Sickness befalls the house

Sunday July 7, 2024 -Bogota, Colombia (part 2)-

Long night. Peanut fighting with his dreams since 3 am. Whining but eyes closed then back to sleep. Half hour later, same thing. The bro hire we read said babies wouldn’t infringe upon our sleep. We’ve been tricked again!

Too much around people yesterday! We had fun plans for today but Santi woke up with a headache & chills. He’s not the only one. Claudia is all congested too. Last nights game had diseased people I think.

This coming week is the soccer camp we signed the kids up for. At some point today we need to go pick up uniforms for them. Seems like this will be an awesome camp for both of them (provided Santi bounces back from whatever is going on this morning). This camp is from like 8-4 Monday through Friday. They’re looking forward to it for the soccer. I think we are looking forward to it for the Spanish. Don’t get me wrong, I want my kids to have fun with the soccer too but I’d be lying if I said that was my number one priority.

We did make it out to get the uniforms and let’s just say the directions to the place was not great. We drove around in a circle like 3 times with no luck. We stopped and asked a parking attendant where the address was and apparently this was not somewhere accessible by car. That might have been nice to know ahead of time. Fortunately, we parked the car with the attendant who gave us directions and we walked.

Mariana leads the way looking for the uniform shop BUT…

When we got there they told us it was moved to another location across town. This did not put my sicky-poo wife in a great mood.

Across town we went and yes, finally had success. Actually pretty nice uniforms. I’ll get pictures tomorrow. They are super excited! After seeing his uniform, Santi started feeling better. Go figure.

With everyone feeling a little better, we decided to go back to the neighborhood of Usaquen. On Sundays, they have a huge market with local artisans selling their stuff. It is really cool to see.

Love the umbrellas hanging. Kind of neat.

Took this pic for you mother. Remember the Botero’s? The chubby paintings and sculptures? You loved the heavy naked lady sculpture in Cartagena years ago!

We goofed off there up until mass time at 6:00. Beautiful and old but work has been done to preserve the church. We’ve been here before when we came for Mariana I think. There is a park in front of the church with this certain park bench I remember sitting on while waiting for Clau to return from wherever she went. I remember playing with Nani and having a guy come over and want to shine my ratty tennis shoes. Very fond memories but kind of odd to have that specific memory. I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t take pictures inside the church. Andre was wonderful during mass. A bit squirmy. I have been calling him Vishnu. For those who don’t know, Vishnu is a Hindu god (note lower case g) who has 8 arms. That is exactly what Andre is like. During the consecration of the Eucharist, he started acting like he was going to start fussing so I walked to the back of the church. By the way, for 6 PM mass, that place was absolutely packed! Wonderful to see! Anyway, In the Back, I was able to avoid him starting to cry but time came to receive the Eucharist and I got in line and started to the front. Once in front of the priest, he asked for Andre’s name then gave him a blessing. That whole interaction, Andre was frantically grasping for the Host and even made the priest laugh. It was a very cute exchange.

I’ve never seen this painting before. I need to do my homework. This is beautiful. One of Sy Joseph too below.

After mass, we made our way home. That peanut was in an awful silly mood. I got him all cranked up when he should have been winding down. But the laughter was so contagious. Just for a little while, what could it hurt. We gave him a little bottle and put him to bed. No drama or crying. Even he knew it was time.

Other than a bit of sickness, it ended up being a really beautiful day. Prayers for tomorrow as the kids start their soccer camp and we run to get peanuts passport.

Good night all!

Santa Barbara de Usaquen church

Good night rest, for the most part.

Saturday July 6, 2024 -Bogota, Colombia (part 2)-

I get a good sense that everyone got a good night sleep. One thing I can say about this new place is the mattresses are pretty good. Memory foam. So nice. Wasn’t sure if it would be a good night especially with karaoke guy missing all the important notes. He was a topic of conversation over breakfast. His parents saved a lot of money not sending him to voice lessons.

I think we woke up about the same time as peanut, around 7:20. I sits in his pack n play just chatting with himself and got fussy only when he could see me and I wasn’t moving fast enough to free him. But after that is all smiles until he starts getting hungry, the he turns into, well, I gave him a nickname my wife won’t let me type. It’ll leak some day I’m sure.

Happy dude making noises just looking out the window

Team work! You feed him, I’ll file those nails down!

Wandering the streets looking for buñuelos

The kids were itching to get out of the house so we went around the block looking for Buñuelos, it’s a kind of bread rolled into large balls. Sometimes they have fillings such as cheese or jelly. My piggos love them.

So we are staying in an apartment this time around. A penthouse actually. Don’t get all excited. It is a multi floor apartment on the top floor! It’s nice but the “rules” are absolutely nuts and my kids are afraid to touch anything for being fined. Ridiculous.

We found a used book tent in the market across the street.

We got the bags we shipped today. Ugh, if I could do that for international flights I’d do it in a minute!

There was a Copa America game tonight. Colombia vs Panama. Since this apartment only has televisions in the bedrooms, we decided to look for a venue to watch. Ended up going to The Atlantis mall near the apartment. Apparently, there were a tone of others with the same idea. That place was packed.

Pre-staging our seats

Capuchino from this machine! I need one! That’s not a machine but a work of art!

It got more crowded as time went by.

Trying to get this man to go to sleep but waaaayyyy more fascinated by the plants in the background.

We did get him to sleep BUT…then Colombia scored a goal and that place erupted scoring the crap out of little man. So the noise was too much so I took him for a walk around the mall. But then there was another Colombia goal. It seemed like no matter where I was in the mall, there were groups of people watching the game, each time waking and scaring him senseless. I opted to take him outside for a walk where I sent this selfie intended for Claudia to show he finally fell asleep.

During my walk, I stumbled upon this yellow hat that Nani has been looking for. She actually wanted the black version but this store didn’t have it. So I took this picture to show her. Well, she made me get up right away and take her to the shop where she bought it on her own. Lots of “thank you papi for finding it” along the way. Sure, I let her buy it with her own Colombian Pesos but pretty sure I’ll sneak that money back into her wallet. Don’t tell Claudia though!

I took him up until halftime and finally went back in. We successfully put I’m in his stroller and he fell back asleep. He lasted through a couple more goals but the last one woke him up again and Claudia walked him around. By the way, Colombia won 5-0.

Does anyone else find this funny or am I just a child?

Bogota, part 2 -Return of the Chases

Friday July 5, 2024 -Bogota, Colombia-

Last night was a bit rough. Our peanut has not been sleeping all that well. 4 AM wake-up call. Claudia assisted initially while I prepared a bottle. Then she fed him and I held and rocked him until he fell asleep. He loves my back rubs as my hand about covers his entire body!

Back to bed and then the thunderstorm got rocking. Heavy rain against the roof…you know you love that sound! Needless to say, getting up at 6 was rough. I did get the ship moving though. Packing up the car was not easy. Too much stuff to bring along again. We were packed to the extreme again.

We were scheduled for a meeting at 10 at ICBF adoption agency again today. It was really a stretch getting there on time especially due to the rain and the fog in the mountains was very soupy. The the closer we got to Bogota, the traffic was really terrible. By the way, next time some climate kook gives you crap, ask the to take a trip anywhere outside the US. The exhaust the busses put out is insane. Sounds like we got out of Anapoima just in time. We heard the road in front of our home we stayed in was closed for a good part of the day. Anyway , we were about a half hour late but they took us anyway. There we received Article 23 which was another document finalizing the adoption. Didn’t we just do that yesterday? I guess ICBF needed to triple stamp the judges double stamp. After that we went to the passport office to get that rolling. Were supposed to pick that up Monday. Both these appointments required only one parent so Claudia went in. At ICBF, I stayed outside with the kids. Peanut needed some outside time and we played and he laughed and laughed and laughed. For the passport, they couldn’t get him to smile for the picture so I can’t wait for that.

