Volcano trip

Snow is uncommon in Guadalajara and most of Mexico. It has only snowed once in the last decade (1997) Josiahs friend, Mario, thought maybe snow was made up and not real. Josiah has been assuring him that it is real and that he has seen it. They plan on visiting us in the states next winter with the hopes that there will also be snow. Well, this weekend while we were on our retreat in the distance there was a mountain (I later found out was an inactive volcano) with snow on the mountaintop. When I got back to town I told my friend that I wanted to find out where it was and take them there. She showed me the newspaper where on the front page it talked about the snow that was on the volcano and how everyone was flocking to see the snow. So, after talking for a few minutes we decided to let the kids skip school and take them up to the mountain. It was a really fun trip. We had to go to Walmart last night to buy gloves and hats because we didn't have any (I left all of mine in the states thinking that I would never need them down here, since the temp has been averaging mid 60's).
We got up early this morning and headed to the mountain-volcano. We arrived at the base of the mountain a little after 1 hour but then it took us around 1 1/2 hrs to go up the mountain. The roads were horrible - not paved just dirt roads with lots of holes etc. Once we got there we had lunch in the car and got the kids good and bundled and headed to the snow. Where you have to park the cars is a good Kilometer from the top of the mountain. We climbled till we found a godo spot with clean snow and let the kids have fun, we then turned around and headed down the mountain.

Monteverde

We had a great Christmas vacation in the states meeting new family members. Cory and I have 3 new nieces (1) and nephews (2). It was good to spend time with them. We also got to spend some time in San Antonio with our friends the Pruetts. It was really good to see them. They worked in Guadalajara with us and recently moved back to the states. We got back from the USA on Tuesday night and on Thursday Cory decided that we needed to take the AIMers on a retreat the following day. It really was necessary but somewhat shortnotice. We decided that if we waited till school and baseball were back in full swing we would end up never going on the retreat. So, before having unpacked from the trip to the USA I packed to go to the mountains.
We had a wonderful time. We have been to this location 3 previous times but we always had infants with us which added stress. It was nice to be able to relax this time and not worry that the kids were going to fall down the mountain or stairs etc. We had some good time with the AIMers evaluating plans for their last 5 months here.
It was pretty cold although not as cold as you guys in the USA. The guys worked really hard at getting a BIG fire in the fireplace and keeping it big. In 24 hours we went through 9 good sized bundles of wood.
The cabins we went to have recently added an obstacle course. My kids (including Cory) love it and had so much fun on in. I definately think that our family will be planning a trip back there.

Here is a picture of the cabin that we stayed in. Its 3 bedroom and fits 10 people.

Abigail on the course

Hannah loved climbing this but always got a little nervous once she got to the top.

Cory and Josiah during one of their MANY races There was beautiful nature all around us.