birthdays & our abode

Summer Time... very exciting!

It has been a while since I sat to put our life on the blog. I have tried many times but my husband or kids are always calling me away from my friend (the computer) haha

Since my last entry we landed in Panama from Honduras in mid March ... 5 days after that we had EASTER. If you remember from last year at Easter... Easter Eggs are almost impossible to find down here. I heard the Easter Bunny searched high & low to find them because for some reason Panama just does not like them. My girlfriend and I even took a taxi to a very local part of town to a store we heard could have some in stock. Needless to say the Easter Bunny did find a very expensive small bag and the kids also got peanut butter cups this year with their eggs. They loved it and that is all that counts.

Easter Sunday the Day family came through town for a few days on their way back to Canada. They left on a Wednesday morning and Ms. Melody Brown flew in Wednesday night... it was busy around here! :-)))

(the kids following their Easter trail to some fun filled baskets of goodies)

(Happy Easter 2008... it's great to be a kid)

(Ev had something yummy & blue)


Melody Brown was Emma & Easton's play school teacher at Sunshine play school in Calgary when they were ity bity squirts. Melody has traveled with us to Mexico as well to Thailand and now has made a trip to Panama. She was looking for more punishment I guess :- ))) just kidding the kids love having her and she is a delight to have join us.

(Melody with our kids on their way to school)

(the kids were so happy to have Ms. Melody down for a visit... they even got to skip a day of school to just hang out with her. It was a lot of fun having her down here ,to see how we lived a normal day to day life. I asked her to write a few words about her time in Panama - please read below)

(you can't come to Panama City with out taking a trip on the canal and going to Monkey Island... It is fun every time)

(our pro boat-man... somehow we got the VIP boat this trip... it was nice)

(it started to rain and it lasted for about 8 minutes but our guides came prepared with our funny outfits)


Panama in Melody's words

Preparing for Panama I had no idea of what to expect. Personally, I had never done any research on the country and hadn’t heard of anyone visiting there previously to the Schmulands. In fact, the only knowledge I had of the country came from either the infamous “wheretokids” blog or from stories that they shared with me while they were back at home. As a result, I was in for quite a surprise (and a nice one at that!)

Driving through Panama City, I was amazed by the architecture of the place. In my mind, I was thinking poverty (which there is quite a lot of) and did not expect to see a lot of modern day buildings. However, there were many high rise buildings and some parts of town reminded me a lot of New York City. I was also surprised by the size of the city; it was very large and seemed to be quite busy. There were a lot of vehicles on the road and people at every street corner selling everything from gum and candy to banana’s and tomatoes, from newspapers and magazines to towels, movies and music – really you can buy a lot just by sitting in traffic. Crazy!

Reaching the Schmulands (every time I type that it sounds so official, but I don’t want any member of the family to be left out!) house, I was again impressed by what I saw. The houses on the street seemed to be similar to what you would find back home in Canada but the backyard was like nothing from here. In fact unless, one of you has a Rain Forest out your back gate, you wouldn’t be able to imagine the beauty of it either. Very cool to say the least!

Shortly after arriving, I was off to bed where I had a great sleep. I only awoke when I heard the Rooster crowing (yes, an actual live one – neighbours down the road have a few in their backyard) at around 6:00 – which actually seemed to be a lot later as the sun was already nice and bright. I enjoyed a nice breakfast with the kids and then they were off to school for 7:30 am – wow that’s early!!! However, it is nice that they get out at 2:00 and have a good portion of the afternoon to play and explore neat things.

While the kids were at school, I was able to get some shopping done with Jody and I must say that Panama is my new favorite place to shop. The prices in the stores are about 50% less then what you would pay at the same stores back in Canada and the local stores are much less. I was able to buy nice tops and even shoes for under $2.00.

We all went to Gamboa to go on the Monkey Island Tour. Now, I know that Jody has written about this tour before but I have to say that it was definitely worth experiencing first hand. Just to be able to be in the water of the canal was a really awesome experience. We were able to see huge Cargo ships up close as well as all sorts of creatures. These include crocodiles, lizards, sloths and of course monkeys. The monkeys were great. I was a little bit nervous about feeding them, but they are really gentle creatures. They have such tiny features and are like little children. I can see how some people would take them home as pets.

