Chee-hoo!  The waves have been good this week.  Yesterday, Ian got on a boat to a far away spot up north called Playgrounds.  Thanks to Jason for the five a.m. phone call - my babe came back grinning and sunburned.  Amarillo has been worthy this week too.  A little more user friendly for Allegra and I - we scored some fun ones over the last few days.  The guests are on their way out this weekend.  One last boat trip for Ryan and Ian this morning to Manzanillo - let's hope the winds held up for them.

We're excited for a Fourth of July celebration at Chele Palmado's tomorrow.  It sounds like the boys are putting together a feast.  It's comforting to know that even in Nicaragua, there will be an Independence day fiesta and just another excuse to indulge in excessive amounts of food and beer.  God Bless America.

Lady Gray's gas tank has graced our bank account with a slow leak in her top half.  So long as we keep her below a third, she's fine.  Unfortunately, the closest gas station is forty minutes away in Rivas but fortunately, the family at the church in Gigante "se vende gasolina."  Today on the way home from Amarillo, I purchased two gallons of red gas, yes red, for ten dollars.  When I asked about the suspicious color, she told me it's Super.  I believed her and so far so good.  Lady Gray seems happy therefore, I'm happy.  Our mechanic is currently looking for a new (used) tank.  Three attempts at welding the original, have all failed.  Oh Douglas.  He runs on about a 66% success rate.  (including the rate of reliability - in terms of showing up when he says he's going to show up)  Bless his guilty smile though.  He knows when he's been bad.

And so we are moving into Phase Two of our time here in Nicaragua.  Next week will be the real beginning for us.  I can't express how excited we are to be underneath our own thatched-roof.  The beds and oven are coming on Monday and as for the fridge ... let that unexpected adventure begin.  We've managed to push back Managua again.  Tuesday.  It looks like Tuesday, for real.  Clint is currently on the same mission for the illusive propane refrigerator and we're hoping he gets some solid info before we blindly delve into the city.  We haven't been to the house in a few days and it sounds like it's in its finishing stages.  Now that we have enough gas to get to La Vista and to Rivas, we'll be checking it out this afternoon.  Pictures to follow.  Thanks for reading everyone.      

Swell's Swell

Sah-weet!  I've been having some issues with Blogger these last couple of days so, I'm going to try and squeeze in a quick post while it's up and running properly.  The weather has taken a turn for the worse here.   According to magicseaweed.com, our trusted website for storm trends and wave models, we've got about four days in a row of a "zero-star" surf forecast in our future.  Monday and beyond looks promising though, just in time for the arrival of little sis.  Will Sarah bring the sun (with my extended list of sundries?)  In the meantime, it's been rain, rain, rain and grey skies.  Our kitchen floor looks like a mosaic of muddy paw prints and the river is running at La Vista.  Ian finally got to surf Manzanillo a few days ago.  It's only accessible by boat and on Monday, the boys went out and scored a bunch of waves with no one out.  As soon as Ian got back, he came with me to Amarillo and we both got a bunch of good rides there too.  I caught the  nose of my board into the back of a wave on a fairly decent size drop in Melly standards, then got rag-dolled through the water pretty hard that afternoon.  All in all, it was the last good day of waves we've had.  As I said in the previous post, the boats have been pulled out of the bay for a good size swell rolling through.  Yesterday, the tide was the highest we've seen it, and water came through the backyard of Swell like a river.  Ian helped Jason dig a trench to divert it's path around the house, as the ocean's natural course would have been to flow through the back door, into the living room and out the front walkway.  It was a beer drinking afternoon.  I am the "Sorry" champion of Gigante, winning two games in a row yesterday afternoon, much to Jason's dismay.  I'm sure a heated rematch is in my future.

In house news, things are really starting to come together.  Ian had to make his first forced errand run to Rivas yesterday.  We're getting an outdoor shower put in and unfortunately, didn't have the right part for the job so Ian braved the storm, (with no windshield wipers, which incidentally, will be fixed on Monday - moms), and on the way, picked up nine, yes count them, nine Nicaraguans and gave them a ride to Tola.  Two riding shotgun, four in the backseat, and three in the way back.  Luckily, the Nicas informed him that there is, in fact, a ferreteria (hardware store) in Tola, which is about three-quarters of the way to Rivas.  So, Ian dodged a Rivas trip which is always tiring and slightly maddening for reasons such as, having to go to ten different stores for ten different items.  Ah, Latin American business tactics.  When will they learn?  Anyways, good news.  The windows will be here on Friday!  Solar panel, inverter, and marine batteries, next week.  And hopefully, keep your fingers crossed, we'll be able to move in in two weeks!  Sarah will be here for the transition.  Next on the list - Managua.  Our savings account is about to rapidly dwindle as we begin purchasing all the necessities - i.e. - fridge, stove, beds, pot, pan, fork ... you know, everything.  But, oh how exciting ... lots of gallo pinto (fried Nica rice and beans) in our future.  Love you all, not much else for now.

But some random pig pictures