A lot of pictures

This posting is really just a bunch of pictures. We have been pretty busy lately, building nurseries at our schools and giving classes and attending and giving trainings and what-not. Hopefully in the next week or two one of us will actually write something to put on this blog, rather than just posting a bunch of pictures. We'll see.

Enjoy...

So, a few months ago we received a huge package from our friend Brian, that was awesome. Lots of CDs, magazines and an amazing dog bed for Clavo. Clavo took to it right away and spends a lot of time there. Here he is on his new bed, chewing on a bone. Thanks Brian!

This is me at a fritanga (mostly fried food that people sell in the streets) stand in León. These are very common and usually feature tacos, enchiladas, gallo pinto and all sorts of other fried goodies. Note how much bigger I am than the woman standing in front of me.

We went to León for Good Friday because they make really cool colored sawdust "paintings" in the streets. Here is a group putting the finishing touches on theirs. There were dozens of them over many blocks of street and that evening, they had a parade in which they just walked right over all of them.

Here are members of our old host family at their daughter's baptism. Francela (the baby) was baptised by the priest and her madrina (mother-in-law) who is hoplding her in this picture. Her parents (Javier and Cela) are on either side and her aunt (Gloria Elena) is the 5 year old at the bottom.

This is a parade that passed in front of our house the Sunday after easter. We still don't know the significance of this day, but the parade was pretty big. Parades here are mostly just members of the community walking through the streets. There is usually some sort of music system or a band. This one also had a statue of Jesus and fireworks.

A tree covered in brilliant yellow flowers. We don't know what kind it is, but they drop their leaves then flower a few weeks later, but the flowers go away after a day or two, leaving only bare branches again.

A baby chicken got into our yard (not uncommon) and Clavo had the best time trying to play with it. I ended up returning it to its owner after I saw Clavo put it entirely in his mouth a couple of times.

Last week we had our yearly In-Service Training for a week at a beautiful hotel in the mountains of Matagalpa. Here is Brenna and I with our counterpart, Melva Castellón, who is the principal of one of Brenna's schools.

We visited our friend Elliott for his birthday and went on a hike since he lives in a rather hilly region. These are succulent type plants growing right out of a rock. They were beautiful.

Elliott's town, Santa Lucia, Boaco, is surrounded by mountains. Here are a couple of our friends on top of the one we hiked to. Elliott's town is below.

There is Elliott, who is now a year older. I checked out the cliffs behind him with binoculars and think that there could actually be some rock climbing potential there. I'm sure it will never happen though.

Our friend, Jessica, relaxing after the hike. She's from Long Island and had never worn Chaco's until this hike.

And finally, a picture of Brenna with our new cat, Poster. She is about 3 or 4 months old and has gained a lot of weight in the 3 weeks we have had her.