Sid

This is Sid. He's our 'pet.' We found him attached to our curtain on Monday night. After a lot of hysterics and calls to two boys who fell through, Jenna was finally able to corral him into a water pitcher with lid. We gave him some mango to eat. He seemed happy.

Then, at about 2:30 yesterday morning, I was awakened by whimpering from Jenna's bedroom. Apparently, Sid didn't like his cage all that much and had escaped. He moved the lid across the room, and then continued on his merry way into her closet. She woke up to hear him chewing on a thick plastic bag. I went in to investigate and was given the task of finding him. Meanwhile, she's whimpering/laughing/screaming while standing in the middle of her bed (she wasn't sure of his location and was afraid she'd find him on the floor). I found him attached to one of her shoes and somehow managed to get him back in the cage, although not without stunning him a little bit. It was pretty eventful.

We think he may be dying now. It's sad, really. But he is one ugly mo-fo.

Colombian "Snow Day"

We're on consecutive Day 2 (and day 3 of the last 2 weeks) of no school due to the roads up the mountain being closed. You see, we get a lot of rain here. And apparently lately it's been way too much for the ground to handle. So there have been massive mudslides that have covered the road and made travel impossible. I'm not complaining one bit. The last 2 days, I got to sleep in. And today I even got to take a nap.

We got a call that we have to go in to school tomorrow, though. Somehow they're getting all of us teachers there, but no kids. It'll be a good work day for me, considering I was gone all last week.

For those of you who didn't know, my friend Sarah and I took our middle school Destination Imagination team to the Global Finals in Knoxville, TN last week. It was a lot of fun, but very draining. By the 2nd day I think I was running on pure adrenaline and caffeine. It's hard to say exactly where our time went, but I can guarantee that it wasn't used for sleeping.

A few highlights of the trip:
1. Watching the kids re-vamp their play and somehow manage to pull it together to present to the judges.
2. Watching the kids work together and do an awesome job on their instant challenge; in fact, the best I've ever seen them work. I was so proud!
3. Shopping! A lot! As ashamed as I am to admit it, I was really glad to get to go to WalMart. Did you know you can get 4 pounds of peanut butter for, like, $7?
4. Embarrassing the kids by wearing 'Do Not Disturb' eye masks (you know, for sleeping) all day in the mall and the airport, just for fun.
5. Witnessing Sarah drive the 15-passenger van that was larger than most of the buses our kids take to school here.
6. Watching the girls run after the van because we were tired of waiting for them, so when they got close to the door we took off. Twice.

We had a really great time, but I was very much glad to come home. And then I lucked out and got 2 more days of rest before having to go back to work. Very nice.

I still have the rest of Costa Rica to write about (including our vigilante action). Stay tuned. I promise I'll finish it one of these days. Since the Costa Rica trip, we've taken a long weekend to Bogota (my new favorite city), and Sarah, Jen, Jenna and I are going to Cartagena this weekend to celebrate Jenna's 3rd Annual 29th Birthday. I'm very excited to see what Cartagena and get some good beach time.

Feliz Dia de La Madre

Happy Mothers' Day to all of you mothers out there! Love you mom!! To commemorate this day, here's a picture of my awesome mom and me last summer with Uncle Ross.