I woke up like any other person and I ate cereal and almond milk for breakfast and it was delicious. You might be wondering, why is it the big Friday? It’s because that is the presentation day for fruit/ vegetables and I chose Tomatoes!! 🍅!! So me and my teacher will go to the market tomorrow with the group to get the tomatoes for the presentation on Friday. At 9:00 in the morning and that’s pretty early for the old folks😂.

Talking about today now, in school and 2 hours later… it’s not an ordinary break, it’s a snack break! The group ate tortillas that we made by hand and I liked it a little bit. I put black beans crushed up and tomatoes salsa on mine. Here’s a picture of me eating tortillas.

My favorite teacher is going to graduate if she passes her test to become a nurse but I’m glad that she’s been my teacher for the past two years and this is our third year of school. Three hours later… and I’m back at house. I ate homemade chipotle for lunch, AGAIN! Then I sat inside the chest at the window and I watched the cars and people go by. I FaceTimed Ady, Emi, Aunt Laura, Aunt Susie, Uncle cliff, and Granny and showed them the house. I even showed them how I went on the roof.

When I ate dinner I had granny on the phone and she watched me eat spaghetti and shrimp this time. When I was done eating that, I exercised with the girls and played jump rope and Elissa was the best at it.

Then I took a shower and went to bed.

That’s the end.

Me and mommy woke up and I was not happy to get up at 7:00 o clock in the morning but I did. So I ate cereal and almond milk for breakfast and I liked it again. I did my normal routine and we walked to school. Mom took a picture of me walking.

When I got to school I worked in español escuela.2 hours later… it was time for pausa and I played ping pong with Kianna and I won 12 to 10. I got a chocolate chip cookie after ping pong 🏓 and the chocolate chip cookie was so delicious and yummy! We returned to walking back to school. 3 hours later… we finished school and Kayla and Elissa were sick 🤢 and vomiting last night so they definitely stayed home while me, mom and Kianna went to lunch and I had a hamburger with French fries 🍟 and it was so good! Me and Kianna took a picture next to a 🐈

And we took a picture walking arm in arm.

And we also took a picture with me and mom holding a four leaf clover 🍀

After lunch, the girls were still feeling yucky 🤢 but the rest of us were fine. Then we watched a movie called Wonder and it was pretty good and funny and nice and it was a good lesson for kids… bullying is not nice to anyone.

After the movie, we ate dinner and I had homemade chipotle!!!!!!!!! Again 😆. We watched a show called Grace and Frankie and it has 7 seasons 7 SEASONS!!! I got in the shower and took a bath 🧼 and then I went to bed early.

That’s the end

Lord knows that I can’t sit still,  or sit in silence,  or hold empty space (except when doing therapy sessions). I mean, I can barely get through a TV show most days.  I am in constant motion or constantly stimulated. I can’t make it thru a red light without scrolling tiktok, or cook without the background noise of the TV.  But here in Guatemala I crave the lack of social media,  the lack of constantly being updated by the news (I mean wow Trump), and the lack of constant email and text that I feel compelled to respond to instantly because we are all now accessible 24-7. Getting a dopamine hit from other things outside of social media feels so much better, and I don’t miss it one bit.  We’ve replaced human interaction with 30-second clips of other people’s lives.  So the question is, are we holding space for people and experiences in our lives, or are we simply filling space?

Hello all!!

We’ve been in Guatemala for 4 days now and I’m finallyy ready to write a lil sum sum. I have to start by saying that this country is BEAUTIFUL and I’m so grateful to the lovely Kianna for inviting me❣️I have been loving just taking in all the new sights, sounds, smells and tastes. Let me share some through photos:

Today I woke up and I was so tired that I wanted to go to sleep again. I tried something new it was… cereal with almond milk and I liked it. I did my normal routine and we walked to escuela español.

When we got there, we took a picture in front of the school.

When we walked in, I reunited with my favorite teacher Lucia ❤️. 2 hours later… it was pausa that means break time for 30 minutes, we went to a cafe and I got a chocolate chip cookie and Kayla and Kianna got a ham and cheese croissant and Elissa I forgot what she had but she had something. Then we walked back to school. 3 hours later… me and Lucia had to say goodbye 👋🏼 and all of us walked back to our mansion house and me and Elissa and Kianna were playing stickball and that is baseball but the bat is a stick with a ball and I won 2 to 1 because both of them were tired from just 1 inning 🤯. Then I played stickball by myself by just swinging the stick. I lifted rocks and guess what I found? 3 blind snakes but I only caught 1 and Elissa and Kianna touched the snake.

I snuggled mom in the bed.

Guess what I think we’re having for dinner… Chipotle!!!!!!!!! Mi favorito!! So we’re probably going to have that and it’s gonna be the best food ive ever eaten in Guatemala! 🇬🇹.

That’s the end

“Are you sitting down? I have bad news” -Michele

The farthest thing from my mind when she uttered those words was… a dryer.

