Life. It's Busy.

I know that we're not the only people who are busy, so it might not be the best excuse for not blogging in over two months, but a) it's the only excuse I've got and b) we are busier than we usually are.

One thing that's keeping us busier than usual is the addition of Willy Wonka to our lives. Michael rehearses four nights a week. Up until a couple of weeks ago, rehearsals were a manageable 7 to 9pm. But then they started stretching until 10 and this week, with the first performances coming up on Thursday, they'll be starting at 6:30 and going at least until 10, probably later. All in all, it's a good thing to be busy with, but it puts a rush on our evenings. Darcy occasionally goes to see part of the rehearsal. You can see her creeping up closer and closer to the stage on the right. She started out sitting on the bottom step and miraculously ended up sitting on the stage She is fascinated. Hopefully, she is fascinated enough to sit through the whole musical on Friday night!


Another new addition to our lives is Girl Scouting. I have become a Girl Scout leader so that Darcy can be a Daisy Scout. Her troop is eight girls strong and they are cookie-selling entrepreneurs these days. More on this another time.


Even with these extras, we are still finding time to enjoy our corner of the world whenever we can. Today found us sliding/monster-jumping/running down an inland sand dune after walking through ankle-deep mud and streams. On the way back, we just walked straight through a temporary (?) arm of a lake to avoid the worst of the mud. It was shallow enough to be sun-warmed and even tempted Darcy off Michael's shoulders and into the water. Michael and Darcy also spent part of a day going to see a couple of recent shipwrecks, documented in this vivid photo:

I can still remember buying that rain jacket. Even though we've been here almost two and a half years now, Darcy is still wearing a raincoat we bought for her before we left the Cima desert. It wasn't super-cheap, but it's lined, and therefore somewhat warmer than the average raincoast, and after debating about it, we decided to spend the money to get her the right gear for our soon-to-be home. It's still going strong and it looks so great in this picture, that whatever we spent on it back then, we've gotten our money's worth.