Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Three Weeks in El Salvador pt. 1


My parents live in El Salvador and I took what is possibly my last opportunity to visit them here. I loaded up my two year old and my enormous seven months pregnant belly and flew out here. Luckily, I had my parent's help on the way there, but, unluckily, they won't be coming with me on the way back. I expect, however, in spite of the difficulty of the task, that I will somehow survive.


The weather here is warm and lovely and Kelsey is loving being "outside" on the patio of my parents apartment. I still have yet to fulfill the promise of letting her swim like a mermaid. We have plans to go pool play date on Thursday and on Saturday to the beach, which totally makes the trip worth it. I just hope she isn't disappointed when she doesn't actually see mermaids swimming in the ocean. All those "Real Live Mermaid" videos she's seen on Youtube may have given her false expectations.


My parents have a lovely view of the El Salvador LDS Temple outside their kitchen window. We live very close, and my mom has been blessed to receive the calling of being a temple worker... in Spanish. An exciting challenge for her. I'm excited to see the inside of this temple, seeing as, last time I was here, it was under construction.


I made a couple crafts and things to entertain Kelsey on the flights (and layovers) out here. First, I made two videos for the ipod. One is 45 minutes worth of Kelsey from birth until present. The other is 10 minutes of random animal videos and photos I've taken. Not horribly exciting, but they work. I will not post them, you will cry from boredom. The next "craft" I did was to turn a lamb backpack that my mother bought for Kelsey in to a harness. I figured I'd need it on the way back cause I am not chasing down a toddler while 8 months pregnant and lugging luggage. However, I did discover on the way here that when she has the leash on she intentionally runs simply because the leash is there. There is potential that the harness idea may be an epic fail.


The awesomest "craft" that I made is a princess environment magnet board, complete with princess magnets made from laminated princess stickers.


Kelsey does enjoy the magnet board, which makes me happy. Of course, because I know no moderation, It took me a couple of weeks to paint the stupid thing on photoshop while it has an attention lifespan of about 5 minutes. But that's how all illustrations are. You spend 80 hrs on it and a person might look at it for a whopping two seconds. All things considered, 5 minutes, several times a week is pretty good. The back of the magnet board has a princess matching section so Kelsey can play a matching game with her princesses, which two year olds apparently love.

2 comments:

  1. Glad you guys are having a fun time in El Salvador. Your crafts amaze me! Especially the magnet board. You should totally make and sell them, in various themes. Like a medieval dragons and knights theme for boys. I could make a really fun website for them :) And Kelsey could be your marketing model. She's growing up so fast! And still adorable as ever. I hope you guys made it to the pool and beach as planned. Let me know about Kelsey's first ocean adventure. Love you guys!

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    1. I've thought a lot about marketing and selling them. I love your dragons and knights idea. I plan on doing a mermaid world for Kels. They'd have to be produced in a way that's less ghetto and more sellable. Don't know how to go about that... get a contract with a publisher? Dunno. We're having a good time here. Miss you, Darren. Hope you're doing well!

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