We were all up by 9 today! That is an accomplishment. It is amazing how a trip to the beach can motivate this family!
No bakery today :( Cold cereal to the kids' dismay. We loaded up a backpack with snacks, drinks and towels and hiked to the corner to meet Liliya and Michale and the kids were off. They had the "you need to listen" speech at least 20 times. I have to say that I was pretty worried about how they would behave but it turned out to be a great time for them. And for us it was a nice break.
For almost 2 weeks, we have been together as a family in an apartment. So it was nice to spend some time just the two of us. Of course, it was to meet Kostyia at the Notary and then to the Birth Certificate Office for paperwork. But it was still peaceful to walk down the street for a while and not have to count heads every couple of minutes.
When our work was done, we had planned on meeting up with everyone at the beach but we could not get in touch with anyone. So we decided instead of taking the chance that we would pass midway on busses, we would enjoy some quiet time at a French Bakery. The three of us sat outside and had some wonderful pastries and Jim finally had some coffee - after going over a week with out. We had a good talk about different cultural issues and about our families. It was some nice down time.
We met the kids back at the corner and the entire walk back to the apartment was filled with talk about the fun at the beach. So happy they could go and have a good time. Back at the apartment, we changed clothes and jumped in the most interesting taxi ride yet (until the way home - read further).
I love when Ana first comes out to greet us everyday. She is so excited and always tells us if school was good or bad that day - most days it is good, thankfully! For the past couple of days she has had gifts for me. One day a picture she painted, yesterday a flower she made by folding a bunch of little pieces of paper, and today she had a zip loc bag full of the things she made with the bend a roos after we left yesterday - a bracelet for me, a penguin for Keegan, a couple of hearts, a bee and a hive. She is very creative, something we heard both at our SDA appt and from the director.
We learned a couple of things today from Ana: Gym class is her favorite class. Why? Because she doesn't have to do anything. Mary Beth decided they were destined to be sisters with that comment! We asked, through Liliya, if she had to change clothes and she said no. So we made sure that she knew that was something she would have to do at home. Then as she was looking through the pics on my iphone, she saw the church that I took pictures of since we pass it everyday on our walk to see her. She said - my church on Saturdays. We are going to try to surprise her at church this week! As she was talking to us we noticed something written on her hand. It ends up that it was words for English class that she could not remember for a test today! We had a big talk about how that could not happen at home. How she could get into a lot of trouble if she did that at school. Hopefully, it sank in! I realized today that she thinks she has to choose just one thing to do when we get home. She kept saying basketball and I said you can dance and sing too. She couldn't understand that she could do all those things through school or the dance studio. I had to say each child's name and what they do - Kyle - sing, soccer, Keegan - soccer, basketball, baseball.
When it was time to leave I went to get in the taxi and realized it was the same driver as earlier. Even though I have blisters on the bottom of my heels today (not sure why - I have walked further other days) I just wanted to walk and not get in the car! He did not disappoint in providing us with an exciting ride! We pulled out in front of a truck, almost hit some people crossing the street and Keegan hit his head against the window at least 4 times from the brakes being slammed.
We came back to our usual playground soccer game and dinner. The boys at the playground today really wanted to practice the English phrases they know with our boys - My name is, What is your name? I am ____ years old. How old are you? Please, Thankyou, Hello, Goodbye. It was fun to watch them interact today. And, the "American Boys" won the game tonight!
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