A new taekwondo belt

Staying focused before his exam

Older kids took a written and oral exam and younger kids just an oral exam. Woody took the studying seriously.  He can count to ten in Korean and he know the names of certain equipment/stances in Korean and the principles of Taekwondo.  I was very proud of how serious he took the exam.  

Woody passed his exams
and received his next belt! 

After the presentation of belts, the instructor presented a special award of "meyor examen" and Woody received it for his belt group! He was so surprised and proud, and so were we! 

We went out to lunch with some friends from class to celebrate 

Manu's mom zoomed in and captured these two cuties during a part of the physical exam. So serious! So cute! 

It's Beginning to Look a Little Like Christmas!

We are staying in Panama this year for the holidays.  At first, we were a bit disappointed to not be going home to see family and friends and enjoy awesome food and drink and Christmas lights and real Christmas trees and slightly cooler weather. . . but since Decemeber has arrived, we have really embraced Christmas in the Caribbean.  The kids make all holidays just awesome, no matter where we are.  We made a cool driftwood Christmas tree and we are planning on making some more jungle/ocean decorations for the tree.  We are making adjustments to perfect homemade natural dyes for decorating Christmas cookies.  We decorated our stairs with candy cane colored lights and I am going to order some actual candy canes from Panama City.  We are watching Christmas movies, making hot chocolates, and singing Christmas carols! We are in the spirit! 

warming up our dough rolling skills with some tortillas.  No matter the season, everyone loves taco night. 

Christmas haircut and a shave

 

getting our driftwood Christmas tree organized

Conor asked me if we were gonna rearrange the lights after the kids went to bed but we decided they look fabulous as is.  

first batch of Christmas cookies

working on our homemade natural dyes for the cookies.  We need a strong red and green.  We've got an awesome purple and blue. . . not exactly Christmas colors haha

cookie decorating!
the homemade dyes need a little work.  I need to make them more concentrated.  They kids are more than willing to make another round of cookies. haha

We wrote letters to Santa.  Woody has been working on being a bit nicer to Tohi and I say things like "I keep hinting that you should use a nicer voice but you don't seem to be changing it.  The change in behavior needs to come from within" or something like "I'm noticing a change in behavior, Woody! and I like it! Thank you!"

"I have been changing" 
Too funny! I guess he has been listening! haha

Tohi, at 3 1/2 years old, is just Christmas gold right now.  She has been off the charts sweet and funny and cute and just magical.  Her letter to Santa she dictated to me and it reads:
Happy Santa,
I know you are the best toy maker.  I hope you bring presents and Christmas trees to all the families and to all the houses.  Have good days.  Make toys and have presents. 
Love, 
Tohi.  Happy Tohi. 
 I know you are the best, Santa.  
Happy Santa.  

Making Stockings!

 

just keep on pushing my loves over the border line

We headed to Puerto Viejo for the weekend for our visa renewal border run.  It was our first time back since our first border runs when we had just moved to Panama.  The town felt different this visit.  Perhaps it's because we feel more settled and happy in our life here in Panama.  When we first moved here, the adjustment was harder than we anticipated.  Three years ago, I think the ease of Puerto Viejo, with its first world amenities and first world appearance messed with our heads.  It said to us, "Are you sure you chose the right place in Central America to move your small family to???"  But this border run felt different.  We are so content and fulfilled by our jungle life by the sea in Bastimentos.  We are finally fully confident in our decisions of living a more unconventional life.  So, perhaps Puerto Viejo has become a little more run down and filled with a bit more shadier people since three years ago or perhaps we are clearly seeing the town for the first time, unclouded by self doubt.   We had a fun weekend but we were ready to get home and relax on our porch and swim in our front yard. There are no doubts now.  We love our little life in our little home by the sea. 

Some Dad and Woody frisbee action in the background. 

There was a good amount of wild life on our hotel grounds which was fun.  We saw quite a few of these beautiful frogs, two different sloths, and a small mammal that Woody described as "the hair of a monkey, face of a rat, and tail of a raccoon."  We looked it up. Below is a picture of it.  Pretty accurate description, Wood Man. 

Fernie knows how to vacation

I took these pictures for Oma.
 Check out those huge Old Man Palms!

Boy Bike!
Woody was super disappointed they didn't have kid bikes to rent.  The main road is pretty dangerous so Conor and I were secretly relieved. It's so much easier when it's out of your control as a parent instead of having to be a soul crushing jerk of a parent to your kid that absolutely loves to ride a bike but doesn't get to very often.  

Girl Bike!

And just a few flashbacks from our other border runs to Puerto Viejo.   Time is so noticeable with little kids!

Baby Tohi in the seat!