What I Will Miss and What I Won't Take 3

I have often been amazed at how well our children play in spanish with their friends and then turn around and speak to us in english.  And then if someone else walks up, it is as if the kids can automatically switch back and forth in between the two languages without any problem, depending on which language the person speaks.  I tend to start speaking the wrong language with the wrong person when I get too many people around me who only speak either spanish or english and I have to switch back and forth. 

One of my biggest fears is that when we move back to the states, my kids will forget all of their spanish!  They were born here- the language and this country is a part of them.  They love the people here and the people love them.  It makes me so sad to think of them forgetting not only the language, but the people and the culture and all of the things that we love so much about Paraguay.  I will truly miss the opportunity that living in a foreign country provides for my children to be bilingual.  For me- it was hard to learn spanish!  It made my brain hurt!  I had to study a lot and make a lot of very embarrasing mistakes.  I sat through many conversations that I barely understood a word of.  But my kids- they just learned it. They never had to study and never got embarrased when they said something wrong.  Kids are like little sponges!  Their minds absorb every little thing they hear, see, touch and smell!  (I think I missed one of the 5 senses in that!?)  And sweet little Olivia just learned this week to say "agua".  All three of them have said "agua" before the english word, water.  I will miss hearing my kids switch back and forth between english and spanish in their every day lives.

But along with Paraguay and the opportunity to learn spanish, comes GREAT amounts of unbearable and indescribable heat!  And not just normal heat- this heat carries lots of humidity with it.  An average day here in the summer is around 100degrees.  And many days go well above the 100 degree mark.  The heat index, which is taken under a roof in the shade, not out in the sun, is often above 110.  So, if you are out in the street (where the heat comes back up at you), and you are standing directly in the sun- we are talking HOT!  And this heat also brings with it lots and lots of mosquitos. And many carry lovely diseases such as Dengue!  I get so tired of having to cover myself and the kids from head to toe in bug repelent.  We have to do it every night before we got to bed and every day so they can play outside.  And on days like today, when we leave the doors open a lot, the entire house is full of mosquitos.  And for some reason, they really like the smell of me and the kids.  Paraguayans leave their doors and windows open all the time to keep fresh air in and to help keep the house cooler, but they don't get eaten alive like we do.  I just don't get it.  But if one mosquito gets in my house- we have bites all over and itch for a week!  So, I definately will not miss the long, hot summers of Paraguay.  (Although going to the swimming pool in November and December while everyone in the U.S. is freezing, is kinda fun!)

Christmas Day in Paraguay

Christmas Day was pretty busy in the Fry household. 

On Christmas Eve, Emma left Santa cookies, milk and three letters.

She was so excited for her and Olivia to get some new matching headbands and dresses.  And the best part is that these headbands are cute and they stay in her hair!  That is nothing short of a miracle!

Here is Emma's gift pile.  She got a mermaid Barbie and play set from Santa.  We got her the movie to go with it and a Barbie book.  And a box to keep fun trinkets in.  And a personalized princess cd.  She also got lots of fun stocking stuffers, as you can see.

Walker playing with his new microphone.  There will be no peace in the house now!

Emma and Walker painted a picture frame for their daddy and we put pictures of them and Olivia in it.

This is Walker's fun pile.  He got a huge train set from Santa.  We got him the movie and book to go with the set.  And he also got a personalized Mickey Mouse music cd.  And some spider man underoos.  Does anyone else remember these?  They were so popular when I was little.  I had Wonder Woman!  He loves to hear it say his name a thousand times. 

Santa left a note back for the kids since Emma wrote him 3!

The milk and cookies Santa left.

Olivia's gift pile is much smaller than Emma and Walker's.  She got an Olivia doll, headbands, a personalized musice cd and a dress to match Emma's. 

We did not realize that Walker's Thomas the Tank Engine Logging Mill would be as big as our whole living room floor!  Or that it would take so long to put together!  But he loves it!

And Emma played all afternoon with her Barbie set that is supposed to be a bathtub toy.  We just put her a big tub of water in the floor on a towel and she had a blast.  We had a hard time keeping Olivia out of it, however.  Every time I looked over, she was dipping her hand in and then licking it. 

A very sweet moment- me reading to all three of them. 

And this is probably a major safety hazard, but I couldn't resist.  Olivia kept trying to climb in while I was washing their new dresses, so I helped her out a little and grabbed the camera.  No worries- she can't get to the dryer unless someone is in the laundry room with her.  For now anyway- good thing we are moving before she is old enough to open the door and hop in when no one is looking!

And this was my Christmas dinner table.  Emma helped me decorate it. 

We hosted 11 of our teammates and 5 kids!  We barely fit in our downstairs, but we managed and had an absolutely fabulous meal!  A big roast, sauteed mushrooms, sour dough bread, roasted asparagus, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, glazed carrots and yummy appetizers and desserts, including homemade icecream! 

After our meal, the kids opened their gifts.  Perry played with the helicopters he got the boys more than they did! 

And then we played a round of "Dirty Santa"!  Cara got some funny stuff!

And Toby sought shelter from the chaos with Lydia.

Troy, Andrea and Chris.

Perry, Alba, Josh and Cara.

Brittnea and Ale, the newlyweds- can you tell?

It was a very Merry Christmas!  I can't believe it is our last one in Paraguay.

Christmas Eve in Paraguay

What do people do when they are in a different country than their entire family for Christmas?  Well, this year we decided to take a trip to the zoo.  Our first plan was to go swimming because it has been so hot here, but Christmas Eve was a little cloudy.  The pool is a good 30 minute drive and we didn't want to get all the way there and have to turn around and come home (with very disappointed kids).  So, we chose the zoo- 5 minutes away and costs about $10.00 for the entire family to get in!  Maybe less. 

