Sam's 1st Play Date in Chile, But Wait He is Leaving?!?!?

We have lived here for over one year and Friday was the first time Sam had a friend over. Wow, that sounds worse now that I am typing it...bad mommy. Here is the deal though...Sam goes to a school that is almost 100% Chilean and for some reason I haven't been able to break through to the mommies there. I smile, say hello, give my phone number but no one calls us back. What are we doing wrong? Not really sure.

Sam and Luka play so well together and he also plays with Luka's friends that I haven't felt pressured to  try and get friends from his school to come over. But for the last couple of weeks he has been talking about Jacobo non-stop so I asked the school for Jacobo's number and we invited him over for play date.

Just look at how happy Sam is. Jacobo had a cast on so most of the play date was on the floor, but Sam was loving it. He thought his friend was the funniest person in the world and he was cracking up.

Here he is making sure his friend has enough pretzels... 

Poor Sam...at this play date we found out his friend is leaving in one month. He comes from an expat family (oh, wait he isn't Chilean...I guess we still haven't been able to get a Chilean family to call us back). 

So typical to makes friends, find someone you really like and then somebody has to move. Sam, Mommy knows exactly how you feel. It is one of the downfalls of the expat life. Saying goodbye is really hard and you know what, it just sucks...no way to sugar coat it. The only thing I can tell you Sam is that you take your friendships with you where ever you go. And no matter how far you move, you will stay in touch with those folks that matter. Just this week I was on a 7 am Skype call with one of my "besties" from Maputo. One really cool thing is that as you get older you will have friends in many corners of the world.

I promise to have more playdates for you...you were so happy being the host.

Super Easy Recipe & Delicious: Sweet & Sour Chicken

This morning I received this recipe from one of my favorite and prettiest cooking blog. Really everything is so beautiful that it jumps off the screen. The recipe looked delicious but you had to have Kraft Recipe Makers....uhhhh oh....not in Chile we don't!

But I was left longing for home-made Sweet & Sour Chicken so I sort of tweaked the recipe and made it at home.

This is what I did different from the recipe, which you can see here. I have to start off by saying that my fridge & kitchen were kind of empty, but we managed to substitute some things:
- sprinkled salt on the chicken before I dipped in egg/cornstarch batter
- didn't have pineapples so I added two tomatoes (nothing like pineapples, but had to put something in it for the boys to eat)
- also I didn't have red peppers, used green peppers
- when cooking veggies I added salt, pepper, ginger, red pepper flakes & a regular bottled sweet & sour sauce...oh and light soy sauce...made a huge difference!
- we ate with brown rice instead of white rice.

Next time I will be more prepared and have the proper ingredients, but it was pretty darn delicious. I wanted to share this easy recipe with everyone.

Spending a Sunday in Santiago...City Center

Today was a great day and we spent it with one of our favorite families...The Briden Bunch. Kelly & Crystal have 5 amazing kids and they are so chill, relaxed and fun. As my wonderful husband pointed out to me today on the way home I should chill out a little and relax like them. I am a bit of a worry wart walking around the city...but I reminded him that I am Cuban and Crystal is from Michigan so I am automatically going to be a little crazier that her...but I can try :) I really do freak out walking, crossing streets and going into large crowds with the boys. I always see the worst things happening. I can't be the only mother out there like this.

Our afternoon started with a walk from the US Embassy to the Centro Cultural La Moneda to see the new Africa Exhibit. Here is Sam walking with Luke and Tim. He is having so much fun...there is no way he is going to hold mommy's hand now.

Group shot as we walked into the show. What a good looking bunch? Wait, I am not there...

In the middle they had this huge area the kids could run around and stand next to their favorite GIANT cardboard animal. Here are the "three amigos"...Luka with his friend Tim (they are in the same grade) and Hope the smallest of the Briden Bunch.

The show was pretty cool. They had art from all over the African continent and the best thing is that if you get there before 12 pm the entrance is free. Good thing we arrived at 11:51 pm...score...11 free TICKETS!

