More Random stuff mainly about Dalton

Everyone in Latin America has a mistress. So when in Rome do as the Romans's right!" Here is Doug's mistress. She is a Queen, as you can see, and he spends his evenings with her. At least I know it can't go anywhere with each of them trying to kill each other. This photo was taken so Doug could ask my friend Cecilia to figure out what he had done to stump the computer. He loves this stuff so I'm happy when he's happy.

Dalton's teacher gave him her son's old suit. He loved the thing even though it was many many many sizes too big. We finally got it altered and this was his first day wearing it to church without the pants being pinned from the inside.

Dalton and his friends Nicole siting in wooden chairs after going for a swim at Summit golf resort.

This is Dalton at the dentist getting his molars sealed. He did not like this experience at all. This was actually our second visit to complete the job. He brought the water bottle to help him make it through. It seemed to help and we left with the job completed, thank heaven!

Random photos of what we do here

Dalton's favorite activity is jumping in the rain. And as you can see, we get a lot of rain. (and this is the dry season!!!)
Jacob at the orphanage where he hopes to do his Eagle Scout Project. This is a huge pile of trash and broken stuff that they can not throw away until someone from the government comes and tells them it is OK to throw it away. They have not seen someone from the government for over two years so the trash just keeps mounting. The stuff behind him is trash too. There is a toilet just out of view. It reminds me of that quote from Ronald Reagan about the four most horrifying words to hear from your government are "We're here to help." See the kind of help you get!
Elder Castillo's last day in our area. He is the one on the couch. He and his comp, Elder Estrada, are from Guatemala and they are both crazy and fun. Eric, sitting next to Dalton, is the boy living with us.
Kalie, Doug and I went to the opera to see Kalie's voice teacher, Fernando, perform. This is us after the show. I know what you are thinking and I am not going to comment in this public forum.
This is Kalie in the totally cool box seats we had. Unfortunately the architect of this great opera house failed to recognize that most people attending plays actually like to see the play and not just hear it. We had to move to the floor seats because you literally could not see any of the stage. The floor seats were awesome I might add.
We dog-sat for our friends who took their family on a seven day cruise. This is Oscar the dog checking out Kitty. I think all our kids, including Kalie, have been cured of any desire to ever own a dog. HURRAY
Dalton loves to amuse himself making bubbles with the hand soap. He is really quite and expert now. Talent runs deep around here.

Quaint details of our home in Paradise

This is by far the most unique aspect of the house. This is the window of the half bath that is located just inside the front door. When you are at the front door this window is just to your right. What you can not see clearly is that this window does not have any glass; it only has a screen to keep out the bugs. Therefore privacy is not a strong feature of this bathroom. When you are taking care of business in the loo everyone and anyone who comes to the door can hear and/or smell you. It makes for some rather awkward moments. Quaint, don't you think!

The little crank at the bottom corner is the super cool way we open our quaint windows. I actually like this feature of the house except that it takes so much time to open and close the windows because you have to do each side separately. And one side has to be done before the other or it will not close properly.

When we first arrived here I was completely grossed out by the showers so I promptly replaced the shower heads with new, multi spray heads. The showers have been a source of much frustration since we moved in. For several months we either had no hot water or the water would switch from super hot to freezing without notice. This became such a problem that the landlord sent over several plumbers and even replaced our water heater. Finally after almost a year we just couldn't take it anymore so we headed over to the local Do It Center to purchase new shower heads in hopes of fixing whatever problem we were having. While examining the shower heads we read that if you have low water pressure the heads may not work and you would need to remove the low flow valve that environmental wackos had mandated be put in shower heads to reduce water usage. We were unable to remove the value so we removed the whole shower head and now water pours out like Niagara Falls. It's great!! Another worthless "Green" idea down the drain.
Unfortunately Kalie cleaned her room a several days before I took this photo so you have to imagine a pile of these little brown things about an inch high. These are piles of termite leftovers that are all over our house. We are literally being eaten alive from the inside out and the proof is everywhere. But remember all quaint old houses have their quirks. Our quirks are just ingesting our home and leaving piles of excrement. OK I don't think it is really excrement but it's something gross. They also leave their babies crawling around Kalie's bed which is not so quaint either. She is sleeping in Dalton's room at the moment waiting for the boys to remember to exterminate her room.

Another totally fantastic Christmas 2010** Where there is family love abounds

Kalie finally got her swivel chair. Just what every girl needs!

No more classical guitar for this rock-n-roller

Jacob is totally disappointed with his gift. He wanted a surfboard---not a long board! He even specifically said No long board. Oops

Dalton, upon discovering his trampoline hidden in plain site.

A few years ago I started a tradition (idea stolen from my sister-in-law Kathy) where the boys get a tool and Kalie gets a kitchen gadget for Christmas. That way when they get married they have tools and kitchen stuff for their future homes. What real man doesn't need a machete? Not my "real men!!"

Kalie checking out her Blackberry phone

Eric reminded all of us of the true meaning of Christmas when his favorite gift was this picture of Christ.

Jacob with his happy face after opening photos of the real surfboard Grandpa Lamb is bringing from Arizona

Malcolm laughing after opening Jacob's gift to him. It is a Death Note notebook in which Jacob wrote, "Merry Christmas, Malcolm Lamb". For those who know Death Note, this is bad.

Kalie thanking Dalton for the gift he bought her.

Jake's watch Eric got for him.

Dalton confused by the used rope and old piece of wood Malcolm gave him. Once it was installed in the big tree in our front yard it became a big hit.

Jake never loses his love of soft things; including Kalie's new sleeping shorts

Eric' s own copy of Preach My Gospel

Before Dalton's tramp could be put up, Jacob and Dalton had to put their new machete's to work and chop down this over grown tree.

Eric's first time on a trampoline. Can you tell he was completely mortified. It took Kalie 5 minutes of coaxing to get him on the thing.

Malcolm looking totally cool playing his new guitar

Merry Christmas, Everyone

Merry Christmas

In case you don't get our Christmas letter (which, don't panic, is still in route to the US) I am posting some of our favorite family pics from the past year.

Why we pay a gardener

Gardening in Panama is not the relaxing, fulfilling experience it can be in the States. (OK maybe I should say, "that it is for Doug") For one, you must be on the look out for venomous snakes and second, modern machinery is not in vogue here. If you like machetes and weed wackers and you don't mind working for hours in the heat/rain and have no fear of heights then you are a bigger man than I.

This is the neighbors gardener cutting a tree with little snippers; notice the lack of safety gear. I have seen him cut down and entire tall tree without a ladder and with only a machete.

This is my gardener, Paolo. He cuts my entire lawn with a weed wacker.

I panned out on this photo to show how big our yard is. Of course this is only half the back yard and we have a front yard as well. He bags all the grass, sweeps up and trims any trees that need trimming. $20 well spent!!

Random photos

This is the US Ambassador to Panama speaking on Veterans Day. I love the temple spire in the background. This ceremony was held at the US cemetery. What a beautiful, fitting backdrop for a cemetery honoring our fallen military men and women. God Bless America!

OK I was getting gas one Friday night and I saw this, which is not unusual here but to me it is quite scary, and just had to take a picture. I didn't want to be to rude and get up close so it's a little hard to see. This guy is dressed ready to party. He has on deep purple, skinny jeans and coordinating yellow crocs! I am totally not kidding when I say this is in style here.