We were done there around 1pm. We couldn’t check in until 4 so we went to a nearby mall to get out of the car and walk. It was kind of chilly and damp and figured we could find something to eat there and walk around for a bit. It was a pretty cool mall. Only electronics. You name something and I could find you the pirated version there for sure. Only problem was the few things I inquired about, the price would be the same as if I ordered off of Amazon. Peanut and Santi were my partners most of the time. Peanut only wanted to be carried a certain way and when he got his way he was happy? Shop owners were commenting how sweet he was. But truth be told, he was winding down. His naps weren’t all that great and though he made a good effort, it was obvious he wouldn’t be himself today.

Ou AirBNB was only 5 blocks away from that mall which was strategically planned by my wifey-poo. I was honestly winding down too and a few things not worth mentioning made me a bit crabby. No pictures today because our focus was dealing with a crabby peanut all evening. I’ll get better tomorrow. Our place is nice if you like lots of rules. I’ll talk more about that later as well. We’re hoping for some rest tonight but it’s Friday night and we are in a nice part of town with lots of entertainment options which includes the karaoke bar which is apparently pretty close. Not as bad as it sounds but yes, we hear it pretty loud in the distance.

It’s over. He’s ours!

Thursday July 4, 2024 -Anapoima, Colombia-

We had to set an alarm last night before going to bed. This is madness! We got up, had some toast and headed into La Mesa for our court date. We got there with a bit of time to kill so we went to the church for a prayer. Peanut was business casual which means he had to wear shoes. Ok, he didn’t have to but we insisted. I was rolling him around in the stroller and the shoes kept coming off. Eventually, I looked down and he only had one and I had to backtrack to find the other one. I finally gave up.

Before leaving home for our big court date!

Stop by church first

Already working the removal of the shoe

Busted!

Waiting in the courthouse with our lawyer.

The court messed up our name again. The Jr. in my name really causes a problem here. So Andre’s name on his birth certificate and adoption paperwork is; Andre Joseph Chase Jr-Soto. We had the exact same problem with Santi and made the lawyer get it changed. They offered us to stay in La Mesa for 22 more days to get it corrected. As nice as that sounds, I’m ready to move on. We were told there is another way that we will be working.

All done folks. Adoption is complete!

The more official photo at the finish line. Note the complete lack of shoes by our 8-month old. Sneaky!

There were three other families in line with us. We talked to one couple with two biological boys and they were adopting an 8 year old girl from Barranquilla. I won’t complain how long our process was anymore. They were in the process for 5 years and knew about their daughter for two of those years. But there kept being problems with paperwork and COVID also set them back. That couple was from Seattle. Apparently they were talking to another family also from Minnesota but I don’t know that we saw them.right

The afternoon was nice. We needed to hang around La Mesa for some paperwork running around & some random repeated signatures. After about an hour of that we bolted. We had lunch at La Veleño which was on the mountain side between La Mesa & Anapoima. Little dude was crashing pretty quick but a bottle took care of his growing crankiness.

The rest of the afternoon was spent prepping to leave tomorrow morning. Since the car as packed too tight coming here, we opted to ship our biggest heaviest bags to bogota. At $8 each, I might have to do this more often rather than dealing with bags and airport travel.

One last stop in town for some supplies. We needed to replace some of the stuff we used from here. Brought some chicken home for dinner. But, needed to wait for 25 minutes for the food so we went to the church down the block. What do you know! Eucharistic Adoration! We waited for our dinner AND got to spend time with our Lord. Pretty sure my priorities typing this was out of whack but you all know is and our priorities!

Then to top off the night, a thunderstorm put on our own 4th of July celebration!

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An entry from Mariana!

     Pool Day July 3, Nani’s point of view

                             Today was a pool filled day, hence the title.  I woke up and had a delicious breakfast consisting of some fruit salad, biscochos ( kind of like a buttery hard and round cookie  ), and some orange juice. Back to the Biscochos, I call them Cochinitos which translates into “ pigs.” It is very embarrassing when I’m trying to order these in a breakfast place using what I call them and the waitress has no idea what I’m even saying. Anyway, after stuffing ourselves Santi and I got busy packing our bags even though we are leaving on Friday. We jammed to Veggie Tales ( which has become one of our latest and greatest obsession )then we quickly headed over to the soccer court next door and played a bit of a scrimmage. Winner? We have no idea. We thought it was clear that it was time to freshen up in the pool because we were literally melting in the sun. We quickly jumped in and spent the maximum of 45 minutes giggling and beating each other up with the beach ball. There was a game that we invented where someone would stand on the edge of the pool and the other one would stand in front of him or her and throw the beach ball backwards so the person would have to jump and try to catch it. We did this until Santi accidentally hit me in the face when he threw the ball. We got out and took showers before heading to eat lunch. We went through the same routine of eating our meal and feeling like exploding afterwards. Lunch was amazing though. After, we put Andre down, Santi and I goofed around some more in our room waiting for him to get up. At last we heard him, and Papi brought him out. Immediately the whole family got ready to go into the pool and we had a blast for about an hour.  My favorite part was when I would go on Papi’s shoulders and he would launch me into the air. Soon, everyone was exhausted then Santi had to go to Dr. Papi to have a sliver removed from Santi’s big toe.  Don’t worry, he’s fine. The operation was successful.  We got hungry and ate leftovers from lunch with some toast and Arequipe. DELICIOUS! Right now we are watching Desafio. It is a TV show where different teams face each other off in different challenges. Currently, I am at 4 percent battery so I am going to shut down. Goodnight and God bless.

Santi’s summary

Blog entry 6/27 by Santi himself!

Today I woke up to think today going to be a peaceful day so I went to the kitchen to get some crackers and I thought “well It is close to 9:00 so I shall wait till my mom wakes up so I waited for about 10 minutes and then I saw The door open and my mom came out and I said “can I go orange picking” and she said yes ,wait before I go on I am Santi or pickle one or the other call me one of those names or go for the long name Santiago Francis Chase one thing that is wrong I forgot how to spell Francis that is not good to for get one’s name is very weird and embarrassing or if you know her sister Maria caeli would say how embarrassing.I think it took me about 6 minutes to figure out how to spell Francis.So I went orange picking put I only picked up 8 oranges And saraya helps us get orange’s said that was to little to make orange juice so I went out again with the Saraya and we picked like 20 more and we went back to the house and she started making the orange juice when breakfast was ready I had go and tell papi “ it is time to eat “ so when I came in I saw that papi was by Andre crib  and I right away knew that peanut was awake so I went to change his diaper and we went to have breakfast.After breakfast we went up by the pool and that is were I am writing from our day so far and Nani scared of the lady that is coming here to do my moms nails. While the lady was paiting my mom nails Nani a I went to the park that did not go that well let’s just say we fought.And I am writing this a day after this all happened so don’t judge.Please write in the comments.

Pickle out.

We have an appointment!

Wednesday July 3, 2024 -Anapoima, Colombia-

Our time in Anapoima is coming to an end. We have an appointment tomorrow July 4, at 9AM with the judge who will issue the “Sentencia” and then, Andre is forever ours. Can you believe it?

But wait! You said 6-8 weeks! It hasn’t even been a month yet!

Well, this is true and though the sentencia finalizes the adoption, there is still a lot of other things that need to get done before we can go home.

