together on Wednesday night - Amazing Race