Day Two with Max, Settling In (for the 3rd time), and Empanadas

We had a great night last night. Outside of Max's cough, we slept relatively well for 5 people in one room. I'm contemplating seeing if Beck is interested in selling our house and buying a motorhome, or better yet, a couple acres somewhere and then put up a 350 square foot, one room cabin. Hmmm.... think I have a chance? Nah, me neither.

So Max only woke up one time, and we got up, gave him a bottle (seems a little wierd to be back at the bottle stage again), and he went back to sleep. A couple coughing episodes throughout the night, but we all ended up waking up around 6:45 am or so. Not bad for night #1 together.

Today wasn't anything special; we had the norm for breakfast: tostada integral, revueltos con jamon for myself and the 2 older kids (Beck had revueltos solos), a little jugo for the kids, agua crystal for Beck and myself, and of course, cafe. Mas cafe, mas cafe, mas cafe, por favor.

After breakfast we decided to head to Uni Centro, which is a HUGE mall about a 10 minute walk from our hotel. We were going to try to locate some things at Exito, a fair-sized grocery store. And... there is a little place inside the mall which serves 2 delicious things: Crepes and Waffles. Oh, and helado, which is ice cream. I've been hyping it up with Ally for 3 months now, and it was finally time to make the trek. Only one problem, though- it was 10 am when we left the hotel, and Crepes and Waffles didn't open until noon. Ally was NOT happy about that (nor was I!), so I promised her that we would go after rest time this afternoon. As we left the mall, it was raining again. Fortunately we had 2 umbrellas and plastic covers for each of the strollers as well. So we stayed about 80% dry on the way back, and it had pretty much stopped raining by the time we got back. BTW, it's pouring out now, as I type this at 9 pm.

For lunch, we had one of my absolute favs here: empanadas. For those that have never eaten them, they're essentially meat and potatoes and a few veggies wrapped in dough, then deep fried. You can dip them in a vegetable sauce or hot sauce, and they are SO good! I may have eaten more than I should have, but considering I've pushed 2 kids around in a stroller over some of the most broken-up sidewalks and roads you'll ever see, I think I've earned it (and may just be trying to justify my over-eating. Juanita made me do it!).

We did a short rest time, then it was off to make good on the promise I made Ally. One issue: the weather. It wasn't raining, but it sure looked like it might at any time. But that wasn't going to stop us! No sir, I made a promise, and I was going to make good on it! (And I may have also had a selfish motive to go, as well). So instead of Crepes and Waffles, we took a shorter walk to a place called "Mimo's". And there my friends, was iced gold: Helado.

So we finished up our helado about 45 minutes before dinner was to be served (don't tell my dad- he would NOT be happy to know I snacked before dinner), and went back to Hotel Paris. We had a chance to Skype Aunt Caya and Aunt Jen and the Boys, and then had some dinner. After dinner was baths for 3, then time for bed. A great day, and this little thumb-sucking-extraordinaire guy is fitting in well:

So, Beck took my picture with Max after multiple comments from the staff here about how our haircuts look so much alike. Not sure if I believe it, but I'll let you be the judge:

My goal is to try to post more videos starting tomorrow. I resized the movie mode on our camera, which was using about 35 MB on a 15 second video, so that should make it a little easier to do. Ally has a video prepared for Pastor Ron which I'm going to ask her to re-do, and she also did one for her Kindergarten class at Ada Chrisian. She misses you guys!

Hugs and kisses to everyone at home. Thanks for the prayers, the notes of encouragement, and for just being a great extended family to us. You're all appreciated more than you'll ever know.

Scott, Becky, Ally, Will, and (day two now!) Max