Just another Monday

Today was not such a good day for Michelle. First she had a bit of a tummy ache when she woke up. She walked with me and the kids to Megamaxi and fell down and twisted her ankle, and lastly we were playing outside and Emma kicked a ball right in her face!!! I think she will need a beer tonight!! She is doing better now....we made her sit on the couch the rest of the day!!! :)

We just heard from our attorney that tomorrow is being postponed to Wednesday. They were unable to get Danni's birth certificate today but will get it tomorrow. Then Wednesday we will get his ID, passport and physical. We will also give Hayden power of attorney to finish the adoption on his own as Emma, Michelle and I will be leaving on Wednesday May 25th even if this is not over with. Hayden will stay and finish up with Danni. With this delay the process will most likely not be over with. Will know more after Wednesday happens.

Other than that our day was quiet. The Spanish/English tutor came. We have one more lesson with her on Friday. Emma is really doing well with her Spanish but she doesn't like to speak it in front of anyone. BUT if she hears you say something and she knows it is incorrect she isn't shy about telling you that!! She was writing sentences today and I didn't know what they meant. Danni is doing well also. He too only wants to speak English when he has to.

We lined up a last minute tour for tomorrow since we are all free. I will save that for tomorrows blog! Will keep ya waiting!!!

Clair - Happy Graduation!!! Enjoy your trip!!!

No pictures today....sorry! Tomorrow!

Chow! Mari

Sunday sun and rain

We went to Centro Historico again today - we really like it there. For a city of 2.2 million people that area really feels like a small community. There was a celebration just ending when we arrived and we later heard that it was a celebration for mothers. There must have been a march as many of the streets were covered in rose petals. It was a beautiful day and we walked around and visited a few of the churches but mass was going on so we only could peak in. Emma and Danni were pretty wild today so churches were not the place for them anyway!! We were there for a few hours when some really dark clouds rolled in so we decided to find a place for lunch. We had a huge thunderstorm with hail again. That is the 3rd hail storm since we have been here. It is only pea size - nothing like what the cities had a week ago!! The restaurant we ate at was nice but very slow service! Service is quite slow every where but this was really slow!!! By the time we finally finished eating the sun was out and the streets were drying up!! We stopped at a museum that was about the evolution of money here. It was very interesting - well what I heard was interesting. Again, Emma and Danni were crazy and I spent most of my time chasing them!!! They are already partners in crime and know how to make mommy go crazy!! :) Michelle and Hayden enjoyed the tour a lot! One of the pictures is of a coin press. They could only make 14 coins in one day!! When that finally broke is when they started to use paper to print money.

Hayden has a slight sore throat today so he is trying to sleep it away. I guess I jinxed us when a few days ago I said no one has got sick yet!! It just may be allergies as he has really been a mess the past couple of weeks. We had a lot of dry weather and it is very dusty here. Emma and Danni are watching a movie. Nice quiet time for me!! :) It is raining again too!

Have a nice night! Mari

Otavalo Market...again!!

This is the best place ever to shop. It is so colorful and alive! We had a great day of shopping. We actually had to leave because we spent all our money!!! Michelle loved it. It is just a must do when visiting Ecuador. We had great weather too...sun all day! We found some really fun winter hats for Danni and Emma. Last time we tried to get Danni to try hats on and he refused and then started to cry. This time he wanted to try on every hat on the table and then look at himself in the mirror!! He is such a crackup! We got lots of stuff...our backpacks were over flowing!! We are all tired though as we started at 7:30 AM and got home at 4 PM. Tonight we are all half asleep. I knew I had to get my blog wrote or my mom would be calling me tomorrow AM wondering what was up!!! :)

Oh yeah, we took a different driver this time and he didn't go through the little town that has the biscuit factory. He route was faster. No biggie.....we can get them here in Quito. They are just so fresh when you get them at the factory. Our driver was the same guy as yesterday when Emma got sick out the window! The first thing he asked was how Emma was feeling!! He is a nice man. His name is Carlos. He drove us back and forth to the orphanage the very first week we were here. He also took us to Papallacta which we are planning to visit again next week. His car is a tight squeeze for 5 people and him but we trust him, he is very reliable and a great guy.