1. Birth certificate- his current birth certificate says his given name. We need one with his new name on it. This could not be done without the Sentencia

2. Colombian passport- same deal. I mentioned in an earlier post that he will be Colombian by Colombian law. So he needs a Colombian passport that says Andre Joseph

3. US visa. Granted, as of 9AM tomorrow, he is also a citizen of the USA. But they do not issue passports here. With the sentencia and the Colombian passport, the VISA that we applied for and were waiting on to travel will be issued to him. That visa requires a picture to be taken and inserted into the visa to allow us all into the US.

4. Hmm, wonder what I’m forgetting….these are the items coming to mind at the moment anyway.

So all said and done, we are probably dealing with this stuff another 1-2 weeks? Guess-timate of course. Our goal is to be in Pereira around July 14.

So, while I sit out here on baby nap monitor mode while the rest of the fam is at the pool, I’ll give a brief re-hash of yesterday. Thank you baby monitor for helping me enjoy outside but still be a marginally effective parent!

This keeps me from having to talk to the authorities about poor parenting.

So with this news, looks like I am skipping yesterday’s post (July 2). Really it was pretty routine. My peanut and I only had one pool session today, BUT, Santi and I get some additional papi / Santi time which was awesome. Last year, we tried but we’re not successful in the papi assist launching of him in the air in the pool. Yesterday? It was spectacular! Our first attempt was probably the best as he almost made a low orbit he got so high. Don’t know what I’m talking about? So under the water, I clasp my hands together and he puts his feet in there. Then, we both squat down, him holding onto my shoulders . On the count of three, we both stand up and I raise my arms launching him not the air. Last year when we tried, he may have been a bit scared and reluctant. NOT TODAY! We had a blast.

Then last night putting him to bed wasn’t great. Claudia went to put him down and he had a big meltdown. Screaming & crying. He was tired but still put up a fight. Claudia fought that battle for a long while. Then I came to provide relief. One thing I notice is when this happens, when I hold him and rubs his back, he ends up burping couple times and then he finally winds down. But it doesn’t make any sense because unless the crying n generating the gas for that burp, I don’t understand. But the past few times this has happened, the burp has been pretty consistent.

Also yesterday was the Colombia vs Brazil match. We arched that of course which ended in a 1-1 tie but more importantly, Brazil HAD to win or be eliminated…they were eliminated! Nobody likes Brazil! At least not in this family.

And now, as I said, I am here sitting outside with the monitor. I snuck over to see the source of all the giggling at the pool. My older ones are having a blast. Goofballs! Inventing silly games.

Claudia in the background doing Claudia things…

Oh, a little clean up of a previous conversation. I mentioned, way back when, about the showers and how we, Americans, consider them “death traps”. We I kept forgetting to take a picture. Well today, I got one of the actual shower head.

Fear not silly gringos!!

This is how it’s done here. Nothing says “get out of the shower” quicker than the electrical wire routed to your shower head. This is your on demand hot water.

It’s not as bad as it seems. Every trip to Colombia, we’ve seen these showers. It is more economical than a traditional water heater. But this is also the reason why this AirBNB is economical for us. There have been posts by adopting families that perhaps have scared other potential renters away. We’re not scared. News flash, the Lord will take me when he is good and ready and if it’s being zapped by my shower head, ok then!

Interesting note about my now youngest son. He absolutely loves the pool, the smiling and giggling is off the charts. I was talking with Claudia and we believe he has already surpassed like level 3 swimming lessons. Our opinion anyway. The problem or drama to this story and that is the fact that we need to get him out of the pool at some point. Now removal isn’t really an issue. We haven’t experienced meltdowns or anything like that. But when we get him back to the room to change him, pants and diaper come off and drying is attempted but peanut has other ideas. Ponce de Leon was the famous explorer who searched for the fountain of youth which allegedly was discovered in St Augustine, FL (where we received Andre’s referral). I cannot say for certain that youth can be found but certainly there is a fountain that flows post pool. This has happened now probably 4-6 times and though we should spect it, it always surprises us. Today, genius writing this post, had a towel over my shoulder expecting le faithfuls eruption, yet I still froze momentarily as it happened! I’m a bit disappointed in myself.

On a positive note, my son does not pee in the pool!

〰️

On a positive note, my son does not pee in the pool! 〰️

Another day, another drama. Our Airbnb in Bogota is giving us crap about our late arrival. We made estimated dates for arrival and now we are showing up a day late…keep in mind, we are paying for the night were missing but now are supposed to pay a “late arrival fee”. Not a good way to start our relationship with these people. I know the amount of time Claudia searched so I don’t want to start over. There are some junky accommodations out there believe me. Despite our statements that we are at the mercy of the government, it made no difference. Let’s see how it goes.

Fun news from home today. I exchanged texts with Mike, the young man we’ve asked to mow lawn and monitor the pool condition. He let me know that he discovered a headless rabbit on our deck. That’s the problem with Excelsior rabbits, their heads just fall off unannounced! Such a nuisance! In reality, I personally believe the neighbors cat, Mona, is making threats against me again. That cat is evil. I do have a picture of the headless rabbit but have opted to leave it off the blog for those who might be sensitive.

Reminder…why are we in Anapoima?

Monday July 1, 2024 -Anapoima, Colombia-

Anyone need a refresher of where and what we’re doing here? It seems like we are on vacation. Not quite the case. Believe me, I am retaining the services of my travel agent (Claudia) who found this nice house for us. Big fan…she is phenomenal!

Outskirts of Bogota. Maybe more remote than I was expecting. This little town I feel like I already have memorized for driving purposes.

The answer to the above question is we are waiting on our court date which has been filed in La Mesa (about a 15 minute drive from here). Remember, we were told the courts work faster here for adoption. Last week we heard it was possible that we might have a July 2 hearing. Well, reality has settled in a bit. Now we are back to our original estimated date of Thursday July 4….but even that has shifted to a “maybe at the end of the day”. I’m not exactly brimming with confidence at this moment. BUT! Again God be praised, we are in a nice place. Kids I think are getting sick of each other. I can understand that. Pool shenanigans probably can get old with your sibling. Still, they’re doing great. Just need to shake it up once in awhile by going for ice cream or other treat. Nani is happy because the Copa America soccer tournament is going on now so she gets to see Argentina & Colombia matches ( her favorite two teams). In truth, Santi I think is tired of watching soccer. We’ll have to find a good movie for him soon.

You know you would if you could…chew on your toe nail!

I’m going to get yelled at later for writing that!

We are doing two-a-days for pool use. At least that is peanut and my plan. He is certainly enjoying his pool time. Big splashing that we call “disorden!!!” With lots of laughing. I’m a bit disappointed I can’t find any pictures of this madness.

Evening can be complicated. Keeping little boy entertained waiting for the correct window of time between bottle & bed. Part of this entrainment was the placing of a peanut in a wind tunnel. He may have enjoyed himself. (Wind tunnel was a floor fan).

This is a crucial time. It doesn’t matter if he has been having the time of his life and it is all smiles & giggling, the second he SEES the bottle with his own eyes, our worlds coming crashing in. The speed between whine to meltdown has yet to be recorded. Amazing. The crash between bottle to bed is record setting as well. Last night, he fell asleep with bottle in mouth and was gently burped, pj’d and put down. Unprecedented action and coordination.

That’ll do it for today I think.

Playing catch-up.

Sunday June 30, 2024 -Anapoima, Colombia-

Stubborn. Best way to describe me when it comes to this blog. At first, before leaving home, I had wanted to bring my laptop but my bride thought that was silly. She was bringing her computer, so why bring mine? She offered me to use hers if I needed. But, we’re here now and several times when I’ve wanted to write, she has been busy on the computer. So I became accustomed to using my iPad. But if I don’t frequently hit save, I’m really pushing my luck. If I accidentally rotated or let it timeout…I lose everything typed all the way to the last time I saved. The lateness of the last post is a perfect example. The ice cream story, I bet I typed, or restarted it, 5 or 6 times. Each time the details of the story suffered. The first one, in my opinion, was waaaay more funny than what I posted. And as I typed now? Claudia’s computer is sitting unused! Stubborn!!!

