Boston with the Cala crew

After just three days of being in the States, we took a trip to visit the Cala's in Boston!  It was an awesome trip; visiting the new house by the bay AND ocean, taking walks on the beach, visiting friends eating, eating, and yeah, eating some more.  Mostly we just enjoyed Bob and Eveyln, the new grandparents to be!

The ocean, just 50 steps from the front door.

The bay, with the Boston skyline in the background, 100 steps in the opposite direction.

A surprise visit from the D's and a lobster dinner with more than just the trimmings!

Evelyn arranged for us to go on a traditional New England apple picking day,  the last day of the season.  Kyle's first time at the same orchard Lizzy has gone to since being a baby. 

Yes, they could have had their own.  Just goes to show how much fun the day really was!

The farm has the famous three little piggies.   Evelyn couldn't resist feeding them, surprise surprise!

Kyle, goats, and apple cider infused caramel apples.

We visited Liz's old friend Kyla in her new home in the town they grew up in. 

Brendan, Jenn, Jameson and Austin came for dinner...Kyle was a hit!

Of course we had a fabulous spaghetti and meatball dinner.

We had a great day hanging out with Lelani and Rob and they treated us to a fabulous lunch at the famous  Jewish deli in town.

Liz, Bob & Evelyn.  Going for a night out at the Boston Ballet to celebrate Brett's birthday.

Halloween weekend we went up to Salem to see all the crazies and have an early Thanksgiving dinner with the D's.

Evelyn with her favorite son-in-law.

Low tide.

Saying goodbye with a perfect view from the front steps.

October 29th, Brett's Birthday

On October 29, 1973 my hero was born.  We were happy to be together and celebrate with Bob/dad and Evelyn/ma this year.  Brett, we miss you, and love you everyday.

I spent my life looking up to you, and even still, I see you all around me. 

Baby Bump!

As you may have heard, Lizzy and I are expecting our first kid!  We are very excited and can't wait until May 5thish when he/she arrives.  Although it's not Guatemalan Independence Day, I guess U.S. pinata-margarita, and mexican hat day will do!  I'm thinking we'll have a competition, the first one to send us a baby shirt with "Hecho en Guatemala" on it, wins! 

14 weeks!  Of course we go to the one clinic in the U.S. that has a broken ultrasound machine.  We couldn't get a print out picture so this is best we could get of a photo of a screen.  Baby was all moves, even gave us a perfect little wave to reassure us everything is o.k. in there.

Evelyn made a generous offer to take Liz maternity shopping at the mall.  Liz didn't think 14 weeks pregnant and new clothes went together very well, but, they had a great time together and Liz is the cutest pregnant lady in her new duds!

The Reeves Family takes Guatemala by storm! Literally!

The Reeves came to visit us and we went on our last trip around Guatemala. They arrived on the red-eye friday morning and went up to the Earth Lodge high above Antigua. Unfortunately we weren't able to meet them at the airport since we were still stuck in our village due to landslides. They spent their first day up there hiking around and then went down to Antigua the next day where we had the spend the rest of the week due to the condition of the roads. We had planned on going to Lake Atitlan but all the roads washed out to get there. We wanted to go to our village with them but the roads were blocked and then closed for the week. We also wanted to go down to the Pacific coast to go to the beach and release sea turtles but the bridges were washed out and supplies had to be airlifted to the people living there. All things considered we had a great week hanging out in Antigua and doing day trips from there.

Aiden and Casey looking down on Antigua

When we finally were able to meet up the first thing that we did was go to the Mayan ruins in Tecpan called Iximche

Skyler showing us how to pose at Iximche

Wesley in a classic power stance

Wesley and Skyler made friends with the granddaughter of the hostel owner. 

Antigua at the Merced Church

The boys got to share a room and they had their own t.v. I don't know if  they were aware that I took this they were so zoned in. The best was when Skyler walked into his parents room shortly after arrival to tell his dad, "Dad, the t.v. is broken...everything is in Spanish."

The boys were very impressed with the ruins in Antigua

Casey held this crumbling arch up with sheer will power

The boys all took turns washing their clothes in the public pila

Taking in the pan flute band in the middle of the park playing the national anthem of Peru, anything by Simon and Garfunkel

The boys in front of one of the many markets we went to. Aiden got a pan flute, Skyler bought a Barcelona jersey and Wesley settled on a wooden puzzle when he realized that it wouldn't be possible to pick up Russian nesting dolls in Guatemala.

At the Guatemalan sweet shop.

Pupusas! and Skyler actually ate them.

Antigua by night

At our favorite Falafel place.

Tuc Tuc ride around town

The boys rode horses in the rain up the Volcano Pacaya.

Skyler loved eating plants that our guide showed us along the way

We never actually saw the top of the volcano due to heavy rain and cloud cover, but we did hide out in a cave on the volcano where we were able to have a snack and warm up a little bit

Our last night we met up with the Chiquito's, my host family in Sumpango. The kids really hit it off and Wesley fell head over heels in love with Valentina. We ate at the most international restaurant we could think of; Mcdonald's

Wesley and Valentina. Shortly after Wes met her he came up to Liz to say "How do you say can I hold your hand in Spanish?" Just before we said goodbye and the kids gave each other kisses on the cheek Wes came up again to ask "How do you say can I give you a butterfly kiss in Spanish?" It was pretty sweet.

We went zip lining at Finca Filadelfia. They picked us up in town in this sweet unimog. Half of the adventure was just getting to the plantation in this vehicle and then up to the platforms to start the zip lines.

When we got there we asked who wanted to go first since some of the boys were a little scared. Wesley walked up and said he wanted to go first. He loved it and was completely in his element all week.

Pretty sure Casey's face says it all.