I don't have much else today. I am tuckered out from a warm day in the sun! By the way...we heard it was only 40 today in St Cloud for the fishing opener!! I really enjoyed our 70's and light breeze!!! :) I just hope that summer finally arrives once we get home. Hayden has been talking about getting the boat out for the past couple of weeks!! He won't be happy if it is only in the 40's!!

Enjoy the weekend!! Mari

I will add more pictures tomorrow. Michelle took 172 pictures so I will go through them tomorrow and post some more.

Emma had a bad day!

Friday!!! Yeah!! Not so for Emma. This morning we headed out to visit the equator. We were not 10 minutes from home when Emma declared that she was going to "throw up"! She gracefully leaned out the window and took care of business! There was a woman in the car next to us giving us a strange look - it was a bit funny to see her face but not for Emma. She said she felt OK so we continued on but 10 minutes later she leaned out the window again!! She wanted to go home so we turned back. She felt much better once at home. We all ate the same thing for dinner last night so we think that she didn't eat enough for breakfast and her vitamins must of made her sick. Once we were home she admitted that she didn't feel well before we left but didn't tell anyone. She felt bad and even told Michelle that she was sorry that she got sick and we couldn't got to the Equator. She is just fine now. She even had Spanish class this afternoon. We have been lucky as no one has got sick since we have been here (KNOCK ON WOOD!). Not even a little sick. We still have several days here so maybe I shouldn't have wrote that!!!

Sooooooo........we just hung home all day!! Hayden and Michelle walked to Megamaxi to get a few groceries while I made a lasagna for dinner (I hope it is good!). It did rain and was very cloudy most of the day so we didn't miss out on a gorgeous day. We will have time to get to the equator before we go. It is a must see!!!

Tomorrow morning we are getting up early and taking Michelle to Otavalo market. I hope the rain is done by then. It is an awesome place to shop. Hayden and Michelle are going to brave it and eat in the open market. I am way too chicken to do that!! We plan to stop at the biscuit factory too - that was delicious and fun to watch.

I only have two pictures from today. One is of the Spanish/English tutor Lizbeth and the kids. She is a wonderful woman and we were lucky to have her as our teacher. Only 2 more times with her next week and then we are done. The second is Danni and Hayden playing video games. This kid is totally addicted!!

Hayden bought me a dozen roses today. Guess how much they cost here?? $2.40!! That's right!!! He bought them at Megamaxi so they were probably even a little pricey! They grow here - lots of beautiful flowers grow here. We passed some flower markets this morning and they are so beautiful. We had a tour guide tell us that yes it is great that roses/flowers are so cheap but that means you cant give them to your girlfriend/wife because she will get mad at you! They have to give chocolate instead which is very expensive here.

That is it for today. Everyone have a great night!! Mari

Thursday's Blog

Blogger has had some issues the past 24 hours so my blog from yesterday is late. Here is what we did on Thursday May 12th.

Today was quite interesting. We headed to the water museum which is on the other side of Quito. The taxi driver knew where it was but had never been there. So we drove and drove as the traffic was terrible. We could see the museum on the top of the hill but it took at least five stops to ask people how to get up there! With Michelle along we now tend to have very long conversations with our taxi drivers. He was a nice fellow and told us that once we get to the museum that it is in a dangerous area and he was not sure how many taxis would be around. He said he would stay and wait for us. When we got there he decided to come in and take the tour with us!! He is the man coming out of the slide in one of the pictures!! I am glad he stayed as there were no cabs around after our tour. We would of had to walk quite a ways to get to the main street to get a taxi. The water museum was interesting and FUN so Emma and Danni enjoyed it immensely. The tour guide said that all nino's small and big have to do what he says! That is why we have some nice pictures of adults doing what the kids do!! I stood by and took pictures - it was hilarious to see them crawl through tunnels and slide down slides pretending they were water!!! There were many school groups taking a tour too of the water museum. We were outside looking at the view and Emma was leaning WAY over. We heard a girl squeal "Nina, Nina!" and when we looked back they were pointing at Emma. Friends and family all know Emma's pants issue - well she was showing a bit of the moon!! The girls were giggling so hard!! It was funny! Emma of course didn't care...even when we told her it was going on the blog. :)

For lunch we went to the mall. Danni gets there and asks for ice-cream!! He got it after he inhaled two big pieces of chicken! He is a good eater for such a little guy. We of course all got ice-cream! It is just so darn good here!!! Having desert meant we had to walk home. It was gorgeous out anyway so why not! We live on a very HIGH hill - 6 or 7 blocks up. You need to walk up slow and steady but by the last block you are struggling a bit. Emma always complains the most on this block. She started bending over and moaning and groaning. Danni started to imitate her...that is the picture of them bending forward. He is such a card!!

