REAL cheddar cheese!

Day 3 of my shampoo/conditioner/product experiment is going well! Yesterday I was almost resolved to hide in shame. Today, I am so impressed and so excited! I woke up and fixed my ponytail and got ready for the day. When Johana saw my hair, she was so surprised. She didn't see it after I washed it yesterday and was shocked how clean and not greasy it is :) Then I went shopping.. I had a laundry list of things to buy. One high on the list were scented essential oils. One thing I love about a good shower, and a good clean head of hair is the smell. I buy shampoos based on the scent. So I have been missing the great smell of clean hair. I bought a whole bunch of scents because they only cost a dollar, and I got a bunch of bottles for all my stuff!

I am really psyched to use one so my hair smells good again! Don't get me wrong- my hair does not stink.. But it doesn't smell like anything. After I got home, I got ready to give my hair a spritz of scent. I took my ponytail out and was finger brushing it a little (I still need to find a boar bristle brush) and Johana came out of the kitchen and stopped. She asked what I did with my hair since it looks so smooth and straight!!!! Yay! I guess it's not all in my head :)

One thing I do need to do somewhat soon is get my hair cut. It has been WAY too long and the ends are a mess.

On the potty training front, day 2 was not very successful. We had multiple accidents, and no successful trips to the potty. I am going out to buy pull ups today. Hopefully they still have them at Exito.. They had the American Disney licensed Huggies Pull-Ups there before we left, but I haven't looked for them since. The Huggies "Pull-ups" they have here are like the swim diapers. You have to rip them to get them off if your kid poops. I hate them. I so so much prefer the velcro sides.

On another note- I found some real, authentic cheddar cheese!! I bought it in Ripley (a new Chilean department store) at a Carulla Gourmet inside!

Everything in there is imported. I also bought a bunch of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese! I got the last brick of cheese, and the workers there were all grilling me about it. "How is this cheese? Is the price similar to the US? [it was about $4 so pretty close!] How is this brand? Popular? [Crystal Farms!!!]" They were so excited to talk to me about it, and I bet that they had all been wondering how it was for a while. Cheddar cheese here is not common. The "cheddar" they have is super light and super mild. But this!! Oh!! This cheese is reason for celebration!! I know that this seems like an overreaction, but the varieties of cheese that are readily available here are not what I typically like. A lot of people that live in this city are accustomed to eating the same flavors they are used to. You don't usually get things that have really strong flavors. And definitely not a lot of spice. For instance. They have Old El Paso brand stuff for tacos, but when you go to the aisle that has that stuff, they only have the mild taco sauce on display. I have to go to the Import section in order to find the hot version. This is why I get so excited to find stuff from home! I am a big fan of spice, flavor, and pow! I love bringing stuff home that reminds me of the USA and it seems like every trip I make to the store I find something new that they have!

No 'poo, rolling in poo, and poo in the potty

Well. I have jumped onto the bandwagon. I am not too sure how big of a bandwagon it actually is but I have seen a lot of my friends on Facebook doing it. I am going "no poo". I don't really like that name for it.. So I will just say that I am quitting shampoo and conditioner. Don't be too grossed out yet.. I am still cleaning my hair. Just not with shampoo. I started this week. Yesterday to be exact. This is going to be a long road but hopefully it will be worth it. From what I have found in my research, the majority of people do this so that they can stop using chemicals on their bodies/hair and save the environment at the same time. This is not why I am doing it. People who know me know that I am not anywhere close to living a crunchy lifestyle (nor to I ever plan to). No, my reason for trying this is much more selfish. My hair is a frizzy disgusting mess. I have been reading that wavy and curly hair can be completely transformed by going shampoo free. So I am jumping on the bandwagon. I will keep everyone posted on how it goes, but I am hoping I can keep with it for a while. I am only on day 2, and I already almost turned down lunch plans because of my greasy hair. Fortunately I decided to cave and "wash" my hair this afternoon. You ideally wait 2-3 days minimum between using the baking soda solution but I was ready to quit so I figured I should just try it and see if it worked. Well, I am happy to report- my hair actually feels pretty ok! I have no idea how this will go since its so hot and sticky here..

Another huge milestone: Lucy and Delilah spent all day Sunday together. Saturday was my mother-in-law's birthday party so we went there Saturday afternoon with Lucy in tow, and enjoyed the evening.

