One Week Under Our Belt!

As I type Emilee and I are sitting in the lobby living room by the fire sweet Lucrecia made, Emilee sipping her hot tea and I my coffee just talking about the events of the day. Daddy is getting everyone else in the shower and ready for bed. I feel like two old women sitting gossiping about the folks in town. Emi has agreed to help me type this post, but before she could sit down she went to look at the moon, the same moon her Mamaw and Mimi are looking at.

Emilee says if today could be described in just a few words she would label it “Better than the rest.” Not fits, no crying, very little whining and some entertainment from Joaquin.

After we went to sleep last night Joaquin decided to wake up every hour, turn on the light and check on all of his gifts, which were either in bed with him or on the table next to him. He quickly went back to bed and fell back to sleep each time, I can’t really fathom what they feel. They have things that are their very own and are so proud and protective of them. It was the cutest thing to see him note every little item, give a nod and go back to sleep.

This morning Jessica woke up and woke Emilee up right away. Fist let me back up. A friend of mine had shirts made for all four kids. Each one specially embroidered in both English and Spanish. Emilee’s says New Big Sister, Jessica’s says, New Little Sister and so on. Yesterday Emilee, Nate, and Joaquin all wanted to wear their shirts, but Jessica refused not only to wear it but wouldn’t even touch it. She can read, so she knew exactly what it said. Eric and I figured she understood the meaning and was used to being the big sister, so being a little sister was a bit more than she bargained for. But this morning she was very excited to pick out her New Little Sister shirt to wear and showed Emilee right away. She and Emi spent some time playing with Polly Pockets while the rest of us got ready. Relief, a good start to a day.

Breakfast was a piece of cake, no one even batted an eye at Mami taking care of everyone and everyone stayed seated with smiles the whole time. We could see today was going to be better than yesterday, so we decided a trip to the mall would be do-able. We decided to take an umbrella stroller because it’s about a half hour walk and neither of us wanted to lug kids on our backs. I was surprised that Jessica and Joaquin wanted to sit in it, but they did and were very good about taking turns.

The walk to the mall was interesting because the walk alone was a new experience for them. Joaquin took it all in stride. Jessica thought crossing the street dodging traffic was humorous. See pedestrians here DO NOT have the right away, you have to watch traffic from all angles and run like the dickens to cross the street. Sometimes the cars even come up on the sidewalks. So every street we crossed, Jessica squealed with laughter, saying pronto, pronto. pronto! About 3 times on the way we passed men who were, hmmm, not street vendors but like street people. She would look at them with the most unusual look on her face. We couldn’t decide if this brought back slight memories of when their uncle had them on the streets or if she was just confused at the behavior. We told her it was okay and that she was with Mami and Papi. She never said a word.

When we got to the mall we went to a place called Exito, kind of like a Target. We got some nail polish remover and Jessica and Joaquin their own water bottles. They carry their water bottles from the cabin everywhere but they are kind of big. Then we walked around the mall to find some earrings for Jessica as we has promised. We finally found a place similar to a Claire’s in Cincinnati, but not quite so big. She got to pick out two pair but didn’t want to put them in until we got home. Once we came home to put them in we realized one of her ear holes were partly closed up, so she is wearing only one. We will have to have her other one repierced. There is also a play area in the mall, with rides and games and such. We let Jessica and Joaquin each ride 3 or 4 little rides, Emi and Nate were too big. They did very well knowing how many tokens they had and that when they were gone they didn’t get any more. I was very proud of them both.

Now that's a pretty smile!


View from the mall


It was just about lunch time when we were ready to leave so we decided to hit the McDonalds, mostly for Mami. The kids wanted me to take a pic of the menu, it’s not like the States. Jessica was not so fond of their hamburger, but liked Emilee’s nuggets. Joaquin would only eat the fries, he didn’t like the burger or the nuggets and he especially didn’t like ice in his pop. He called his pop “picante“, which means spicy, he couldn’t think of a word to describe fountain pop. Soda from a bottle is different than fountain soda, I don’t think he has ever tasted such a thing, he wasn’t sure what to think.

Looks like all McDonalds are two floors, even the one in the mall

The kids wanted to show what the menu looks like, only a few choices.

Would you take a look at that, I acutally posted a pic with me in it. Acutally the family tied me up and posted it themselves. hee hee


Emilee and Nate couldn’t get over how Americanized the mall and stores were. They kept commenting on how the models had blonde wigs on and were light skinned. Nate said they must think that Americans all live like Hollywood people because that’s how a lot of people dressed at the mall. Tight clothes, short skirts and stuff just like you see on the movies. He said “News flash, we’re American and we don’t look like that!” It really was true, Emilee said, “Some of these Colombians want to look like Americans and Americans think Latino people are beautiful. It doesn’t make sense.” The mall didn’t thrill me, it was okay, but much like our malls at home. It was a nice walk but I wouldn’t go back just for fun, but I’m not a real shopper either.

I took a pic of the sidewalks here. Walking is not easy, they are uneven and rough to walk on . I hope you can see from the pic what I am talking about. You really have to keep and eye on your steps or you will twist your ankle.


When we got back Joaquin took a nice nap and Jessica played quietly on Emi’s bed and with Emilee. Once they woke up we took some balloons we didn’t use for the party and put a little water in them and a little air in them so we could toss them around. The kids thought this was great. A little entertainment for awhile. We were the only ones at the B&B this afternoon so it was very peaceful. I was able to sit outside and IM my sister for a good long time. It was the first time in a week I think I really had some peaceful down time. You would think that the day would be full of down time, but you spend all of your time teaching and dealing with “stuff” so down time hasn’t really happened. I think it will start getting better, we are starting to get into a routine. Next week will start some school work. Joaquin asked about school today, so I think they will be receptive to it. Emi and Nate can do some reading and Math while we work on English with Jessica and Joaquin.

This one's for you Tio Brian. (Tio Brian always wears a ball cap except for when he's at work, and it's always on backwards.)

More fun with balloons



The evening also went well, nothing really to report, that’s good news I guess. Just Emi and I sitting by the fire preparing our journal entry for the day.

Tomorrow we are going to a park/zoo kind of thing. We’ll see how it goes. We will be gone from 9 to 3, so a long time out, I am confident it will be fun. Jessica is excited. It’s nothing like our kind of zoo, at least that’s my understanding.

Oh and Mr. Ludwig (one of Emilee’s teachers), Emi said don’t worry, we won’t bring beans back for the class…aye aye aye!

I also forgot to mention last night that before Joaquin went to bed he freely gave us hugs and kisses. He still calls everyone Mami but I think he is starting to feel the bond and realizes we love him. We knew he was a funny but his true colors are really coming out, the child is hysterical. Jessica also has called several people Mami, but is freely affectionate and accepting of our love, she pulled some pretty funny stunts today herself. But I tell you, Jessica and Joaquin love to aggravate each other. Jessica is pretty blatant about it, but Joaquin is sneaky.

A very good day…good night!

And my just for fun pics...

Emilee pretending she was at a spa with cucumbers on her eyes (it's really silly putty, don't tell her)


Nate, well, I'm not sure what he's doing...