Sunday was met with church at Crossroads Bible Church. The service was great and I think that if they were in Calgary, I would definitely consider attending there. After church, we headed out to a picnic fundraiser for the Shriner’s. There we ate really yummy chicken and some traditional fruit/vegetable? That is eaten in place of potatoes. I don’t remember the name but did not like them so that is probably why I don’t remember…

Trent took me to see the Canal. Now, this was really interesting. I didn’t think that I would necessarily enjoy this aspect of the tour but found it really fascinating once I was there. Again I know that Jody has written about this before so I won’t repeat but I must say that I have a brand new appreciation!

We went biking on the causeway and that was a blast. We rented two seater bikes and I took turns pedaling Emma, Easton and Everett around. That was very fun (and a great work out for my pear shaped body to boot!) The scenery was also very beautiful here, I love being near water and smelling the salty air. This aspect of the trip reminded me a bit of the boardwalk in Eastern passage Nova Scotia.

I convinced Trent and Jody to let the kids skip school in honour of my last full day in Panama. However, we did spend much of the morning on school work. Emma was able to buzz through quite a bit of her grade two curriculum from Canada and the boys each completed one full 33 page work-book that I had brought with me. All three of them are very bright children!

After our “school time”, we had some lunch and headed out to the mall. Now this was going to be interesting. I was able to drive Trent’s truck with all three kids in tow through the streets of Panama. Now this was interesting given the fact that Panamanians are not the most courteous drivers. We made it though and were able to pick up a great pool for the kids to enjoy for hours to come.

All in all, it was a wonderful time and I was very blessed to be able to go and share a week in the life of the Schmuland family. Of course it is hard having physical distance from people that you love but if there has to be distance, then Panama is an excellent choice. I am sure that I will go again one day!

love Melody

The kids are doing amazing in school. They just had their first report cards and even in the Spanish taught subjects (math, social, Spanish of course & computers) they are doing great. I can't really read their homework but they seem to get it. They love their school and the teachers have been very patient with us parents since our Spanish is not 100%. Easton is taking Taekwondo as well as swimming and an art class with Emma. Besides an art class Emma is now back in the water swimming, which she loves. Our little man Ev is going to school three days a week picking up more and more Spanish. He will be talking to me and then all of a sudden a Spanish word comes out. I wish I knew what went on in his mind.

(I wanted to show how macho Trent looks beside his big manly BBQ. This is as good as it gets. We were having friends over for a BBQ but we didn't have one so Trent ran to the store and this is what he came home with... we used it once, that is all it was good for :- )

(here is a cute picture of the kids and Emma's best buddy Luiza. They are a wonderful family from Brazil)


Happy 6th Birthday EASTON

Easton said he did not want a big birthday party so he chose to keep it quite at home. I think my kids are overwhelmed with the idea of a Panamanian birthday party... they are pretty wild.

East wanted a Superman party so we had his friend Jesse over, played games and ate his yummy cake. I can't believe my little boy is 6. Time is flying way to fast, but if you are a parent you already know that.

(Emma & I decorated a little bit in the kitchen and when East walked in he said "Now this is what I am talking about" as he yelled in excitement about his birthday. It is funny how a few balloons will make a kid so happy)

(Ev snuck a lick of cake... sneaky guy)

(Here is a picture of the interesting Superman Cake, Panama style)



(They are great buddies. At school they are always together and really rely on eachother because of the language barrier. It is great to see them look out for one another)

(Jesse with East and Ev. Alot of testosterone in the house this day)

(Easton chose to go mini golfing after school to celebrate his actual birthday. There is a good little course here at Albrook Mall)

Our New Pad... I have been asked many times about our house... it was raining the other afternoon & I had some time on my hands so I took pictures to show where we are living right now. We are renting a place in the area of Clayton. It is the old army district that the Americans built after the invasion. Our place has been somewhat updated, unlike some other places around here that are complete original (not very nice at all). When we moved in I had the whole interior repainted to bring a bit of life into our space... it is a great place for us right now.
Four bedrooms, two story and a park across the street, in a safe area outside the city.
We are minutes from the kids school and the Panama Canal.

