Feliz Navidad!!



Well we are getting ready to make our trip back to the U.S. in a few days. Friday was the last day of class. It was a very crazy, but fun day! It will be so weird to not having school for 3 weeks. Brent and I love living in Puerto Rico, and talk about how lucky we are to have this experience all the time. We will miss our friends and home in PR, but we are very excited to be back in the United States for Christmas. Here are what we are looking forward the most about our trip:
1. To see our family!! Of course!!
2. To get clothes right out of the dryer when they are still warm ( we hang dry our clothes)
3. Carpeted floors
4. Hot water
5. Bathtubs
6. Restaurants ( Sonic, Taco Johns, more)
7. Normal drivers ( for the most part)
8. Target

Happy Holidays to everyone!!
Love,
The Dills

Staff Christmas Party!
On Wednesday we had our staff Christmas party. Everyone talks about how much fun they are...and they are right!! My legs hurt so bad today from all the dancing I did! Everyone seemed to be having a good time. We left around midnight..but others stayed until 2! You should have seen us today..we were all pretty tired. I am not sure why they had it on a school night. Tomorrow is our school Christmas program! Should be fun! I was so busy talking and dancing to everyone that I forgot to take pictures and eat dinner! (pretty good party if I pass up food!)haha :) Can't wait to see some of you!
Brent and Katie

Singing and Dancing all the time!!

We are beginning to count down the days til Christmas. These weeks just go by so fast. Brent and I were busy last week getting our classes ready for their Christmas concert. We have to teach them a song or dance for the program on Friday. Brent's class is singing " Santa Claus is Coming to Town" and my class is doing a mix of songs. We have been doing Christmas Around the World last week, so each student picked a different country and they are going to dress like the country, hold a flag, and wear a banner. Should be fun. On Tuesday there was a big art show in Old San Juan, so Kelly, Tori, Mary, and I went. I love Old San Juan, it was beautiful with all the lights and the big cruise ships. We did a little Christmas shopping too. We didnt get home til around midnight! Thursday a friend of ours started bartending at this restaurant, she asked if we would come visit her. We thought we would stop by for a drink, but ended up singing karaoke and staying past 11! Friday we were invited to a formal dinner at the rotary club. A group of us went, but we were by far the youngest people there. Good music and dancing though. It was also fun to get all dressed up. We had a lot happen this week. THe worst thing was that on Thursday Kelly's mom called her to tell her that her grandpa passed away. So sad. Kelly ended up leaving today and won't be back until January. There will be a sub for her this week. It was sad saying good bye to her. It will be so weird not seeing her for an entire month. I am used to seeing her many times each day. This week will go by fast too. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday the students get out at 11:00. We have our staff Christmas party on Wednesday, and then we are going to have a little pool party on Thursday. The kids last day of school is Friday and then we are finished on Tuesday. Brent and I fly to Colorado on the 20th and then fly to Dallas on the 23rd, back to Colorado on Dec. 31, then back home to PR on Jan. 7th! The dogs will be making the trip to Colorado with us. Brent's dad is going to spay and nueter the puppies during the break. We hope they will do okay with the weather change.They are not going to know what all the white,cold stuff is!! Have a great week everyone!

It is starting to feel like Christmas!!

This week just flew by. It was a little hard to get back into the groove of things, after having a week off for vacation. Brent had a good week of celebrating his birthday...YES, he celebrated it all week! He got a total of 4 cakes throughout the week. His students kept bringing in cakes and presents for him. We had his birthday party Friday night and invited all of the teachers over. It was a good time. On Saturday we went back to Ponce. We had just been there last week with my parents, but we wanted to go back at night because the Plaza is covered with lights. It was very nice. Kelly and I had a charicture drawing of the two of us..it was pretty fun. I kept looking around while he was trying to draw my face..when I saw the picture, I noticed that he drew me looking off to the side!! How funny! We made him do another one so that we could each have one. We ate at a nice restaurant and then when to the board walk. At the board walk we saw huge fish that we could feed sardines. Yucky..but the fish liked them! Today was also very busy. One of the teachers wanted to take us to a restaurant to try conch ( the creature that lives in the huge seashells), we found a nice restaurant on the ocean. I liked the conch..Brent had chicken ( not a big seafood person). Today we went to the lighting of the Christmas lights in our Plaza in Guayama. WOW!! It was so much better than I thought it would be. It is beautiful! So many lights. The wierdest thing was not wearing a coat or sweater while looking at Christmas lights outside, I kept thinking a should be getting my coat to go outside. It did feel like Christmas though. There were so many people, vendors, and fireworks. How festive!! I can't believe that we will be in Colorado in 2 1/2 weeks!! We are getting so excited to see everyone!

