SOUTH CAROLINA

Jen and Jon

Amazing to think we are now in South Carolina. We had an uneventful trip here and have been enjoying our time with Paul's youngest brother, Jon, his wife, Jen and their adorable little 17 month old Brooklynn. Syd and Josh are loving having Brook around, and Brook is quite taken with my kids as well. How many hours can you spend running around the kitchen island? Many! This is the first time we have seen her and it has been great getting to know her little personality. Here are some cute shots of our time here.

Sydney and Brooklynn- Two beautiful Day girls

Brooklynn and Josh

Brooklynn having some cuddles with Uncle Paul- She loves her Uncle Paul

Two more beautiful Day girls doing the "cat walk" downtown.

PANAMA CITY FUN

We had a great time in Panama City with our friends, Jody and Trent and their children. Emma (8) was kind enough to let us use her room again. Thanks Emma! The kids had a great time together playing lego, naked "slip-and-slide" on the back porch (no pictures, even though it was very cute!) and doing crafts thanks to Jody's huge craft cupboard. It felt like Panama City was a whole different country compared to Boquete/David. What a whirl wind of activity! Probably just a taste of Calgary life before we head home. Of course, we enjoyed lots of conversation, bagels at the coffee shop, supper at Jimmy's and a little shopping.

Sydney, Emma, Josh

Evertte, Easton

Doing their thing!

GOOD BYE BOQUETE

Today I’m sitting in the Schmuland’s living room typing my blog. We are once again in Panama City as we start our journey home. I know we will inevitable get the question, “How was our trip?” To put it simply, amazing. The time seems to have gone so fast some days and so incredibly slow other days. Leaving Boquete was bitter sweet. We left new friends to return home and see old friends.

What will I miss in Panama?

Jenni, Tamar, Sharron, Jody and their families; (Already miss you guys!)

Left to right- Jenni, Tamar and me

Bruce and Sharron, with Jadyn sneaking a lick


Hanging at the Bliss’ on Saturdays;
Ruiz coffee;
Pineapples, bananas and papayas picked that day;
Everything Bonlac (yogurt, coffee, milk, OJ);
Lower cost of living and a simple life;
Spending time together as a family;
Having no schedule;
Home schooling;
Caribbean Ocean;

What do I miss about Calgary?

Friends;
Church;
Superstores pesto sauces;
A paycheck;
My king sized bed;
Jelly Bellies;
Flossing sticks;

We still have no clarity as to what our future holds. Lots of this trip has been about faith, trusting God; so it looks like that theme will continue in our lives. But, that is what life is about. In those moments when you allow yourself to dream and imagine what could be, that’s when you let go and allow God to show you what He has in His imagination. We believe it is so much more than we could ever dream or even imagine. So we’ve chosen to trust and serve (our new mantra), living life open to what He has in store for us.


Stay posted as we continue our adventure!

Linda

STREET HOCKEY-PANAMA STYLE

The other day Josh, Syd and I decided to walk into town to run a few errands. On the way, Josh found a great stick and this weird type fruit. Presto, street hockey with a twist. The fruit felt and was textured like an orange but was shaped as a pear. It was very heavy and green/yellow. Anyone have any idea of what is was? I love the fact that my kids now think playing with sticks and discarded fruit is fun. Who needs a real puck? Well, maybe an orange would have been better because this fruit was crazy the way it rolled every which way.

Anyone know what fruit this is?

Note Joshua's shirt! We are still Flame fans!

INCREDIBLE FAMILY

I was just going through my many pictures. Paul left early this morning to get our car tuned up for our Panama City drive. I have the computer all to myself. This is rare. Both kids are still sleeping. We have so many great pictures but here are a few recent ones of my incredible family.

Sydney and Edgar

Syd and Josh- Bocas Del Toro

Josh and Paul- Bocas Del Toro

Dancing and a show- Josh in Bocas Del Toro

Paul and I at Red Frog Beach(This was taken after my surf board smacked his face. Note his bottom right lip and right chin. )

Until I blog again

Linda

OUR BURNING BUSH

Yesterday morning started like most Sundays. Church, lunch at our house with the Bliss family, fought a forest fire, went for a walk, made supper, watched a movie and went to bed. Yes, I did say fight a forest fire.

After lunch, while the adults were talking, the kids came in to tell us it was raining ash. This did not surprise me at all. On the way to church that morning we saw the western mountain burning. Not an uncommon sight here as many people start “controlled” fires to reduce the risk of a larger one. Also, Sunday seems to be garbage burning day. It seems to us that many people here love to burn stuff, so ash in the air isn’t uncommon. I got up to check it out. I was met with snap, crackle and pop noises, thick grey smoke with large chucks of black ash swirling in the air. This was from the lot of land not 10 feet from my front door. I was still thinking this might be an intentional fire, but asked Steve and Jenni to come out and have a look. They came out and immediately look at each other and said, “This is not controlled”. They jumped into action. Steve grabbed a machete and told Paul to do the same. The boys jumped the fence and started another fire and started hacking at the brush. Jenni calmed the children, hurded them inside, turned off the propane tanks and said, “Get your stuff packed.” Now Jenni has become such a dear friend and I trust her implicitly. I gave my head a good shake, as I felt a little dazed and got into evacuation mode. Passports and papers first, followed by computer, phone and camera, than a bag of some clothes. I looked at Syd and Josh and reassured them that everything would be fine, but they should go and pack an overnight bag, just in case. Jenni went to turn on the water hose and guess what? No water! Our landlord, Jerry and his family had arrived and Jerry followed suit, hacking and starting another fire. Within 3 minutes the fire was in full blazing mode with huge orange flames. Syd and Josh brought me their overnight bags. Their overnight bags were actually their suitcases stuffed with all their stuff, minus their school books! The kids, 6 in total were running around screaming “Evacuation!”, “The house is going to burn!” “We have to evacuate”. This was not helping my facade of calm so I asked Jenni to take all 6 kids to town. Off they went with Josh just trembling and Syd, extremely quiet and wide eyed.