Hit save! Ok, done!

It was another hot and humid day again. I’m not complaining, this place is beautiful. It’s our first time on this region and following some of the blogs of other families, they’ve been very bored here. Some of this may be our home selection. We’ve had a great time here…but I digress.

We decided to go for a walk today and venture down the street. It’s not a leisurely stroll you’re picturing in your minds. Keep in mind that we are actually in the mountains. The “down the street” is literally DOWN. The grade is very steep to begin. But before we left, I needed to get all geared up. That being said, let’s say hello to “The Soul Crusher”:

This 2024 model “Soul Crusher” (modeled in a soft shade of whisper grey color) is equipped with a special pouch to store what remaining pride, dignity, or manliness the owner/occupant still may have that could have survived even the suggestion of donning such an evil article of fatherhood.

*Author’s note: Any wife that insists on her spouse sporting this travesty should be prosecuted for human rights violations to the full extent of the law.

Installing a child into the soul crusher is no small feat. It’s as if a child, notably a male child senses a disturbance to natural order. There is a high amount of crying, screaming, & thrashing, almost as if his life depended on it. Yet overpowered by his betrayer, in this case his father, he settles into a shameful slump. Looking up at his betrayer, you can see the disdain within his eyes as he glared into the foolish man’s goon-ish smile for a selfie. Absolutely shameful behavior of this supposed father.

You know, I used to make sarcastic comments of people wearing similar devices. Who am I kidding, once I am paroled, I will continue my treacherous ways. But my comments would typically be, “look at that poor soulless man!”. Never really intended to be deragatory. More of an inner silent prayer of support and sympathy. I would see them at the airport , grocery store, sporting events, etc. All I could do is respectfully shake my head and look forward to the toddler years for the man in the device. Now I am that man!

We commenced with the walk. It started with a bang as the steps downward were a bit on the painful. From under the weight of the soul crusher, I reminded my beautiful wife that eventually, we would need to re-scale this mountain but in a worst case scenario, someone would have to get up the hill,get the car, and come back down to get me! I laughed but I think she was too tired of my “soul crusher “ commentary to see any humor.

There are some beautiful houses around here. Down towards the bottom of the hill, the terrain leveled off and I did get a few pictures.

Removed from the soul crusher as it was too hot and humid for that madness.

Squatting pickle doing picklish things.

Oh my! Look at those mangoes growing over the fence! We got permission from the caretakers to help ourselves. We now have mango overload

Kind of like the fence we’d like on our Colombian property someday. Also villa Mariana was too cool to pass up.

*This was the same house that had an arsenal of about ten dogs released on us as a warning to Not approach the gate. Not really “released” but maybe. I can just see Mr. Burns from the Simpson’s saying “Release the hounds!”

Yesterday was Sunday…therefore mass! We opted for evening mass for various reasons. That town was still nuts. Church was packed and sweaty! I dropped everyone off in front and went to park. Well in that time the spot they saved for me was lost so I stood at one of the side doors about 4 rows behind my family. All was well until I was spotted by a now 8-month old. Smiling, laughing, and flailing his hands around I assure you weren’t distracting to anyone. I may have enjoyed it. I too,this picture after the thrill was apparently gone. I still had to rescue mami at some point because he couldn’t handle me back there unsupervised. Little turd!

Spotted !

After mass we went for ice cream. Wonderful! However I have a complaint about Colombia. My daughter ordered a banana split. Seems reasonable right? (In my best Backstreet Boys karaoke)

“Tell me why” it came out with shredded cheese all over it? “Tell me why!” You’d put cheese on ice cream! “I’ve never heard anybody say , that they want it that way!”. The is a grotesque outrage and Colombia should be banned from ice cream imports immediately!

Ok, better day today.

Saturday June 29, 2024-Anapoima, Colombia-

Kids were up early and wanted to pool. So while we were enjoying our morning coffee, they were already in the pool. Peanut wasn’t even up yet! No worries, my son who would be freezing in a sauna came back probably 10-15 minutes later cold and done with the pool. The big one was close behind. Weirdos!

Well I talk about all the smiles we get to see in the morning. Today wasn’t as dramatic as other days but still a taste. Funny, Santi has a sense when I’m getting peanut up and just show up. He always wants to change the diaper. I love his effort.

Once peanut was up and we had breakfast, he wound down pretty quick for his nap. I don’t think he slept well last night. We heard a lot of whining and thrashing around. So an early nap wasn’t too surprising. But while he was down, Claudia & I went to the pool and left the kids monitoring the house. The water was beautiful and we were out there for quite a while, in fact, until peanut was done with his nap. Just a lot of mami papi time in the pool. Fixing the world, ya know?

For lunch, we had pre decided to go into town. Formula was low as well as a few other things. Today was probably the most peaceful meal we had with peanut. We kept him in his stroller and he was content drinking water while we ate. We had a bottle with formula prepped for him but wanted to hold off as long as he wasn’t fussing. One great advancement of our peanut today…he held his bottle on his own. That was a huge step forward. Lunch was good. A picture of Claudia’s fried fish just for my mother. Yes, they look back at you but really good!

Wha t you think ma!!! How’s that look? Ugh, so good!

Things were going great. We ended up giving him his bottle and all seemed well until Claudia looked down at the stroller. Lil dude had a severe blowout of his pants! The mess, for lack of better appropriate words, oozed out of his onesie and on to his stroller. Claudia and the kids took off to the car to address the mess while I handled the bill. Honestly, I ended up with the better end of that deal. When I got to the car, he was sprawled out in the hatch back of thencar and serious deep cleaning was happening. Pretty sure Clau was ready to call do a Bio-Hazard team to come take over. Epic, there was poo everywhere! Santi was selected (before I arrived) to clean up the stroller. I wish I could have seen it because he has dry heaving and making a big production. People on the street were apparently laughing at him. I need those videos!

We are currently accepting applications for a “Diaper bag proper”. We are considering moving on from our current employee due to differences in opinion over what a “change of clothes” should be and whether climate should a a consideration. The “blow out catastrophe” as we now call it highlights a problem we’ve had with our current employee. The outside temps yesterday were around 85F with a relatively high humidity. This was evidence by all the people walking around town in swim suits taking a break from their pools. The duty position entails ensuring the bag is packed with adequate number of diapers commensurate with how long we will be out, wipes for cleaning disasters, cream o prevent rashes, and a change of clothing. Though contractually, our employee met the terms we will argue he was wreckless in his clothing selection. Santi has been demoted to stroller guy until his skill level advances.

For the remainder of the day, peanut was diaper man…not quite “Captain Underpants” or “Peter pant-less”. He was supposed to stay in the car with me while Claudia and Nani went to the grocery store to finish our initial purpose for going into town. That probably took longer than it should because it was a holiday and it was nuts in town. When they finally came back to the car, Claudia whispered in my ears that she wanted to stop for “Oblea”, a little treat before going back home. Oblea is a thin wafer cookie for lack of a better word. These were about 6 inches in diameter and they spread Arequipe between two wafers. Arequip is like a very smooth and creamy Carmel with a consistency of a soft butter. Very delicious. The shop we stopped at made everything fresh. So the wafers were made on site along with the arequipe. Looked awesome but the kids opted for ice cream which makes me question their upbringing. They made poor choices. There was however a bit of magic discovered in this ice cream fiasco. Our little peanut, who we struggle with him eating anything, discovered the joys of ice cream! At first, he grimaced in reaction to the cold but after a moment, it was like a piraña attack. What a mess as the picture below will attest to!