Brent's Birthday!

Today is Brent's birthday! He was so excited that he woke up at 4:30 to celebrate!...jk...we had to get up that early to take my parents to the airport. They left today after being here for 10 days. We had so much fun and did so many things! Here are some pictures of our trip to Ponce and Guavate with my parents. We celebrated Brent's birthday last night. I made him a pink cake and got him a new drill! How exciting! Have a great week!


He we are at the Ponce Plaza ( best one in PR)


This is an old fire station in Ponce

In front of a Don Q's manision ( Don Q rum ??)

My parents are in the tower at Ponce's board walk

Mom and her coco frio ( cold coconut!)

Kelly and I in Guavate

Doesn't Brent look happy about his pink cake?

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Brent and I celebrated our first Thanksgiving together. We have lots to be thankful for this year! It is really hard being so far away during holidays. It was very nice to have my parents here though. We had a good day. Mom and I got up early this morning to put the turkey in the oven. My mom showed me how to stuff the turkey, along with some other recipes ( does Stovetop stuffing count?) We had a few other teachers and our neighbors join us for dinner. Tonight we are going to one of the teacher's bars to watch the Bronco/Chiefs game. ( Kelly and Courtney are from Kansas and of course, Brent is a Bronco's fan...should be interesting!) We hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving back home! Miss you..

Katie and Brent


Watch dog is guarding the food!


Kelly and Courtney with us before dinner

Outside eating

After Thanksgiving dinner!!

Trip to Vieques

On Monday morning we got up early and drove to Fajardo to catch the ferry to take us to a small island 7 miles from Puerto Rico called Vieques. We got a rental jeep and went to two beaches. It rained off and on throughout the day. We even saw a funnel cloud while eating lunch at an open air restaurant. No one seemed too concerned and people started taking pictures. At night we went on island adventure that turned out to be really amazing. About 40 people went on the trip. It started with a bus trip through trees on a dirt road. We then got on a boat and rode to a biolumienscent bay. There are many tiny little organisms in the water that glow at night when something moves them. There are only 5 bays like this in the entire world and this one and one in Jamaica are said to be the best ones. The best part was that we got to jump in the ocean and swim with these creatures. Everyone was glowing as they were swimming. ( our pictures don't really show much of the glowing) We enjoyed watching the little kids get thrown in the water by the tour guides. When they hit the water it really lit up. The tour guides' educational lecture made the experience even better. This was definetly a high light of our trip!!
On Tuesday morning we headed to another beach at the far end of the island. I decided to go to this beach because Brent read in the tour book that sometimes you can find large seashells. I thought that would be neat...and it was!! Brent enjoyed snorkeling and found a couple really nice seashells. My dad also found some while walking along the beach. Even though we were in a very isolated area of the island our friend and co-worker ran into us. Her family is down here visiting too!
We were excited to get home to see Benny and Lola who stayed with the Marshes! Fun times!

Parents are here!!

We had such a busy week...oh my!! On Thursday we had the big Puerto Rico Discovery Day celebration. My class did a traditional dance and dressed up. One of the other teachers brought outfits for Kelly and I to were too. She also told us the day before the dance that when our students were singing the bomba, she was going to come to us to have us sing a part. We practiced so much the night before, and on Thursday we both were able to recite our parts! It was a big suprise to everyone! I don't have pics yet, someone else took some of our class. But we did video show. After school on Thursday Brent and I drove to San Juan to pick up my parents. It was easy to find them in the airport and we got back to our house around 10. My parents came to the school on Friday and got to meet our classes. The principal inivited them to the staff lunch, where they sampled many traditional foods from Puerto Rico. Friday we toured Guayama, and then we went to this awesome restuarant, Tranqulidad, with the Marshes. The restaurant was right on the ocean and we watched the sunset, while drinking pina coladas. It was a nice time.

On Saturday we went to Old San Juan. We went through two forts, San Cristobal and El Morro. They were both built in the 1500's and are in pretty good shape still. Lots of history. After the forts we ate lunch and the Hard Rock Cafe and then went shopping at the vendors. My mom and I found some really neat jewelry made from sea glass.


