November 2015

You'll note the boring title to this blog post, it was made that way because there are so many events and happenings that I haven't blogged about and there is nothing exciting about this particular day in November.

M is now 15 months old and N is 3 years old.  Both their birthday parties were a lot of fun.  For M we did a brunch with mini-pancakes, bacon, eggs, fruit, etc.  N got into his own planning, picking a monster theme and spaghetti with a toppings bar.  N and I spent many hours designing, creating and painting cardboard and paper monsters for the walls (many of which are still hanging on the walls).  We don't have any of our own pictures from either because we lost our camera in PA in May and I didn't get a new one until (unfortunately) after our trip to Roatan in early October (future post).

So happy after cake!

See the picture? N hung one of himself...I guess he was worried about being forgotten at her party. 

I'd like to say that August as a whole was uneventful, but work was very stressful as we 2 visa adjudicators transitioned part-time so we shared them with their new positions and it was the height of "bidding" season.  For those who aren't with State, bidding is what we call our process for finding our next jobs in the Foreign Service.  Basically it consists of hundreds of emails to people all over the globe.  You hope that they like you as much as you like them and then you wait, a lot of waiting.  Sometimes you'll get interviewed, but unfortunately many times you don't hear anything more than "thank you for your interest, we'll get back to you."  I went in to work on Saturdays or Sundays most weekends to keep myself afloat and to send bidding emails.  I even had a few interviews on Sunday evenings because it made the most sense for the time difference.  To top it all off, I contracted chikungunya too (July's post informed you that M caught it before me).  The older you are (I am a lot older than M), the worse the pain is and the longer it lasts, to this day nearly 4 months later I have near constant arthritic pain that comes and goes in intensity.

Moving on to happier times...September 19th, N's 3rd birthday party and our 6th anniversary.  Our anniversary was not celebrated, but N sure was!   These pictures were taken today, but I wanted to show everyone all the work N and crew did to prepare for his party.  He had a great time and was utterly exhausted by the time his guests started to leave.  Hopefully he'll be as excited by homemade party ideas in the future as well, I'm not eager to spend a bundle on a Paw Patrol or Spiderman themed party.

Fast forward to the end of October, I was surprised one Monday morning with an email offering me the Human Resources Officer position in:

Flag of?

Home to the Serengeti

It's own version of Roatan, Zanzibar

My dad's favorite, Ngorongoro Crater!

  (Note: Images are not my own, they are google image search results.)  

TANZANIA!  Although only one person visited us in Honduras, we hope that that same person (my dad) and others make it to visit us on the other side of the world and equator!  Wish us luck over there!

July 2015

Despite June and May being good months for blogging, I've gone back to slacking off.  July has been a mediocre month.  July 1st was the official forth of July event for our Embassy and I was the co-coordinator for the whole thing. It felt like Thanksgiving, a ton of preparation and then the day flew by, fortunately without a hitch!  We recieved many compliments and things were going extra smoothly that I was able to take a break and enjoy the tail end of the event. This year we brought in 3 celebrity chefs, one from Alaska, Florida and Hawaii. Despite their impressive resumes, they were really nice people. They created a fabulous sampling of their home state cuisine, very seafood heavy, but tasty nonetheless! I think the model will be continued for the rest of this Ambassador's tenure. 

Although once in June, I ended up with mastitis 3 times since June 29th. Luckily it was mild and cleared up in a day each time. But spiking a fever go 102 is never pleasant nor worry free... I've been more careful about nursing and M's partial weaning in favor of EVERYTHING and ANYTHING edible!  She eats way more than her tiny stomach should be able to hold.  Our house seems to be always infested with Mosquitos, so we have been on the constant look out for dengue and chikungunya... M got bit and ended up with chik. It was a terrible week, her fever hit a high of 104.1 and luckily dropped slowly from there. She seemed to be in constant pain and couldn't get comfortable. It has only been in the last week where she seems like herself again. Poor little babecita! 

