But worth the wait.
We've got it all planned out!
Sunday: Worship at Grace en Sion and then lunch and a swim at the Mont Jolie.
Rose and her family joined us and she helped out by translating for Aunt Alecia and Melissa.
The water's a *little* cold here in late December. But that didn't keep our kids or their cousins out of the pool.
Back home, Sarah was intent on showing Uncle Russ how she can climb the rope swing and touch the tree branch. Impressive!
We've been trying to keep everyone well-fed.
Sunday night was spent unwrapping presents from their family to ours and vice versa.
Melissa knew Russ was hoping to find a Haitian-made nativity set while here. The stable is a hollowed out coconut.
Uncle Russ also delivered Caleb's big gift that he'd been waiting on since Christmas. Surprise - an Ipad Mini! (Thanks, Angie and Phillip for your generosity! You made Caleb so happy. He was quite surprised!)
Monday: Headed to Dhaloo Beach.
Caleb was the last one to leave the breakfast table. That's my boy!
Beautiful day to spend with Russ' family and our good friend Jen and her visiting parents.
Plenty of cousin bonding time.
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A bit of souvenir shopping on the beach.
By evening time, everybody was pooped out and ready for a bit of reading, journaling (like cousin Allison), or going to bed early (like Russ and Alecia).
Tuesday: A trip to the Citadel.
We've lived in Haiti for almost a year and a half and had not yet seen it's most famous landmark - and it's only about 20 or so miles from here.
The Citadel is a fortress built in 1806, shortly after Haiti gained its independence from France. It is an IMPRESSIVE structure, located on the peak of a 3,000 foot mountain.
Rose went with us to help guide us in the right direction.
You drive halfway up the mountain and then park and proceed either on foot or on horseback. I got to carry Sarah for part of the way.
Canon balls!
It's an amazing place to take pictures. None of these have been edited (even properly cropped) because I wanted to update the blog while my brother is still here. (I'm the last one up and needing to get some rest before another big day tomorrow.) But still, the colors and the scenery and the way the light falls all make it hard to take a bad photo here!
Well, there's this one...
Cousins!
I don't think our kids will ever forget today!
Back down at the foot of the mountain are the remains of the Palace San Souci. Also quite gorgeous. This place must have been quite the locale in its heyday.
I have so many other pictures to go through, but no energy left tonight. Tomorrow is New Year's Eve and it will be time to stop playing tourist and start getting to work. We'll be hosting Daniel's Christmas party for the neighborhood kids here on the mission grounds tomorrow from 10 to 2. I talked to Daniel on the phone tonight and the sound of children's voices filled the background. Why? Because they are all coming to see him at his house and telling him they won't be able to sleep tonight in their excitement over the party!
No pressure!
We hit the market in Cap Haitien on our way back from the Citadel and picked up the plates, the candy, the balloons ...
And Uncle Russ has the rice.
And we put him to work after dinner making gift bags for 75 kids.
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