If you are in Santiago and have the time you should make it out there. You won't be disappointed and the art is so different that I think kids of all ages will like it. You might hear some funny comments like what Luka said the minute we walked in, "Hey, look at the wooden penis!"

Here are our boys pointing out where they are from...

After the art exhibit we walked around Downtown looking for a McDonald's or Burger King. After all it was Dia Del Nino (Day of the Child) and they would have loved to eat there. But believe it or not no one could point us in the direction of either of these establishments. Apparently they are not as popular as we thought...probably because it is quite expensive in Chile when compared to other fast food choices in this part of town.

During our walk we stopped for a photo opportunity in front of the Palacio La Moneda - where the President runs the country from.

Finding a set of golden arches proved to be quite impossible so we decided to go "local" and go to a Chilean pizza place full of locals and Santiago treats. Oh, this is the only photo with the entire group today..that is me in the mirror.

Some of the kids had hot dogs...some plain and some piled with mayo and spices. Chileans LOVE their mayo and the rest of us had pizza. Yes, that is a pizza hiding under the "palta" or avocado. Yes, the Chileans also love avocado and apparently on EVERYTHING...even pizza. I don't know if it was my favorite pizza in the world, but it definitely tasted better than it looks.

After our heavy lunch it was time to walk back to the metro...but not before some photos in front of the graffiti. Sam actually picked this spot and everyone decided to join in and put on their scariest face. Street art in Chile is pretty amazing and you can't help but look for hidden treasures on the wall as you walk around the city. Actually, right next to this wall there was a beautiful colored mural, but Sam preferred this silly face.

Drawings for the Birthday Girl

This year both of my boys wanted to make me a drawing for my 38th Birthday. I wasn't too excited about turning 38, but these drawings put a smile on my face. Sam's is very abstract, but I like his use of color. Luka made me look like a princess and don't you just love how he drew himself and his brother with top hats and canes..someone has Broadway on the brain. My birthday was over a month ago...but I am behind on the sharing.

Smile for the Photoautomat!

We fell in love with Berlin! It is an amazing city and I promise to share more pics from the trip, but for now I will share my favorite souvenir with you. 

Berlin has these vintage 70's Photo booths all throughout the city. They are totally retro and totally awesome. Yes I used totally now three times...I get all giddy when it comes to photo booths.

You can read a little about these photoautomats here.

Here is our photo booth moment in Berlin. Pretty dorky huh! I love it...especially the last one where JJ and I are looking at...well I am not sure what we are looking at....ha ha ha.

I never met a photo booth I didn't like. I can't wait to frame this one.

June was a ROLLER COASTER...

Have I really not posted since June 1st?!?!?! The first two weeks of June I was drowning in orders for Mami Love (not complaining, actually very excited about that). But then that on top of end of the school year parties, shows, presentations and saying goodbye to friends that are moving on to the next adventure...oh and packing for our European holiday (which we are currently on) didn't leave any time for blog updates. 

I hope to catch up on Holiday and share some of the moments from the last month and our vacation.

For now I will leave you a photo of Luka and his cousin Benthe on an actual roller coaster ride. This is the park we went to today.

Can you see in his face how much this boy loves roller coasters!

Blog with you soon....

Happy 38th Birthday to Me

NOTE: Yes, this really took place months ago...but it will be on the right order on the blog...so if you receive updates my birthday is not in October. I am just really late posting these pics....oops.

What do sushi, donuts and Mexican food have in common? Well, they are three of my favorite things to eat and this lucky girl got to eat them for her birthday...YUMMY! My girlfriends surprised me with a sushi lunch on my birthday.

Then my boys (JJ, Luka & Sam) surprised me with a "donut cake" from Dunkin Donuts. My kids were just as excited to have a piece of cake as I was.

On Saturday night after my birthday we went to a local Mexican restaurant to celebrate. I love to drag out my birthday for as long as possible. Growing up we would take a week to celebrate it...why not, right? 

