Our Final Days

I left off as we were running out of our apartment to the airport to go to Guayaquil. It was a tense morning waiting for the call from our attorney that we could leave. We were watching the commuter flights to Guayaquil fill up. Finally the phone rang at 11 AM and she said we needed to leave. By this time the only flight that we could tell was available didn't leave until 840 PM but we headed to the airport anyway. The first airline was booked but the second could get on us early afternoon. By 2:30 PM we were pool side in Guayaquil! It is much warmer there so the pool felt great! Danni loves to swim. Good thing he starts swim lessons in June. Our attorney met us that evening and told us that typically we wont get in until mid-day so if we wanted to visit a park that was near by it was okay but don't be more than 10 minutes from the hotel. We decide to skip the park, sleep in and take our time that Tuesday morning. I had showered, Hayden was ironing his shirt and the kids were watching TV - Michelle was fast asleep in her room. 9 AM the phone rings - we are to meet our attorney in the lobby in 10 minutes!!! Boy did we move!!!! I pounded on Michelle's door so she could get Danni ready, Hayden hopped into the shower, I got ready and Emma was the time keeper!! We ran out the hotel room in 10 minutes!!! The US Consulate is across the street, we go through security including a pat down and then to a waiting room where it took about 20 minutes before our name was called. The woman asked us to raise our right hand and swear that everything that we have submitted is true. She then informed us that the face recognition program was running on Danni but had not finished. It was running slow and could take up to 24 hours before complete. Again....we get to wait more!!! We were told to come back at 3PM and see where it was at.

Back to the hotel for breakfast and then to the pool once again! We were swimming about 30 minutes when Emma said she didn't feel well. Long story short...she had issues from both ends! This went on all afternoon. Our attorney comes at 3 PM and tells us everything is finished - we can go home!!! We take a 6 PM flight back to Quito. Emma is sick the whole time. Once back to Quito we finish packing and organizing for our 3:45 AM pick up!! Emma continues to be sick. Very short night for all of us. We check in Wednesday AM at the airport with no problems. We heard of issues but no one questioned us at all. Emma is still sick. Finally at midnight we landed in Minneapolis. Emma is better but not 100%. Everyone is exhausted yet we still have a 90 minute drive home. By 2:30 AM we were all home and in bed. I wasn't sure if Danni would sleep because he sure had BIG eyes wondering around our house looking and playing with all the toys.

I kept Emma home from school Thursday because she was just so tired and weak from not eating. We did go for 30 minutes at the end of the school day to say hello to all her classmates. They were so excited to see her and she got lots of hugs! Her best friend Sarah was in tears! She felt better Thursday night so I sent her to school Friday. All went well! That meant we were clear to head to grandma and grandpa's to pick up the dogs on Saturday. Emma was fine at first but we ended up taking 4 bathroom breaks! Poor kid!! Sunday I took her today to Urgent care and she has a parasite. One that is common and easy to get rid of. We think it was from the pool water. We were so careful of everything we ate and drank. Here we went 8 weeks and no one got sick until the last days! She is in good spirits - just has to use the bathroom A LOT!! :) She should be back to normal in a few days.

We visited my parents and family in WI until today (Monday). We had a little birthday party for Danni on Sunday. He fits right in with everybody! When we got to my parents he ran right up and hugged them both. I think he remembered them from Skyping. He is best buddies with his cousins already! He really, really likes his dogs but I am not so sure what they think of him yet. Kramer, who is quite jealous, barks when ever I pay attention to Danni or pick him up. It may be a long summer for him! Zoey, she is easy going and enjoys giving Danni kisses!!!

It was so hot when we got home to MN that the neighbor kids came over and we got the sprinkler out. Danni loved it! He was the one in the water most of the time. He didn't care how cold it was! Back to school and work tomorrow. I already need a nap!

Thanks for following our travels! Mari, Hayden, Emma and Danni

Happy 4th Birthday Daniel!!

Yes we are home!!! It was a crazy week but we made it and are home celebrating Danni's 4th Birthday! :) We got him a new bike! He loves it even though it is a bit big for him. He rode it around the kitchen a few times early this morning but it is raining now so we will have to get it outside later. We plan to go out for dinner and then have cake and ice cream. I let him pick out the cake and it was chocolate, frosting was chocolate and lastly the ice cream was also chocolate!! We will be a bit wired later!! :)

Our final few days in Ecuador were a bit crazy and then home has been crazy too! I will do a recap of the last days and post it....but not today! This weekend. I just wanted to say we are home and Happy Birthday to Danni!!

