Day 30: Embassy Trip

We got up bright and early for our trip to the U.S. Embassy this morning!  We were excited to finally get the last requirements completed.  We arrived at 9:00 a.m. and were asked to stand in a line about 20 deep.  Our agency representative was insistent and told Mark, Amaya Fernanda, and I to go back up to the embassy representative with our U.S. passports in hand and inform her again of our reason for being there.  Thankfully a new representative heard the conversation and had us go straight inside the embassy.  Once inside the whole process took under 1 hour.  We turned in our paperwork, they called us up 10 minutes later, we were chit-chatting with the embassy representative, we paid, then they called us up 5 minutes later and told Mark to come at 3:30 pm tomorrow to pick up the visa....YEAH!  Amaya Fernanda was very well behaved at the embassy BUT the afternoon was a different story :S

After lunch we tried to get Amaya Fernanda to take a nap and she decided that she wasn't having it.  She threw a tantrum for about 30 minutes in her crib.  Finally, I pulled her out and I needed a mental break so Mark took her and calmed her down.  I closed the door to the bedroom and got some more packing done, as I wished the time would somehow pass quickly and we could fast forward to Friday when we will be back in our home.  The issues we are having with Amaya Fernanda will not magically go away once we get home, but a consistent routine will help immensely!

Mark then decided that we ALL needed a mental health break so we went for a walk down to Maku.  On our way back we stopped and got ice cream at Crepes & Waffles.  Mark was right...the girls enjoyed their own ice cream cones and everyone had smiles on their faces for the first time today.  I had the absolute best beer called Monserrate Red from a micro-brewery here in Colombia...it was a well deserved drink!  We took our walk back to El Batan and at that point both girls were tired. 

Amaya Fernanda and Alejandra Sofia played together in the bathroom tonight.  It was GREAT to hear them laughing together and interacting.  After bathtime it was time to put everyone to bed.  I was able to get Amaya Fernanda to sleep without any major crying.  Alejandra Sofia is still up and giving her dad EVERY excuse in the book as to why she cannot sleep....water, bathroom, ghost bunny, Clifford, Gnomeo and Juliet, I'm not tired...etc., etc.

Tomorrow is our last full day in Bogota.  Even though we constantly say we are ready to go home...we will miss being here.  It is hard to explain how we feel about leaving because we are saying good-bye to our daughters' birth country.  There is so much history for them here and we truly do love Colombia.  We look forward to coming back in the future for vacation and to just enjoy our time here.

Until tomorrow!