Winter Playland

Today we walked to Unicentro, the local mall. It was a pretty day, so it was a nice walk outside. We decided to go to the mall because one of the little girls in the hotel is having a birthday party on Sunday, and we needed to get her a gift. So, we walked around the mall and picked up a cute gift for her. It was also nice to see all of the Christmas decorations that were up, and the little Christmas playland that they had set up for the kids. It wasn't very crowded today since the kids are in school. While I was there, all I kept thinking was that Sean would have had a great time running around all over the place by himself. And for those of you that know him... getting into trouble there, I'm sure. :) Isabella on the other hand, slept through the entire mall visit. haha

After the mall, we just walked back to the hotel and had a nice lunch with our friends. The rest of the day has been pretty relaxing and we have just enjoyed playing with Isabella. Now we are just waiting for dinner.

I also wanted to comment on those of you that emailed me or commented on our blog about my post yesterday. I know when you first read my entry you thought I got some "shots" from the bar yesterday. Believe me, I did think about it. Wouldn't that have made my day pass faster yesterday? hahah But no, I refrained. Yes, it took some effort, but I figured enjoying a good glass of beer was good enough. I guess I'll have to have those shots when I get home... Or maybe I'll just have Gary make me one of his great margaritas!

Hope each of you are well.
Lots of love from Colombia.
Buenas Noches early...

The Wall

We had a nice day today. We went out and had a great lunch with some of our friends here. We went to a burger place called, El Corral. Everyone has been telling us that they have fantastic burgers and beer! So, we decided to give it a try. Everyone was right, and the burgers were wonderful! They had so many to choose from and they were so big and delicious. In fact, by the time dinnertime came, we weren't even hungry. Also, as you can imagine, while we are at lunch, we had to sample the beer. If you look at the pics in this post, you will see how much alcohol this place had. I was able to get a couple shots of the place so you could see how huge "the wall" was. Needless to say, it was a fun trip out, and definitely helped to pass the day.

We also had a special guest come visit us today. The Director of the Colombian program for our adoption agency was in Colombia this week for a conference. He surprised us and another family by stopping by our hotel this evening. We had a nice visit with him and he had a great time getting to meet our children. It was a nice surprise for all of us.

Last but not least, I can't close out a post without having a picture of Isabella. She was already asleep when I took this picture, so the shot isn't that great. But you can still see her, and how peaceful she looks.

Tomorrow, we will be heading out to one of the malls and will do some shopping. One of the little girls in the hotel is having a birthday party this weekend, so we need to buy a gift for her.

As always, we hope all of you are doing well. For those of you that post comments, thank you so much. We love to read them and it really does help us feel in touch with all of you as we wait to come home.

Lots of love to each of you.
Buenas Noches from Colombia.

Babysitters on Duty

Sorry we did not post yesterday. It has been a little crazy around the hotel the last two days. Unfortunately, one of the little boys here, had to go to the hospital last night. He is four-years-old and he was adopted from Colombia several years ago. His parent's are here adopting a baby brother for him. But the older boy had been having some stomach virus symptoms and was in a lot of pain last night, so his parents decided to take him to the ER. (His Mom is an ER nurse and she felt is was better to be safe than sorry.) So, this all happened last night, and I volunteered to watch their new baby for them here at the hotel, while they went to the hospital. Since Nana is here, I knew that she could take care of Isabella. And really, how can a grandmother pass up an opportunity to spoil and love on her grandchild? I also watched the little boy all day today, since his older brother was admitted to the hospital overnight. So, I spent time with Jonathan, and Nana spent time with Isabella. Except for the few times that the two were awake at the same time. And that's usually when Jonathan was making "flirty eyes" at Isabella. (Gary, don't read this. I know you said Isabella couldn't date until she was 35.) haha Thankfully, Jonathan's older brother came home early this evening and his is doing much better. All tests, X-rays, and labs came back fine. So, he is just on a limited diet until his stomach calms down.

However, prior to our eventful night last night, we had a nice day yesterday. We actually went out to breakfast with Jonathan's mom, and did some walking around the local area. We had a nice breakfast at a french type bakery, and enjoyed eating something other than our hotel food for breakfast. The restaraunt was nice, and had some cute window displays, which you can see in the photos.