Mari, Hayden and Emma

We are off to Guayaquil!

Our Last Sunday...at least I hope it was!!!

It was Sunday so you know we had to go have one last ride on the horses at Parque Carolina!!!! It was a long line but we waited!! We had to visit our favorite places today so we first headed to Centro Historico. It is a very cool place to go. We saw some awesome local dancers and listened to some music. Did a little last minute shopping too!! :) Then off to Parque Carolina. Danni fell asleep in the taxi so when we got to the park he was not happy. He livened up once he got on his horse. :) We walked around the park to the airplane...it was finally open today!! Then our last stop is of course the little ice-cream shop near our apartment!! It is the best!!! Instead of sharing with Danni I splurged and had coconut ice cream! It was yummy! We all enjoyed our last cone!! :) Then one last walk up the hill to home!! That hill is a killer!! I remember the first morning we were here we were so excited so we went out for a walk. Well going down the hill was just fine BUT then coming back up.....OMG!! It was pure torture especially since we were not used to the altitude either!! Now the hill is better but it still makes you work!!!!

Hayden forgot to tell me yesterday that he ran into our cab driver that went to the water museum! He was in his taxi driving some one but slowed down, honked and yelled "HOLA Amigo's"!!!! He said it was hilarious!! :)

We all packed up today too. The last of the laundry is in the dryer. Now we just need to get that phone call tomorrow that the letter is ready!! We are suppose to get the call by noon and then we hope to catch a 3 PM flight to Guayaquil. We are packed for that too!!!

Dig the picture of the clouds between the buildings?!?! We woke up early due to a power outage - we heard the generators. The sun was coming up but the clouds were still hanging out near the ground. It was really cool looking!

If we get the call I will make a quick post to let you all know. I wont be blogging tomorrow night if we go. That is a good thing!!

Have a great week everyone!! See some of you real soon!! Mari

Eight Weeks!

Wow, we have been here 8 weeks today! The time sure did fly by. We enjoyed it immensely but it is time to go home!!! I did pack up quite a bit of stuff today. Will finish up most of what is left tomorrow night.

Hayden took Michelle to the "gold" church today. We visited it before she arrived and it is really beautiful so we wanted her to see it. The church has service on Sunday's but on other days it is open for tours for a small fee. The entire church is covered in gold leaf. No pictures allowed but we do have some post cards.

We had another hail storm today. It came across the mountain and you could see the rain get closer and closer to our apartment. Before it rained me and kids made it to Megamaxi. We walked with promise of ice cream at KFC! It is only soft serve but to them it is great and worth the walk!! I think that was my last trip to Megamaxi!! We spent many hours wandering around in there. :)

That is about it. Enjoy the rest of the weekend! Mari

Papallacta Again!

It was so good the first time we needed to go again!! It was awesome the second time too! It was funny as we even got the same cabin. The kids spent many, many, many hours in the pools. Danni loves the water, goes under and even attempts at some type of stroke. I already signed him up for swim lessons this summer. Michelle thought Papallacta was pretty awesome too. We even got a special treat. The volcano Antisna is near by and we were able to see it for several hours on both days. It was awesome!

We are all pretty tired today so I don't have much energy to blog tonight. I will load a bunch of pictures so enjoy.

We don't have big plans for the weekend. Hayden was going to take Michelle to see a church tomorrow AM. Danni and Emma have no patience for that any more. I saw the church already so I will stay home and start to pack. Yeah pack!!!! Sunday we will go one last time to Parque Carolina and ride the horses. Hayden can have his huge hot dog too!!

I need to explain one of the pictures. The one of Danni with weird eyes. That is his signature look! He looks at you out of the corner of his eyes. It is hilarious. He is quite the comedian!!

That is all tonight!! Hasta Manana!! Mari

Danni is Irrevocably Our Son!!!!

That's right! We have the court order, and Danni's birth certificate. His Mommy is officially Mari Creque and his Daddy is officially Hayden Creque. Unfortunately that makes him here Danni Creque Creque as all Ecuadorians have two last names. :)

We are done with all the paper work that we need to do in order to get Danni a Visa and get out of here!!! We met our attorney's at 7 AM at the Civil Registry to get Danni an Ecuadorian ID card. One of the attorney's went at 6 AM and stood in line. She was about 10th in line and when we arrived there was at least 100 people waiting. It went fast once they opened at 7:30 AM. Once we got a number we ran to our first station where Danni got his picture and finger prints taken. Then to another station where a man looked at his fingers with a flash light (who knows why!) and then he sent us back to the first station. That guy gave us some paperwork and then we ran to another station. There we finally got an ID card.

