What Luke Said

He was coloring a beautiful butterfly on the chalkboard in my classroom, and he asked me to help with it. I was working at rearranging desks, so I told him I couldn't help him this morning, and he should just do his best.

His reply: "I did the all best I can do. I ran out of best."

Tacarigua Trip

Last Saturday morning we left with other new teachers from the school and our "buddies" to go on an overnight getaway. We rode in a 22 person small bus for about two hours to get there. It took about 2 1/2 hours to get to the lagoon, where we took a 30-minute boat ride to reach our resort.

The little boats took us through mangrove trees like this:


To arrive here:


After finding our room, we changed for the beach and went out to play.



The boys played all afternoon and I slept on the beach. (I was recovering from a cold/sinus infection.) We went on a bird-watching trip at 5:30 to watch for scarlet ibis.

It was such a long day in the sun, and Luke was exhausted even before we got on the boat. About halfway to the dock, he realized he had left his swords behind. (The swords Mimi made for him this summer are in his hands from the moment he wakes up until we make him leave them at home before we go to school. He looks for them as soon as we get home and plays with them until bedtime.)


(My apologies for the un-rotated video.)



We reassured Luke that his swords would be waiting for him when we got back in an hour. He was not consoled. He pouted for about 5 minutes and then started trying to put his head in my lap. I was hoping to keep him awake to see the birds, but after 15 minutes of valiant effort on my part, he fell asleep in my lap.

We rode in the boats for 20 minutes or so to find the birds. I was amazed when we finally got to where they were all roosting. There were THOUSANDS of them. THOUSANDS. Such a brilliant red color that they were almost fluorescent red. They lit in the trees and then they'd take off, circle around, and come back to roost again. There were scarlet ones and white ibis, too, in the same huge flock. When they landed in the trees, they segregated themselves by color. Interesting. The photos and videos will not do the scene justice, but here they are.


Oh wait, that's our friend Sergio. Here are some other teachers in their boat.


And here are the birds:

As the sun set, we turned back and headed for the lodge.

I carried Luke back from the boat and laid him in his bed. He did not wake up until we woke him for dinner at 8:00. We ate and then went right back to bed!

The next morning we were up early, so we went for a walk on the beach before breakfast. We saw a female crab that was pretty big and some fish jumping in the water. We picked up a few shells, but the best thing we got was this group of photos:




We ran into the Pihowich family on our way back for breakfast and they joined us to walk and let the kids play for a bit. Luke and Sabina are good playmates.


Here he was chasing her with swords while she ran from him. :)









After breakfast we spent the rest of the morning on the beach and left around 1:00 for Caracas. We all slept on the bus ride home and arrived back refreshed and rested! It was a great little getaway.

Usain Bolt

Looking out our window (dining room) toward the school (to the east of us) where Jason is playing soccer:

Luke's First Day

We had our first day of school on the 14th, but Luke didn't start until the 15th. That morning, I walked him down to his classroom and dropped him off with his teachers, Miss Lisseth and Miss Carolina. He was ready to play right away! (He found a plastic toy knife in the home center right off the bat and was ready to play pirates with it... until he was told that the toy knife was for cutting pretend food, not for sword fighting!) He put his bag away and I left him without tears from either one of us. :)

Here's his beautiful teacher:


And these are our buddies with their little girl:
And here's a shot of my classroom (and a few of my adorables) on day 2:

Trip to the Park

Five ECA families went to a park our 2nd weekend here. We stayed and played for a couple of hours or so and then our buddies took us out to eat.





And here's some nighttime video from our apt.

Photos and Video from the First Week in Caracas

Here's what it looks like when we get to the airport with all of our belongings. We brought the pickup truck AND the Escalade.
This is half of it:
and here's the other half:
Luke + Fisher = instant friends. Here they are on the bus:


Our first introduction to Venezuelan beef and arepas at a restaurant called Maute Grill:


Luke and Fisher @ day camp:


Exhausted after school and camp. NO one is playing possum in this picture!


Nighttime view from our living room (facing north):


Sunrise view out the living room window: (leaning out to face East)


These are all pictures and videos from our trip up the Avila:





Entering the posada:





Luke said, "Mama! Fisher and I are having a little picnic!"



Here are Sergio and Kathryn:

And our neighbor Henry. I think this looks like a photo out of a vitamin ad.




Biggest beetle I've ever seen: