Mountains and Food...Always Food :)

Blog About September 2021

Doug made a trip up north to the mountains to visit with the owner of a resort so he could help an NGO organize a retreat they wanted to have. Doug was with the resort manager and his assistants for most of the day. Doug said he had one cup of coffee, two glasses of tea and lots of conversation. They also told him they had recently built a zip line, and they wanted him to try it. The day was a success, and he was able to secure the resort at quite a discounted rate for the NGO and also get some business for his tourism company.

This is at the top of the zip line.

I guess he made it to the bottom because he came home later that night.

September 22, 2021

Besides Doug's tourism business (KeyTreks), Doug has another job. This last week, two of the men at work arranged a barbeque for all of the employees and their families. Caleb and I joined in, and we were glad we did. The food was amazing. Most of the teachers speak and teach a different language from the one I am learning, so I didn't do much communicating, but the ladies were sweet to make hand gestures and let me know what they were laughing about. 

September 27, 2021  

Doug made a couple of trips to the mountains this month to meet with friends. 

On the first trip, the men cooked fish up in the mountains and had a meal while they visited. You can see them sitting in a circle behind the smoke. On the second visit, they invited some new people and had tea over an open flame and their conversations were full. 

September 25, 2021

Last Day Out of the City

Little did we know that February 2nd would be our last day out of the city until we left for America at the end of June. 

Lockdown would be coming soon, and even when restrictions were lifted, travel between districts was still prohibited. 

For this reason (and many others), I'm glad E (Karis' friend) came to visit us so that we had an excuse to make one more trip to the mountains.\

The drive up was beautiful!

And two miles before we got to the base of the mountain, we stopped at these waterfalls because it's a tradition for our family to get out and take pictures here. 

After the teleferik ride, we reached our room at the top in time for sunset.

February 2, 2020

And the next morning, we awoke to a clear blue skies again!

Caleb and E would roll down the mountain, then climb up, and do it again. 

I don't know who had more fun - 

them rolling or us laughing.

We only stayed one night because we didn't want Keira to miss more than one day of school, and also because Kylie had stayed behind by herself in the city to work on school.

February 3, 2020

 

The New Year...2020...Dream Big!

 Oh the excitement of 2020!  

We had a small party on New Year's Eve, and after hanging out a little while, my two older girls joined a group of three other young ladies that were there who decided to go check out the fireworks in a certain area of town.

Long story short, they never made it because the traffic was so intense on the roads, but they got to see a lot of "interesting" people while they sat in traffic.

We like to start off the year with a two-day trip to the mountains before the kids go back to school.

It's nice to be up so high and out of the city.

The clouds rolling in in the morning are a beautiful sight, and by the time I've finished my coffee, the sun is shining and the clouds have moved on.

Sometimes it's crystal clear. 

And sometimes, you can't even see that your are on a mountain.

There isn't a ton to do while we are up on the mountain so time outside, playing games, resting, reading, and drinking coffee make it an ideal place to get rejuvenated.

January 3, 2020

Caleb was inside and missed out on our time in the snow one day, but he made up for it when the sun went down. 

He decided he would run in the snow barefoot with only his shorts on "just for fun." Keira joined in with the barefoot part while the rest of us just watched (and laughed).

The video of this "race" still makes me laugh.

Never would I ever...

And since these two sleep in the living room, we could all see in the morning that they were still worn out.

Happy birthday, Mom!

Praising Him in the Mountains

Well, the weather continued to be so amazing (and cold), that our fellowship group decided to go back to the mountain for our study time together.

We warned everyone that it would be cold. 

A couple of people did not bring coats, and I think they were pretty sorry.  

The hike down into the valley and back up again warmed some people up, but once we got still, it was harder to keep warm.

I don't like to be cold, so I had on all kinds of layers :)

Before the sun started setting, everyone decided to drive back so they could get to the city before dark, but our crew wanted to stay, so we got out our coffee thermos and enjoyed the God-show.

November 1, 2019

We thought we would make it back up here before it got too cold, but soon after this, snow started falling in the mountains, and we knew it would get harder to drive up and more difficult to concentrate on school or reading if we were so cold.

We looked forward to Spring, but never would we have guessed that the four to six weeks of beautiful weather that this country is allowed in the Spring, we would be inside our homes, stationary, with the rest of the world.

Mountains and Other Notable Things in October

Shortly after her birthday, Keira wanted to get a haircut.


October 28, 2019

Check✔

Where's Waldo Caleb?

October 26, 2019

One afternoon, everyone except Caleb decided to get out of town and take homeschool, reading, dolls, etc to the mountains. 

The older girls downloaded all the things they needed for homeschool.  Doug and I took books and music, and Keira didn't want to be left out, so she drew a computer on a piece of cardboard and pretended to type along with the girls.



She also enjoyed walking around, discovering nature and talking to herself.

She also made time to take care of her baby, which she has named "Kathryn." 💗

As the sun was setting, the girls took this beautiful picture.

It wasn't long before they were photobombed.

And the "third party" kept getting closer to the camera.

She's was really thinking about something.

Then they lost control.

October 30, 2019

It was the best day of homeschool! 

We had blankets, sweaters, a big thermos of hot coffee, and an amazing sunset. 😁

I wish we had more time to have days like this.