Part 2--More spring break adventures

Tea time wth Mom--My friend Olga (more Colombian connections) recently starting managing a cute little tea room in Rockwall, and she invited me to come out sometime to see her. My mom loves to drink tea, so I thought it would be a fun way to spend time with her over spring break.

And what an adorable little tea room it is! An old house redone inside to make it a cozy little area to spend time with someone special. I loved it and plan on going back. I had a nice time with my mom, I got to reconnect with Olga, and my sweet friend Eliza (who I met on our Guatemala trip and found out we have very similar personalities) had just started working there. 

Olga and Eliza--two people I came to know and love while OUTSIDE of this country

Family Day Out--A few years ago, we went camping as a family at Lake Lavon, and we were pretty sure we heard lions roaring from a distance. Little did we know at the time that a wildlife refuge existed just a mile or so away from the campground in Wylie.

Well, since my parents just bought a house in Wylie, I felt it was a good time to introduce them to their new town by finally checking out this wildlife refuge--In-Sync Exotics Wildlife Rescue and Educational Center. I took the boys and my parents, and my brother came along with his boys, too. I loved it and will definitely go back again sometime so Mike can see it, too. Such beautiful and majestic animals--all rescued from improper care somewhere. Lions, tigers, cougars, lemurs, leopards, cheetahs, bobcats, etc. And you can see them up close, much closer than at a zoo. They all have special names that they even know themselves by. It's a special place they've got there. Can't believe I've been here 15 years without knowing much about it.

 One of the lemurs, just chillin'

 One of the white tigers recently rescued.

 This beautiful white tiger unfortunately didn't want to get up from naptime while we were there.

 One of the black leopards that I couldn't get a good picture of. 

A cheetah

If you are in the area and have never visited either of these two places, I highly recommend both of them. 

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.