At first, a bit reluctant but in the end….

It made his hair stand up on end!

By the way, it as wonderful going for an early evening swim. Though the mosquitoes did go on the offensive, it was still a nice relaxing time with mami. Our time in the pool was short due to the notion that we started to suspect that the mosquitoes had access to snorkels and were coordinating a counter offensive. We left before that could happen.

So nice with remnants of the sunset in the distance.

For my Catholic homies, June 29th, any guesses what national holiday was being celebrated? The Feast of St. Peter & St. Paul! Isn’t that absolutely amazing! I wish we had something like that at home. So awesone! Oh yeah, because the holiday falls on a Saturday, no work on Monday. Ok, by Colombian standards this seemed just like a reason to party a bit but from what I have noticed in my close relationship with Colombia culture over the past 24-years, they don’t seem to need much reason to party.

We need to create our own holiday at home instead of the ridiculous “month” society is currently celebrating, we should celebrate “Sacred Heart of Jesus” month and wear Sacred Heart colors…bumper stickers on our cars! Same with May, Virgin Mary month, blue & white flags and everything! What a better world it would be.

Fantastic!!!

My children are bored

Friday June 28, 2024-Anapoima, Colombia-

I remember when I was a kid and I would say that I was bored. I’m not sure how it worked in your house but in mine, my dad had one typical response; “I’ll find something for you to do.” Let me tell you, that seldom worked to my advantage. I also remember him telling me that. “I wish I could be bored.” Well, my wife heard that from my oldest yesterday. I also got to see it in my son’s face last night. The presidential debate was on and he was disgusted that the tv was on and not for his pleasure. This “boredom” comes from my children’s lack of imagination. This place has so many options for entertainment that they wear it out and need to be handheld towards fun. Unfortunately, they have become accustomed to a screen being on in their face whether a kindle or iPad or the tv. When the do “play together”, they get irritated with each other. My irritation level is rising. It might be time to ground from their screen time.

See what I mean? To much screen time. I’m not innocent either.

It’s funny, when I would tell people how long we were going to be in Colombia, the looks I would get were priceless. There is a perception that this is just a long vacation. Well, we wish. There has been a lot of learning on our parts about the intricacies of our 7-month old. We’ve made some mistakes by having him out too late and my lovely children have witness that. It is actually a welcome break to NOT have to leave the house. Staying with a relatively boring routine is actually pretty awesome. At least until we can more accurately see what makes our little boy tick. And this has been all too common with Nani & Santi as well. I really don’t think those outside the family circle can see that, no offense to those of you trying to make sense of it.

on a positive note, they both love playing with little dude.

Little man still is a struggle getting anything beyond his bottle in his mouth. Lunch and dinner tend to have lots of tears and spitting food out of his mouth. We have got the bottle with juice in his mouth, that has been ok but beyond that? Good luck at this point?

Although this exchange video is pretty cute!

Another interesting fact we’ve learned since arriving.

Thursday June 27, 2024-Anapoima, Colombia-

Today it has been 2-weeks since we received Andre. Time has flown by. A couple comments made that are nice to hear:

• Daniela when we had our meeting with her for the first social worker meeting said, “he hs grown”. I kind of blew that off because for her it had been 4-days. Whatever

• But today, some of the workers here at the airbnb said that yes he has grown and got a bit more chunky as well has having a more healthy color. It was a compliment that I took as he is blending in very well with our family.

His sleeping has improved. He goes to bed sometime between 8-9 depending on the fussing. He really likes hanging out with the big people and puts up a fight now and then. He sleeps through the night now and wakes up somewhere between 7-9 am. Sometimes he sits in his bed and babbles and plays. We let him do that for a while then come to get him. No need for lights because his smile lights up the room.

Interesting fact of the day

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Interesting fact of the day 〰️

As stated earlier in our blog, when we first received the referral for Andre, he did come with the potential for a medical condition. More specifically, a genetic condition called Cru Di Chat. Much like a majority of you all reading this, we’d never heard of it. We spent the night of our referral googling, reading, and YouTubing. Then, more importantly, praying. And more praying. It was a late night. We knew the possibility existed that we might be asked to deal with special needs. We asked if the genetic test had been done yet. It had not and would take something like 8 weeks to get the results back(my memory is foggy with the timeline). Ultimately, we put it in the Lord’s hands. He knows what he’s doing, right? Our talk was whether we were willing to give up our plans, no matter how big, to care for a child with this condition. The answer was yes! If it is God’s will, his plan for us, what good are our plans anyway? Scripture says that God laughs at the plans on men…(I paraphrase). So, you know the rest of the story. We put our hopes and trust in God and accepted the referral. It was never a question of live. Andre was going to receive his abundance of love plus more than he bargained for. The question was of our capabilities. We didn’t need if we had the strength, knowledge, capability, resources, you name it. Were we prepared? What about Nani & Santi? How would they react with all the attention that we would give Andre? We decided to accept the referral and then the prayer REALLY started! Oh boy, we had a genetic test out there that was going to show us how our child was. What the future looked like in some regards. My prayers sounded Very much like this”

“ “St. Joseph?! You advocated for us and we don’t know what we’re getting into. But much like you, St. Joseph, you didn’t know what you were getting into with saying “Yes” to your calling. Not comparing our situation to yours, but you know that feeling I’m certain. Help us to accept whatever Gods will is for us. And…it sure would be nice to get a healthy negative result with the test! Just sayin’.””

— W. Chase

Lets not forget our prayers to the Mother of Mothers, the Virgin Mary. And yes, without a doubt, my prayers directly to my Lord and Savior whose will I only want to follow. These prayers were a constant. Every time we’d stop in the chapel…anywhere. In Eucharistic adoration, I would bring up a picture of Andre on my phone and face it towards the monstrance containing our Blessed Savior and pray “ Lord, this is the little boy you’ve given us. Immediately, we have given him back to you. We dedicate him to you Lord that he may serve you in whatever calling you have for him. Make hm healthy and help us to joyfully accept all that you have in store for our lives. We love you and want nothing but to do your will.”

Wow, I ramble a lot but I tell you what…I’m in the zone!

The interesting fact that we learned was that we were told that Andre had been offered to multiple other families prior to being referred to us. Colombia makes every effort to keep children in Colombia but adoption is something not all that common here and tentatively accepted. So I suppose, with the potential genetic issues that were looming, families dismissed the potential challenges related to the potential issues. Then they called us.

God is SO great!

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God is SO great! 〰️

Our God is providential, isn’t He? First they lose our Dossier for who knows how long, then we get referred a child with potential genetic problems that other families are afraid to accept…..then the Lord provides a clean bill of health! So awesome!

Santi’s summary

Tuesday June 25, 2024-Anapoima, Colombia-

What a nice surprise. My big man, Santi, decided to do a post for me. I thought he did great. Thank you bud. I also love that he ended his post with his patented; “Pickle Out!” I love it!

His summary was great. One thing not captured was how hot and humid it was. I don’t know, it was only 85 degrees but it was a two times in the pool day. The house has a big floor fan which really moves the air around but it comes at a price, it is super loud. In this house, only the bedrooms are air conditioned. Today, I am extremely grateful for the pool.

While peanut was down for a nap, Claudia and the kids went to the sitting area around the pool. Mariana worked out with mami if she read for 1.5 hours in Spanish, she could watch the argentina v chile soccer game tonight. Huh! Win - win-win! She loves to read anyway…she gets her soccer game…and we have our kids reading in their leisure time. Unforced! No fighting! So awesome! Santi too. Unfortunately, his Spanish isn’t to his grade level so he is a little bored with his books but we have found some that he is ok with. Me? I got to read a few chapters of my “Still Breathing” book. Also got to put on the headphones and listen to music.