Here we are nearing the end of July and my mom doesn't seem to be getting any better.  I think at last calculation she had lost nearly 30 pounds since April/May. Being so far away is hard, but I can only imagine how much harder it is for my sister and dad who are so close. 

Lastly, to top off July in its mediocrity, we are just beginning the bidding process for our next assignment.  You have to network, lobby, send your resume to potential supervisors and hope that you can make an impact and get a job. Last year's numbers were terrible and it is undecided whether this will be any better.  Everyone might regret not visiting us in Tegucigalpa if we end up in Haiti or Nigeria...

However, overall, we are all back to healthy and excited that M will be 1 on the 7th!!  I can't believe how fast time has flown by. We are going to host a brunch in celebration, though I have yet to send invites or plan it all. That's where Pinterest come in, it has shown me mini pancakes, French toast sticks, etc. Should be tasty even if not fancy!  Today we headed to the playground, enjoy some pictures:

 

Like father like daughter!

Can't smile long, trying to clean up the park!

All aboard!

Mommy and M selfie

Copan Ruinas

Back in October, the Streett clan took its first trip outside of Tegucigalpa and visited the Mayan Ruins of Copan.  (I'm not counting our 1-day cruise ship stop in Roatan last Christmas.)  Neither kid seems to be designed for long car rides unfortunately.  But we made it before dark to all our intended stops!  The hardest part of the trip was making it out of Tegucigalpa, we ended up in a very poor, unsafe neighborhood and barely made it out of there.  There were so many confusing streets and people milling about in the small little shops scattered about.  It was terrifying!  No GPS, gangs, worried about carjackings.  I don't think I've ever feared for my family more than that moment.

After successfully escaping Comayaguela, we had an uneventful trip to Lake Yojoa where we made it to a hotel called Finca Las Glorias where we were spending our first night.  We ended up being the only guests and so they had to open the whole place up for us.  In a B&B it is a good thing to be the only guests, at a full scale hotel, not so much...  A freshly opened kitchen means freshly thawed dinner that takes an hour.  I've heard great things about this hotel for other times, so I'd be willing to give it another shot.

Here are some pictures of the first hotel:

Trying to coax N onto the horse

Here we go!

N did not like to hold on.  I had to hold onto him and the horse

M was only 2 months old, but still wanted to be part of the action (or at least the pictures!)

For our second night, we stayed close to the Mayan Ruins at a beautiful hotel called Hacienda San Lucas.  Fabulous room, location, view and food...but not kid friendly!  Only glassware and the rooms are light by candle after dark.  There was a solar electric light in the bathroom though.  The staff loved the kids and were wonderful, but we only ended up staying one night.  The road getting there was so bumpy so I was holding poor little M's head for the 20 minute journey (remember, she was 2 months old at this time).  Pictures exploring the grounds:

The next day we packed up the car and headed out to the ruins.  Below is our tour guide who couldn't figure out a way to do a shorter, cheaper version than his normal $40 a person talk/walk.  While informative, with two little kids and two exhausted parents, we had to keep shooing him along.  Eventually we just said enough and walked back to the entrance.  He was not amused and kept trying to guide us to things on the way back.  He can't complain too much because we paid full price!  He was a nice guy though.

N was exhausted and refused to move any further, but didn't want to be carried.  We kept walking, figuring he'd eventually come.  Some Honduran decided we were bad parents and went and picked him up and brought him to us...oops!

After the long day at Copan, we decided to hit a smaller site before leaving town the next day.  We had moved to the Clarion hotel and this was within walking distance.  N and S walked up and I drove M up in the car.  Enjoy:

Our final stop on the trip was Macaw Mountain, a beautiful bird sanctuary with swimming hole.  Unfortunately for the Streetts, there wasn't enough water in the creek so we couldn't swim, but we enjoyed the walk around:

Trying to navigate 

This leaf is as big as me! 

Swimming hole is normally on the right of the waterfall, I guess the water covers the whole area when open for swimming?

N could have spent ALL day watching the water

 

 A few final pictures: