Starting 2016 with a bang.... and a watermelon

Since the beginning of the year.....

We have studied California history and built our own bell towers...

And a mission....

And learned to help Dad mow the airstrip (this is only the first quarter!)

This little guy turned 7.... and lost his first tooth (naturally!) the next day....

Grandma thought I was crazy when I requested "edible eye balls" on my "bring from America" list. But aren't they cute? Yes, Ez's cake is in the freezer.... 80% humidity and butter cream frosting don't go well together...

We taught the tribal kids how to roast marshmallows... because, you know, we're here to help the people. :)

Our co-workers have been stuck in town for 7 weeks.... visa issues. So lots of just hanging around...

We spent a day upriver "helping" (by helping, I mean watching and doing absolutely nothing to help) the tribal people build a new canoe. (I guess they don't really build them; they hack a tree trunk into the right shape.) We got no pictures of the process, but I got some pretty scenery pictures. :)

And we had a tree felled right by our house.... it was the most scary "cultural experience" we have had yet.... it's that tree in the left of the picture - the one that is only inches away from our roof line....

They cut the tree with an ax in a matter of minutes and then used bamboo and vines (eeek!) to direct where it fell.... you can see the long thin poles of bamboo. Needless, to say, we had the boys out of the house and were praying hard! But it came down beautifully and missed the roof and our internet dish!

Our little boys are holiday junkies. They spent days and days working on Valentine's for each other. So this was what we woke up to on Sunday morning.... (those are painted rocks.... treasures gathered on our boat building trip as our village and section of the river has absolutely 0 rocks anywhere.)

We harvested our first watermelon! Such a fun treat on a hot day!