If you are not familiar with my favorite book, it is centered around the red tent. The place where women went in biblical times during their cycle; to share their stories and impart wisdom. Children were welcome to come and go as well.

It was an honor being in the Red Tent with you ladies. I couldn’t have chosen a better bunch ❤️.

What you may not realize is that we mostly blog individually, and so blogs post alerts are exciting for us too. One of my motivations for creating the blog was to allow others to get a glimpse into our experiences, but also for those of us on the trip get to hear each other’s perspective of the same events. Luca is my most consistent blogger. This year was quite different as he didn’t blog with me, but rather with Nicole or the girls. While this change in routine was hard for me, and I missed our nightly alone time to blog, it was fun to read his blogs like everyone else. In his last post, he said something casual, but it struck my heart when he said….”my Tia.” Something so simple, but yet so endearing. So let me tell you about my Luca. He gives so much love and brings constant movement to the group. He also helps me practice patience… something that is hard for this ADD woman. His love for music (something we have made a huge part of our relationship since covid days), his constant reminder to be present in the moment, and the joy that came from watching him learn in language school. So happy we get these moments and I love being his Tia.

So unbeknownst to me when I entered my first blog before leaving for Guatemala I renamed Kayla for the entirety of the trip. Instead of writing Kayla, I mistyped and wrote Kyla. Little did I know that Kayla’s teacher would also misname her on the first day of school…. and thus Kyla was officially born. I am pretty sure I won’t be able to go back to calling her Kayla, at least not anytime soon. Kyla just feels so right. It also kept the girls from being called each others names.

Each of the younger ones have brought so much to this trip and something unique to the dynamics of this trip. Kayla has brought joy, adventure, fun, creativity, competition (to our already competitive Nicole), and a sense of humor that keeps things so light hearted. She’s my kindred spirit when it comes to being game for anything. I love how unapologetic she was about not knowing something and how she really wanted to learn. She’s an adoring little sister of her big sister and sweet, patient, and fun with Luca. Is she still a typical teenager? Absolutely 💯. Think that made it even nicer to experience. She’s a very typical teenager yet at her core she’s a sweet, kind, loving young lady. I can’t wait to see how she continues to grow.

Luca…

We woke up, did our morning routine then we got in the car for an hour to drive to where you get on the horses. I would like to mention this is my second time riding a horse ever in my life! Then we got on the horse, my horse is 5 years old and his name was Marshmallow. We rode the horses for an hour up the volcano. Some of the horses pooped and mine farted a lot!!! So when we got there, there was a lot of horses. There was also a lotttt of lava rocks, after we got off the horses we took a 10 minute walk to this red tent where they make the pizza and use a little mini volcano oven, meaning a hole in the volcano where it’s hot and they used that as an oven for the pizza. Then we ate the delicious pizza. After we ate the pizza we took some pictures next to the Guatemalan flag, we then walked back to the horses to start heading back down. I do hope we do it again next year! Once we got back down to the bottom we got back in the van and took the hour car ride back home. When we got back home we chilled and starting packing our things since we leave tomorrow, (I’m sad although I’m happy to go home and see my cousins, also would just like to let you guys know that I just farted). Then the girls (kianna and kayla) went to the market, me my mommy and my tia stayed home and ate dinner. Also I forgot to mention I ate a yummy lunch when we got home, but anyways I had a good dinner pasta and chicken my favorite. Then I did my night routine and I went into kianna and kayla’s room because they were vibing to some music and we started dancing and singing and it was so much fun!! Now I’m going to bed, I had a spectacular Saturday!!! That’s my blog:)

Thank you for snuggling, playing, engaging, including, and being so loving to him. He enjoyed every minute of the time he had with you both. You are amazing young ladies ❤️

As I’m starting the packing process again after these past two weeks I’m filled with some mixed emotions. Of course I’m sad to be leaving because being here is a nice change of pace, which I enjoy. Then again I’m also glad to be going back to Florida to see my family, friends, puppies, and just getting back into the swing of things.

I also feel overwhelmed because I basically moved into this beautiful house and now I have to pack up all my things into a carry-on sized lil suitcase. Not to mention that my sister and I’s room looks like it’s under construction or something the way we have our clothes and things absolutely everywhere.

I’m excited to use my new and improved spanish skills. Gracias a mi maestra Rosita, who unfortunately was sick the last day of class. Pretty upset I didn’t get to take a photo with her on the last day ): I messaged her and turns out she needs a procedure done soon. She’s the sweetest lady I truly hope everything goes well with her and that if/when I come back I’ll get to visit with her again.

I’d also like to mention the amount of gratitude and appreciation I have for Michele and Nicole, and everything they have done for me throughout this trip. I am glad I got to know them a little more and they’ve both taught me so much in what feels like too short of an amount of time.

