2nd Week without the Hubby (April 9-16)

This week was a much better week as our guide, Lilliana, spent 2 days with us so it wasn't so lonely.

Monday April 9
Lilliana called on Sunday to tell us she would take us to the zoo on Monday.  We've already been to the zoo once but were up for anything that would take us away from the malls.  On the way to the zoo, it started raining so Lilliana took us to a new mall (Punta Clava) instead because there is a farm for kids in the mall.  The farm didn't open until noon so we had some time for shopping and there was a ball pit and play structure for Gustavo to play in while we waited.  The farm was pretty neat.  We paid ~$8 and Gustavo was given a cute finger puppet to keep, a huge container of carrots and a baby bottle to feed the animals.  He also rode a horse and was able to play in the bounce house and ball pit as long as he wanted.  Lilliana took care of David so I could go with Gustavo to feed the animals.  One of the younger goats kept escaping and was running around jumping on us (just like Abbey used to) to try to get the carrots.  Every time someone would put him back in the pen, he'd jump out again.  The goat scared David so Lilliana sat with him away from the animals.  There were goats, sheep, cows, horses, donkeys, llamas, chickens, rabbits, and all kinds of birds as well as some fish.  Afterwards, we ate at the mall and had typical Colombian food (rice, beans, plantains, arepas, and meat).  It was so good and also very inexpensive.  It is great that Lilliana enjoys being with David and Gustavo.  She always has gum for Tavo and coins to get something from the machines.  It was so nice to be able to talk to someone else!

Tuesday April 10
We had no plans as we thought we may need to go with the other lawyer to sign a power of attorney form.  We ended up going to Oviedo so Tavo could play.  Before the park could open, it rained so we went to Mimos for a yummy ice-cream treat and then walked around the mall before heading home.

 Look, One hand!!

Wednesday April 11
Again, Lilliana picked us up to go to the zoo but again it was raining.  We ended up back at Punta Clava to go to the farm again.  While waiting for the farm to open, Gustavo made some friends at the play structure in the mall.  We thought maybe we could skip the farm but the other boys were going to the farm and Gustavo was so excited to play with his new friends so we couldn't disappoint him.  He had a blast running with his new friends.  He wasn't very interested in feeding the animals this time so I was busy getting rid of the carrots and finding some animals to drink the milk.  The pigs loved drinking the milk from the baby bottle.  I got some cute pictures of all of the pig snouts lined up waiting for their turn as I went up and down the line of pigs.  There was only one pushy pig :)  Lilliana said she would ask the school her sons go to, which is an English Immersion school with all of the teachers from the US, if we could bring Gustavo to their school a few days a week.  She left a message for the principal but hasn't heard anything yet.  Wouldn't that be funny to see him going to school with the big kids in Colombia?

Thursday April 12
It was a rainy day again (seems to always rain Thursdays).  After the rain stopped for a bit, we headed to McDonalds in the afternoon for ice-cream.  Lilliana had suggested going to McDonalds ~3PM so maybe we would run into some kids for Gustavo to play with.  The only kids that came were high school kids and they took over the entire upstairs.  Gustavo played for a bit and even David crawled around for awhile.

Friday April 13
We went to Oviedo for a cheap lunch.  Two pieces of pizza and a pop for ~$4.  The food court was packed so it was nice to be in the midst of a lot of people.  Then, we walked around and found a Lego store.  The Legos are extremely expensive here.  Gustavo enjoyed building for awhile and I found a Ninja Spinner for ~$12 that we bought.  Gustavo jumped on the trampoline a few times and went in the play structure and then we ran home before the rain hit.

Saturday April 14
We saved our special treat for this day and went to Crepes and Waffles at Santa Fe for lunch.  I had a yummy crepe with tomatoes and goat cheese and it came with a mixed green salad.  We have been so salad deprived here that is was a nice treat!  Then, we headed to Happy City.  Our attorney met us there to talk and Gustavo had a blast playing.

 Tin Tin!

Toy Story bouncer

Sunday April 15
What a great day!  One side of the major road (Poblado Ave.) in front of our building is closed on Sunday mornings.  It seems that it is closed for miles in each direction.  Everyone is out and about on Sundays walking, running, rollerblading and biking.  As we were walking, we heard music and found an outdoor Zumba class that is free to everyone to join in.  We are definitely going to do this next Sunday.  There are a few vendors set up selling huge cups of cut-up fruit and freshly squeeze juice.  We spent ~3 hours walking and enjoying fruit, coffee and ice-cream.

 Yummy fruit cup on our walk!

Finally, sleeping.  

Was so interested in seeing all of the people that he wasn't interested in his morning nap.

Lazy Sunday afternoon,  ice cream and Uno on the balcony during the rain.

 David likes the balcony too!

Had to head inside for our Uno game as it was too windy and wet outside :)

Monday April 16
Yeah, Sanaya arrives late tonight!  We also took at taxi to the Intercontinental Hotel to meet another adoptive family, Rikke and Thomas, for lunch.  They are adopting a baby boy, Sofus, that just turned 1 year old and also have a son, William, that is 1 year younger than Gustavo.  They are from Denmark and have been here 2 weeks longer than us.  They are the only other family adopting from Casa de Maria but have a different guide and different attorney.  It was another rainy day but we had a nice (but very expensive) lunch at the hotel and the boys had fun playing together.  I also met a few other families there.  One of families is from the US but the father is going home and the mother will be going to Bogota to stay with family until things start moving again.  Another family just arrived from MN and are adopting 2 older children.  It was so nice to talk to the other families and we hope to get together next week with Rikke and Thomas and their children.  We think Sofus and David were most likely in the same room together at the orphanage.

9:30PM, Sanaya arrives!  It was fun watching her unpack and see all of the goodies Sohrab sent with her.  Gustavo loved opening his presents!  We are so excited to get moving again and see our favorite Medellin sites again!

All in all, it was a much better week for us than the previous week.  We are making our way around and still frequenting one of the grocery stores almost every day.  Gustavo still enjoys grocery shopping so it's something "fun" to do to get us out and about.

More to come on our adventures with Sanaya...