Halloween and Kite Festival

This year for Halloween my friend Kristen and I were "Black Eyed Peas." It was really fun, but people here did not quite understand... at least the Gringos did not!This year I went to Sumpango Guatemala to see the kite festival. It was a bit different than last year's trip, but it was steal incredible. The cemetery was much larger and there were more people out decorating the graves. The weather was nice and we made it out just before the rain clouds started rolling in. The kites were so unique. They were all different shapes (last year's were all round) and the detail was INCREDIBLE!! i really do love this holiday!

My favorite... ELOTE!!! Grilled corn with salt and lime! It tastes like popcorn.

My favorite kite... Look at that face!

Monterrico October 2009

For el dia de la revolucion, some friends from school and i went to the beach for 3 days. The weather was perfect... HOT, but great! Here are some pictures from our great weekend.

The sunset on the first night! I love the beach!

Our hotel room... no a/c but we did have mosquito nets. I slept great.... but others disagreed!

The group! Michelle, Mark, Tracy, Elaine, and Melissa. I was taking the picture!

Here comes the rain! I love this foto!

Our hotel had a beautiful pool! that is where we spent our days.

IT was SOOOOOO hot!!! I could stand the black sand from 8-9:30 a.m. and that was all!

YEAH TEDDY!!! I love setting turtles free!

One of my former students was there so he and I got to let Teddy free! It was fun to watch how excited he got to see the turtle go to the sea.

Go TEDDY!! You can make it to the ocean! I know you can!

Sunset on our last night

Driving along the road you see pashte... or loofa! It is incredible to see it hanging to dry. We had to stop and by some... now what am I to do with it?

My favorite restaurant near the beach is called El Capitan. I love the atmosphere and food! It is right on the inlet on the ocean. They have a delicious fish sandwich for just at $5! You can't beat it! and you get a popsicle for dessert! We stopped on the way down and the way back.

Why have I not blogged....

I know, I know. I have become quite a terrible blogger. I guess after starting my third year here, things have just started to feel so much more normal. I have a great class this year. I have a new teaching partner and she is doing great (although I miss Susana because she is awesome too!). I was able to go home and meet Burke which was awesome. I spent a weekend at Lake Atitlan with some lovely ladies. And tomorrow I leave for the beach for 4 days for our long weekend. NO COMPLAINTS here! So, I will just do a quick picture montage of what I have been up to...

Chili's with Alison and Kristen

Sweet Burke time at the UGA game

On the boat on the way to San Pedro La Laguna

My crazy class! :-)

So it took a long time.... but finally.... ALASKA!

Alaska was incredible! I had a student teacher (far right in the picture below) who was from Alaska and so I was able to spend a week with her and her family. Laura lives just north of Anchorage and we were able to visit that town, Fairbanks, Seward and other stops along the way. It was so great to see the state from the land rather than the water (though I am still interested in cruising one day). We hiked mountains, kayaked lakes, searched for moose, played frisbee in daylight at 9:30 p.m., ate muskox, moose, and salmon killed by her cousin, stayed in a "dry cabin", searched for icebergs through the clouds, and saw a whale, moose, puffins, sea lions, sea otters, bald eagles, and many other animals. What an adventure!

Climbing up Bear Mountain

picking blueberries along the way

the view from the top

Not a real moose, but he was great!

getting ready to go kayaking (yes i wearing many layer in JULY!)

Laura and most of her family. Just two sisters missing! What a great family

What a view!

Again, notice snow on mountains in July!

Well behind us was Denali.... sadly the clouds did not cooperate

Again... trying to see Denali, but we were cute at least!

Alaskan pipeline in Fairbanks

Our dinner of salmon, muskox and moose steaks! It was incredible!

Just before our 11:30 p.m. MOOSE HUNT! No moose, but lots of sunlight

the inside of the Laura's cousins cabin. he built the whole thing!

Muskox.... interesting animal

reindeer antlers

finally A MOOSE!! and i spotted it!

Sea lions on our boat tour

sea otters! so cute!

a little wet and cold, but totally worth it!

our hostel in seward

PUFFINS

Seward- What a fun town

Blue ice.... oh wait!! those are icebergs!

Icebergs!!! WOW!! Those are incredible.

well there were no moose there, but i was ready!