On to the passport office which was about 15 minutes away. One attorney goes to a copy place to make copies and the other takes us to get photo's taken for the Dr. appointment. The one who made copies comes and gets us while the other waits for the photo's to print and we head to the passport office. We wait in line, the attorney goes up and presents all our paperwork, then she comes for Hayden to pay. We then wait in line for his photo. That is done and we are directed to yet another room where we wait 15 minutes and here ya go - here is your passport!!!!

Lastly, the Doctor. Another 15 minute cab ride. The Dr. is actually near Megamaxi! That appointment takes 10 minutes and we are done. Home by 10 AM! Emma and Michelle were still in their pajamas!! So it went quickly and was uneventful! Our two attorney's truly work very well together and are very efficient!!

When we left in the morning Danni was not very sure about what we were doing. He didn't say a thing but he knew something was up because Emma was not coming with us. He would not leave my lap and when anyone spoke to him he just stared back. He did not smile on any photo either. We kept telling it was okay and that we were doing this so he could come home to Minnesota. As our taxi turned the corner about 2 blocks from our house he sprang up and yelled "Emma, Emma, Emma"!! Coming down our street he got even more excited!! I think he was worried that he was going some place without us. Not a chance kid!! :)

So from here we wait until Monday morning when our attorney picks up the final letter for the US Consulate. Then we all fly to Guayaquil Monday afternoon and on Tuesday we get his Visa and fly back to Quito Tuesday night. Wednesday morning we all fly back to MN. That is the plan! If for some reason the letter is not ready then Hayden and Danni will have to stay one more day at least and go to Guayaquil on their own. So keep your thoughts and prayers coming!

This afternoon Emma and Danni played their last few dollars at the arcade and cashed in all their points to get prizes!! They earned over 600 points so that means I spent way too much money there!! That's okay as it was great entertainment for us. Danni got a few boy things and Emma a small stuffed animal so they were both very happy. Since we were at the mall we of course had to get ice-cream! It is just the best here!! :)

Tomorrow we are heading to Papallacta for one night! We all are very excited as that place is the best!!! So no blog tomorrow night. See ya Friday! Mari

Mindo Cloud Forest

Today we visited the equator again so that Michelle could experience being on both the southern and northern hemisphere at the same time. It was very fun doing the experiments again. Then we headed an hour further to the town of Mindo. They call it the "Cloud Forest" because it typically is engulfed in the clouds. Not today!! It was sunny and HOT!!! First stop was a butterfly farm. They had over 30 species of butterflies and because it was sunny they were all flying around. Danni was a little freaked out at first but eventually enjoyed it. Emma was awesome at getting the butterflies to land on her. It was beautiful!

We had lunch at a little local restaurant which was delicious. There are dogs running in and out so of course Emma and Danni made some new friends! Danni is going to love Zoey and Kramer!!

After lunch we headed up the mountain to a zip line type thing but it was a basket that could hold all of us. I don't recall the actual name!! It was a rusty old basket that moved across wires to the other side of the canyon and then back! It was a little freaky!! Emma screamed most of the way. Then they stopped it in the middle so we could take pictures and Emma she screamed even louder!! It was beautiful and awesome but I was a little scared myself. Then came real zip lining! Emma said NO WAY so I had to stay behind with her and Danni (thank goodness because I didn't want to do it either!!). Hayden, Michelle and our tour guide Faulto did it. They had a blast!! Hayden said he "was working the zip line"!! They went to 10 different lines which took about 45 minutes. We sat and relaxed in some hammocks. Danni thought that was pretty cool when he saw Hayden come to the end he was yelling "Papi, Papi, Papi" and waving at him. He was so excited! Then he asked to go on the zip line!!! It was a really fun day. We almost did not do this trip. So glad we did!!!

On the way home we stopped for "soda" and this guy was making home made taffy!! See pic above! It was so cool to watch him and it tasted good too!!

One other picture is of Cayambe Volcano. It is the mountain with all the snow on it. It is the 3rd highest peak in Ecuador and typically it is cloud covered so we were very lucky to see it. It is still periodically active. Very cool!

Pray all goes well tomorrow while we run around and get all Danni's paperwork complete. We all are looking forward to coming home and pray that we all get to leave together!! Night night! Mari