Here is the crew (minus the photographer).  Walker hiding behind Emma.  And Olivia with her baby, of course.

Such a cutie!  We forgot her shoes, so the poor thing didn't even get to walk around. 

Emma posing in front of the peacock cage.

The most exciting find of the day was two giant green lizards.  They were not part of the zoo- just running around lose on the walkway.  Can you even see them way in the background?

Olivia got antsy in her stroller with no shoes, so Chris gave her a fun "daddy ride".

Giving daddy kisses.

Me with Olivia.  We had bags strapped all over that poor stroller! 

I didn't show any pictures of the animals we saw.  They just aren't that pretty in pictures behind cages :(  But we did really enjoy our day!  And we spent the afternoon at our teammates' house enjoying some fabulous finger foods. 

Christmas Eve in Paraguay, called Noche Buena, is the big event for the Christmas holidays.  Everyone gathers at the homes of their families and they have a huge dinner- at Midnight!  Actually, at midnight, everyone shoots off fireworks simultaneously in the entire city and then they all sit down to have their dinner. The major drawback to that is that many also shoot guns off into the air.  It is always a good idea to be under a roof at midnight!  And then after the chaos and dinner, the kids who are still awake get to open their Christmas gifts.  Chris and I actually celebrated with a Paraguayan family before we had kids one year.  It was lots of fun!  But, now that we have little ones- we opted to get them in bed at a decent hour and watch movies together until the fireworks started.  After all, who can sleep when the entire town is booming fireworks?  Our teammates made a video that they called "Christmas Thunder".  Check it out!

Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good Night!

The Christmas Countdown Continued

No Christmas can be complete without lots of Christmas cookies!  Emma helped me make 4 dozen chocolate chip cookies and they were yummy!  They were tested and approved various times by the entire family before we handed them out to friends and neighbors.

One of the kids' other favorite Christmas countdown activities is "making a Christmas scene with funny shaped toys and shaving cream".  However, it almost always ends up in the "covering most of your body in shaving cream" activity.  This year all three of them were at the table, but Olivia did not want any part of that "stuff" being on her hands. 

Walker ended up with the most all over his body.

And Olivia let me put a little on her nose too.

And she proudly shows us where her belly button is since she is only in her diaper!  Did I mention how hot it is here?

And the kids being dramatic in the mirror.

And this is towards the end, as the shaving cream is covering the entire table and most of Walker.

The kids exchanged their gifts to each other on Christmas Eve Eve, as we call it.  Walker got a miniature train set from Emma.  He loved it!  I am amazed that it made it through until Christmas and even past- it was a whopping $3.00! 

Emma got pink string and assorted pink beads from Walker.  She loved them and made a beautiful necklace and matching bracelet.

And we think that Olivia would have been perfectly happy with only receiving Emma's old baby doll for Christmas because that is the only thing that she has played with! 

The kids love to gather up tons of books while we get ready in the mornings.  Even little Olivia loves to sit and look at her books.  Notice that "baby" is very close by.  She doesn't get far without her!

And sweet little Walker could sit and look at books all day long if he has his teddy with him.  In fact, if I ever lose track of him for a few minutes- I can almost always count on the fact that he is in his bed , with his teddy and looking at a book.

Iguazu Falls- Brazil

Last week we were able to go with two of the couples on our team to see Iguazu Falls in Foz, Brazil. This trip made Chris's 8th trip and my 4th. However, none of our kids have ever been (unless you count when Emma was in my tummy). So, we wanted to visit one last time before we leave and we wanted the kids to get to see it now that they are at ages that at least two of them can truly enjoy it. And we wanted to take our newest teammates because they had never been either!






 
This picture was taken right as we got outside of Asuncion, but it is a typical side-of-the road float sale found all over Asuncion and nearby towns.  We are in summer here and it is hot!  And what better thing to sell during hot weather than some floats?
 

We waited in traffic for 2 hours to cross the border and bridge from Paraguay into Brazil.  We were in Ciudad del Este, which is known as one of the most corrupt cities of the world.  For blocks before you get to the border, there are thousands of stores selling just about any kind of electronic gadget you can imagine.  And at a price that brings people from all over Paraguay, as well as from Brazil, to buy them.  Brazilians cross over the border and then carry their goods or load their vehicles to cross back into Brazil.  However, there is a limit on how much you can take back across, so it is fairly common that they try to find ways around these laws.  This is a picture of two guys who were tying ropes around their newly bought goods and lowering them through the one opening over the bridge.  I am not sure who was catching all those goodies down there, but these guys sure were in a hurry and were looking over their shoulders every two seconds!  And that would be one of the many reasons that this city is known for corruption!

We finally arrived at the falls.  Here is the crew that traveled together, minus our fabulous photographer, Lydia.  Can you tell the sun was in our eyes?

Here is Emma and Walker!

And here is one of the many rainbows we saw.  As we were looking at this scene, we were amazed that there are still people who deny that this world has a fabulous Creator!  He sure did create some beautiful stuff!

Here is Emma and her sweet friend, Vivian. 

Emma and Walker as we get closer to the falls.  I love Walker's face in this one!

And me and Olivia taking it all in.

And Walker's favorite part of the trip was probably when his daddy rode him backwards down the steps in the stroller.  And there were a lot of steps!

Daddy, Emma and Walker as we got closer to one of the falls.

And my two sweet, tired girls on the trip back home.  I love that I happened to catch them holding hands.  It doesn't get much better than that!