Thanksgiving and 30

For Thanksgiving this year, the Ambassador and Mrs. Thummalapally invited what seemed like every American in Belmopan for dinner at the CMR (Chief of Mission Residence).  They set up a huge tent on their patio and cooked up a wonderful dinner.  We had turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, green been caserole, stuffing, and a few other things I can't remember.  It was quite delicious.

The kids' table.  They all insisted on eating together.

Friday was the Nebraska-Colorado game, and I had to watch the game while also preparing for my friend Aaron's surprise 30th birthday that I was hosting that night.  For the party, I was making homemade jalapeno poppers and fresh guacamole.  This was the first time I had tried either recipe and they were a smashing success (despite the fact that my hands were stinging all night from the peppers).

The party was super hero themed and once again, the residents of Belmopan did not disappoint.  We had tons of great costumes.

The birthday boy is the one with the cape in the middle.

Batman and the Joker - he colored his actual hair for the costume

Despite my late night at the party, I got up this morning to start my certification process for SCUBA diving.  We did our confined dive in the pool.  It was pretty darn awesome, even just as a confined dive in the pool.  When I get back from Dallas (I am going to Dallas next week to watch the Big 12 Championship with my Dad), I will go out and start doing my certification dives.  I will have to do 4 dives, probably over two days.  It will likely take me until after Christmas to finish up certification, but then I will be able to dive almost anywhere.