How Life is different...

Today the big kids and Lee went out on an adventure to a Mayan cave...hoping to have some pics to post later and tell you about it.

I opted not to go because (1) I'm not that adventurous, (2) Erika is too small so we would have had to get a sitter...which I am just not up for, and (3), we have a Baby Shower this afternoon for a lady in our church that I need to go to.

So, I saw this as the golden oppurtunity to spend the day with Erika.

The challenge is, that there is just not that much to do here locally:)  I can think of all the easy little things I could do with her in Katy.  Here, it is truly a challenge.

But, we have had a great day...she seems pretty happy...and it didn't set me back too much financially:)

We woke up early with the family (6:30 am).  We washed and hung two loads of laundry.  She wanted desperately to help me hang, but is just too small, so I hung and she brought me the clothespins.  It actually took me longer, but she was thrilled to help.  Then we ate some fried eggs (her very favorite breakfast) and OJ.  I washed the dishes, while she collected all the trash from the house.  She was so proud to help clean.  We watched a movie, while I prepared everything for tomorrow's children's church...as it was still too early to go anywhere.  We made our list...she loved that part...of what we were going to do....

First stop was A & R.  They have candy you can buy with a shilling (12 1/2 cents).  She had 4 shillings in her pocket and a plastic bag.  We were so dissappointed because they were out of her favorite candy.  We did find glitter play-doh for $3US for two small containers of generic, but still exciting.  We found some tiny water animals.  And a couple other misc. things I needed.  Since we didn't get candy there, we headed to another store so she could still use her shilling to buy a sucker and that made her happy.

By now, it was lunch time.  She chose to go to Antonini's because she could have ice cream for dessert.  Sadly, we drove there, and it was not open:(  So her next choice was Formosa.  We decided it would be more fun to take it to go.  So we ordered a chicken salad sandwich to share and a fancy ice coffee for me.  While we were waiting, we went to a grocery store to look at the movies.  All of them seemed like horror movies!!...but we did end up finding one children's movie...so she was happy.(less than $2US)  When we got home, we got the lunch ready, and discovered the sweet lady had put in two small brownies in with our lunch.  That made Erika's day.  I let her eat  both of them...  After all, I had my fancy coffee...

Well, I will not bore you with the rest of our day.  We are currently getting showers because we are sweating like crazy, before heading to the baby shower where we are responsible for the punch.  We have everything prepared and ready to go.  The laundry is folded and put away, house fairly clean and very quiet.  Hoping everyone comes home before we leave.

Anyway, life is different here.  I think of all the things in Katy, there were for us to do.  We would have been gone all day.  Here, there was really not much to do and we were gone maybe an hour.  It was good to get Erika out of the house.  She was happy.  But she was content being home too.   She made a cute bday card for Josh (on Wednesday) and is now taking a bath with her new sea animals.  I see how she has come to appreciate our simple life as well...