Day Nine: First Day of School Eve

That's an awkward title, I know, but it's almost 9:30 and school starts tomorrow, so it's the best I can come up with.

We've had a very busy day! I'm going to give you the Cliff Notes version of it, since we need to get out of here by 6:30 in the morning, okay?

Since we had a late night last night Hannah slept in a little late, so we had a nice bowl of cereal with blueberries while we Skyped with Stan. It was a good way to start the day. Oh, and I haven't even mentioned the fact that Puerto Rican coffee is WONDERFUL!!! So I enjoyed that, too.

We tried to watch the live stream from Westwinds at 9:00 but it wasn't working, so we headed to school around 10 or so to get some more done. Hannah helped out quite a bit, too, by looking up more book levels online for me, which saves me lots of time. I so appreciated that! I met with Abbie to go over some of the details and talk about teacher stuff.

Around 1 or so I realized I was starting to feel a bit hungry and Hannah piped up that she wanted to walk home and get lunch and our swim suits! After I picked myself up from the floor, I double-checked that she understood it meant going uphill for over half a mile at an often 45 degree angle to get home. She assured me she was up for the challenge so away she went! I continued working in my classroom, trying to get myself ready for tomorrow. I kept an eye on the clock, trying to estimate how long it would take her to get up and back. I also wondered (but just for a minute) if she would say "forget it" about halfway up, but knowing Hannah I wasn't planning on that happening. She's very good at sticking with something once she's made up her mind to do it!

Sure enough, she showed up with our lunch and swimming gear! She had fixed it and organized it herself and she did a great job. Plus that, she had blisters to prove she had not hitched a ride with anyone! What a trouper she is!

We turned a desk around to use as a little table between the two of us and enjoyed our lunch together. Then we changed into our suits and headed out to Zoni Beach to meet up with the others who go out on Sunday afternoons. After parking, we raced across the hot sand to the water's edge and walked all the way to the end. Then we turned around and walked back the half mile to where we like to swim. Hannah joined in much of the conversation, but after a while she wandered up to get her swimming goggles. When she returned to us, she went under to check it out and came back up almost immediately, letting out a yelp of excitement! She announced to us that she had just seen a "really cool" stingray! It was the first one she's seen and I have to say that it is a pretty cool experience!

We stayed on the beach for a while and then returned to school, where we worked until about 7. Then we came home and I fixed some leftovers while Hannah showered, we Skyped Stan and Jessie, cleaned up supper, and got Hannah off to bed. I'm headed there now!

Thank you, God, for showing Hannah a "really cool" stingray!