Field Trip Fiasco

Yesterday we took the kids from Imperio de Amor on a field trip to AquaPlanet, which is a small water park here in Monterrey.  For myself, Hope, and our 4 interns, our job was to swim around all afternoon and just be available to help the group members with their kids.  Out of pure concern for the kids safety we decided to all go down the big water slide together.  Well, towards the bottom of the slide I got stuck.  I could hear one of the interns coming down behind me and all I could do was sit up so she'd hit my back instead of my head.  And collide we did, I feel like I was in a car accident.  Today I am sporting huge bruises across my back, knee, hip, and elbow.  And the poor intern is limping around a little because she twisted her ankle on my back.  What did we learn from this experience?  One person at a time on the big slide.  See, wasn't it a good thing that we tested the slide out for safety???

Signs that summer is almost over

We're half way through week 7 in our 8 week long summer program.  It's that crazy tired point, but there's an end in sight!  To take a light hearted turn on this blog, here are some funny physical ways I know summer is almost over.  

The watch tan.  I promise I wear SPF 30 every day!  I just don't ever take my watch off.

 Today I forgot to put sunscreen on the tops of my feet.  Thankfully it's just a tan, but those are some CRAZY tan lines from my Keens!

Sorry if this grosses you out, but I earned this blister through concrete pouring and pick-axing.  Just be glad I waited a week to take a picture of it, it's much less disgusting now! 

Field Trip with Angel

Last week we took the Del Norte kids on a field trip to a place called KidZania, which is a place where you basically playing the game of Life.  You get money and you can work different jobs to earn more money, and then there are stores and restaurants where you can spend the money.  It's actually pretty cool.  Usually the babies don't come on field trips, but KidZania has a little kids area so we brought them along.  I got to spend 3 hours with my baby Angel.  That boy loves to play with balls.  He doesn't care what kind or size, if he can have a ball he's a happy boy.  So we spent almost 3 hours in a ball pit.  And if he wasn't in the ball pit he was clutching the ball I brought and walking around.  

 He loves them so much he tries to eat them.  I try to ignore all the germs.

 So many balls to play with!

 Coloring with one hand, clutching his ball with the other

And his favorite activity, just running around holding his ball.  Sometimes he throws it and chases it, but mostly he just runs around with it.

Work Days

The teenagers in our Hope Program went on their very own missions trip to a children's home here in Monterrey this spring.  It was a chance for them to learn to serve, and the same light bulbs that happen in the American groups who come to serve with Back2Back went on in our teenagers heads.  They've grown up in children's homes and on our campus being served by the groups but had never experienced the other side of the equation.  They are now working to raise money for a missions trip to our Back2Back Cancun site this fall.  Since their trip this spring, the teenagers have started joining in with the American groups and most days at least one of them comes along to help work.  It's been a really cool experience for everyone involved.   Here are some pictures from a work day last week where we mixed and poured concrete all day.   

Rogelio ran the trompo to mix the concrete

Juan, who is 18 and lives at Del Norte, came outside to help and wheeled cement back and forth

Shirley lifted buckets of cement up to the roof where they were pouring columns

One of the beams we were pouring to start finishing the roof

Caregiver Fun

The caregivers at Del Norte were in a particularly playful mood the other day.  

Sofia teaching Angel how to do high 5's.  He has started raising his hand to hit when he gets angry, and so she just starts giving him lots of high 5's until he's laughing and forgot he was mad.  You can see little Carlos's hand peeking out too, he wants in on the action!

Martha came outside for a while to help supervise the concrete pour.  Really I think she just wanted to pass out hugs and encouragement for everyone.  

Dylan wasn't napping but couldn't play outside because of the concrete pour.  So Martha and Karina decided he would make a great jump rope!

Dylan was laughing so hard but wouldn't open his mouth because he didn't want you to see his front teeth which were in bad shape.  He has a dentist appointment this week. 

Play With Purpose at Del Norte

Here are a few pictures of Play With Purpose activities at Del Norte last week.  The kids had a blast  interacting with the group members and there was no candy or little trinkets/presents involved.  A huge success in my book!

Playing a game to help learn each others names

Daniel is hamming it up big time with one of the group members

Even the preschool guys like Ramiro were into the name game

Nothing like a game of amoeba tag to get everyone good and tired

Amoeba tag is a group favorite and helps the kids practice safe and appropriate touch as well as communication skills

Nap Time

Nap time at Del Norte always warms my heart.  There are more than enough beds for each kid to have their own, but instead they all pile into the one big dorm room and nap with at least 2 kids per bed.  Even the big kids nap when there's no school.  One day last week we had to wake all of the kids up after an hour and a half just so that they could play with the group who was there.  

All the shoes lined up outside their dorm