The party was AMAZING! They hired a band, a priest to do a mass (I am not kidding.. Apparently for a lot of events people will hire a priest to do a mass to start the party), and a crew of people to serve drinks and the catered, absolutely delicious meal. That was by far the fanciest birthday party I have ever went to. It was more like a wedding reception! Delilah wasn't really out to play at the party because she's a little too feisty for the guests. But Sunday, they got to hang out. I was expecting that Delilah would come out to play for a little bit, then go back to her crate for a while, and then come out for another little visit. Well, that isn't how it happened. They got along great!!! They even rested together on the porch when they got tired! At one point, Delilah jumped up on Emma and we scolded her and Lucy took off after her barking like "don't mess with my Emma!!!" It was so cute! I hope they continue to be nice to each other. Delilah has just so so much energy and Lucy is an older girl who doesn't have the same stamina that she did when she was a puppy. I had serious concerns about bringing Daly to our apartment, but after seeing them together, I am starting to see it! I just wish this rambunctious puppy stage was over. The only bad thing that happened was that Lucy rolled in poop. I wish it was Delilah's but it was Gabo's. Gabo is a 160 pound fila. I am actually surprised that this hasn't happened before. Lucy has a terrible habit of rolling on gross things. It was horrible. Fortunately this happened while we were in the pool, and Carlos' aunt washed her off :)

Another big thing is starting this week: Charlie is starting to potty train! I do not have super high hopes for this going well. Don't get me wrong- I do want him potty trained, but I feel like he's still a little young. He has been telling me about all of his potty business for a while but I haven't heard of many 23 month old boys being potty trained. I did not initiate this plan.. His preschool teacher did. She thought that he may be ready, and when I took him to school yesterday morning, she asked me to come inside so we could talk about Charlie. I was panicking that something was wrong, there was a problem, some big issue.. But then she told me that they are going to be starting potty training at school and that we should be doing it at home too. Then I started panicking for other reasons. We have had one success on the potty so far. And that was mostly because we stopped him midway through and shoved him on the potty :)

He was so proud of himself though!

And he LOVES the undies! At school this morning, I sent 4 outfits, and all of them came back wet. Hopefully he gets the hang of it soon!

Wall Decals: UP!!

I got the kids room done! I originally planned that I would put up Emma's castle decal while she was at school so she wouldn't get grabby and want to help. It was a 6 piece puzzle I had to put together and I am terrible at aligning stickers. Screen protectors are my worst nightmare. I had an awful premonition involving a spirited match of tug of war (one which I would finally win) leading to a wrinkled mess of a castle on the wall. But then my impulsive nature got the best of me. I am happy to report the hanging of the castle was a success!!

I let her hang all of the extras if she agreed to let me do the castle and princesses myself :) She did tell me where to put all her "friends" though!


I also hung Charlie's Cars stuff.

I couldn't have him sleeping in a girly colored room without any boy stuff. He has a blue room in waiting, but for now, the two of them really rely on each other. They are each other's constants while their environment changes so much. We keep testing the waters with them but they always say they want to be together. It won't fly forever, but for now we can let them be roommates a little longer :)

We finished it off just in time for me to make dinner with my little kitchen helper (oh how I missed her :)

and I toasted my success with a nice glass of Rose! Cheers!

First weekend back

We had a great weekend full of new things!

Saturday we went to a music festival at a big park about 1 1/2 away. We have been to the Parque Nacional del Chicamocha a few times, but this time was especially fun. Mostly because we got to see a really cool show, and we had never been there at night to see everything lit up!

We got there late just as a traditional show was starting. It was a typical Carnivale performance like they have in Barranquilla. There were tons of dancers in costumes and I just got lost in it. Then there was a performance by the winner of "The Voice Colombia", Victoria Castillo!

She was so good! Her style was very tropical and I love that type of music. The whole concert had a Carribbean kind of vibe that reminds me of being on vacation :) Emma really enjoyed it too. She was paying so much attention, and whenever the performers asked the audience to clap, she was right on it!

After going to that, we have decided we need to seek out more activities like that!

We also went to the new mall that just opened right near us. People here LOVE malls. There seem to be malls popping up everywhere. I would absolutely adore a good children's museum, or zoo.. But don't get me wrong I do love this mall :) As we passed by the front of it, we saw some workers hanging a sign for GAP!! I would probably be more excited if I wasn't so sure it will be completely overpriced. Since there is such a high importation tax (16%) things from the US are pretty expensive here. Hopefully that will change soon since a new trade agreement passed recently. The Gap was a good discovery, but I found seething else too.. Knock-off Chipotle!

Chilangos is not the same, but it's pretty good! They do all the same types of things, burritos, tacos, bowls, and salads and they have all the same ingredients! The chicken and steak looked a little dry, so I got the barbacoa. Then I washed it down with a corona.

Not bad at all!! Now, if only they delivered!

Today was the kids first day back at school! It was a nice break for me :) they were SO excited and so was I! Don't get me wrong- I absolutely love being with them all day, but it's very nice to get a little time to myself.

