How the kids entertain themselves, and more drawings

Emily and Marie have played together very well on this trip. Every morning here in Bocas, before Jen and I get up, the girls are outside playing in the sand, blowing bubbles, or on some imaginary adventure. I’m glad they’re such good friends. This isn’t to say they have always gotten along. They’ve gotten on each others’ (and our) nerves, and we’ve had to separate them on occasion, or get them to stop certain behaviors. But overall, we have been surprised and pleased with how good our kids have been, especially without any of the typical kids toys they have at home.

In fact, we didn’t bring any toys with us to Panama, and have only purchased a few things along the way, such as a drawing pad and crayons, and bubbles. (They were also very entertained with paper airplanes made from the drawing pad paper). We’ve been amazed at how much fun our kids can have with simple toys or none at all.

However, when we’re not doing fun things together, Emily or Marie will often want to play on the “little computer”, our 9″ laptop running Ubuntu Linux (you may call this a toy :)). When we’ve had a fast enough Internet connection, they’ll play Flash -based games on the Playhouse Disney website, or Nick Jr., like at home. But they’ve also enjoyed a few games that came with the computer such as a penguin racing game (where you, as a penguin, “skii” down a mountain on your belly), chess (yes, since we played live chess in Boquete, they actually have enjoyed playing chess on the computer!), and Tux Paint, a drawing game for Linux. The girls have created some pretty cute scenes with Tux Paint, which I proudly share with you below.

?Palm Tree? by Emily

?Fairies? by Emily

"Just a Little Picture" by Marie