We were so blessed to have found the best person to care for Maeve 2 hours a day for the last two weeks. Ariel was Maeve's niñera, and Maeve loved her! Maeve would come home with lipstick on her neck and in her hair from all the love she received. Maeve would give Ariel hugs when she said goodbye, something that she only does for her immediate family. 

For me, it was a huge blessing to so quickly find someone to help care for Maeve while I was at Spanish school and Conor worked. I completely trusted Ariel from the beginning and never worried about her once. Maeve likely ate more sugar than I would care for her to (babies and sugar seems to be cultural! No one would ever feed my baby a marshmallow in the USA to start, but it would absolutely not happen without shamefully asking the mother first!), but I knew that she was safe and loved. I thank God for putting Ariel and her family so quickly in our path. The entire family became so dear to us during our 2 weeks in Quito!

P.S. I think Maeve is closer to walking thanks to Ariel! Maeve's still quite the late bloomer, but maybe in the next month or so, she'll decide walking is for her!

On Greta's birthday, we met some friends at Greta's favorite park and played. This meant that I got more than 3 hours of Spanish practice! Oh gosh, the language is difficult. Slugging through though! When the afternoon became dark, we walked to our local chapel where the women were making ceviche. Oh my goodness so delicious! Or as they would say in Ecuador, "bien rico" (pretty delicious!). I was surprised when a lady walked around with a grocery bag filled with salted popcorn mixed with plantain chips. That is a topping for the soup and it was so good! I'm so grateful Trader Joe's sells plantain chips back home. 

Now that we are in an apartment with a decent kitchen and for a longer stay, we plan on cooking Ecuadorian food. Hoping to share some photos of what we make! Do I dare make chicken stock out of chicken feet like the locals?!

Last Sunday, we went to Parque La Carolina with our very new (local) friends, Vivian, Diego and Emi. They were in an apartment a couple doors down for half of last week, but now they have returned to their home a few hours from here. It sure was fun to have friends for a few days! Their daughter played with our girls and I tried my best to speak spanish with Vivian. One night, after the children were asleep, we stayed up late playing an Ecuador card game called Cuarenta (40). 

Parque la Carolina is a big park, 165 acres. There are so many things within the park - play structures, lagoon, botanical garden, a track, soccer fields, vendors... it was very fun to go see it and extra special to spend time with new friends! We hope to see Vivian, Diego and Emi again. We have been invited to our home and will try to make that happen in our last month in Ecuador.

Knowing that the monarch butterflies were migrating through California at the same time we would be visiting, Holly, Greta and I learned about them. We found some really fun books from the library - our favorite was “Gotta go, gotta go!” We did some other activities and I personally really enjoyed what we did! I love the monarch butterflies and I love the eucalyptus groves they stop over in. It really is such a magical event. I’m so glad the timing lined up for us to do that. We’ve been in the past… see these blog posts. 

After the butterflies we played on the beach with friends. I’m so amazed at how willing the kids (and Conor!) are to go into the water when it’s pretty chilly outside. They loved it.

We tried to visit Ranchos San Antonio on a Sunday afternoon and I was reminded of one thing I don’t like about California - too many people, not enough parking!! We drove around the parking lot for 20 or so minutes and then left. Fortunately I was able to come back the next day, and being a weekday, the parking lot wasn’t even half full. I love this place. So many good memories. I love the rolling golden hills of California