FolkFest

Our 3rd year!!!

What a wonderful time with framily !!!!

❤️❤️❤️

Momma

First Days!!!!

T'was a good day!

Friends!

I was able to go back to Omaha last weekend to celebrate my dear friend Cristale's birthday!  She has come to Colorado several times to celebrate mine, and I finally wanted to do the same.  It's always tricky because it happens right when school gets back in session.  However, with the support of Russell and some cheap tickets-Mandy and I were able to go back.  It is always so great to get together with the college friends.  You instantly fall back into how it used to be.....rap music, beer bong, dancing on the dance floor even if no one else is there, bets, loud LOUD talking, reminiscing....And of course as we get older I got to add playing basketball with Cooper to my list of awesome things I did, and introducing my ladies to their first tattoo experience! YAY!

I love you friends!  I feel so lucky to get to reconnect like this and love how we can be miles away and pick up like it was just yesterday.  Kids, jobs, different states and all!

Nicaragua

So Meg and I we went on a 10 day vacation to Nicaragua!  Mark and Adella are amazing grandparents and watched the kids the whole time, partly at the mountain house and partly filling in for us at our house.  The kids were very excited to go stay with Grandma and Grandpa.  We were pretty sure they weren't even going to notice that we were gone, based on their excitement.

Alright, about Nicaragua!

We were quite excited to have a wonderfully immersive practice ground for our Spanish skills.  Meg is probably a 5/10 and I'm more like a 3/10.  It's amazing how quickly you pick things up when you are totally immersed.

First leg:  Managua for 2 nights.  This allowed us time to recover from a long 12 hr day of multiple connecting flights.  Also allowed us time to experience the capital city.

  

Then it was off to the Corn Islands for 6 nights!

Boarding Passes

The Regional Plane

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Took the little plane from Managua to Bluefields for a stop, then on to Big Corn Island.  The winds were picking up, and were a solid 30mph by the time we landed around 7:30am.  The little panga boat that normally ferries between Big Corn and Little Corn doesn't run if the winds are over 21 mph since the waves get too big and dangerous.  So, there is a big cargo boat that travels one round trip per day.  We had to wait around for the big cargo boat to head to Little Corn at 4:30pm.  Coffee, reading, exploring the island.  Oh and this is when we first noticed the forecast for the coming week:  doom and gloom!  Clouds and wind and rain all week, in paradise!  No problem, it'll break, right?  Of course it will.

 

Anyhow, we finally boarded the big boat and pushed off from the pier.  Even loading on the boat was perilous!  Tossing our bags onboard, and then timing the waves and rocking of the boat for when to safely jump across.  Falling between the rocking boat and pier would be certain death.  

  The boat ride.  Wow, this is hard to put into words.  It was one of the craziest experiences of our lives!  If you've ever seen Deadliest Catch, that visually captures it pretty well.  It was 2 hrs of enduring increasing winds (35mph), increasing waves (huge 25-30 ft swells), and pelting rain.  Our bags were loaded below deck, and somehow miraculously stayed dry through this trip.  All of us passengers, probably about 40-45 in total, stood or sat on the deck.  The deck was lined with ropes around the edges at various height intervals, looking kind of like a rope fence.  As the boat reached the open water between the islands, the rocking became truly epic.  At first it was fun for many of us, much like riding a rollercoaster.  Literally clinging to these ropes and masts for our lives.  Still mostly fun, but with the knowledge and feeling of being tossed overboard was a real possibility.  The sun set early on this journey, and then we were riding this rollercoaster under the darkness of night.  Then the seasickness began claiming victims one by one.  At least half of all of us passengers ended up getting seasick at some point, probably more.  Finally, we reached the calm waters of the bay at Little Corn.  Not a single item or piece of clothing was left dry for us passengers.  Offloaded onto a little panga, which transferred us to the dock.  Stable land never felt so good!  It was quite a bonding experience for all of us passengers.  Our Beach and Bungalow folks met us at the dock and ferried our bags and led us on the 15 min walk to the other side of the island and checked us in.  

Finally, our own little bungalow right on the beach of paradise.  This place had the best staff, the best food, and was totally laid back.  We preferred to eat at this table right on the beach for most breakfast meals, until the rain usually chased us away.

