Giveaway, Utica Floods, and Bhutan

1. First of all, there's a giveaway here--very cool. Perfect to keep your kids busy this summer.

2. I came home today from class to find Leo home and Elena with a small chunk of her scalp missing. Ana was awesome, and took Elena to our neighbor after she fell, hitting her head on a cement corner, and then Ana called Dad, because our neighbor thought stitches might be necessary. I cleaned her up a bit more when I arrived home and disinfected it and applied liquid bandage. No stitches necessary. But it is a good size cut.

3. I couldn't sleep the other night because of this. Yes, obviously flooding, but why did it keep me awake?
Well, this is Utica, Cundinamarca, Colombia. I've actually been to this town. Remember this?
It's where most of Leo's maternal grandmother's family history records are. I know they're there. I've seen them, I just couldn't, at the time, go through all of them. Sigh. And now who knows but they are all washed away. I seriously want to cry just thinking about it.

Hopefully, the parish priest was able to get them out. But apparently, it was a sudden flood/mudslide when the river bank gave way and several people died and only the church bells ringing warned people. Plus, even if they moved the records, where are they now??!?!? When will they be back?? They're talking of moving the entire town to a higher level. You can read about the whole thing here. I felt sick to my stomach when I read it. (And yes, I know I really am lacking compassion when 238 families are without homes but I'm just worried about records. Sorry, I can't help it.)4. My parents just got back from traveling to Switzerland, Denmark, and Norway. Was I jealous--ummm....a little bit. But my mom brought me chocolate so it was okay. However, then my dad told me they are going to Bhutan—Land of the Thunder Dragon, the Kingdom in the Clouds, the last Shangri-la-- next year. Am I jealous--YES! He's only allowed to take one person with him because Bhutan limits the number of tourists it allows in each year. Dad said I could fight it out with Mom on who could go with him, but I already know who would win that fight. Maybe I'll just have to ask them to bring me back a really cool instrument to add to my collection. Here's a few more tantalizing photos.