“The owner let me know that she bought a dryer the last time she was there. Are you going to be ok? You can still hang clothes on the line” -Michele

“But what kind of psychopath hangs clothes when there’s a dryer! “ -Me

😂😂😂😂

Anyone who has heard me talk about trips to Guatemala knows that one of my favorite things about being here is the simplicity. Walking the kids to school, drinking coffee in the park, grocery shopping, playing cards by the fire, and my favorite…hanging the laundry on the line.

It’s a form of meditation for me, rotating the clothes into the light as the sun charts its course in the sky.

So to hear that we now have a dryer in the home was, to say the least, devastating.

I’ve done my best to cope, have put things into perspective, and realize that no, it does not make me a psychopath if I choose to hang the clothes whilst the dryer sits idly by watching me slip back in time, refusing to utilize modern technology 😆

We are surrounded by modern advances, but being here allows me to take pleasure in the little things.

So, if you’re looking for me girls…I’ll be in the garden, finding my peace.

“Luca how are you feeling? Are your allergies bothering you ?” -Me

“ I have a little boogies but I’m okay” -Luca

“ Anything else you’re feeling?” (Me forever triaging if he’s getting sick 😆)

“ A lot of excitement !” -Luca

❤️❤️❤️

I blog to you today from the road while we journey from Atitlan to Antigua as the “kids” play I spy.  Oddly leaving the lake feels much like you do after you’ve had a really great trip but you can’t wait to be home in your own bed.  To me Antigua feels like going home.  My trips to Guatemala began with the duo (Kianna and Michael) and they have evolved over the years with different people and combinations of people joining in.  It’s always fun to see how the combination of people will meld not just in the easy fun times, but even more so during the bumps that can happen along the way with international travel (luckily we haven’t had many). This year we have Elissa (Kianna’s roommate) joining our story in our travels and she couldn’t be a better fit.  I am grateful for kind girls who exemplify what it means to just be good people. A highlight for me so far on our journey (aside from “I spy”) happened our first night at the lake. Nicole and I were upstairs getting settled into the house and the kids were all downstairs, and I hear them say to each other “what were your peaks and valleys of the day.” This truly touched my heart that they not only thought to do it (something we’ve done on all our trips) but that they chose to reflect on the day on their own without having to be prompted. More gratitude is something I want to ensure we all walk away from our trips with, not just of the big things like being able take this trip, but for the effort of others that goes into making our food, or carrying our bags up the hill,  or driving us safely. The mindset that we get to do things and try things not that we have to.  Acknowledging our privilege and being gracious in how we receive or experience things from others along our journey is a lesson for us all. 

Luca…

Me and mom went on a breakfast date at the restaurant in our walk way to our house. We went on another road-trip to Antigua which was 2hrs and 15 minutes. When we got here to our mansion house, we unloaded the car and brought our luggage to our house. Tia and Mommy went grocery shopping and the girls and I were staying home. Elissa taught all of us how to play songs on the piano and she was very good at piano, so good in fact I thought it was a piano video but nope😆. When mom and tia came back with a Uber car ride, there was so many things from the grocery store and all of us needed to carry something for my mom and tia. When we were done with unloading the car, we just had our own business but me, I was just playing with bugs all around the house and I was also focusing on baseball so I cut down bamboo and made it into a sort of shape of a baseball bat and I tried it and I was actually amazed of how good it was😲. Then the best part is coming soon but first we need to go to dinner 🍽️ so we went and there was hamburgers so I got a hamburger for dinner. Best part… that it was the copa mundial cup. It was Argentina vs Colombia but I didn’t finish it because it was too late. But at halftime show it was… Shakira!!!!!!!!😆😆 the music artist and she played the song called Hips don’t lie and 2 other amazing songs that I loved!!!

The end

Right now we’re at dinner, El Patio, waiting for our food and we’re watching the soccer game (Argentina vs. Colombia) so it’s delayeddddddd we found out why though… It’s from people getting arrested in the front of hard rock because they’re trying to get in but anyways today we traveled to Antigua where our house is, the same one we stayed in last year and I missed ittttt

Also me and Kianna were sitting in our room and i thought our room had ac which is crazy come to find out the door we have in our room that goes to outside is open so the wind is just coming in and out. I really thought we bougied up the place noooppeee that’s junk felt noiceeeee but the bugs coming in ain’t so nice

The drive wasn’t that bad I watching S.W.A.T on Netflix in the car

OMG I can’t believe I almost forgot this is so sad I had to say bye to the dogs on the lake like so so sad. This one black dog idk her name another black dog and Camila a blonde dog, they were actually the sweetest dogs every now and then joke. Camila followed us to breakfast and we thought she just left after but nope she waited for us the whole time and walked us all the way back to our hotel house thing. But when me and Kianna had to say goodbye I couldn’t they didn’t know what was happening so they followed us to the deck and it was so sad here so pictures I took of them