feliz dia del padre!!

happy father's day!! it is a special treat for us to actually be here with my dad on Father's Day. we have had a good day celebrating Dad and elvis, the newest (and most handsome!) father in the family. mom and i made breakfast and gave them their gifts which really showed that now every occasion really revolves around the baby, which isn't even here yet! for example, i gave Elvis a macho diaper bag that he can carry around, and he also got a book in spanish to read to the baby called "Te quiero Papi" and elvis and dad got #1 Dad and #1 Grandpa t-shirts, respectively. dad also got a t-shirt that says "Pookie", because you see, when dad was asked what he wants to be called by the baby, he jokingly said that he didn't really care...they could call him Pookie and it would still be cute to him! as you can imagine, that name stuck around as a joke...we'll see if Baby really calls him that or not!

For lunch, mom and i really went all out and made a really fancy gourmet lunch....corn dogs!! hahaha its got a story too, of course. you see, there aren't many foods that elvis hasn't tried yet here in the states, but about a month ago, i got a craving for a corndog after seeing one on a movie. elvis didn't really understand the concept, and yesterday when we went to the Blueberry Festival, they were selling them and elvis reallly wanted one. so mom and i got some for his first Father's Day lunch...i think he was impressed! we will actually make a nice fancy dinner tonight!

elvis only has a couple more days here, sadly...then he will go back for an exam and i will go back next wednesday. we are not looking forward to being apart, since we have never even spent a night apart in the 3 years and 3 months we have been married!! i think we will probably try to get back down to the beach in these days (we went friday and saturday too) and just hang out with mom and dad. and maybe try to catch a fish or two.

happy father's day to all the dads out there!

NC

so this week we've been on the road for the most part...after marty left, we went up to King kind of last-minute to see some old friends and while we were there, they gave us a baby shower which was really nice! good to see friends who remember me from when i was ony 6 months. it was also fun to see people along the way, although there wasnt nearly enough time to see everybody! we finally got to meet baby Lydia Vuljanic, which was definitely a highlight!

elvis learned to play Stokes County's favorite pasttime game....Corn Hole! (you gotta say that with a real redneck accent)

back here in wallace, the main thrill has been taking a ride through town in the rumbler seat of an old 1929 car...

we drove out to see mom and dad's community garden:

other than that, we're just hanging out, looking for baby bargains! here is one of my favorites that mom had already gotten for us:

(yes, it says "Hasta la vista baby!")

on tarheel turf!

we made it to NC! we got in late monday night, and were greeted at the airport by mom (sporting her "abuelita t-shirt we made her) and dad, and marty, who came in for a surprise visit on saturday and showed up at Memaw's 90th birthday party, completely shocking mom and dad and everyone!! we had a fun day at the beach on tuesday with the fam, seeing the grandparents and celebrating with Memaw, and then had to take marty back to raleigh yesterday to go back to vancouver. we took advantage of the trip to raleigh to meet up with Kate for catfish quesadillas (yummmmm) which was fun as always!

today we went to the Wallace Stockyard, by far the most multi-cultural experience in eastern NC. its a huge field with rows and rows of yard sale stuff, antiques, ducks, pigs, fresh fruits and vegetables, funnel cakes, pirated CDs, some kind of fragrant oils from the Caribbean, etc etc etc from allll around the world. each booth owner is of a different ethnicity...who knew there was so much diversity here in wallace? anyways, we love going because you never know what youll find, plus elvis feels right at home, getting to barter in spanish and buy familiar fruits and veggies, even sugar cane!

now we are just taking it easy, trying to adjust to NC humidity and air conditioning. here are some pics:

arriving at the airport:

marty teaching elvis to boogie board for the first time:

happy 90th b-day Memaw!!

kindergarten graduation

last night my little ones graduated from kindergarten! as every year, they sing the salvadorean national anthem, Star Spangled Banner (and as every year, they end up singing "the land of papas fritas" instead of "the land of the free"), they recite Psalm 23 in english, one girl gave an 8 page memorized speech, and they all danced and sang to another song. it was very cute, and i feel a huge relief now that the year is officially over! here are some pictures and a video of my kids saying Psalm 23:

after the throwing of their graduation caps:

co-workers!

long weekend

This weekend was a nice 3-day weekend, due to the inauguration of the new president (even Hilary Clinton came to town to get in on the action!). we had yet another baby shower this weekend, but she didnt even make it to the shower, because she was already at the hospital! and we had a going-away dinner at the house for all of the american teachers at school that will be leaving this year. im sad to see them go!
then on sunday, elvis and i went for a little hike in the "ecopark" here in the city, a coffee plantation and park built on the side of the San salvador volcano. here are some pics from that day:

steam vents in the side of the volcano:a huge tree that fell in a storm a few months ago (pratt and ashley, marty and sara, do you remember climbing on this tree??)view of the city from the top of the hikehallucinogenic flowers:we are down to less than a week before we will be in NC, and just a couple of school days left!