As I sit here writing this blog yet ANOTHER car alarm went off. Everyone has a car alarm and they go offf constantly. I dont even know how they know if it is their car or not - they all sound the same. We like it here but we are all looking forward to the quiet at home! Later! Mari

We got the ruling!!

The judge ruled today!! Yeah!! We found out late today...it was kind of crazy because we got an email from our lawyer but her English is not the best so the email was kind of confusing. After 3 or 4 emails back and forth from her and our contact in St Paul we found out that we indeed get a decision today. The next steps are that first we have a 3 day waiting period. So on Tuesday May 17th we are being picked up at 6:45 AM to get Danni's Ecuadorian passport, id card and a physical. This will take the entire day. So we are glad Michelle is here as she can stay home with Emma while we do all this with Danni. After that it takes about 4 days to get the adoption certificate to get to the US Consulate which is in Guayaquil - an hour flight from here. Our attorney is estimating that we will get an appointment at the US Consulate on Monday May 23rd and all be able to fly home on Wednesday May 25th. It is a tight schedule so again we need all your thoughts and prayers to make this work out!!!

We had a fun day visiting a museum in Old Town Quito. We have walked past this place at least 3 times and never realized it was a museum. It is an old hospital that was closed and then restored as a museum. It had a lot of history of Quito including an old wing of the hospital where they kept patients in isolation. It was one big room and then there was 5 ft by 5 ft dugouts into the wall where a bed was and each patient was housed. It was very interesting. There was also a music area where you could listen to all different type's of Ecuadorian music and actually play some instruments. Danni loved putting the head phones on and then he would dance! He didn't like the instruments - Emma was being quite loud on them and he didn't like the noise.

I have told you that Danni LOVES to play with the computer and the iPod. We wont let him have it unless he asks for it in English...so he best words are "game please"!! Tonight he was playing with the iPod in his bed and I went to give him a shower. He shut the game off, looked at me, and then turned back and put the iPod under his pillow!!!! What a stinker!! He had the biggest smile on his face! I left it but had Emma pull it out so I can't wait until he is looking for it and he realizes it is gone!

Not sure what we are doing tomorrow. We have so much that we still want to do before May 25th and now we feel pressured to get it all in!! Next week we are going back to Papallacta - Michelle has to experience that place for sure!! Chow! Mari

Notaria

Going to the Notaria (Notary) today was very interesting! We got there a bit early with our attorney so we waited for our translator to come. As we sat in this small office for 45 minutes at least 100 people came in and out. It was crazy! The employees were running around too - and I mean running around! You have to pay for the notary also and only attorneys can be one. Very different from the U.S. Hayden made a comment about the employees running around and we found out that they are paid by transaction not hourly. This is a busy office as it is by Congress and the court house. It was quite uneventful otherwise. We showed our passports, they created a document, the translator read it to us, we signed and payed and that was it!! Now our attorney will get Danni's original birth certificate and have a new one created with us listed as his parents. They told us that the Civil Registry is an hour away and it takes a long time to sit and wait so the attorney does it alone - that is why we did the power of attorney with her. She will go as soon as we get the judges order which unfortunately we did not get today. We were told again today that they were expecting it today but we heard nothing. Tomorrow I will email our other attorney and see what is going on. We are really only at day 10 of our 15 day wait so the judge still has time. It just would be nice to get it early so that we all can travel home together in 2 weeks. So keep the prayers going!!! :)

The notaria took up the entire morning and the Spanish/English tutor was coming at 2:15 PM so we stayed home today. Michelle stayed with the kids while we went down town which was awesome! Emma would of been a mess having to sit for 45 minutes doing nothing! The kids played outside for a long time. Danni or Mr. Bubbles got his fill of chasing bubbles!! Michelle got a ton of great photos - a few I am sharing. She loves to takes pictures and has an awesome camera!

We are going to visit a few museums tomorrow - something none of us have done yet. There are lots to visit. Buneos Noches! Mari

PS....Hayden wanted me to add that he is the most handsome man in the world! Just thought I would give ya all a good laugh!!!!!!!! :)