Thank you so much for the vacation mom and dad!!! You’re the best!

I just got back from the best vacation ever. Mom and dad flew me out to St. John in the US Virgin Islands. It was so nice to spend some time with my family (we missed you Ira, Carrie, ira, Claire, Noah, Erin, Ray, rayray, Christopher, Biz, Marie, Tim, Tina and Kiera!!!). I was lucky enough to spend a whole week with my parents, most of my siblings, the Grangers, Aunt Liz, the Ennis' and Corrigans in a beautiful tropical paradise.  We had a nice breakfast every morning in the outdoor kitchen, then split the rest of the morning between the pool and trying to hit/feed the iguanas with vegetables. After the iguana feeding, we made lunch and headed out to one of the many beaches on the islands where we spent the rest of the day snorkeling, playing kan-jam and practicing our handstands (Patrick is a champ). I don’t really feel like writing too much right now so I’m going let the pictures do the talking. All in all we had an amazing week; lots of family meals, family beach time, family snorkeling, family cards, family hikes, family drinking, only one family hospital trip and best of all family Umbros…

I was flying back to Guatemala the night before my birthday and was feeling pretty depressed about leaving my family, coming back to my reality of poor Guatemala, and having to spend my birthday alone in a hostel near the airport. Luckily, I have some pretty good friends who surprised me and met in the city to have a little birthday celebration, which made the transition back to Guatemalan life much smoother. I have been back in Chiquimula for about 4 days now and have been keeping busy. I finished planting one garden in la Escuela Urbana today and tomorrow, weather permitting, will finish planting at my schools in Patzam and Chicaxul. Well that’s all for now. Enjoy the pictures.

Oh and happy birthday Claire, Beth, rayray, Sean, Myles, Dad and Uncle Peter

view from the driveway

Beth and I

Daly's and Ennis'

picture from outdoor kitchen towards the main house

umbros and snorkeling

Dad and I whooping Pat and Mom

Brian, Sean, Me, Patrick, Beth

turtle

everyone

sitting with dad, practicing my fish face

coupl'a pals cathin fish

sitting co-pilot from St. Thomas to Puerto Rico

I was working at a school in Patzam and I told the director that they chose a bad spot for the garden becasue there wasn't enough sun. I suggested we move over about 20 feet. He thought that was stupid, so he climbed the tree with a machete and cut down all the branches. Guatemala, where any problem can be solved with a machete.