Fast forward, pool session 2. Nani had been wanting to wail on her mom at ping pong for a couple days now but it hasn’t worked out. Little dude missed his afternoon nap because he woke up so late from the morning nap. We put him in the stroller and essentially rocked him to sleep. He was cranky missing that nap. He drifted off and Nani had a chance to take on her mother. I had the opportunity to slide back into the pool and watch the sunset. Man that was so nice and relaxing. Took a few pics risking fumbling into the pool. Still, very nice so bear with me.

My feet in the picture. Apparently a theme.

Beautiful

Not knowing he is being watched.

Here is my soccer nerd getting to watch the Argentina vs Chile game. 0-0 at the 74 minute mark. Good game so far.

but I think that’ll be a wrap for the night. To tell the truth, I wouldn’t mind going back out to the pool for round 3.

Good night.

The water fight

Though this has my name as “ written by”, I have been encouraging my family to participate. Santi used voice to text which is phenomenal! Thank you bud,

Tuesday June 25, 2024-Anapoima, Colombia-

Hi,I am Santi Thought it would be pretty cool to write in the blog and to help with the blog, but I have a little story to tell after a delicious breakfast. We headed over to the pool and we had The biggest water fight I’ve ever had in Colombia this trip. I was on the USS peanut and Nani and Papi in the water, I thought I had the USS peanut as an advantage because I could use it as a shield, but it didn’t work that well because when I got on the USS peanut, then Nani would go right and flip me over and then I would splash her back and then she would flip me again and yeah, it wasn’t that big of a advantage but it helped a little.

The battle

After lunch, we’re going over to the ping-pong table and play ping-pong. I think Papi beat me 20 to 22 and then after that he went to go put peanut to bed and mami and I played ping-pong match. We didn’t really play. We just did It just for fun.

well, I’m thinking I’m done.

pickle out!

Hum drum Monday

Monday June 24, 2024-Anapoima, Colombia-

Hum drum? Not really. Just hanging out here at the house again. Seriously, I have no complaints. This could be for me a vacation and to just come and plop.

Peanut was up at 7:30. Not bad. This day would not prove to be one of his best days though but started pretty well. We were up for well over an hour before the kids got up. Lil’ dude just sat on the couch closely guarded by me. He sat contented playing with his various toys. My lovely bride sat on her computer taking care of various real life stuff; bill paying and scheming future shenanigans. She’s so good at that stuff. You all have no idea what I’m talking about but she is always looking opportunities for advantages for the family. She’s a treasure but don’t anyone ever tell her I said so.

The kids finally got up and we started breakfast. Hey, remember the pictures of OJ prep? We, it was so awesome yesterday, we did it again today. Yup, still awesome! I’m the designated orange picker (tall) and it’s a job I embrace.

After breakfast, lil’ dude started to deteriorate. Very crabby and needed a nap way earlier than anticipated. This trend continued all day. While he was down, Nani & Santi hit the ping pong table. I headed over and they were mid game so I plopped and read a couple chapters of my book. Next thing I know, I look up and those weirdos are gone! No challenge or anything. I guess they e decided they’re done with me. Headed back to the house only to find them putting their swim suits on. I had crappybwifi at the pool so I opted to catch up on the blog. By the time captain peanut woke up and was ready for pool adventures, the older putzes were all worn out and cold from being in the pool. Huh!!! So they came back and me and my dude went swimming. Tried something new that he handled really well. I remember from the other kids swimming lessons the holding their hands on the outside of the pool, counting to three and then “jumping” in the pool completely submersing him. He did great. Did that maybe 4 or 5 times but enough was enough. He was so calm. No pics since I was the only one there. As a matter of fact, not many pictures today at all. Hmm, guess we were busy with other junk.

Took this one this morning. Rained last night again. I thought it was pretty with the drops.

Just this kind of day. Santi is on the couch with an iPad playing “Chess Kid” and Mariana was in her room reading her kindle. I was blogging, and a little bit of reading while peanut was sleeping.

I just enjoy the pool too much. Maybe it’s the palm trees? Note, plant palm trees by our pool at home. Kidding! It probably doesn’t look like it but it was super hot and humid. I didn’t find relief until I got in the pool later that afternoon with Captain Peanut.

so the peanuts nap went late. It was like 5:30 and he was still out. We got him up and I guess things were fine. He wasn’t in the mood for anything. We ran a rotation of playing with him until he got sick of us. Colombia was playing Paraguay in the Copa de America tournament. So the tv was on and we were loving it. Of course he got freaked out for every Colombian goal because mami screams like a crazy woman and scared him. Even the close calls, offensive and defensive she still was crazy. I don’t blame Andre. She scares me too sometimes. Colombia won btw 2-1. But Andre never really recovered from that. He screamed throughout dinner. He didn’t want anything, food or anyone holding him. He got his final bottle and mercifully went to bed. His screeching in my ear physically hurt. It was a rough night for all involved. BUT, I am sure my family has had to deal with a crabby papi on occasions and they still tolerate me…I think. I think he is entitled to a rough night.

just sayin’.

The rest of the night? Well, I’m laying on the couch typing and jamming to some music. Claudia and kids are playing some board game at the table that seems to be get aggressive. I decided to take a pass on games tonight for you all! Now don’t you all feel special?

The calm in the eye of the storm.

Bad day or not, still our sweetheart.

Brothers!!!

To all my homey’s at the 133rd who are playing war games, my heart is with you all and don’t mean to rub in my absence with these posts.

Kick some tail team!

Interesting Informational note

Adoption Public Service Announcement

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Adoption Public Service Announcement 〰️

So I’ve been holding on to this for a few days debating whether I should say anything. I don’t want to disparage anyone or the agency here. I decided to comment so others who may be outside our circle of friends who may be looking for information on adoption might learn.

We learned, while in Bogota, just during a casual conversation with one of the FANA representatives that our dossier was “lost” on “ forgotten about”. The rep stated they had never experienced anything like that before. We were only rediscovered when an inquiry came in for a status check on our case.

We found this odd since we would touch base with our agency back home on a monthly basis or even our inquiries regarding children with special needs on the website. Not sure how we were forgotten but we were.

Now, this explains why the process took sooooo loooong! We certainly are an exception to the timeline which honestly should have been around 2-years start to finish….

…but you know what?! We believe in a providential God. We gave our lives over to his will in this process & have trusted him without reservations (at least we’ve prayed for the trust with no reservations because it doesn’t & hasn’t always come naturally). It has been scary quite frankly. But God had this little boy designed/designated for our lives. God is good…He is great…He is Awesome.

So for those in the process, call for updates…frequently. Be the squeaky wheel. Nobody in this process can advocate for your family better than you. And always, pray without ceasing. And personal advice based on personal experience, include St. Joseph in your prayers. I’m telling you, 2 of our 3 adoptions (probably all 3 but as a silent advocate), he has been a key figure and advocate for us.

Sunday at the finca

Sunday June 23, 2024-Anapoima, Colombia-

Since we went to mass yesterday, we got to enjoy a little sleeping in. We’ve been at the mercy of peanut of course but today the conditions were right. 8:30 I believe was wake up time. Of course, we may have exhausted him yesterday with all the running around we did. But an after thought was “when is the right time for him to go to mass?” Sundays, his “morning nap lines up around 10-1100. Well that’s our prime church time right there! Might I need to consider waking up early?! This is madness!!! I’m pretty sure we’ll get it worked out. We are looking forward to get him home. He needs to be Baptized. Father Carlson is on notice. Priority #1 for us. We briefly considered down here but opted for at home at our home parish instead. Home.

