Spring break 2018 (Part 1)

About ten days ago, I didn't have much of a plan for spring break. I had an overall idea to spend some quality time with my boys if they'd let me (yeah, they're at that age where Mom isn't really so cool to be around), to finally have a chance to spend some time with my parents other than a meal or two each week, and to catch up on some deeper cleaning and reorganizing around the house.

So, my visions of spring cleaning didn't really come to fruition. I didn't get a lot of extra rest, sleep in, or take naps. 

But for being a pretty open, unplanned week, I'll have to say that I really enjoyed myself. In keeping with my word for 2018, in order to cherish each moment, I must take the time to reflect. So I'm using this one and only "down" day of my break to do just that. 

The first weekend, Mike and David went on a little "off-road" trip with their homemade (self-built) rock crawler, and I ventured to DBU to pick Juan up and have a little "mom-son" weekend. 

Believe it or not, Juan actually really enjoys those times, and they're always quite bonding and connecting. It's only the second time I've seen him this semester, so I really looked forward to hanging out with him. One of his favorite things to do when no one is home is to experiment in the kitchen. Just like a typical Latin male, he turns on the music and sings and dances the whole time while he cooks his heart out. So when he found out that Mike and David were gone for the weekend, he asked if we could get special things for him to make in the kitchen. And just like any college student going home for a visit, he was craving foods from home. Not this home, though, but rather his home in Colombia. 

So off to the Latin grocery store we went to see what ingredients we could find.

The next morning he got up and hit the kitchen in preparation for a Sunday meal with his grandparents. He made a delicious Ajiaco soup, served with rice, avocado, and banana and a Guayaba roll on the side. He also made Maracuya juice, and we had Chocoramos (a special Colombian pre-packaged treat) for dessert. While we ate together, he just rambled on and on about memories we had together in Colombia. 

The following day he made pasta the way he remembered it, with a milky paste/sauce, seasoned with cheese, tomatoes, and cilantro. And then after that he made us changua, a special hot breakfast made with milk, egg, cilantro, and bread, eaten more like a soup. We'd eaten it together for many a breakfast at a special little Christian bakery we found right around the corner from our apartment in Bogota when we were there for his adoption--so it, of course, brought back a lot of memories. I also got him a can of guanabana juice (and two extras to take back to let his roommates try), made him our own version of arequipe (caramel sauce), and brought him a few pieces of Colombian candy that I'd gotten at a meeting the day before he came home. 

We really enjoyed each other's company, had fun together, and reminisced a lot about Colombia. I am very thankful for how well we connected during his time home. Honestly, I cherish each moment I have with him because I don't know how many vacations I'll still have with him. It could be a lot, or it could be very few, depending on what opportunities open up for him through DBU, his new friends there, or wherever he ends up working this summer. 

To top it all off, we spent his last afternoon here on a video call together with Laura and her mom and aunt in Spain. Priceless. I love that we are all family to each other now.