Dogs, Dogs, and More Dogs!

Two Things:
1. I *hate* our rotweiller, Bull. I'm sorry but he is the dumbest dog ever. He's so huge too and strong, he can run and knock you over easily. It's so annoying! And, he's always messing up my flowers. So I came home from school today and checked on my new seeds that had sprouted and....GONE! grrrrr so mad.

2. Lizzy had puppies! I love Lizzy. She's a very sweet dog and a very good mother. (One thing I will say, both Lizzy and Bull have never hurt Leyla and are very good with her, which I appreciate). She had 8 puppies this time, 4 boys and 4 girls. They were born Tuesday morning, September 13, the very day we left for Ceiba! We saw the first (a girl) be born and then had to leave! It was a little stressful being on the road and calling wondering how she was doing and how many she had. Now, they are a week old and doing very well.

Back to reality...

So the vacation is over.... waa waa waaaa :(

I decided to make a map of our trip, for those of you who don't know Honduras (and for me because I can't keep directions straight in Honduras).
Days 1-3: Tuesday-Thursday. We took the red route from Catacamas to Ceiba, stopping to spend the night twice (where the stars are) and reaching our final destination in Ceiba: Hoteles Palma Real!
Days 4-5: Friday, Saturday. Enjoy the beach!
Day 6: Sunday. Time to go home :( We took the green route home to Catacamas.

We left Ceiba at about 9 am this morning and took a back road shortcut to the highway, skipped downtown Ceiba AND San Pedro Sula AND Tegucigalpa! But the road was absolutely awful - plus, it took 5 hours to get to the highway and we didn't stop at all (besides, where would we have stopped?). I ate cereal at 7 am and didn't have snacks, drinks, or lunch until around 3 pm. I was not happy, needless to say. The road was so bumpy and curvy that with that and no food I got a headache and had no energy - I couldn't keep my head from drooping. All I wanted to do was fall asleep - impossible to do as much as my head was banging against the door, the window, the headrest, or the person sitting next to me. Thankfully, Fide and Bartola took care of entertaining Leyla, so at least I was relieved of that!

We ran out of diapers for Leyla, except the swimming ones, so by the time we got to the highway, she had wet it and it soaked through her pants and mine. Outfit change #1. Driving down the highway later, practically in Catacamas, Leyla needs to pee again! Mommy says, hold on Leyla you can make it! Then, busy trying to keep her entertained and distracted, I tickled her. Immediately I stopped, thinking, oh dear I'm going to make her pee! She looks up at me, and there I feel something warm and wet. No no Leyla! Wait! poor baby. We make it to the house and waiting for Maria to open the door, Leyla can't hold it anymore and proceeds to wet her pants entirely AND on top of my foot. Outfit change #2. And I had done laundry at the villa in Ceiba to avoid having dirty clothes when we got back - now I have both pairs of jeans dirty, and 3 of Leyla's outfits dirty, and laundry to do, again.

Here are a few more last pictures of our vacation!

 Our villa! It was really like a tiny house, not quite as big as our own!

 Each group of villas had a pool: ours was right in front!

 At the beach trying to build a sand castle - that wasn't working so we buried Leyla's feet!

 Run Leyla, Run!

 She's so precious!

 Walking on the beach as the sun went down. Goodbye beach! Or, as Leyla would say: Adios agua!

Fun in the Sun

Here are a few more pics of us at the beach and in the pool!

Vacaciones!

This week is Independence Week in Honduras. There are parades all week and no classes, so we took a much needed vacation! Tuesday, we left for Tegus and stayed the night in the Maya hotel. The hotel is really pretty, but the apartment we stayed in was not very impressive and certainly not baby proof. The stairs were floating stairs, and the railing was a few bars here and there but really I wouldn't even call it a railing...So, we were constantly jumping up to make sure Leyla wasn't anywhere near the stairs. Aside from that, she crawled up on the table to get some skittles and it fell almost on top of her! I was very glad to leave the hotel Wednesday....

On Wednesday, we drove to the lake and stayed at a very nice hotel in Santa Cruz de Yojoa. The next morning was Independence Day so we woke up to drums and marching and went out to watch the parades. Leyla walked everywhere with Amanda and had fun watching the little girls dancing and dancing herself. We also visited the zoo, called the Joya Grande. I really enjoyed that: they had lots of animals and it was really nicely done and landscaped and Leyla of course loves animals so we had a lot of fun. Then she was exhausted and slept as soon as we got in the car!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Late Thursday afternoon we arrived in La Ceiba at the Hotel Palma Real and settled in to our Villa. The hotel is huge; the villa is a very nice little house, basically - just a tad smaller than our actual house! We have AC, washer, dryer, internet, kitchen, nice bathrooms, and a king size bed....and a pool out front! We toured the hotel a bit and there are 3 other pools, bars, dance floors, parties, pool tables, and of course the beach. Very excited to be here, relaxing, and not working!

 

Garden Update

The garden is coming along fairly well. I am still having problems keeping the dogs out, even with all the fencing we built. They like to dig a hole and sleep there, by the gate. Some of the plants have not rooted, but I have had luck with a few! The two roses I planted are doing well. The geranium bloomed as well - and by the way it's white, not red. Oh well. The pink-yellow Dahlia is growing but the dogs trampled it one day so its base is not very stable any more. I built a mound of dirt around it to help so I think it will be fine. Also, the other, yellow Dahlia is sprouting new leaves too, and a Hibiscus that I thought was dry actually has a new green leaf! The jasmine seems dead though :( So far then we will have two rose bushes, two dahlias, and a hibiscus. I am happy with that!

 These are the two roses.

The pink Dahlia.

 See the tiny green leaf on the hibiscus?

 Geranium...

Tiny sprout on the yellow Dahlia!

Shopping Spree!

I haven't been shopping in a LONG time. This morning, I decided to check my US bank account because I remembered they were charging me monthly to have the account. I checked it and they have charged me $12 a month for 3 months so far....I would like to keep the account but I can't afford the monthly fee and I can't avoid it :( So I decided I will just close it and look for a different bank the next time I'm in the country! Which means....spending time!!! I'm going to empty the account!

It's August which means summer clearances in the US so I figured I could shop online and get some good deals. I'm so excited because I found Leyla some super cute clothes and Fide's going to bring them in September! Here are a few that I bought:

Aren't they so cute?! I tried to get a variety of colors and shirts that would be easy to mix and match with pants she already has. And, I got everything for an average price of $6 with free shipping!

Girly Girl

Getting ready for church last Sunday morning - braided her hair and just had to take some pictures!

 She was really hyper and I made her sit down to take her picture so at first she was a little upset. But still cute!

 Then she perked up!

 (We were cleaning the cushion on our couch)

Drinking water from a water gun, haha.