So next order of business.. Getting a new ring. I think I have touched on it before but people wear wedding bands on the opposite hand here, so I had an additional band for my "Colombian hand" when we bought it they didn't have any bands like I wanted in my size. I settled for one that was a little too small and figured since it was a cubic zirconium ring anyway, I would just have a new one made for me that was more like I wanted and a good fit. I never got around to it though, and suffered on with a too small ring. One night in Cincinnati, after a particularly salty batch of Pad Thai, my hands were puffy and I took the ring off. I set it on top of the toaster and the next thing I knew, it didn't fit. I don't know if the heat from the toaster melted it, or my fingers just got fat. But for whatever reason, it hasn't felt comfortable since. So until I get a new one, I guess I will just have to suck it up and go righty? Or look like I'm single. Hopefully I will get it figured out this weekend!

But for now, will set to putting all the wall decals up in the kids room!

Back in Bucaramanga!!!!!

We are back!!!! I had no idea how nice it would feel to be back in Bucaramanga! I have to admit, I was a little sad to leave Cincinnati but now i have left the bitter part, and I am basking in the sweet :) Yea it's hot in the apartment, sure we don't have our beloved parks and zoo, obviously my family is a little further than I would ever want. BUT- as I sit on the couch, watching HBOGO (more on that later... I am super excited about it!) , drinking a beer, digesting a delicious lunch (that I didn't have to prepare) all while Johana is unpacking our many suitcases I am reminded of how nice our life here is!



I am proud to say that this trip here was much better (although longer) than most of the other trips we have taken. My mom accompanied us to Miami, and hung out with us during our long layover! We were supposed to stay in the MIA hotel which is super nice when you are in the airport overnight, since it is right there in the E terminal and you don't have to leave the airport at all. My mom had a better idea though... We stayed in the Hilton near the airport, and it made a WORLD of difference! We had to travel with a 20 hour layover in Miami, and I was seriously dreading it. My mom booked us here..




You can see the airport off in the distance, but the view is NOT of runways! Also, we were able to run around on paths, take in some beautiful landscapes, and swim! It was the best start to a long travel day that we could have asked for! My mom even came to the airport with us to see us off!
I even happened to look out the window as we first passed over Colombian soil right over Barranquilla!


THEN, when we got to Bogota, we spent the night there. (We were really worried that our flight would be delayed and we would need to reschedule our flight to Bucaramanga.. We have had terrible luck with flight AA915) Plus, I needed to pick up my Cedula Extranjeria! That is my permanent resident card for Colombia! I am in here for good now! I already had my number, and I was able to enter Colombia this time as a resident! I didn't have to say how many days I plan on staying in the country, I had to say how many days I spent away! I was also ecstatic that we made it on time, even a few minutes early that the whole experience was a delight :) Our hotel we stayed in was really cool and modern looking, but not really kid friendly. If you can look closely, you can see how Charlie tipped one of the vases and the water spilled.


To make matters even nicer though, we didn't really plan anything for the next day other than my trip to the migration office. Every government office trip takes about 50x longer than expected so we had no idea what we were getting into. Carlos, the kids, and the driver were planning on just circling around waiting for me to get done. I walked in, went up to the window, showed them my passport, and got my card! So easy, so fast! I spent way more time waiting for Carlos to come back around the block than I spent inside the building! We spent the rest of the day at the Children's Museum!!!! The kids had a blast, and it was a great way to burn some energy before our flight to Bucaramanga!





We got home last night, and Johana had this delicious treat waiting for us :)

These are plantains stuffed with meat and spices. Basically an empanada with plantain wrapped around it instead of the normal shell. Then this morning I got right to work on a few things. The first thing I did was hang some pictures that I brought. I packed (and paid for) an extra suitcase just so that I could bring framed photos here. Boy am I glad I did! This place feels so homey and nice now!



Also, the paint on the walls makes this place feel so cozy! I just have to decide where all the other stuff is going to be hung so we can call out a guy to hang it all! As it stands we don't have a hammer or nails here, so I guess that I will have to wait, or go buy all of the stuff and do it myself. We will see how I feel about it tomorrow. I think I still need to think about where to hang everything. Plus, I still need to put all the wall decorations up. That will be a project for another day!

The next thing I did today was set up our new VPN router. I have no idea why it took me so long to get one!!! We had shopped around last year, and thought about getting a VPN router so that we could trick US blocked applications to work here. We had decided to go with Strong VPN because it seemed like a good company and the people were super helpful. Then we kind of forgot about it, and were here last year during months where there wasn't much for new TV going on. Then this year, I spent about $250 on iTunes, and decided that we had to take the plunge. I ordered the router while we were in the US and then just packed it to bring it with me.. I set it up today, and OMG!!!!! I am up to my elbows with shows to watch!!! Bachelorette, KUWTK, and everything my heart desires are all at my fingertips! But for now, my Big Love marathon can continue :) Anyone overseas who wants to have access to US sites NEEDS to get this! The modem we got was around $169 or so, and for a year we are only paying $79!!!! All you do is join the VPN's network, and your IP address is from the USA! I will be saving SO much money with this! Not to mention all the hours of enjoyment that come with it :)