Kind of a lazy day. Slow moving breakfast. I went out to the yard to get some mandarins to squeeze for juice. The picture below isn’t ver reminiscent of the oranges harvested…these are a bit too green. Man that juice is so good though!

Time for a harvest, at least for breakfast.

A little better idea. Much more orange than I showed you on the tree

To the kitchen….

To the old school squeezer… ( how’s that similac on the counter look?)

To the pie hole! So good!

That last blog post took me forever to put together. Seriously, I was about to toss the iPad into the pool. I would type the accidentally touch the screen and lose what I had done. I did that several times. Or put the iPad down and it would time out. I kept forgetting to save when I needed to step away. I’m so bad at this!

It rains off and on all day. When the rain stopped, the humidity got spicy. Ideal conditions between showers for some pool time.

When the pool is in sight? He is a pain and keeps inching and reaching for it.

Though the facial expression doesn’t show it, he is thrilled

This pool visit was without shenanigans. Mami is a waaaay better parent than I could be. Today was peaceful gentle movements on the water. Absolutely no screaming or pirate voices. Good for her! Maybe there is some hope for stability for Andre after all.

Leftovers for lunch which is just fine. The only fresh addition was some empeñadas that we picked up in town yesterday. Peanut has been crushing the orange juice. Nothing else though. We try food in th3 mouth and it pops back out moments later. It been challenging for sure.

Sunday night there was a new Chosen episode on so we popped some popcorn and plopped. Great episode but sometime in the middle, another creature invaded our home.

Fat & Furry but not too fast. I put Santi’s shoe for some scale. It was big but I’ve seen bigger. He was an easy catch. We rolled up towels and put the at the bottom crack of the door. After the kids went to bed, this guys little brother came scootering through. Not nearly as big but he put up a big fight. I think that one had a thousand legs that moved insanely fast.

We survived. That’s about it for tonight though.

A Saturday afternoon in La Mesa

Saturday June 22,, 2024 -Anapoima, Colombia-

A day of hanging out here at home would’ve been nice but important business needed to be done; restocking the fridge! I mean the trees provide plenty of fruit for orange juice but, more is needed than that. Morning came and went, what has become a typical day with peanut. Lots a smiling in the morning then after breakfast, he starts to wind down for his “after breakfast nap”. Sweet schedule! We devised a plan that once he woke up, we’d jump into the car to go to town, saving his bottle until we were sitting at a table for lunch. Holding him over till then was his bottle of fresh squeezed mandarin juice which we recently discovered he loves! Our plan worked pretty good though we did not leave in the timely manner we planned.

Goofing off with peanut as he starts to drift off into his mid-morning -nap-gaze.

Then my children got a hold of my iPad and decided to bully their old man papi.

It was a good time during his nap. We even all did some reading. Good stuff.

A little family reading and quiet time.

On the way into town, on the side of the road, I saw a huge snake and pointed it out to Claudia, who then screamed. By huge, remember I’m a Minnesota boy, it was probably 5-6 feet long…and had its share of food in its life as it was a pretty chunky thing. To be honest, and don’t judge, my reaction was to try and run it over with the car. Just being honest! It was almost like instinct. Don’t worry, I didn’t get it. There were two bicycles about 100 feet behind us riding that direction. I only tried to save their lives! The kids didn’t get to see it. I yelled snake and Santi looked out his back window on the wrong side and Nani was playing with peanut in the car seat. Sorry, no pictures. It happened fast.

In town we went to a restaurant called “Fire Moon” that was pretty highly rated. It was ok. Not sure I’d go back because of all the different options. Our plan worked pretty good for peanut. Well behaved during lunch. Man, you’ve got to pay attention to those little hands! He has no interest in the things you bring to entertain him, he wants everything else. The things you bring? Well, he loves the “dump n chase” game. He dumps stuff on the floor and you chase it to pick it up. He’s a natural at that game.

After lunch, we had about 45-minutes to kill before mass. We went to a little grocery store across the street and personally, I was a bit disappointed. We had a list but this place had so little of what we needed. Don’t be offended for those who like it but me? I do NOT like going to Aldi at home. They never have everything you may need so you need to make another stop. It was just like that. So we got SOME of our stuff but another stop was going to be required. We went to mass at Santa Barbara. This was the main, “newer church “ that was built off of the older one that I shared pictures before.

“Newer “. Built in 1910.

Well, we didn’t exactly get to sit together again. Little peanut is so awesome but we need to get him “church broken”. Too much fussing so Clau stayed in the back with him then when time came to receive the Eucharist, we switched and I was in the back. He wasn’t a crabby peanut, just restless. I got hi, outside, threw him up in the air, looks him in the eye and said “ that’s it, now I’m going to bite you!” and procedded to bite and blow making noises on his belly. The screaming laughter was hilarious. Thank goodness I had stepped outside the church. Lots of giggling (and drooling). Fun times. I’ve come to realize that I am associated with goofball stuff and why he smiles. It’s what I do.

After mass, a quick stop for ice cream which I had built up in my mind how peanut would like it. It was if I fed him a worm! Scrunched up his face and spit it out. In fairness, I chose my ice cream poorly and didn’t like it myself. But, there is time to familiarize my son with the finer things in life which ice cream would be one of those things.

Note: we’re pretty sure he has never really had anything cold served to him before.

A previously not mentioned low tire was concerning my wife so we needed to check it out. She had mentioned it a few days earlier but I dismissed it as the car parked awkwardly making it look low. But when someone else noted it may be low, I was time to act or I wouldn’t hear the end. My initial thought was to just add air but my lovely bride wanted a real inspection at a tire place. I was less than thrilled with that idea thinking of what I would do at home; add air and monitor. There was nothing obvious wrong upon visual inspection but she insisted. We stopped by a shop across the street from the grocery store so she took my big one, Nani to get a head start on that. I had my lil men with me. Peanut fell asleep in the car so he was a non-factor. The mechanic:

• Removed the tire from the car

• Inspected the tire with soapy water and found bubbles coming from a tiny hole

• Disassembled the when and tire

• Identified hole from the inside of the tire.

• Dug out of the hole a sheared screw that wasn’t visible on the outside.

• Prepped and installed a patch, reassembled wheel and tire

• Installed on my car

• Serviced remaining tires

Any guesses what that cost me? Cost of living is so awesome down here! Side story, the day before we left on this trip, our schedule was packed. We were so busy trying to get out of town, I discovered a nail in the tire of my car home. The mighty CRV for the secon time in like 4 months picked up a nail. I dropped it off at the closest Midas to my home and the repaired the tire. Same thing, removed nail and installed a patch. That cost me, if I remember correctly, $58. Cost here?

1. 10000 pesos ($2.50)

2. 20000 pesos ($5)

3. 40000 pesos ($10)

4. 60000 pesos ($15)

5. 80000 pesos ($20)

The correct answer is 20000 pesos. $5! Ugh! I’m never going to hear the end of this from my sweet bride!!! Verbally, I refuse to acknowledge her correct thoughts on the matter. Never! Kidding, good call amor!

WARNING! Near death story of the day!