The weather couldn't keep us down for those first few days.  We read a lot, drank lots of coffee and wine, took naps, and explored the whole island!  We found some truly amazing secluded beaches, reachable only by hidden paths through the jungle.

Yep, you're damn right we went skinny-dipping at this spot.

Meg's jumping in here.......

We got a few hours here and there of light without rain, but it still kept coming.  You can only be close to beautiful beaches without sun and beautiful weather for so long before it starts to wear on you.  We made the decision to try and get out of the Corn Islands and switch our trip up for the last couple days.  We need a some damn sun!  Amazing Race style....we got to the airport, got put on the list and managed to get the last 2 seats on the flight out midday.  We grabbed a rental and headed down to Granada.  It was so wonderful to see the sun and not see the rain.  We were able to go see a REAL life volcano.  That pretty much made the trip!  Overall, I was so glad we got out of the islands and changed our route.  

Since I'm helping Russell finish this blog-I went back to my online journal to capture the lessons I learned.  Funny looking back!  It's amazing what you think about when you are cooped up.  

• Canadians/Europeans have vacations figured out.  We met people who were on the 4 week of vacation and were still going strong.  We feel guilty for taking 5 days off.  WTF.
• You're never too old to visit places.  We met this nice lady, very similar to Grammy, traveling from Iowa to Nica.  She said she just had to go out and see what all these places were about.
• I had a huge appreciation for drinking water out of the tap.  Being hydrated whenever I want is something I often take for granted, but trips like this remind me of how much we are.
• New found respect for deep sea fisherman.  Because....no. Just no.
• Body image can be a struggle when the weather is gross, I haven't worked out, and all I've been doing is eating and drinking.  (Little did I know that Nica would inspire to join Weight Watchers online and lose 20 some lbs!)
• I appreciate Russell in so many ways, including his willingness and excitement about driving in foreign countries with crazy bumpy streets with hills and he has a stick.  I also love how much he tries with his spanish and succeeds.
• I will learn to fluently drive a stick and speak Spanish before my time is up!
• Fiction is awesome and engaging for me!
• Probiotics for the win!  No issues

This blog post definitely did not finish as eloquently as it started, but we finally got it up here!  

Enjoy.

Meg and Russell

Summer Edition 9: That's a Wrap

My Uncle Jack passed away during this week.  It was insanely sad.  It was also really good to see my family.  It brought out alot of feels as this was held at the same place that my Mother's service was 25 years ago.  Gulp.  I can't believe it has been that long. 

My Uncle Jack had a Husker service.  It was quite something to see all of us in red!

I got some good time with  my sis and got to connect with Uncle Ray.

The siblings

The other siblings

The last Summer Hangout with the Merlers!  The kids chose Dizzy and ran their little hearts out. 

Dempsey actually did really well at shooting dinosaurs.  I'm not exactly sure if I'm supposed to be proud?

Finally got to take this lady out for her birthday lunch, since we missed her birthday party.  These two have known each other since before kinder and has been really good buddies since.  They are very much alike!  Whenever we do birthday parties, they always invite each other.  So grateful!

This girl

I had a goal to touch water, and Russell helped make this happen.

I just love this photo!  I see myself here.  A strong girl, who loves the water and being outdoors.

Ryker and Demps and I rode to the waterfall and came across this guy.  Ryker named him "Gordon."  He was pretty legit!

We did good with bucket list!

The last picnic on the last day of Summer!

You might not be able to see this, but this is Dempsey swimming for the first time.  On the last day of Summer!  What a gift!

This summer was a doozy!  I mean a real doozy.  We managed to take a few little trips, I got away several times by myself, and we all survived!  It was a hard summer without Grammy.  I found myself unable to be at home, without a plan, and not shedding a tear because I missed her.  It was those quiet times where we could enjoy our coffee, or lunch, or a beer together and just talk that I miss so darn much.  So....I kept it real busy this summer.  We had some awesome moments---volcanoes, AJ & I's trip to see Imagine Dragons, girls backpacking, Dempsey learning to swim, cousin times, family wedding with my handsome husband.  Gosh it was good.  I also took an insane amount of professional development, which I managed to complete  it all.  Phew.  It's almost like coming back to work has been a bit easier because of how nuts this summer was:)

I feel thankful and grateful and in love with Summers, and just like how the seasons change-I appreciate going back too.  Here's to our first one in the book without our Grammy. 

Love, Momma