Week 29 in PR

Josh joined us for beach day this afternoon! He doesn’t often get to come right during the work day but since he traveled over the weekend he was able to take some time Monday to be with us. It’s always better when he’s around! We found a man that was climbing the coconut trees and selling coconut water to all. The boys were so impressed with his climbing skills and couldn’t stop watching him climb tree after tree. He brought down a coconut for each of the boys and opened up the top for them to drink. Coconut water is an acquired taste…and not many of them finished the whole thing. But it was fun to have a fresh coconut right in their hands anyway! 

The rest of the afternoon we made sand castles and held each other up with this huge log we found in the ocean. It was fun to see who could stay on the log the longest without tumbling to the water. 

It was a beautiful day at the beach and though the sea has been rough the past few weeks, it was fairly calm today. I have a feeling we’re pulling out of the rough sea season and headed into spring! 

The rest of the week passed in pretty normal fashion. The missionaries came for dinner like they do every Monday and taught us a good lesson about the Book of Mormon. 

Rhen took a field trip to the rainforest with her class and continues to say that one of her favorite things to do is ride the bus with her classmates! They love to sing and dance and be loud and she soaks in every second of it!

We got a valentines package from Grammie Beutler in the mail. We have a bit of unreliability with the usps here so sometimes we get packages quick but most of the time they’re a week or so late. It doesn’t matter! We’re just happy to get something in the mail from our Grammie! 

I had a couple of encounters with a large (pretty humongous actually) spider that kept creeping around in the dark. One morning it was right above me on the gate as I opened it to leave for the gym. And another morning as I was getting in the car for the gym again, it fell from the top of the car right in front of me onto the ground. I didn’t realize what it was until I crochês down close and saw the same huge spider scampering away. Lucky for me, Josh stepped on it and that was the end of him. I called Jared (our pest control guy) that day and had him come respray for us. I can usually handle spiders fine but when they’re as big as my hand, I get a little spooked. 

Tilly continues to be lazy all around the house except for her one or two trips around the yard during the day hunting for lizards. She’s living her best life in the tropics. 

Josh keeps up with his flowers (his darlings, the kids call them) and checks on each one of them every morning before the kids leave for school. He has a lot of them named after people he got them from or those that helped him plant them. So far we have some Kinleys, D papaya, a few Millies, a Sandra (for the woman down the street), a Hector Jr. and many more. He takes care of them with as much love as he has for the original owners. Such a sweet little garden we have gathered these past few months. 

This week we also had Andy and Kristi with us! It was so fun to see them and catch up after so long! They did lots of fun excursions throughout the days and then hung with us in the evenings. Kristi and rhen made windchimes together and she went home with such a cute one out of all the treasures Rhen has collected!

Of course we had lots of pool and sun days and of course the kids continue to get darker and darker as the weeks go by. Beck has the best tan line right now. 

And we finally named our house! It’s been asking and arduous process trying to come up with the perfect name to describe this little patch of heaven we live in. We finally came up with La Brisa which means the breeze. And that’s exactly what this place has become to us. Not only does it have the most perfect breeze on a hot day coming off the deck, but it also is a relaxing, breath of fresh air spot for us and something we just have thoroughly come to love! 

Desh came home from school this week and was so excited to announce that he was chosen as the start student for the month! He loves his class and teacher and is doing such a good job with his Spanish. I can’t think of a better star student than this boy! 

Sunday was a day filled with lessons learned, homemade bread (made by Rease) and games on the deck in the breeze that we just named the house for. Overall such a great week with loved ones and good friends!