Shay's 1st Grade Nativity Play

Earlier this week, we attended a Christmas program at Shay's school. Shay was picked to play Saint Joseph and sing "Silent Night" in English & Spanish. He was pretty excited to wear his Saint Joseph costume again this year and will actually get one more chance to wear it on Christmas Eve when he & Malia will be performing in our church's Nativity play. So without further ado, here's the video:

Merry Christmas!

Back To School!!

It's that time again! Summer break flew by and now it's time to hit the books again. This year, we have a first grader and a pre-k 4. These little ones are not so little anymore and each year, seeing them start another grade, hopping on buses after reluctantly giving Mom and Dad that last minute kiss goodbye...well, it tugs a little harder on these heartstrings!

Malia loves to see her brother off to school every morning and Shay is always good about waving goodbye to his little sister. (I hope this never changes!)

Malia was very excited that we decided to send her on the bus this year. It's like a rite of passage. She loves her school and loves even more that her buddy, Alex, goes with her!

Having both of the older kids at school this year makes for a quiet house and we miss them! Ellie is always happy when they return each afternoon and they are always happy that she's there to greet them.

End Of Summer Activities

It's the end of August and that means that it's time to get ready for another school year. We took advantage of the last days of summer, enjoying some special events and just relaxing at home. Every summer at the embassy, the Community Liason Officer (CLO) sets up some trips and fun activities for the embassy kids. One of the annual events is "Be A Marine For The Day". The Marine security guards stationed here host a pancake breakfast for the kids in the morning and then put them through a grueling couple of hours showing the kids what it takes to be a Devil Dog. 

Shay was very excited to find out that they would be putting on camoflage face paint. 

Every time Malia has had her face painted here in Ecuador, she requests a butterfly. She was ok with the face paint this time as long as she could have a camoflage butterfly...the Marines got a big kick out of this!

Starting out with stretches and some warm up exercises...

Christian participated by showing the kids that Marines can sleep just about anywhere.

In order to be a true Marine, you have to know how to prepare your meals...

After spending all morning with the Marines, we headed over to the embassy to attend a cake cutting ceremony to celebrate a belated Coast Guard Day with Daddy.

The following week, we went to the pool at the Ambassador's Residence for a back-to-school swim and pizza party. The weather here in Quito is pretty mild year-round. Even in the summers, the days really don't get hot. This did not deter the kids from getting in the water...Mommy, on the other hand, watched from the side!

Shay was pretty frigid from the chilly water temp but managed to scarf down a quick ice cream!

One of the nice things about the weather here is being able to enjoy lunch outside.

Goodbye summer...hello to another busy school year!

At last....The Galapagos!

Ok, so I am finally taking the time to blog on this trip. After sorting through over 400 photos, I chose some favorites and viola...

It's really hard to describe our experience in the Galapagos. It was "exciting, amazing, beautiful, challenging, and surreal". We had been waiting for this opportunity for a long time. In fact, we were preparing for it long before we even set foot in Ecuador! Back when we were spending our year in DC to prepare for this move, I recorded a documentary on the Galapagos Islands. Over and over, the kids would ask to watch it and I even started to worry that what they were seeing on TV is what they were going to expect to see on a daily basis in Quito! They were amazed by the beauty, and fascinated by the volcanic formations. It was fun to see them get so excited at the thought that they might get to see all these things they had learned about- "As seen on TV"!

We decided that with a 6 month old baby, the easiest way to see these islands would be by cruise. Thankfully, Brendan had the opportunity to visit the Galapagos for work back in March. During that time, he got a little bit of a feel for how things would go if and when we visited. Some of the islands are separated by great distances and the inter-island ferry rides can be long. The cruise ended up being the perfect thing for us with 3 little ones. We didn't have to think about organizing excursions, planning meals, and the trips to and from the islands were short and sweet. 

Day 1- We landed at Baltra Airport. There isn't much on Baltra except for the airstrip and a small terminal. It was dry and dusty. Not much vegetation except for the occasional cactus. We were picked up at the airport in a bus and transported down to a little dock on the coast. We threw on life jackets and boarded a small zodiac boat that took us out to the ship. We cruised on the Galapagos Legend- a 100 passenger ship. To our surprise it was only about 1/3 full so we had a lot of the ship to ourselves and it was much easier to do everything with the 3 kids.

Santa Cruz- Highlands/Pit Craters

Our first excursion came shortly after lunch on the first day. The zodiac took us over to the island of Santa Cruz to see the giant tortoises. During the dry season, the tortoises have to migrate up to the highland in search of food and water. They took us by bus to a reserve where we were amazed to see these giants walking all over the place. They can live to be up to 200 years old! We walked around bit and then our guide took us to a lava tube. This was Shay's favorite part. Brendan and I had seen lava tubes on the Big Island in Hawaii, but this one was really impressive.   

We were pretty tuckered out after a long day of travel but we enjoyed this beautiful sunset as we travelled back to the ship!