(the front of the house, I am standing on the street. The big tree blocks the second story)

(our front entrance, to the left is our office and the downstairs washroom)

(our front room. I am missing all my paintings and pictures that we will get when we come back to Calgary in June. I need my pictures on the walls, they look to bare right now)

(our dinning room which is across from the living room. You can see the kitchen to the left and outside behind the hutch is the backyard)

(here is the original kitchen, expect the floors. The house came non furnished so we had to get furniture. I opted to have a picnic table in the kitchen so the kids could do WHATEVER they wanted at the table and not touch my dinning table... I LOVE the picnic table, very easy cleanup)

(the stairwell going upstairs. We need some art, bookshelves and window covering to warm up the space)

(the boys colorful room)

(Miss Emma's room, which turns into the guest room when we have people down)

(our bathroom, it has been all redone)

(the kids bathroom. It is so great having a bath again. It is very rare to find a house with a bathtub here so we are very appreciative)

(it is raining so excuse the shot. I am standing in the boys room looking out back. This is our backyard)

(now I am standing in our bedroom this is what I see. This is a storage shed that could easily be turned into a guest house in the future)

(Trent and Everett playing games in the fourth bedroom that we turned into a TV room. Again I need my pictures to put on the wall, they look so bare with out smiling faces. All we do in this room is play games and watch movies. We have NO local TV or Cable.... no TV at all. Somedays I miss it especially now that we have watched pretty much every movie at Blockbuster. Time to get Cable or Satellite when we get back from Canada)

(I am standing at our TV room window. It is over cast so the picture is a bit unclear in the background... we are in jungle territory. We had 5 parrots in our trees the other morning making very loud noises)

(I snuck in a picture of Easton at soccer. The coach yells all in Spanish and he gets it... It amazes me how much they understand when to me it all sounds like one big word because they talk so fast. East is on the left side of the picture)

HAPPY 4TH BIRTHDAY EVERETT!
For Everett's birthday he did not want any celebration at school he just wanted a cake, a few cars and to go to Spaceworld Amuzment park. I can't believe my baby boy is now 4... time is flying by. It is so much fun to watch all of them grow up and explore life.

(happy birthday Pal. Trent and the kids. Emma is holding Lola the cat, not our cat our friends cat, we are babysitting it while they are in the States. Our cat passed away unfortunately so babysitting another cat is a great solution for not getting another one :- )

(Nothing but McQueen for Ev)

(Huff & Puff & blow your candles out)

(I am not sure if he could get a bigger piece in his mouth. Emma cut the pieces for us)

(my big boys... they are very funny together)

Since Everett's birthday and Mothers Day fell on the same day the kids wanted to take me to dinner. It was a perfect way to end a fantastic day.

(here the kids are at Multiplaza the best mall in Panama with the district Paitilla in the background. Paitilla is full of high rises and this is where Trump Tower is going (Donald Trumps big building). On the left side of this picture behind the hospital is a shanty town. This is a great comparison of other side of the tracks. Rich on one side / poor on the other. Some of the richest people in Latin America live in these apartments)

We are heading back to Canada in less than a month. I am so excited to see family and friends, eat at our favorite restaurants, get assistance in English, see English TV, have a Starbucks and just enjoy the people we miss.

Our flight lands late on June 12th and we have a whirl wind two weeks in Calgary before we had up to Edmonton for a quick visit... then off to the lake for the rest of the summer. Our plane departs Calgary at the end of August to head back south. It will go by way to fast but all worth the memories.

Have a great summer. For all who are in Canada I really hope the weather is amazing and you get a warm, beautiful summer to make up for the long, snowy winter!

Signing off unless something unusual happens between now and June 12th for a blog entry. If not this will be my last update until Sept most likely.

Congratulations to the new babies!

* Congratulations to my cousin Scott & his wife Christa, they had their first healthy baby boy named Desmond in May .

*Congratulations to Felicity & Vito Cortese on their third bundle of joy Mackenzie another May baby.

*Babies are in the air! We are also awaiting the news of the storks arrival at the Olynyk's house which will bring yet another May baby!

Have a fantastic summer, keep in touch and see you soon :- )
love Jode, Trent, Em, East & Ev