Our New Home, Part One

On September 23rd, our family moved into a new house! It's a traditional-style, concrete-downstairs-wooden-upstairs house, which are plentiful in the countryside but in the minority in the city. After some weeks of adjusting to a much smaller living space, we all agree that we really like it, especially that we're outdoors so much more of the time. We're grateful for a decent-sized yard where Juliana and Kai can ride bike, swim in a wading pool, and play in safety.

In the photo below, Juliana is sitting on the only stairs to the second floor, so when it's raining, we get wet if we need to go up or down. : ) (The rainy season is nearly over, though, and we're looking forward to the cool/dry season - my favorite!) This house is cooler than our other house, which was made all of concrete and kept the heat in at night.

Juliana and Kai enjoy playing in the sandbox that we bought. A motorbike-pulled cart delivered the sand for a whopping $5!

Another feature of our new home is the abundance of wildlife such as birds, geckos, lizards, snails, etc. Some creatures we don't appreciate as much, like the rodents, spiders, ants and mosquitos that are more prevalent here than at our old place. We actually took in a domesticated animal as well - introducing our cat, _______! (We're still just calling him Kitty, since he'd been named Stoopid and we have yet to all agree on a new name!)

Above, a huge snail we discovered on a water tank, and below, a very shy lizard that lives in the corner of our yard and loves to sunbathe.

More to come, but that's good for starters! : )