Today we went to El Yunque, the rainforest. It was such a nice day..no rain at all! We hiked to a waterfall and my mom and I got in and swam. We ate lunch at the cafe on the top of the mountain, Great Burgers!


We have been having so much fun the past couple of days. Tomorrow we are off to Vieques, a small island near PR. We have to leave early in the morning and take a ferry boat to the island. We will have more pictures soon!

Thanksgiving is almost here!


We didn't do much this week, we are getting ready for my parents to visit. They will be here on Thursday!! We have a very busy week. Thursday is Puerto Rico Discovery Day, each class does something for the celebration. My class will be dancing the Plena ( a popular puerto rican dance). We will be busy practicing and getting ready. Friday is the Turkey Races and then the kids get dismissed at 11:30 for Thanksgiving break. Brent and I were in charge of the big bulletin board for November. We had our classes write what they were thankful for on the feathers. Not many pics this week. I will hopefully have some neat pictures of Puerto Rican Day!! Have a super week!!
Katie and Brent

Trip to Gilligan's Island

Hello again! I can't believe that it is already November! WOW! Well we had a good Halloween down here. The kids were crazy all day long at school, kinda expected though. We do not have Halloween parties at our school because many students do not celebrate the day. A lot of students made little bags with candie and things to hand out to the other students. I ended up with quite a bit of candy too! We didn't have many trick or treaters..about 6 or so. On Friday we headed to a town called, Guanica, about an hour and a half away. One of the high school teacher's father owns some condos that he rents out. So Brent and I, along with 6 others, decided to stay there for the weekend. The condo is near the ocean, right across from Gilligan's Island. We got up Saturday morning and took the ferry boat to the island. It was beautiful!! We went swimming though mangroves. The water was very clear and shallow. We were able to see all sorts of fish and we even saw a sting ray. Brent even went kayaking! It was such a relaxing day. The dogs had fun too. They got to play with their friend, Choco the pug! Everyone had a good time!
Have a good week!



View from the dock...you could see the house from here

View from our the condo! That's Gilligan's Island

The boys hanging out in the shade

The girls ( notice my great tan!!! NOPE!)

Heading to the beach!!

Benny and his best friend, Choco

Brent climbed up on the red rock

I decided to climb up too!

Party Time!!

Well we had another busy week in PR. Friday was busy at school. We had a talent show for grades 1-6. The kids had to try out to be in the talent show. Brent had about 5 students and I didn't have any that made it. It was a lot of fun. The little kids were so adorable singing and dancing. Brent had two boys that did a rap duo..it was my favorite. I am having a class talent show on Friday, since none of my students made it ( I felt bad for them) and the story we are reading this week just happens to be " The Talent Show" too perfect!! Friday was also Kelly's birthday. Her first graders brought her many presents, including a Coach Bag. She said she was so excited that she about left her class to run down to mine to show me. It was a fun day. We had a big bash at our house. One of the teacher's sons is a DJ, so he brought over a big music system, that had a fog machine, lights, and a karaoke machine!! We danced so much. The teachers helped us dance to salsa and merengue. Kelly and I were loving the karaoke maching and entertained the crowd with our singing! It was such a fun night. The police came by around 1, because the neighbors complained our music was too loud. We finally went to bed around 3! Saturday night was the staff Halloween party at a high school teacher's bar. We all dressed up. Brent and I dressed as Britney Spears and Kevin Federline, Marsh's were zombies, and Clate..well we were not sure what he was. I think he was supposed to be dracula, bet ended up looking more like zorro! The party was lots of fun. We are so tired today after the crazy weekend.
It will be a busy week. We just learned last week that on Nov. 17th our school is going to have a Puerto Rico discovery day celebration. Each class has to do something to participate, such as dance, sing, or make food. Kelly and I decided that our classes are going to learn a dance called "The Plena" together. The girls wear long skirts and the boys wear white suits with red belts. This is in 3 weeks, we have so much to do to get ready. I am sure it will be really neat. Lots of pictures this weekend!! Hope you enjoy. Talk to ya soon!


Here we are with our neighbors two houses down, Charlie and Rose
( not sure what Clate is doing in the back)

Kelly and I are dancing with Mrs. Rosa ( 2nd grade teacher) and Mr. Mendez ( 8th grade)


The principal with Benny and Lola!


Here is K-Fed, Britney, and Sean Preston


Casa Benny 5 all dressed up