Author Archives: Taige Hammerel

I bought 8 bags of pumpkin-shaped Reese’s at the grocery store yesterday. Is that excessive? Yes. But hear me out

I saw a post that said, “The top reason old men end up getting injured is that they still think they’re young men.” If I had a nickel for every time I thought, “Yup, that’s my husband,” I’d probably have enough nickels to pay for his medical bills.

It’s been over a year since we last posted on this blog. There’s really no particular reason for that—just the usual stuff everyone deals with. Life gets busy, and every time I thought about writing, I’d be like 😳 where do I begin? What have I shared? What do people want to know? Is anyoneContinue reading “A Year’s Worth of Updates: Cliff Notes Edition”

I had 2 miscarriages between Mailee and Madeline.  That’s why there is such an age gap between the two of them. Very few people know how painful that time of my life actually was. Even today when I think about it, I cry.  I cry remembering how angry I was that Garrett didn’t feel itContinue reading “What If”

This may not come as a surprise, but they don’t celebrate the 4th of July in Panama.  We really like the 4th of July though, and we really still love America, so we decided to celebrate it ourselves. The goal was to make it feel the same for the girls. Every first holiday here feelsContinue reading “4 de Julio”

With inflation going up in America (and maybe world-wide, but I’m not an economist), I thought it was important to share the ACTUAL cost of things in Panama. Garrett and I have talked about this several times since arriving, but the information online and available through the relocation tours really sets people up for failureContinue reading “Cost of Living in Panama”

Starting as a new student anywhere is difficult, but starting as a new student in a foreign country is another level. It’s hard to tell who was more nervous for day 1, me or my daughters. Through the move, I have tried to protect them as much as I can by making everything easy forContinue reading “Panama Snow Days”

Nothing about moving to Panama went according to plan. Infact, Panama wasn’t even the country we were initially trying to move to.  When we had settled on Panama as the destination, we had had an upcoming trip already booked and paid-for to Costa Rica. “No problem”, I thought. When we come back from Costa RicaContinue reading “Baby Steps”

Harold and I are the early risers of the bunch.  Everyone else likes very much to sleep in and would probably sleep until noon if I didn’t make them wake up.  Mornings here are my favorite part of the day. The sun rises around 6am year-round, which is a perfect time to wake up andContinue reading “Life Before Coffee”