Victoria.... Butchart Gardens

After Ruth had to leave me to go kayaking through northern Washington, I was able to go to Victoria, Canada. I was able to reconnect with Ryan who had volunteered for a couple of months in Guatemala awhile back and he lives in Seattle. Fortunate for me, he had some time and was willing to take me up to Victoria to see Butchart Gardens. I was so excited to see this because when my mom and dad visited Vancouver a couple of years ago, they RAVED about the gardens and so I wanted to visit. When my dad told me that 3 hours was not enough time in the gardens, I knew I needed to go! So... we woke up early on Wednesday morning and headed north to catch ferry from Anacortes through the San Juan Islands and finally ended up in Victoria. I really enjoy traveling by ferry. You park your car and end up in a new place! So below are some photos of the flowers I saw in Butchart. It was INCREDIBLE!

My favorite flower at Butchart Gardens. I wish I knew the name of the flower, but I don't. I think it was so unique and intricate.
The Gate of Harmonious Interest! Just the entrance to China Town. I love the alley ways and waterfront that you could see from every direction. The town of Victoria is quite beautiful. There were street performers, incredible food venues, water taxis, and historical buildings galore!! I am very glad we did not return right away so that we could do some exploring.
Downtown Victoria. The Parliament building was so beautiful at night.
This was the sunset right before getting on the plane to go to Anchorage! Just wait for that next post.

I AM A TIA

Look at this sweet baby! I can't wait to see him in September.

Robert Burke Seagraves III "Burke" was born at 8:22 a.m. on August 6th and was 5 lbs 12 oz and was 19.25 inches long! Hilary and Beau are great!

Washington State

For this summer break I decided I would travel to the Northwest of the US. I had never been there and having met people from these areas, I decided it was time I go and chec

k it out. So... this is the first of my three part picture journey/blogs.

I flew out of Jacksonville, Florida on July 17th only to sit at the ATL airport for 5

extra hours on my direct flight to Seattle (due to mechanical issues on the plane). Now, I did not want to fly on a plane with these "issues," but it would have been nice if they would have let us leave the area. They just kept saying... "Oh, we may have a plane for you at any moment!" WRONG! So after arriving in Seattle at close to 10 p.m. i was tired.

The next day began my adventure with Ruth, a friend from Guatemala. She is also a teacher at my school here. We started out in Pike's Market. It was a great experience seeing the flying fish! The fruits, vegetables, flowers, everything were just so bring and rich. I enjoy perusing markets so it was great to see this famous market up close and personal.

After lunch and some fun shopping, Ruth and I met up with another friend who I met while he was volunteering with a soccer ministry in Guatemala. He works at the Space Needle and was able to take us up to the top. It was a clear, crisp, BLUE day (I did not think that was possible in Seattle). From the top (as you can see below), the city in magnificent and Mount Rainer was just seated perfectly above some distant clouds. Pictures can n

ever truly grasp what you can see with your eyes.

Following our tour from extreme heights, we decided we should Ride the Ducks! Now, normally I would try not to be this touristy and would rather not stand out as "visitor," but after NUMEROUS recommendations to ride this car/boats, we decided to do it! WOW! IT WAS A BLAST! The drivers play music, wear funny hats, and narrate the tour of the city on both land and water. It was a great way to see Seattle and I would do it again! Thank you everyone for encouraging me to do it!

Yes, even the ducks were out to see the "DUCK"

So these are my attempts at being artsy. I think the Space Needle is a pretty incredible sight in Seattle and so I found some unique ways to view it.


So after spending Sunday at "A bite of Seattle" and trying some incredible different foods, Ruth and I headed to her parents house in west Washington. It was a town called Aberdeen. So we went to dinner with the parents and then on Monday headed of the the beach... HA! It is NOT a beach trip with you have to wear a fleece... OR TWO! I will change my statement and say we went to visit the shore. It was a cold at one part and I was thankful I had my fleece vest and fleece jacket, but it finally brightened up enough to unzip a bit. It was neat to see the Pacific Ocean from this point of view because I am so used to the black sand beaches of Guate.

So after just 1 1/2 days of action packed days of sightseeing and traveling, Ruth and I returned to Seattle via a car ferry. It was yet again another beautiful day. I love my time in Seattle and I would love to get back there again.
Next stop, VICTORIA, CANADA!