Monday, February 28, 2011
A nice dinner out with our new friends
We had a wonderful dinner out with our new friends from France. They have been in Colombia for about 4 1/2 weeks to adopt their 2nd son, Tomás, and are going home tomorrow. We have enjoyed getting to know their family and will really miss them. However, we are hoping to keep in touch and maybe plan a trip to France! They are such a wonderful family and clearly love their children.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Walk in the Park
We had a very nice start to our day. Ava slept until 8a! We almost had to wake her up. After numerous days of rain, we finally got some sunny weather. We had a nice breakfast with the other adopting family. We then decided to spend some good quality time at a park that is very near to our Hotel. We ended our day with a lovely tour of the outlying areas of Bogota. Our representative and her two children (Juan Pablo and Mariana) took us to a quaint little Italian restaurant. The food and view was amazing. Ava was an angel as usual. She decided to sing along with some songs on the ride home. We were not sure if she was singing in Spanish or English, but either way it was beautiful.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Mommy's lucky charm!
We had our 3 week anniversary with our little girl yesterday and we are wondering what we ever did without her! She wakes up happy just about every day and seeing her first smile of the day gives us so much joy!
Our new home, Zuetana, is wonderful! They are spoiling us!! The ladies are so kind and cook 3 fantastic meals every day! Tony is in heaven. The first night we arrived, he came running back in our room after checking out the place and enthusiastically announced, "Dinner is ready"! He was really excited and has been enjoying every minute of it!
Today we spent the day walking around the city. We found a great mall called Unicentro that had a bowling alley inside it. Ava kept score. Typically Mommy is probably one of the worst bowlers around and rarely breaks a score of 100. But today, with her lucky charm Ava, she had her best game ever and actually beat Daddy! I think he may request a rematch tomorrow!
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Bubbles, Bubbles, Bubbles.
Little Ava has perfected blowing bubbles! She practiced all day and was eager to show everyone her newly found skill. She is quite a messy girl, but she had so much fun!!
Today we met another family going through the adoption process. They are from France and are adopting their 2nd son from Colombia. It was really nice to share stories and experiences with them. The boys are absolutely adorable and they make a beautiful family together. Their 6 year old son speaks French, Spanish, and English! So intelligent! We are hoping our Little Ava will speak both Spanish and English fluently. We have been trying to speak mostly Spanish while on our trip, so hopefully we will keep it going.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
We're back in Bogota
We made it back to Bogota yesterday morning. We have changed hotels to a much smaller one that caters to adoptive families. Sorry for not updating as of late, but we have both been hit pretty hard with travelr's sickness. We hope we are over the hump. Even though we have been under the weather, little Ava has still been a shining star, loving life and every new experience she encounters. She has recently discovered her lips and is enjoying blowing bubbles and making as many new sounds as possible.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Lazy days!
We are having a great time relaxing and enjoying the Cartagena weather. We started our day off with a walk on the beach. Ava seemed to be soothed by the waves and was quickly asleep. We spent the rest of the day swimming, playing with toys, and napping. Ava has really taken interest in her toys and loves to put everything in her mouth. We are in heaven being able to spend so much time with our little girl. It is going to be a rude awakening when we get back home and have to start thinking about work and other obligations. I don't know how we are going to be able to be away from her for a whole day! Today she took a 2 hour nap and I had a hard time resisiting the urge to pick her up and hold her. Our time together as a family has been truly amazing!
Thursday, February 17, 2011
We are loving Cartagena! Our hotel has a beautiful roof top pool that Ava is really enjoying! She is quite the little swimmer! We are having such a good time that we are going to try to extend our stay throughout the weekend. Enjoying this warm weather and seeing Ava's obvious love for the water makes it really hard to leave. Hopefully we can work something out!
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Tickles
What a day! We left Bogota early this morning and Ava had her first airplane ride! We flew to Cartagena and Ava was an Angel throughout the 1 hour flight! She was amazed by all the faces and objects to look at. We got to our hotel and changed into more comfortable clothes and Mommy discovered Ava's tickle spot. Her laughes were contagious! And then, when we were out for dinner, she seemed to discover her feet for the first time. When we left she was riding in her stroller holding her feet and playing with her toys. It was adorable. Miss Ava ended the night with a dip in the pool with Daddy. It was quite a big day for our baby girl. We can't wait for tomorrow!
Monday, February 14, 2011
We had a wonderful time at Andres Carne de Res yesterday with our new friends Francisco, Claudia & Mariana. They really showed us a great time. Mariana is the cutest little girl. The restaurant was amazing. It is probably the most unique place we have ever been to. Ava was such an angel. We were at the restaurant for over 5 hours and she just hung out the entire time. We are leaving tomorrow for a few day trip to the coastal city of Cartagena. We are very excited to get out of the hotel room for a little bit. We will be sure to post some great photos.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Rain, Rain, Go Away!
We woke up this morning to Ava laughing in her crib! She woke up first and decided to start her day off right! She is such a funny girl!
We realized this morning that our lunch out with our new friends from Bogota was actually scheduled for Sunday. So, we decided to go shopping at a mall called Andino. We shopped for a few hours and then had lunch at a great Persian restaurant. We then finished with an ice cream treat from "Crepes and Waffles". Our social worker in St. Louis told us not to miss this amazing place, and she was absolutely right! It was delicious!!
Just as we were walking to find a cab ride home, we found ourselves in the middle of an incredible rain/hail storm! Fortunately Ava's stroller was sealed nicely so she was nice and warm and dry. However, Mommy and Daddy closely resembled "drowned rats" after the 30 minute downpour. The streets had about 6 inches of standing water! We learned a good lesson though. When in Bogota, always carry an umbrella!
Friday, February 11, 2011
The Gold Museum
We spent a rainy day in the Gold Museum of Bogota. It has an amazing collection of gold pieces from as far back as 500 B.C. We received a special guided tour from our driver Reynel. We cannot say enough about our liaison Luz Clara as well as the two drivers she has set up for us. They have helped us immensely. They go above and beyond to be sure that we are enjoying ourselves while we are away from home. Through the first half of the exposition, Ava felt compelled to assist Reynel and narrate for us. It took so much energy out of her, she slept the time. After the museum, we had lunch in the hotels top floor restaurant. We included a few pictures of the city (a bit cloudy) so everyone can get a glimpse into the beautiful city of Bogota. We are having lunch tomorrow with brother of a mutual friend from St. Louis. He and his wife have very graciously invited to take us to a famous Bogotá restaurant Andres Carne De Res. We’ll give the official review tomorrow, but we are certain that it will be great!
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