Day 2- Santiago

The morning excursion on this day was one of our favorites purely because we got to see SO much! In the days leading up to our trip, the kids started making lists of all the animals they hoped to see. The trip to Santiago delivered and we were able to check off a lot on their list! We landed on a black sand beach which was something very special for the kids to see. Once we landed, we saw a family of sea lions taking a morning nap.

It was hard to tear ourselves away from the sea lions but it was time to begin the hike and our guide assured us we would return to the beach later. We hiked along the jagged volcanic rock that lines the coast. It reminded us so much of Hawaii. We had to tread carefully so as not to stop on all the marine iguanas! They were everywhere! Marine iguanas are fascinating. They are able to dive down into the water to eat the algae that grows on the rocks below the surface of the water. No wonder Darwin was so intrigued with this place!

This picture was so funny and our guide said she had never seen anything like it. This sea lion is sitting in the middle of this huge group of iguanas and it looks like he's holding court!

Shay really was hoping to see a Galapagos Hawk and here he is!

Is that Shay or a crab?

Malia shows the group the shell that was shed by a crab.

Sally Light-foot Crab

Galapagos Fur Seal

Lava Lizard

Galapagos Owl

Lava arch

On board the ship, the passengers were divided into an English speaking group, a French speaking group, and a Spanish speaking group. This little girl was vacationing with her family and was the only other young child on board. She spoke no English, but Malia did her best to communicate in the Spanish she knew and they became fast friends!

Back on the black sand beach, we had more time with the sea lions. It allowed time for those who wanted to snorkel as well. Shay really wanted to learn but the water was so cold that he wasn't able to stand to swim for more than a few minutes at a time. Most of the people who did snorkel were wearing wetsuits. They reported seeing all kinds of fish, a couple of sharks, and even a baby sea lion came to play with them.

Bartolome

After lunch on our second day, they took us to the island of Bartolome which is home to the Galapagos penguin and the well-known Pinnacle Rock. Our guide told us that we weren't guaranteed to see a penguin but that she would try to spot one. We saw 3!

We hiked all the way to the top of a very high volcanic cone. The landscape was almost what you would picture walking on the moon. It was hot, dry and windy, but we made it to the top and were rewarded with an incredible view!

Lava cone

After the hike, they took us to a golden sand beach for a little relaxing an another opportunity to snorkel. Christian was very happy to get a break from the carrier!

Oyster Catchers

Blue Heron

By the end of Day 2, we were all pretty exhausted. We enjoyed every excursion but the schedule aboard was rigorous especially for these little ones. We decided that we would skip the morning excursion on Day 3 and just relax on board the ship. The kids got to enjoy the pool on deck, Mom and Dad enjoyed a tropical drink from the poolside bar, and we all enjoyed the show that the Frigate Birds put on soaring and diving in the wind above the ship!

Day 3

North Seymour

Refreshed from a morning off and ready for another adventure, we headed to North Seymour Island to check out a great site for nesting sea birds. We saw many Land Iguanas, Blue Footed Boobies, Albatross, and Frigate Birds. 

It was mating season for the Frigate Birds. The males balloon out their neck and put on a show for the females.

This was a Swallow's nest on a cactus.

A furry brand new frigate bird.

One of these iguanas crossed our path and we had to wait for him to clear the path until we could move on- our guide warned us they can be aggressive. He met another male iguana on the other side of the path and the two of them had a stand-off. It was pretty interesting to watch. Eventually, one of them walked away but we were all set with front row seats to witness the fight!

The Blue Footed Boobies were a definite favorite. Why? Well, have you ever seen feet that color?

This brand new baby Blue Footed Booby was trying so hard to fly! He was so cute walking around flapping his wings. 

Just wait a little bit longer, big guy!

Back on board, we caught this beautiful sunset to end our last full day in the islands...

...and again enjoyed the show that the Frigates put on soaring along with the cruising ship.

Day 4- Santa Cruz (Bachus Beach)

The morning of our last day, we took one more excursion. This time we returned to Santa Cruz to explore Bachus Beach. It was a beautiful, cool, overcast morning. The kids enjoyed exploring another sandy beach. This time we saw stingrays and eagle rays in the shallow surf. Bachus Beach is also the home to many sea turtle nests so we had to be careful where we stepped.

These metal fragments are left from a structure dating back to WWII.

Malia's picture of a stingray

The frigate birds put on another show dive bombing into the water to catch their breakfast. 

Not far off the beach was a peaceful lagoon where we spotted a few flamingos. Malia's list was now complete:)

The Galapagos Legend

Back on board, the kids relaxed while Mom & Dad got the last of our things packed up. And after one last call on the loudspeaker for our group, we boarded the zodiac for a ride back to Baltra Airport.

It was sad to say goodbye to the beautiful islands that we had had so much fun exploring. This truly is a special place. It was such a gift to see these plants & creatures in their natural environment, that cannot be found anywhere else in the world! What an incredible Creator we have, and what a beautiful world He gave us!