A May Update

June is here! That means:
3 more months till Christmas Season.

Ok, seriously, time is chugga-luggin' away on us. What have we been doing? Working! At least, Ben has been. Flying, maintenance, paperwork (he loves that part, in particular). And he's been a gem of a husband at home, helping when the extra is needed (which, when you are hauling water, happens more than you can imagine).

One of the highlights of May was: Swimming lessons. Every afternoon for two weeks. It was cool. Ty turned out to be a quick learner and pretty good little swimmer. Ellie turned out to be a bit more distracted(Mom: Ellie, remember to use your arms. Ellie: mom, you have soft hair...) but she did learn how to come up for air, and using this strange caterpillar style moving, she can wriggle her way to where she wants to go.

Even Zack joined in the fun, swimming in his ring everyday.On the last day of class, the kids had to swim across the pool. Ty did it all by himself. Ellie did it too, sort of, and not by herself. And then, we were informed, would follow the certificate ceremony.

This closing ceremony included a Thanksgiving Mass to celebrate the swim team's first place victory at a recent competition. The priest came, set up a table, the whole bit.
It was a cultural experience.
45 minutes later, the kids sitting on the poolside, gazing longingly into the water, they then had a swimming expo. THEN, the gave out the certificates of completion.

And then we ate food.
The whole shebang took over 3 hours.

All because we completed a 2 week course to swim.

Doin' the Laundry

When life is normal, you get up in the morning and go about your routine. What would you do if, when you woke up, you found out you had no water coming out of your faucets? And what if you then discovered that water would only be coming out between the hours of midnight and 4 to 5 am every day due to a water shortage in the area? Last year, we kicked and screamed and threw a bit of a fit, but that didn't stop the water shortage (during the last 3 months of dry season), shockingly enough. This year, we opted a different approach. Since April, we have been getting up at night to fill up our bathtub and other containers, so that we can have water during the day. Hauling buckets works for dishes and toilets and floors, but not for laundry. For that we had to be a little more creative...

So, out came the hose, one end in the bathtub...

and through the bedroom, out the window......out the window, down to the washing area...
...where the water is siphoned and fills up all the containers. And now I know how much water it really takes to do the laundry: half a bathtub.

I write this now, with the good news that our water has come back on. There has been rain in the mountains (where our water source flows from), which has increased the water, which has turned us into happy toilet flushers once again. Nothing against the bucket flush method, mind you, I just have a strong preference for the flushing version.