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WARNING! Near death story of the day! 〰️

Grocery shopping behind us, we headed home. It was kind of late. We never intended on staying out that late with little dude, it just happened. Peanut down to bed and attempting to get the big ones down, Nani came running out of the room, “there is a huge spider in our room! Big and furry!” Having rescued my family from a deadly showdown with what I suspect was a tarantula one other time before, I sprung into action. Ok! In reality I slowly stood up to avoid getting a head rush or throwing my back out, sauntered outside to get broom and dust pan and headed to the room to evaluate the situation. No stranger with certain death, I cautiously entered the room. There he was! Oh yeah, it was big! The hair ( one only) on my back stood on end and I felt a lump in my throat as me and the spiders eyes met! It wasn’t as big as the tarantula we encountered a few years ago in Santa Rosa (which ended with no casualties but with me sweeping the cute fella onto a dust pain and taking him for a walk to a wooded area to be released back into the wild). Still, this beast was probably 4-inches in diameter sitting on the floor. It would have sat nicely in the palm of my hand if I were insane enough to try something like that. If I were to have hunted it, it would have been worthy of a mount over my fireplace but I digress. The difference between the tarantula and this beast was…this thing had wheels! It was quick with uncanny dexterity and it did NOT want to be taken alive! I don’t know what I was thinking. I should have taken a picture before the battle began. I moved into action. I proceeded to sweep it off the wall and it came charging after me! Ok, I may have not appeared very “manly” trying to evade this creature. Wearing flip flops and I’m convinced he was eyeballing my big toe like some luscious grape or something. I put on some great moves worthy of a dance competition to evade the Arachne-onslaught. I broke into some sort of combination of Russian style kick dancing, Irish river dance, and a ballerina from a scene from “The Nut Cracker”. My children having already deserted me in a time of need, left me for dead to be eaten by this alienesque creature, which I have now affectionately named Dwight. Alas, with devilish dexterity, Dwight darted past me and headed for a seemingly certain escape under the bed but was thwarted by the forward thinking broom toting flip-flop wearing dancing hero who placed a last line of defense in front of the “under bed” boundary prior to battle. Feeling certain pressure of the pursuit, the grotesquely intimidating nimble arachnid, Dwight, attempted to take refuge under one of my daughter’s old abused Adidas tennis shoes. This was a pivotal moment & critical error on his part in this battle. How could he have known that : A). He was too fat to fit in the area he wanted to hide. B). He could never have anticipated the noxious odor & toxic fumes that would overwhelm his senses. C). The disorientation he would experience by the proximity of the shoe entrance. One final note I believe is pertinent, I could swear I heard a tiny dry heave as he staggered out from under the shoe. Having closed the gap and taking full advantage of his disoriented condition, I swept him into my dust pan and hastily departed the bedroom He played dead, or at least he was on the verge of death from oxygen deprivation. Here he lay, victim to something my home has become all too familiar with; toxic Adidas. I respectfully carried this valiant warrior out of the house to an area of shelter, an of recovery. You fought with great nobility Dwight. I salute you!

The drama was over but not without a last minute search under the children’s beds for whatever evil may lurk. That night, Mariana would sleep on the top bunk with Santi. Big chicken!

Dwight. Near death but once out in fresh air, he ran for the hills!

Relaxing day #2: ping pong & pool

Friday June 21, 2024 -Anapoima, Colombia-

Repeat. Much like yesterday. The kids ( our big ones) were all excited for challenging the adults at ping pong. So competitive! Breakfast first though and they went to “warm up” while the adults dealt with the smallest one. Peanut was a bit fussy again. I think he was up 3 times last night. He has no tolerance for a wet diaper so that’s always an easy one. He was also congested so we needed to give him some nose drops to help clear him up. There were also som psych birds outside raising a racket across the compound. I told Claudia that Colombian owls are stupid because they don’t even slightly resemble a “HOOO!”. I don’t know what kind of teradactyl birds those were but they hang out in groups and they don’t sound very bright. I’ll see if I can’t get a recording of these geniuses communicating for future posts.

Ugh, this is an amazing place to plop. I maaaaayyyyy have fallen asleep in the shade yesterday after everyone went back in the house. Only thing out there was me and the birds chirping…not the psycho ones from last night!

Yeah, so the kids went to get the ping pong table warmed up but after breakfast, lil dude is in the habit of taking another nap after only being up for a couple hours. I don’t remember this schedule with my other monkeys but, ok.

Claudia went up with them to abuse them on the ping pong table and they all went in the pool. I sat back & plopped and read a new book that I’ve just started that a friend of our wrote.

Eugene Fournier’s “Still Breathing”. I’m about a quarter into it and really enjoying it. It’s about a widow who gets a “calling from God”. I put quotes around it because of her uncertainty that it is God that’s calling to this far fetched mission to Uganda to help a school set up a library. Honestly, I’ve been having trouble putting it down. Easy read and very smooth.

Our friend Fournier’s book. Good stuff.

Anyway, by the time peanut woke up, everyone was coming back to the house. Never mind, I got his suit on, bottle warmed, and we head up. Unfortunately, peanut & I were only in the pool for 5-minutes and we were called to lunch. Bummer! After lunch, nap time for the lil dude but he LOVES that water! The afternoon we’d try it again.

But we took advantage of nap time to wreck my kids at ping pong. Actually, Nani beat me 2 of 3 to be champ. THEN Santi challenged us him against a Nani -Papi team and took us down to the wire! I think we won 21-19. He has been doing really good. There are no pictures of these beat downs thank goodness. In my match with Nani, I may have run to her side of the table to tackle and beat her up. Lots of screaming and laughing. She had it coming because that 14-year old gets pretty lippy.

then, next thing you know, time passed and peanut was up and made a cameo at the ing pong table.

Look at the focus and determination in lil man’s eyes! Is “Eye of the Tiger” playing in anyone else’s head?

Bottle down and it was the return of Andre the Cranky,, Captain of the USS Peanut (the star of this blog) in the pool combatting his nemesis, the much feared & maligned Curly Haired Pickle-Shark, Santi the Horrific (who we coaxed back into the pool for these battles).

Epic battles were waged with splashing and giggling. There’s no laughing in sea battles!!!!! Kids! Pfft! They don’t know how to do it!

Don’t trust the pickle shark smile. He’s vicious! But the calm cool demeanor of Captain Andre is smoldering & intense. Unblinking and resolute! These battling nemesis’ will have a lifetime of adventure together! The dork in the middle is only a facilitator of shenanigans and has a non-speaking role in the picture.

But how quickly these battles are it out of a man. Fun was had but all good times shall end, interupted again by required naps. Andre and I headed back into the house to rest for another battle another day. We’ll see you again you fierce curly haired pickle-shark!

Due to the rain last night (oh, yeah, it rained last night and resolved our drying laundry), but now there are more mosquitoes. This evening will be spent indoors. As I type, I’m surrounded by my gorgeous family listening to music. Mami is paying bills and doing that type of fun stuff and you know what I’m doing…the kids are on the floor playing with the peanut.

My princess really loves this little boy! Great helper!

How’s this for live action photo. My feet in the shot? You’re welcome but with authenticity, there is always some ugliness & truth.

After this post is published, back to my book. Thanks Mr. Fournier!

Free day…how very nice!

Thursday June 20, 2024 -Anapoima, Colombia

Today is 1-week that Andre came into our home.

There were NO appointments and NO commitments today! That is so amazing. Other than a couple early morning screaming sessions for wet diapers..and I may have caved and prepared a bottle. I got in trouble for that move.

Breakfast around 9:00 and then out into the beautiful day. A bit hot and humid but not too hot for a little ping pong. Yes, a wild brawl of ping pong madness!

After that, we slid into the pool. Not aware 5hat Andre has ever been in a pool, or really even a bathtub. But let me tell you, he was all about it . Splashing & Todo desorden!

He didn’t really like me putting that suit on him but, it worked out obviously.

Scratches on his nose. Time to cut the finger nails.

And, we’ll this picture for obvious reasons

Apparently, I only have pre & post pool pictures. I’ll have to see if Claudia has some from in the pool.

Easy night at home. Little dude was in bed by 8. The family ate some leftovers or whatever we had in the fridge and watched Argentina beat Canada in the Americas cup tournament and the latest Chosen episode. Then bed time. What a great day. Relaxing finally. Tomorrow should be much of the same.