Beyond that, it has been pretty quiet over here. Today is rained a lot, so it was perfect weather for just staying indoors and babysitting. Tomorrow we have plans with a couple friends to go to a local burger place for lunch. We have heard they have great burgers and beer!

Other than that, things are going well. We are still waiting to hear some news on our adoption process. We don't know anything yet, but we know that the courts are moving. Several of our friends are getting their "sentencia" (which for those of you that don't remember, that is technically our adoption decree). That starts the ball rolling for us to come home. So, hearing about the other sentencias is giving us hope that we will get ours soon.

In the meantime, we are enjoying Isabella. She is doing great, and it is so much fun watching her personality develop. In fact, she even posed for all of you in some of the pics. She had on a new outfit from Nana, that had ruffles on her butt. It was so cute....that she had to show it off.

Well, it's been a long day. I better get some sleep. We hope all of you are doing well. We miss everyone, and hope to be able to come home soon.

Buenas Noches from Colombia.

Shopping, Shopping, and More Shopping

Since Nana has been here, we have done a ton of shopping. For those of you that know me, you know that I hate to shop. Yes, I'm one of the few women that does not enjoy shopping. But it has been nice to visit the markets, and local shops to get some things to take home. I have bought some things for Sean and Isabella and a couple things for me. It has been nice having my Mom here and we have been able get out the last couple days and help the time pass here. In fact, tomorrow, we will be going out to breakfast with one of the other mothers. She invited us to go to a tea shop for breakfast with her tomorrow. She said it is a great place and they have some wonderful teas, coffees and things to eat for breakfast. So, we're excited about doing that with her. After that, later in the afternoon, we are going to go out shopping again.

As you can see from a few of the pictures, Isabella is doing great. She is growing everyday, and eating very well. I have noticed that her cute little cheeks are even more full than when we first got her. But that is a good thing-- they are even better to kiss all over now. :)

The other two pictures are on here as a request from Gary. He thought you all would like to see it. It is a fruit that we have eaten here several times. Needless to say, it is a little "different" looking, and you have to get past the looks of it, to give it a taste. It is actually very good, and even picky eater, Sean, had some and enjoyed it. The fruit is called a GRANADILLA. If you're curious about it, here is a link that has some info on it: http://www.exoticlandfruits.com/granadilla.htm

Well, Isabella is already asleep, and I'm ready to turn in too.

Love you all. Buenas Noches from Colombia.

Kissy, Kissies Delivered

Nana is here! She arrived this afternoon, and she has been enjoying every minute with Izzie. But the pictures for this entry of our blog are special for Grandmommy. Nana (Deborah's Mom) wanted to make sure that Grandmommy (Gary's Mom) knew that she delivered kissy, kissies for her. Nana told Izzie that Grandmommy would be able to give them to her herself as soon as we got home. After all, Grandmommy is waiting for us in Florida, and is watching "big brother", Sean, while Gary is at work.

We didn't do very much today, as most of the day was getting ready for Nana to arrive, and then we drove to the airport to pick Nana up. The rest of the afternoon Nana just enjoyed playing with Izzie, and I was of course, very happy to have some company. Tomorrow we will be going out for a walk again to a local market. We will be going with several other families again, so it should be fun.

We hope you enjoy the pictures from tonight. The lighting was a little bad, but they came out good enough to see the kisses! :) Well, Izzie and Nana are already in bed, so I better do the same. Izzie wakes up early.

Buenas Noches from Colombia.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We hope each of you had a special day with family and friends. Although, we are not home to celebrate Thanksgiving with our family and friends, it is still a very special day. We have so much to be thankful for this year. Since so many families are here in the hotel this year and not at home, we decided to create the best Thanksgiving we could have here. The staff was fantastic, and was already planning to make a meal for us. However, several of the families decided to jump in the kitchen and make some of their family favorites. We had a Colombian style turkey/ham, which I didn't care for too much. It was definitely different, and it had hard boiled eggs in it and raisins. I tried to get a picture of it, but my camera died. (And yes, Gary asked me, "didn't you charge it?") No, I didn't charge it. I'm having too much fun taking pictures that I completely forgot! :) See, this is why I need Gary around. But someone else took a picture of the meat, and I will post it on here as soon as I get it. But I did get shots of the other items. We had stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet apples, congri (black beans and rice), Colombian salad, and several pies. So, considering we weren't at home, the food was great! Also, in the pictures, you can see the main cook here, Juanita, and one of the other ladies. Normally, they are dressed in uniform, but I think since it was an American holiday, they decided to dress down and have fun with us! :)