The fire started to calm right when the firemen showed up. Let me explain what that looked like. The fire crew, the “Bomberos” consisted of four men in a small blue car with one backpack of water, 2 shovels and 4 machetes. That was it! I was like, are you kidding me? Where is the fire TRUCK with water in it? Where are the hoses? Do you think 10 liters of water will be enough? How about a fire hydrant? Hey princess, wake up and welcome to Panama! I called Jenni to reassure her that she could come back and asked how Josh was. Jenni asked him and he said “not good.” That boy is so honest. The fire calmed to a small smoldering patch, the firemen left, we all had a beer, except the kids of coarse and thought, just another day here in Panama.

The burning brush

Ready to evacuate

I am so thankful Steve and Jenni were here. I would not have known that starting another fire could help put out the original one. Today I kind of remember seeing that concept on the movie “Backdraft”.

This morning there are still a few patches of smoke. Our place stinks like camp fire, but we are so grateful how well things turned out. I hear there were 3 big fires in the Boquete area yesterday. This is the dry season with very high winds so everything is very dry. How did the fire start? Who knows. The kids had a few ideas while we were de briefing yesterday. A cigarette? Perhaps. Sun shining through a beer bottle? Maybe. The sun itself? Who really knows.

It is funny, yesterday morning Paul and I were praying for guidance for the future and joked that a “sign” from God would be really great. Be careful what your pray for1 Today I’m thinking, the burning bush wasn’t suppose to consume and I did not hear God’s voice from our burning bush!

Ahh, a day in the life of the Days. No wonder our blog is called the Day Family Adventures!

Until I bog again.
Linda

HAVE SANDWICHES, WILL TRAVEL

My coffee is brewing in the background, the wonderful smell of my favorite Ruiz coffee is filling my head. The birds are chirping and the sun is peeking over the mountains. A beautiful Boquete morning. Paul and Sydney are on their way to the airport in David to drop my parents off for their 7:45 AM flight. I know, how did I get the long straw and get to stay home with sleeping Josh. All I can say is I have a great husband and I honestly haven't been to the airport here in months. Could I find it? Probably, do I want to try, not really!

Because of all the snow in Montreal, Mom and Dads flight from Panama City to Dorval has been significantly delayed. They get in at 01:45 tuesday morning. A very long day indeed, but don't worry, they packed sandwiches in their carry ons this morning.

Thanks for a great visit Mom and Dad. Below is a picutre to help you keep warm as you re-enter winter!

Until I blog again.

Linda

OUR WEEK OF FUN

By Syd and Josh Day

Well, our week was jam packed. Let’s see where to start.

Oma and Opa arrived safely. After Oma and Opa were settled after a couple days, we went to The Bocas Butterfly Garden. We had to take a boat to get to the garden. There was a dock that was in a lagoon of water. When we got to the main spot, the guide began by showing us a baby crocodile.

The little croc

Then he showed us some butterflies and chrysalises. There were like these fuzzy caterpillars. There was also this blue monarch butterfly. It was so cool. After visiting the butterfly house, we went to a cage where there were 3 chickens, 1 grande turkey and a little deer, named Bambi. She was so cute. Bambi licked our arms. Across from the cage there was a little pond that had a family of crocs, but they did not feel like coming out to visit us. We went back to the main office and got some Coke. After a little break we walk back to the dock. Josh spotted a sloth. The sloth was so cute. After all the excitement we found a tarantula. It was just a little one. Our boat came and we went back to our condo.






A couple days later we went out for lunch at The Reef restaurant. It was very good. Oma and Dad both got the lobster.

Our last day, Deborah and Keith invited the whole family to go to Red Frog Beach. First, we went snorkeling between Hospital Point and Red Frog Beach.

Deborah, Marissa, Linda and Syd

Josh, Deborah and I all swam. Mom and Dad both snorkeled. From the surface of the water we could look down and see coral, sea cucumbers, seaweed, fire coral; and Opa spitting out salt water. The water was so clear, you didn’t even need goggles. When we got to Red Frog Beach, we had to pay two dollars to get in. The walk was around 10 minutes. When we got to the beach we jumped in the water. The waves were HUGE!!!! We made a really big sand castle. We left before the tide came in and our castles got destroyed.

TIME IS FLYING BY

Red Frog Beach (our favorite beach)


Time is flying by way too fast. Today, our last day in Bocas (boo hoo), we had an incredible day snorkeling and playing at Red Frog Beach (thanks to Keith and Deborah, managers at Playa Mango Resort).

This last week we have enjoyed incredible weather. Mom and Dad never tire sitting in the resort cabana at the end of the pier looking over the bay. Let me tell you, my parents have been real troopers getting in and out of the water taxis. And Mom learned early on, never wear skirts or dresses when taking a water taxi! Below are some shots of my parents stay with us here in Bocas.


Mom enjoying a lobster dinner at The Reef in Bocas




One of their many swims to stay cool


Dad snorkeling with me


Mom and Dad wading in the ocean at Red Frog Beach

(watching Josh and Paul boogie board)





Tomorrow we head back to Boquete for two weeks. Then we fly to Panama City to spend a few days with Jody and Trent and their kids. Then its off to South Carolina to visit Jon (Paul's youngest brother), Jen and Brooklyn. Our feet will finally touch Canadian soil April 2nd.

Until I blog again.

Linda