Sunday, October 16, 2016

Big Lido



By this time next week we will be home in San Diego. Wow, has that much time really flown by? I guess it has.  We have one more court visit on Tuesday, a court hearing on Wednesday and an Embassy visit on Thursday, a Visa pick-up on Friday and then we are done.  I can’t believe how much different this adoption was than Sanija’s. There is nothing even remotely the same except for friends and we’re in Latvia. But other than that…..,,,,,,,nope! That’s it.  Sheri and I have said many times that the way this trip has gone so far was what we had anticipated our first trip with Sanija was going to be like.

With Sanija it was a constant rollercoaster ride with backstories and obstacles at every turn. Those old FP really made life difficult and so confusing for our poor Sanija. Unlike this adoption, Nata was ready to be adopted the moment we landed in Latvia.  From the first HUG she accepted us as her forever Mommy and Daddy and there was never a doubt in her mind.  With this adoption we never had to worry about if we were bonding with her. We did that back in San Diego during the hosting period.

Basically, this was a visit to spend the required amount time in Latvia. Don’t get me wrong, we enjoy our time here (including time with Ilze and her beautiful family) and I think for Sheri, she not only gets to spend time with the girls but also gets her away from her 14 to 16 hour work days.
Anyhow, today would be an exciting day for the girls. Today, we were meeting up with Nata’s new foster family and Ilze was joining us at Big Lido. I think I’ve mentioned Big Lido before but it’s a huge buffet and carnival type rides and attractions outside. Yes, o u t s I d e !!!

The girls all cleaned up we headed for our nearby taxi stop. Let me give you a little advice. If you ever travel to Riga. They have several taxi cab services. Be careful who you choose. Let me give you an example. When we drove out to Ilze’s yesterday (white cab company) it cost us $15 euros but to get home (Panda) it only cost us $5 euros.  The lesson here: use Panda.

Anyhow, back to my story. As we were nearing Big Lido I asked Nata if she was excited to see her new foster family again and she shook her head and said, “no”. She then smiled and said, “I’m excited to see Ilze”.  Both Sheri and I looked at each other in a bit of disbelief.  Since we set up this meeting two weeks ago, she said she was excited but now, she didn’t really care. On the ride home she did say she was glad to see Vanessa and Anastacia. Both were other foster girls at the house.
We entered BL about the same time Ilze did and upon the girls seeing her, they both took off on a sprint to give her a hug. What the girls had obviously forgot was Ilze had a bad back and was still in pain. We got a little chuckle as we saw Ilze kind of back up against a pole as two screaming girls charged her.

Soon we found the other family and sat down to the buffet. I was hoping that our two girls and her 5 foster children along with the adults would mix it up a little bit. But, nope. They sat at one end of the table and we sat at the other. We would have thought Nata would have sat by her old foster brother and sisters but again, Nope! She sat between Sheri and Ilze and really didn’t interact with their family very much. Sheri, Ilze and myself tried to make conversation with the foster family but it was more work than a free flowing conversation. I was sitting next to Vanessa who speaks broken English pretty well. I like Vanessa and wish we could do more for her. She’s 16 and at any time could leave the foster care program. But she really has nowhere to go.

Near the end of lunch, ansay (as best I can spell it) (younger foster girl) started to again make eye contact with me as she did when we visited the foster home for the first time. Soon, Anastacia joined in and we played a little hide and sink via eye contact. Soon all the kids went outside to play while the adults stayed in the warm building. Before long the conversation stalled and I suggested we go visit the kids.  We had earlier given our girls 20 euros a piece for rides and game to be used on all the kids. As there were three “older” kids and the younger kids, Sanija wanted to take off with one of the boys and girls to do their thing. This left the youngers with us and immediately Anastacia took to me. Although she spoke no English Anastaca grabbed my hand and led me off leaving the others wondering where we were going. She wanted me to take her to the galloping toy horses. Well, that was that! Anastacia did not leave my side for the next hour. She held my hand, wanted me to pick her up, wanted hugs, would turn around and wait for me, wanted to be picked up again.  To be honest, I felt kinda bad. Not only to my girls (who I hope were watching and getting jealous) but to the foster mother who was actually adopting Anastacia.  Thank God for that or we would be pursuing a third adoption.



The feeling I was getting from the foster mother is that she didn’t really care for the generosity that Sheri and I along with our girls were giving their kids. I had offered to pay for many games but the FM would turn it down. I think I understand. Maybe she was trying to control the kids’ expectations, Maybe a cultural thing, maybe it was an American thing with money. I really don’t know but I do understand she had her reason.

After about an hour, the foster family headed home. We stayed around with Ilze as the girls still wanted to play a few games. I’m not sure of this magical power that Ilze has but our girls really love her. In fact, on the ride home Nata asked if she could go back with us to San Diego.
The day was still early and the girls started to play with some of the prizes they won at BL.  The girls turned into popsicles when they spent 45 minutes on our balcony blowing bubbles and watching them float throughout the street below. The best part was watching all the people below looking up and then waving to our two girls. So cute!

Having a little time to ourselves and Sanija wanting to practice babysitting, Sheri and I did something we have not done in a long time, except for those vacations to Italy, we went on a short but sweet date. Down the block was a wine bar Sheri wanted to try out since we got here. What a great idea, a self-serve wine bar. Basically your given a card which you insert into a wine machine. You pick the wine you want, out of a bottle, press how much you want (S/M/L) and waala…your wine glass is filled. At the end you give your card to a cashier and she rings you up. I think our entire bill was less than 17 euros. By the way, you’ll love this, at Big Lido we paid for our family (4) plus the foster family (7) at an select an item buffet, which means you pay for what items are on your plate and the entire bill was……..a wopping 41 euros. Can you believe that. In the grand ol’ USA that meal would have cost over $200 buck-a-roonies.

Before tucking in our two wild creatures tonight, it was decided that we need to own 100 minions. Of course, this was after watching “Despicable Me”.

You probably noticed that the blog was particularly long this evening. That’s what happens when I have time in the day to write rather than at 9:30 at night when I’m tired.



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