Isabella also had a nice first Thanksgiving. She even wore a Thanksgiving outfit, that says "My First Thanksgiving". She received many compliments on it. It is actually a special outfit because our friends gave us this outfit, as a hand-me-down from their daughter who was adopted from Colombia. Thank you Santos family!!!! And Isabella sends a special thank you to Olivia!! She said she loved wearing her outfit!

Well, it has been a long day over here. It was definitely hard to be away from my family, but Isabella and I did fine and we had fun with our friends at the hotel. We hope each of you had a wonderful day!

Happy Thanksgiving again, and know that our family is so very thankful to have all of you in our lives.

Buenas Noches from Colombia.

Fiesta!

Well, you know girls need to be rested and looking their best for a party. So, after Isabella and Mommy took a nap, we went to a Fiesta! As I mentioned before, a little girl here was celebrating her 1st birthday! We had a fun time, and of course took some pics for you. Some of the pics include everyone partying/dancing, the kids picking up candy and toys from the pinata, and Isabella just looking cute. She had a great time watching everyone, and she was even "excited" to get her first goody bag from a birthday party. It has some candy in it, so I think Mommy will have to help her eat it. :) Then, the last picture is special for Sean. One of the Dad's gave me this truck to bring home for Sean, because he knew that I was sad that Sean couldn't be there to experience the pinata. If you look closely, you can tell that the truck has some pictures on there from the "Cars" movie. And if you don't know by now, Sean is all about Cars right now. So, it will be a nice little surprise that Isabella and Mommy will bring home for him.

Love you all.
Adios from Colombia.

Can you smell the fresh bread?

Hi everyone! Sorry I didn't post yesterday. Blogger would not let me post my pictures for some reason, so I decided to wait until today. So, if I'm organized enough, you might actually get two posts today, instead of one. :)

Yesterday, we went out for a walk with several of the families. We walked to a place called Pan Pay Ya! It is a little bakery that sells breads, pastries and some breakfast and lunch items. And boy was it worth the walk. The aroma that was coming out of the store was absolutely amazing! The bread smelled so fresh, that I honestly had the hardest time deciding what to get. So, finally another mother and I decided to split two items: a croissant with cheese, and then the best one... a croissant with chocolate inside! Oh my gosh, it was so good. I definitely think this is a place Isabella and I will have to bring Nana to.

In addition to the place being a bakery, they have a pretty big play area for the kids along with a ball pit. So, some of the kids played in that while the parent's were enjoying their snacks and coffee. It's such a shame that Sean wasn't still here, as I know he would have loved the play area and the ball pit. He played in one when he was here earlier at an ice-cream shop. But this one was bigger. As you can see from the photo, the kids really enjoyed it.

Well, later today there is going to be a party here. One of the little girls that has been adopted by an American couple, is having her 1st birthday party today. They are going to have cake and a pinata! It should be a lot of fun. I'm just sorry Sean isn't here to see the pinata, as I know he has not seen one before. Hmmm, maybe that's an idea for one of the combination parties that Sean and Isabella will have. :) For those of you that don't know, Sean and Isabella's birthdays are just one day apart. So, I need to start thinking of some great party ideas for them. :)

I'm sure all of you are getting ready for Thanksgiving. So, I hope you all have a safe and happy holiday. They obviously, don't celebrate Thanksgiving in Colombia, but we are going to do our best to create it here in our hotel. There are several American families here, so we are all chipping in to make certain Thanksgiving items - to make it feel more like home. It should be a lot of fun.

Well, it's almost lunchtime, so we need to go. I'll try to post again later tonight.

Love you all.
Adios from Colombia.

