Today in Honduras

Here is today's funny story from Central America. For the past week or so, we've been hearing these crazy reports on the radio and in the newspapers about a heat wave that's supposed to hit Honduras tomorrow and Friday complete with temps as high as 140 degrees. The government has declared a state of emergency and cancelled school and given everyone the day off on Friday. They power company is going to turn off power throughout the country in an attempt to conserve. Sounded pretty serious.

The rule of thumb in Honduras is to believe none of what you hear and only half of what you see. With that in mind, today we read in the La Prensa, one of the Honduran newspapers, that this projected heat wave is going to happen as a result of the sun passing extra close to earth on those two days, and in fact, it will be passing directly over San Pedro Sula on Friday. Of course, we all know that, while the earth does have a slightly eliptical orbit, it passes closest to the sun during the northern hemisphere's winter and in no way are temperatures affected. And yet, a whole country is shutting itself down on two completely random days in April because they believe the sun is going to make an extra close pass on those days. As crazy as this all sounds, having been here awhile, we're not even shocked by it. Different cultures have such completely different views of the world that something completely insane to us is quite common place and acceptable to someone else.

And, you just never know. We'll let you know if it hits 140 on Friday!

This Week in the Life of Guildy

Guildy is almost two. Almost-two-year-olds are busy people. On any given day, Guildy's activities include reading books, going to get milk, swimming, playing with the neighbor kids, visiting Lizzy the neighbor lady, coloring, napping, smearing food, going potty, singing, 'helping' cook and do laundry, dusting, sweeping, climbing, watching a movie, eating snacks, telling stories, jumping on the trampoline.....and the list goes on and on. Of course she has to be supervised in all these activities, so it's no wonder Josh and I are so exhausted by the end of the day! So here are a few pictures from the very busy life of our very busy Guildy.

Last Sunday, our old neighbors from San Luis came over with their little girl, also named Linzy. The presence of Linzy always causes a flare up of jealous behavior from Guildy.....it's rough not being the sole center of attention! But in spite of the jealousy, they posed nicely for some pictures.

And to think people spend money on toys! Sure these covers from the caulking tubes are a little sharp and pointy, but they don't conduct electricity and when place on the fingers, they prevent a toddler from picking up and subsequently destroying anything else. That makes them a winner in my book!

Our neighbors in the next house have a great trampoline, and it's a favorite hangout for all the kids and their friends. In the picture below, Gabey, Stefani, Karen, Guildy, and Ana were enjoying an afternoon break last week. On Monday, when I got done teaching, Guildy and her babysitter, Vanessa, plus the girls in the picture below, were all sitting on the trampoline eating green mangos dipped in a mix of vinegar, salt, and a chicken bullion cube.....quite the Honduran delicacy!

Such a Big Kid!

While we were in California, Guildy learned to crawl out of her play pen. So when we got back, we set about finding a suitable bed for her. Our neighbors had a toddler bed they weren't using and loaned it to us. I feared it would be a bumpy transition, but Guildy thinks it's great and stays in it when she's supposed to. And we feel better knowing she's not teetering on the edge of her play pen 3 feet above the tile floor!

She's also pretty well potty trained, at least during the day. Yesterday, she put on quite the potty time show for me with her very own rendition of "Happy Birthday," complete with potty dancing. Pretty hilarious:o)

To California We Go!

We got to spend about a week in California with Josh's family last week and the week before. We had a great time getting all caught up with family and friends we hadn't seen in a long time and enjoying the amazing California spring weather. Lee came down from Oregon for several days. Guildy did her best to call him Uncle Lee, but it came out "Ug Lee" every time. We got a huge kick out of it:o)

The guys spent the mornings tagging calves and feeding.

Guildy had a great time playing with Sydney and Cade.

And the Browning men got to spend some quality time together.

Owen....and his Dad and Mom

Of course, a huge highlight of our trip was meeting the newest Browning. Owen is a manly little fellow with lots of reddish hair and the cutest grins immaginable!! We had fun lots of fun getting to know him.

It's just not a trip to visit your cousin if you don't take a bath together!

And here are Owen's wonderful parents. We miss them a ton!!

Easter....A Week Early

We celebrated Easter with the California Brownings a week early, since everyone was going to be gone by Easter Sunday. Mike and Lisa threw a great barbeque and quite a few friends from Middletown came over to eat, play horse shoes, and hunt Easter Eggs. It was a great afternoon with beautiful spring weather.

The girls got dressed up in their Easter dresses and found some eggs.

Guildy had lots of fun playing with all the kids...

And grown-ups!

Then and Now

What a difference a year makes! This picture was taken at Zech and Brianne's wedding in April of last year. Guildy had just started crawling and was getting her front teeth.

And now, a year later, she's practically all grown up. Well, not quite, but close!