Family visit

Now that I've had a couple of days to get settled back in at home, I can now write about the fun family visit I had.  My parents, brother, and grandpa all visited me for a little over a week and it was quite an adventure.  I set up a shuttle service which kept things running smoothly and we even visited a new place for me :) 

After riding a bus to the airport to meet up with my family, we headed out to Granada for our first leg of the trip.  The next day we rode an express bus over to Masaya to check out the markets.  We met up with Frank there & I got to formally introduce him to my family, since before they only knew him through Skype.  We hung out in Masaya and shopped a little, then took a chicken bus back to Granada.  Frnak & I love spending time in Granada because we get to feel like Americans a little & eat yummy food.  We also got to visit my host sister in Granada and little Dyland.  My mom loves Dyland and we spent a lot of time playing with him and then went out to lunch.

Eating some banana bread in the airport--my dad made it just for me :)

Having snacks and smoothies in the central park in Masaya--can you believe my grandpa climbed up these chairs??

We took a horse carriage to visit my sis

Such a big boy!  Only 9 months old

Loves!

Such a precious little one--with teeth now haha

Ty playing with Dyland

Bubbles!

Lunch in Granada

So sweet :)

Granada was a nice beginning to the trip, but after 3 nights there, we headed south to San Juan del Sur.  Frank & I had never been there, but were excited to check it out.  Here, we rented a house from a Canadian.  He has a nice house right in front of the bay with a pool too!  It was nice to spread out in the large home and check out the beach.  San Juan is a cute little fishing town that is surprisingly very clean.  I didn't really see any trash on the ground, which is shocking for Nicaragua.  It was a nice change.  There are quite a few hostels and tons of backpackers and surfers wandering the streets.  It's a safe little place and we really enjoyed ourselves.  We visited a nearby beach, Playa Maderas, and tried out surfing.  Even got a little tan ;)

On the way to San Juan del Sur

Ometepe Island from the shore--the island is made from 2 volcanoes

View from the house in San Juan del Sur

Lunch on the beach

Purisima celebrations

Running around with a bull on fire

Getting ready to do the zipline

View from the first zipline

So beautiful out there

Ty

Frank

Dad

Gramps

Frank trying to catch some waves

Jasser visited and came out boogie boarding with us

Yep, I stood up on a surfboard :)

Ty heading out

After San Juan, it was on to Barcelo at Montelimar Beach.  When my parents visited in April, we went to Barcelo, which is an all-inclusive resort on the Pacific coast.  My parents really liked it then so we decided to go back on this trip.  The food is awesome (or maybe that's just because I've been eating simple foods...) and there are all-you-can drink cocktails all day.  It was quite a vacation :)  The beach is private and beautiful and the pool is big, cool, and relaxing. 

Beach!

Pool

Mom's pretty tan in the back

I didn't take as many pictures because I was too busy enjoying myself, but my parents got a lot more I think.  After we finished up at Barcelo, we went to Managua  to stay the night since my parents had an early flight.  The trip went by way too fast, but I was happy  and thankful for the visit :)