Just Playing

We didn't do very much today. It was more of a be lazy and just play day. Everyone in the hotel was doing their own thing today, so we stayed here. It was actually nice to just have a day to be lazy and just play. Mommy and Isabella had a great time just goofing off, lazing around, and of course eating. :) Izzie also got a bath today in the hotel tub, but with a new little mat that helped with the bath. She's just so tiny that it is hard to give her a bath in the big infant tubs they have here. So, one of my friends who adopted from here suggested that we buy this foamy mat to help with the baths. It worked great and Izzie seemed to enjoy it. Well, as much as an infant enjoys a bath. Also, after getting her bath, I was able to brush her hair down nice and pretty. It usually stands up, and I admit I do think it is cute. But in today's pics, you get to see the nicely styled hair. :)

Tomorrow we might be going out with a few of the other mothers and their babies. So, we'll give you an update on that when we get back.
Lots of love to all of you. Buenas noches from Colombia.

What do girls do? Shop!

Okay, so it was our first day without the guys, and what do we do? Shop! Now, Gary will think this is funny because he knows I hate to shop. But we are in Colombia and it has been fun looking at all of the things that are made here.

Since it is Sunday, they close the roads for a period of time during the day, so everyone goes out and walks, ride bikes, or jogs. It is great, and it is so nice to have the open space to get around. So, today, several of the families walked to a market in the courtyard of a local hotel. It was an up-scale type market and they had some beautiful things. I thought about buying a few things, but decided to think it over, since I know many of these people will be there next week. And of course, we have to wait for Nana to come so we can show her all of the great booths.

Well, the littlest Lee girl is asleep already, kind of like how she is in all of the pictures. I know the pictures aren't very exciting, but we thought we would show you what the market looked like. And I couldn't resist having one of my friends take some pictures of Isabella and I.

Well, I better get to bed myself. I hope all of you are doing well and enjoying the posts and pictures. Lots of love to each of you. And as usual, special hugs and kisses to Daddy and Sean.

Buenas Noches from Colombia.

It's just the girls

Well, this is the first post from just the girls. Today, Gary and Sean left Colombia. We were very sad to see them leave, and we will miss them a lot. But we know that they will be fine at home, and will get some extra TLC from Grandmommy. Isabella and I will be fine here, as well, and hopefully we will get to come home soon too.

After Gary and Sean left, it was a little quiet around here, and definitely lonely. But everyone here is so nice, and some of the other mothers (and a Grandma) invited Isabella and I to go to the mall with them this afternoon. It was great timing because we left a couple hours after Gary and Sean left the hotel. So, it didn't give us much time to sit around and notice that Sean's loud noises weren't in our room anymore. haha

We had a nice time shopping, and getting out of the hotel for a little while. Then after the shopping trip, two of the fathers were going to get Pizza Hut for their families. So, they were extremely nice and offered to bring me some pizza to. So, they brought back a personal pan pizza for us to have for dinner tonight in our room. So, as you can see from one of the pics in this post, Izzie was shocked that we were giving away the secrets of what girls do when they get to hang out together without the guys. That's right, hang out in comfy clothing, lay on the bed, and eat pizza! Oh, and don't forget the Dunkin' Donut that we bought at the mall. I mean after all, girls gotta have their sweets too!

Some of the other pics you see are from our trip to the park yesterday. We had a great time, and it was really nice getting to spend some time with the other families. Sean had a great time running around the park, and so did some of the other older kids. In addition to that, there was a school there with a lot of children between the ages of 8-11 years old. They were so cute, and kept coming up to all of us and staring at us. Sometimes, they would play some games and we think "show off" to us. It was interesting for them because they had never seen Americans before. It was really neat interacting with them, and I did my best speaking some Spanish to them. They really enjoyed that, in between them trying to say a few words in English to us. We all loved it, and it really made our trip to the park a great time.

Well, I think that's it for now. The littlest Lee girl is already asleep for the night. It must have been all of that pizza. :) Hope you all enjoy the pics, and we'll do our best to continue to take more even though the boys are gone.

Love to you all. And special hugs and kisses to Daddy and Sean. (Hopefully they will see this post tonight or tomorrow)

Buenas noches from Colombia.