Family Fun at the Ocean

Friday, October 22

We took advantage of our final days in Peru and headed for warmer weather and a beach. Before we left for Paracas we took a tour of Lima and spent a little bit of time at the water park. Lilyanna loved all of the lights!!! We went with a tour on the Mirabus so we didn't have as much time as we wanted to have. I think we'll head back to the water park one more time before returning to the States. It was beautiful...and very romantic ;)

We left for Paracas at 3:00 am on Wednesday morning. It was a four hour bus ride and Lilyanna slept the whole way.

 Once in Paracas we headed for our hotel and then straight for the dune buggies and sand boarding. The dunes were our favorite part of Paracas....besides the warm weather, sun shine, and absolutely georgeous beach!

 A little video from our dune buggy experience:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDLA5wiIaiI

We were very spoiled! Our hotel room had a walk out balcony to the pool and beach front. The pictures just don't do it justice.

We had a very nice couple of days. We are back in Lima now spending the rest of our time with family and friends. It's hard to believe that our time here in Peru is almost over. Only a few more days and we will be home!

Love and hugs to you all!

Fun!

Tuesday, October 19

Today was another fun day!!! We went shopping, shopping, shopping!!! It was a bit cold so we found this super cute ear warmer for her. We just have a hard time resisting her cuteness :)

After shopping we went out to eat dinner together. We made a pit stop at Starbucks for hazelnut soy steamers. Lilyanna's first steamer....she loved it of course. Being at Starbucks makes me feel like I'm back home. It's the closest you get to the States while in Peru...AND it's heated which is a major plus. Oh, and in case your counting, only 9 more days and we'll be home :)  

I finally caught it on camera. This is Lilyanna's "I can't believe you just told me NO" face.

After Starbucks we headed straight to the park to play and eat popcorn (It's a thing here in Peru, to eat popcorn at the park). Lilyanna likes popcorn but that's no surprise right ;) The park had lots of fountains and she loved the lights!!! Christmas this year is going to be so much fun with her at home. We can hardly wait.

 And after such a fun day she came back home and practiced her newly learned skill of turning pages...a new bedtime ritual. Look at those little figers go! 

We just can't get over her super sweet personality. I mean, seriously! We are totally hoping that this is not just the honeymoon phase. We had a tougher week with her when she was sick but now that she is feeling better she is back to her very calm self. She wakes up happy, she's happy all morning, she goes down for nap happy, she wakes up happy again, she's happy all evening, she goes to bed happy, she sleeps 12 hours and then repeats it all again. What a blessing!  

Tomorrow is looking to be another fun day. We have lots of fun things on the agenda like the Mirabus and the fountain show. We're excited!

http://www.mirabusperu.com/home.htm 

We'll post again soon. Hugs!! 

Progress

Monday, October18

After a few days of not feeling so great we're happy to finally be feeling much better. We were able to eat solid food yesterday and today and managed to keep everything down. We have decided not to eat anything fresh until we return back to the States (the fresh stuff is sometimes watered with sewer water...) What a bummer! We went to the store yesterday and looked for items that were made in the U.S. We managed to find ramen noodles and spaghetti sauce. We went with ramen and toast. Not the healthiest but you have to do what you have to do. Atleast it's something and atleast it didn't make us sick. We are still not back to 100% but we're not complaining. We feel so much better then we were on Friday and Saturday. And this picture pretty much sums up how we spent most of the weekend.

You can see what's about to happen right? This was snapped just seconds before her precious little feet hauled off and whacked mommy's very upset tummy. Gotta love her!

And now onto much more fun news...Lilyanna and her newest progress and facinations.

• She learned how to give kisses...finally!! Mommy and daddy love them so much. Today she was playing with her toys and suddenly stopped, looked me in the eyes and leaned over to me (I though she just wanted to be held), and started giving me kisses...without me asking for them. Ok, that totally won my heart!
• She learned the word "nose" which translates to eskimo kisses :) We say the word nose and she leans forward and starts wiggling her nose until she gets her desired eskimo kisses. She likes butterfly kisses too!
• She has develped a serious love for a specific stuffed animal that I've had since I was 10. She hugs it all night and kisses it as she goes to bed. So cute.
• She has learned how to clap and turn pages in her toddler book.
• She sings when we dry her hair.
• She has learned how to wave bye to people as they leave thru doors.
• After one week in the walker she has made amazing progress in leg strength. She can now stand and take steps on her own while only holding onto a couple of my fingers. She still hates belly time ;)

Giving her puppy kisses before bedtime :)

And now onto the bonding. It's a day at a time and there is still much bonding to be done but it is going very well. Today our lawyers came over to visit us. They reached out to hold her and she gave me a serious bear hug and was not willing to let go. A good attachment sign. And so far we have only noticed one fear. She gets really scared if people open the door to the car and jump out too quickly. When I'm holding her in the car (they don't have car seats here) and she hears the doors open she clings on to me very hard and usually has a scared look on her face. She doesn't scream or cry but you can tell she is scared. It makes me wonder what's going on inside her little head. She acts like she's afraid of being left.

And that's the latest on Lilyanna. We were busy today working on some paperwork but hopefully we can do something fun now that everyone is feeling better.

Hugs!!