I was really looking forward to going to Mexicana Restoran in Barrio Italia. I had heard good things about it and wanted to go somewhere with a good vibe and delicious food.

The menu offered many choices.

Every tex-mex meal has to start off with chips and salsa. It is the tex-mex "right of passage." 

Since I am writing this months later I can't remember the name of my dish...maybe Tacos pastor. But it was delicious...chicken & pineapple...yes, I loved it.

We had a HUGE group to celebrate. I am lucky to have met all of these wonderful people in Chile. They are from all over the world. I love that part about being an expat. Most of my life I was surrounded my Cuban-Americans 99% of the time. For the last 8 years I met someone from a different place almost every day. This is truly a gift. I should have posted the photo of the "group" tequila shot, but it was too out of focus....ha ha ha...really it was.

My Australian chicas...Cathryne we miss you! She has since moved to another "posting." That is one the bad things about being an expat...you lose friends to other "posts" all the time. 

I had a great 38th Birthday and I am lucky to have celebrated it all week. But most of all I am lucky to have a wonderful husband, two amazing little boys and a life that keeps everything interesting...one adventure at a time. 

Sharing Our Story

Moving to Chile has brought our family many new challenges such as dealing with the cold weather, everything being 10 times more expensive, drivers in Chile...don't even get me started (I need a post just how Chile is crazy, beautiful and frustrating all at the same time). But the most obvious and painful for me as mother has been seeing Luka singled out, on an almost daily basis.

Okay, 99% of the time people think they are being nice by coming up to Luka and telling him how "cute" he is or asking to take a photo (yes, this really happens)..but no people that is not cool! For the first couple of months it was amusing, but now Luka is TIRED of it. It has actually made him grow-up a little faster and stand up for himself.  He now knows how to respond to folks in Spanish, English & Dutch (but we don't really use the Dutch) to say things like..

- Please don't touch my hair

- Please don't kiss me, I don't even now you.

- I don't like it when strangers hug me.

- I am from Mozambique and I am adopted.

I don't get it Chile..I know there aren't many black folks walking around, but this country is very educated and you must know that black people exist and you don't have to treat them like unicorns if you come across one.

Okay, enough venting and going off on a tangent..the reason for my post.

We have accepted that life in Chile for Luka will be different, but what I was finding hard to swallow are the comments and general remarks of ignorance he hears at school. It is an international school so surely it would be different from Santiago once he stepped inside the school. But for some reason kids, a year into the school year, still feel the need to ask him, "Why are you black?" I really hate that question. There is not an answer. It feels completely offensive. Why are you white? Recently he has also been challenged about the race of his parents and saying they had to be black...like him.Then of course he hears comments about his hair or lack there of the times we have shaved his head, or silly things like being called "negro" at recess or worse. I know kids are going to be cruel. I can't change that.....

But what I could do is be proactive and be my son's advocate (luckily he is still only 6 and still likes mommy to be his champion). So I met with the school (they have actually been great and proactive since our meeting) and we came up with step one...educate the six kindergarten classes on what it means to be adopted. It seemed like the logical first step. I had done this with his own class on his adoption day, but it never occurred to me to visit all of the kindergarten classes.

So that is what we did this week (still have one more class next week). Luka and I have been visiting every K2 class and reading our favorite adoption book that tackles these questions:

- Why did my biological mother give me up for adoption?

- What is adoption?

- Why do we have different color skin?

- When did you start to love me?

The book is great. Then we also printed family photos of our friends that have also adopted and shared those adoption stories in the classes.

Through this journey we found out 2 other kids in K2 are adopted. We knew about one, but didn't know about the little girl from China. Luka especially enjoyed hearing her story first hand. It was similar to ours in that the family was living in China before and after the adoption.

I think it has been extremely therapeutic for Luka to share his story with his peers and been given this special opportunity to be the star for 20 minutes. It has also allowed him to confront many of the kids that unknowingly or on purpose said things to him during recess/school that hurt his feelings. It is his way of saying..."You want to know why...this is why."