So to Michele and Nicole thank you so much; from all the laughs, amazing homemade food, and the great conversations we’ve had. To all the experiences we shared, advice you both have given, and much more. I will forever remember this trip and all the good memories that came with it. 🫶🏼🇬🇹

Some fotitos from my camera roll I’d like to share:

Luca writes…

On Thursday we woke up and did our morning routine then we walked to school. Then when we got to school, I learned some new words then it was pausa (break). Then we stayed at school and ate some snacks and a sandwich for lunch. Then I studied some more Spanish, after that me and my teacher went upstairs to ask Kayla and her teacher if they wanted to play the game Blitz.
So we played that game and then we walked home. Then we ate lunch, I had this really good pasta that my Tía made me. Then we chilled for the rest of the day and did my night routine!
Today was our last day of school, so today was pretty fun I learned a little then we playing Blitz again it was so fun.

If you don’t know what blitz is it is a game where you have your own stack of cards, all of them are color categorized, and you can either play with a team of 2 or by yourself. You flip over 9 cards and the 10th card you face up all the other cards are faced down. And then you put down 3 cards also faced up to the side and the rest of the deck either is for you partner or if your playing by yourself they’re yours. This game is muy rápido (very fast), you have to match the cards to the same color like 1,2,3,4 and so on. And once you get to 9 the 10th card faces down and that stack is over. The point of this game is the get rid of the other stack of cards and only have the three cards in front of you left.

And that’s my blog:)

If your interested in doing language school in Guatemala, definitely go to “Mi casa es tu casa” I don’t know if there is any other language school in Antigua but if there’s is go there. This school is much so fun and full of new experiences. me and my family were there for 2 weeks and it was so fun! They make you feel so comfortable and at home there. They make food, they play lots of games, you could even go on field trips!

Making food was really fun because one I got to learn a new recipe that I am DEFINITELYYYY going to remember. Me and my teacher ,Waleska, made Guicoyitos, this is an amazing dish with meat,veggies and some goodddd seasoning. After we made our food we got to share this amazing dish with everyone else at the school by presenting it. Everyone made different kinds of food and presented they’re dish with their teacher. Everyone lovedddd our Guicoyitos i only had one and went back for more and they were GONE!

Okayyyy that’s all for #kaylasblogsss byeeeee

Okay guys so I need to catch up with my blogs real bad but anyways this blog is relating to elaborating on Kianna’s post about “Random Thoughts on a Stormy Night”. Sooo my list of thoughts are very interesting some of them even have a back bad story’s sooo might as well share them.

Lights out…. Lights out was pretty unexpected. Lights out meaning OUR POWER WENT OUT. For not only one day not two days BUT FOR FOUR DAYS. It actually wasn’t that bad it was a pretty fun experience. It was a LOTTT of candle lighting every night which brings me too my next story… Movie night turned into candlelit rummy!

This is pretty self explanatory, we were just chilling at the house because it was a pretty rainy night just watching a movie everything was chillin then the power goes out. So what we did, we didn’t just go to sleep like some losers we lit every candle we could possibly find in the house and playing rummy which is where we got the name… CANDLELIT RUMMY!!

Which also bring me to my nextttt saying of mine, “mmmmm, Nutella”. Almost every night michele would go to the kitchen and surprise us with dessert or some type of food. One thing she knew we allll loveddd is a tortilla with Nutella and báñanos!! They’re so good.

Okay guys I think that’s all for #kaylablogsss for the day this was fun making byeeeee

Luca writes…

On Martes (Tuesday) we woke up and did our morning routine and walked to school. We got to school and I estudié con mi maestra (studied with my teacher). Then we escuchamos música (listened to music). After school we came home for a little bit and then we took not a bus, but a truck with seats in the back and we rode half an hour ride to Hobbitenango. It was fun in the truck and bumpy and then smooth. Hobbitenango is on a mountain, it is a fun. Then we took another truck to the top and I sat in the front with mommy and the driver. It was a really high mountain. It felt cool and weird kind of up there. I took a picture on a floating hand with all of the group. I played giant Jenga with Kayla and then we went up to a little nice balcony and I got flowers for everyone. Then we went down back down the hill and we made some friends on the drive. Then I was in the front with the driver and mommy. Then I took another ride in the same truck in the back, back to Antigua. We went to eat and I had steak, chicken, shrimp, papas fritas and I tried a tortilla chip with pico de Gallo but didn’t like it. After dinner we went home and did our night routine and we got our power back🥳🥳! It was raining, not as hard as the other one. The lights almost went out again but thankfully it didn’t.

On Wednesday, we woke up and did our morning routine then we had to go school early because Mommy and Tia went to help some people at the clinic. Meanwhile me, Kianna and Kayla were in school estudiando (studying). Then for pausa (break) we stayed at the school and ate snacks because Mommy and Tia were still at the clinic. Then I think we learned some more. We played games with cards.

Then we went to eat lunch at a restaurant and I got a hamburger and French fries. It was delicious.

Next we went to the crazy ruins from an earthquake in the 1700s. I climbed up the crazy rock. Mommy had to help me get down.

I had chicken wings and French fries for dinner on the roof. Then Mommy and I went to get an ice pop for me and coffee for her. The girls went walking and Mommy and me went home. Now I’m in bed. That’s my blog