Monday, December 31, 2007

BIG GIANT FISH

Here is a picture of the fish I caught on Roatan last week. We had a great day at sea. We caught two amber jacks (50 and 70 pounds), two wahoo (30 and 40 pounds) and a barracuda. If anyone is headed out to Roatan and looking to do some fishing I'll put you in contact with the best guide on the island. His name is Lonny. He's great guy and his wife is an excellent cook.



This is me during the fight. My father-in-law looks on while I discover why they call it sport fishing.

Saturday, December 29, 2007

Sunset on Roatan


Sometimes its pretty nice to live in Central America. This was one of those times...

Sunday, December 23, 2007

Saturday Night

We took a walk around the neighborhood tonight with the Nelsons. Here are some pictures of what we saw....



Saturday, December 22, 2007

On the second day of Christmas Break....

A bunch of awesome purple flowers.

We planted these yesterday -- and they really tie the yard together. We are going to pick up the Nelsons at the airport in about an hour. We're having dinner tonight at a wonderful restaurant on the beach. Tomorrow Pico Bonito.

Friday, December 21, 2007

On the first day of Christmas break, Honduras gave to me...

... A Sunny Day!
We're so excited to be on Christmas break! Today, my parents will arrive in Honduras and be in La Ceiba tomorrow along with my brother. The weather looks like it will be sunny and clear for a week- it's a Christmas miracle!

We're off to get haircuts and groceries! Then back to the house to make our guest bedroom more inviting.

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Our School at Christmastime

They definitely don't mess around with Christmas Lights down here in Honduras. It is serious business. We'll post some pictures of our neighborhood next week.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Guaruma

I went on a field trip today with 20 sixth graders to the small town of Las Mangas. Its quite a ways into the mountains. We visited the Guaruma Organization. Check out their website. They are awesome. They do wonderful things for the community and the local ecosystem. Today they did something wonderful for me because they taught me how to take good pictures. They tried at least. Here are some of the results.

Vote for your favorite picture and you may become eligible to win a frozen turkey. The winner may be announced as soon as Dec. 23. Merry Christmas!!!





Tuesday, December 11, 2007

It's beginning to look a lot like...

...well, not exactly Christmas as we've known it, but it's pretty nice here. We've been enjoying sunny days and coolish nights. In an attempt to be more active, we've been on the move around town.

On Saturday, Tom and his friend went golfing down the street. They are becoming pros on our less-than-professional golf course. They definitely wouldn't be golfing back in MN right now though! Sunday was a gorgeous day, so we went up to the Jungle River Lodge for some swimming and rock jumping. We jumped off of the 30 foot ledge into the river and swam around. It was lovely!


This gorgeous place is located at the edge of Pico Bonito National Park. The rainforest is literally in our backyard, and we finally got up the road a bit to enjoy it. Tom rode his bike with a friend, and I took a taxi with some other friends. We also met some avian friends there.

We are wrapping up the second semester at school. Tomorrow, Tom accompanies the 6th graders on a field trip up into the mountains for hiking and photography lessons. Hopefully we'll have some good shots to post from that.

This evening, we had our Spanish lesson, ate some Thai curry, and walked around our neighborhood to look at Christmas lights. It was a strange sight for us to see entire families gathered out in front of their homes under palm trees while a shirtless, barefoot man hangs lights.

We were inspired to do a bit of our own Clark Griswald-ing. Our display is not as large as many neighbors, but it puts us in a festive mood.

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

We've got an ear!

So, German Shepherds are known for their large pointy ears. I think that's how they hear crime happening and help the police. As puppies, they still have cute little floppy ears. Ruby is now on her way to being a big dog. Last night, her left ear popped up and has been pretty much up ever since (unless she knows she's in trouble for any number of naughty things she's doing these days). We think it's cute.


And the whole new pool thing- supposed to be only for humans. Even though we spent the weekend training her to stay out of it, by Monday morning, she had claimed it for her own and drained half the water out the sides. Trouble- but pretty cute. Her favorite thing to do after swimming is to go play in Tom's new off-limits garden. (And her tail is enormous- isn't it!)

Sunday, December 2, 2007

Week of Culture

Our week was filled with Honduran cultural activities!

Thursday Culture: I hosted a book club here at our house. 6 lovely ladies came over and we ate fajitas and talked about books. We're reading Under the Banner of Heaven for January.



Friday Culture: We went to dinner at Playa Tatys (some of the best food in town) and then to the Honduras Philharmonic Orchestra at the cathedral here in town. It was quite the formal event!



Saturday Culture: Tom tried out the golf course here in town with a friend. He's been talking about his wonderful caddy ever since! I took Ruby on a quick playdate at our new favorite park. It's right in the neighborhood, completely fenced in, and always empty! We ended the evening with a fantastic birthday dinner at our friends' house. One of our friends spent some time in culinary school and she's an incredible cook.

Sunday Culture: The chair man was in the neighborhood! (Guy who walks up and down the streets carrying one of these things on his back until he finds someone to buy it) I've been waiting for this day for months! $35 for two handmade wood rocking chairs- maybe next week we'll stain them.

We also tried to make this Sunday's pool party even bigger and badder. Since Ruby put some holes in our blow-up pool last weekend (see video), Tom bought us the type of pool with plastic sides. There is definitely room for at least 4 adults to be able to sit in this pool- and not have to touch each other! Our friends came over for a little poolside time. When the sun went down, we put a few citronella candles together and pretended it was a bonfire.