The unplugged life.

 One of the reasons we did this trip was to try to get our kids to unplug more. This guy especially orbits his life around "screen time". You want to go to the park Kai? Nope he'd rather play video games. He counts his minutes outside to turn them in for minutes on screen and doesn't want one extra minute doing something besides his beloved games. It worries us. He had a hard first few days here, but now when I told the kids I forgot to show them drip castles he was the first to say "what are those?" "let's go!". It was awesome.

 You make a slurry of fine textured sand and water and let it drip over your sand castle, decorating it with kind of drizzly coolness.

 Yesterday was really windy, and the ocean wasn't as fun because it felt kind of cold. We aren't used to it being below 87 outside. The wind was so bad the power kept flickering off and on. We were out at the pool, and a branch cracked from a tree and fell down on the patio. When I went and looked at it, it was almost completely hollowed out by termites!

I can't remember if I showed you this before. It's a termite nest. They are all over the forest. I'm wondering if this is why so many of the trees are half dead. I thought it was drought, but when you take the bus even to Rivas, the trees look more lush. I'm thinking termites are the culprit.

 

Anyway, Mr. Kai has finally embraced the unplugged life, although I'm sure he's anxious to get back to his gadgets.

 

I also wanted to show the little parrots that flock around our little compound. It's beautiful to see their bright greenness flashing through the near sky. Their squawk is very distinctive, even among the dozens of grackles -a bird who can imitate a million noises. We were walking along the road the other day and the kids looked up into the trees at what sounded like a car alarm. "You were right Mom! They CAN sound like anything". Nuts. I should have gotten a grackle picture.

 

I did get a butterfly movie. There are so many! Here most of them are yellow, but there are black swallowtail looking ones, white swallowtails, three different monarch types I've seen (so far), and small black ones with little jewels of color on their wings. Just clouds sometimes of what look like flying petals.

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