The kids have been great....not as many questions as I thought...but our message is coming through and you can even see in some of the kid's faces the moment it "clicks."

As parent it is imperative we teach our children that families come in all shapes, sizes and colors. Whether it is an adoption, skin color, having a single parent, same-sex parents or mixed race family that makes that family unique our children need to know that is "normal" and in the end we are all families that love each other, the only thing that varies is the journey we took to get there.

Yay, Sammy is THREE!

On May 13th Sam celebrated his 3rd Birthday. On his actual birthday he wanted a Jake party...well it wasn't really a party, more like dinner and then our cute neighbors came over to help Sam blow out the candles. Sam loved it..can you see his excitement?

Totally homemade cake...

He really was bursting at the seams with pride and sooo excited.

Then a couple of days later it was time for the real fiesta - a Yo Gabba Gabba Dance Party. Luka came as DJ Lance and Sam dressed up as Plex. Here were were waiting for guests to arrive. The boys couldn't wait!

Birthday sign on the mantle and some fuzzy friends.

This game was a hit!

Giveaways for his friends.

Muno Jello Cups.

 

The entire week Luka had been practicing his character. He was very methodical and tried to get DJ Lance's phrasing and voice...very funny to hear him practice.

My little Plex...

Then it was time for the show. Luka had Emilio (aka Muno) help out. What you don't see in the photos is their wardrobe change into cool clothes for the One Direction performance. It was priceless.

Hey, I think someone stole all the prize necklaces...Sammy you need to share.

Sam didn't mess around when it came to the piñata. He grabbed it and brought it right to me. 

Oreo cupcakes

Time to sing in Dutch, English and Spanish.

Thanks everyone for coming and celebrating with us!

To check out all of the photos click here.

Mama Bebe Expo

A few weeks ago (yes, I know I am so behind and have so many posts to share) we attended the Feria Mama & Bebe & Kids here in Santiago, Chile. No, there is NOT a baby van Herksen on the way, but I have a small addiction to baby products and well-made toys in general. I think it stems from my refusal to really grow-up. The fair was great. There were tons of booths and products from all over the world and many from right here in Chile. Above you can see some of the items we picked up:

1. Two beautiful wooden puzzles from Kido. The giraffe and wood scene are perfect and I almost just want to frame them. We purchased them for Sam's birthday. He loves PUZZLES!

2. Playmais Play Sets - These are so much fun. They sort of look like those packing bubbles, but they are thicker and colored. You can stick them together and make all sorts of shapes and designs. We stocked up for future birthday presents and bought a big bin for the boys. Great toy for the imagination and they are edible, well not like popcorn but if the kids do eat them they will be okay.

3. Picnic Blanket - This blanket folds up like a bag and it is water resistant on one side and totally machine washable and I found this cute Ikea fabric. Can't wait to use it....

4. Okay, this we didn't actually buy but I love this bicycle cart. I think I need to buy a bicycle first. I recently found these great walk, bike paths around our neighborhood that I would love to use this bad boy for.

There were so many lovely things to look at....

These were some of my favorite toys...

This is pretty genius...

There was even a FREE photo booth. I just love these photos. I never miss a photo booth op.

There were also tons of activities for the boys. Luka asked to have his face painted like an astronaut (he is on the Outer Space Unit at school). He loved it so much he asked me to go to his class and have an Out of this World Face Painting activity. Since then we have done this and the kids had a blast.

I don't know why but sam was a little obsessed with this duck. We saw him leave when we first got there and Sam wanted to wait by this booth until he returned...I convinced him we could walk away. Three hours later we saw him and as you can see Sam was very happy to pose with the duck.

He also liked the baby formula lions. That is the same formula we used to give Luka in South Africa...small world.

After the show we went to Ruby Tuesdays for lunch (how American, right?) and Luka found a shaded spot to test out his free bubbles.

An all around great day in Lo Barnechea...