Jackpot!

Today we saw these guys on our walk.  We have actually seen quite a few of them, but these ones were closer than usual, and we saw 3 or 4 in a row.  The first one was huge.

Luke's favorite thing to do after dropping the kids at school is to go have a leisurely breakfast at the panadería.

We went and checked out a preschool for Zeke to attend. We stayed for about 45 minutes and let him play on the playground with the other kids.  He seemed to enjoy it.  I don't know if he will actually let me leave him though.  I almost didn't go because it's a bit of a walk to get there, but then I thought "do I not have the time?"  We're going to go again tomorrow and stay for a little while again.  Hopefully he will warm up to the idea.

Were you wondering when I was going to get to the "jackpot" of the post?  Well here's the jackpot!
When I planned this adventure, I had hoped the kids would make friends.  I really didn't know how well they would be received, but I had hoped and dreamed they would make some buddies to play with both in and out of school.

Last night when Genevieve asked if she could invite her classmate Amanda over to swim today we said sure, but warned her it might not work out.

After school Genevieve invited Amanda.  Amanda said she needed to ask her mom.  So Genevieve told her where we "live" and to bring her bathing suit.  After school Genevieve didn't go swimming like usual.  She sat on the patio waiting for Amanda. After a while I felt kinda bad because I was pretty sure Amanda wasn't coming. I went to run a couple errands while Luke stayed with the kids.  When I got back, Amanda was in the pool!

The girls were jibbering away in spanish like the best of friends.  Luke kept saying "listen to her" (about Genevieve).  It was truly amazing to see her speaking so freely and naturally in spanish.

I sat there just taking in the moment.  I had dreamed of this, but didn't know if it was a real possibility.
All of a sudden I knew this trip was worth it.

When Amanda's mom dropped her off she said her brother would come to get her in an hour.  I assumed that meant she had an older brother.  But no. No, no.  Her 6 year old brother came to get her.

So the playdate continued and now Dane had a buddy!  By the way Dario is 6 and is in the 1st grade!

I might have some insight to the 1st grade drama.  I asked Dario how many kids were in his class and he said 24.  Dane's 2nd grade only has 5 and Genevieve's 3rd grade class only has 7.  So it appears that 1st grade is over-crowded and probably why Dane was not put in there.  I just wish they would say that!

When it was time for the kids to go, Amanda and Dario wanted to have my kids over to play.  So she went home to ask her mom and she said yes.  I walked the kids to their home and told them I would be back in an hour.  When I came back the kids were still not ready for the playdate to end.  The parents were very nice, gave me a cup of tea and gave the kids a snack.  It was pouring while the kids were there so they had to play inside.  When I came they were playing some sort of game system.  Their homes may be meager, but they have the necessities, and even a game system.  And they have hospitality to boot!

So today was a good day.  A very good day!