Saturday, Aug 4th

Mary went to work this morning to take care of a few last minute chores.  So I hung out with Maria Isabelle and the boys.  After lunch I suggested a walk on the malecon as that is what Esther usually does.  



We finished the pouf tonight!  It was a huge project.  Where do you find the filling?  So, Alberto thought that he knew the best place to look and he was willing to drive us there which was huge!  Maybe 30 minutes through CRAZY traffic both ways.  He is a nice man. When we finally arrived.  Mary and I spent silly amounts of time deciding which filling to use.  Alberto had been right.  This was the right place to find the filling.  PHOOEY!  We made final decisions only to find out that they were out of the filling we wanted.  But luckily the woman helping us went to someone above her.  And the person above her was good.  She explained that the filling that made sense was in the already made poufs on the floor.  And indeed the poufs on the floor had the right amount of firmness to suit what we were thinking.  So for half the price we bought an already made pouf and took it home.  So we stuffed THE pouf with the new poof and then put the stuffing that we had on hand all around it until you couldn't see the store-bought pouf.  Mary had the patience of Job...she kept stuffing it just a little more...and then I sewed it up.  It was just as imagined.  EXCEPT it was too big for the baby's room.

But the babies did like it:

















So we put it temporarily in the main room by the window to decide what to do next.  And FAT CAT has been there ever since.  It is his new home.  Every time that I walk by the room....Fat Cat is asleep on the poof!

But then about Monday, Fat Cat had lost interest and Sammy tried it out:

Friday, Aug 3

Alberto had a meeting this morning and Mary is working.  I chose to stay here and hang out with babies.  Mary invited me to go with her to buy a few things for the Market, but even though Mary traded cars with Alberto, she and Carito need as much space as possible to carry back their purchase.





My favorite thing to do with the twins is what I consider exercise time.  I put both babies down on the mat on their stomachs.....Galileo likes it for a while.  He is very close to crawling as he gets up on hands and knees and practices.  Today for the first time he actually went forward a bit to try to get to the toys that I had put just out of his reach.  Jack likes to be on his stomach very briefly.  Pretty much the first thing he does is turn over on this back.





These are excellent photos to point out Galileo's most unusual hair style.  No one combs it this way....it is natural....It grows back away from his face and swirls...



After playtime and lunch, Esther took the boys on a walk in the park and then bath time.  I entertained the child who was not being bathed.  Then gave Jack his MILK....yea for MILK...and put him to bed for afternoon nap.

Perfect timing as Mary called to have me join her for lunch and hang out at the market.  Lunch was fun.    We ate across the street from the market at Tanta.  It is a restaurant serving Peruvian food.  Mary told a great story while we were ordering.  The owner who is known to everyone as Gaston (accent over the "o").  Mary says he is as famous as the president or a football player in Peru.  He went to Paris to study law in the 80s or 90s as he was from a wealthy family that was involved in politics.  Soon he dropped out and began taking cooking classes.  And then met a young woman who is a pastry chef.  The couple married.  After learning to cook in Paris, the couple moved back to Lima and opened a Frence Restaurant.  Mary said at the time all of the wealthy people in the city went to French Restaurants in that era.  But Gaston became interested in serving Peruvian food.  And has become famous for being the person who raised Peruvian food to the place that it now holds.  He has several restaurants.  Some more fancy than the one we ate at today.  But Mary says she is not a big fan of his fancy restaurants.  She prefers the Tanta where we ate today.  Mary's business partners, Michel and Michael, worked for Gaston.

Lunch was wonderful!  We celebrated Friday by drinking a maracuya sour....yummmmmm





Then we went across the street to Mary's market!  Oh, WOW!  Busy place as everyone tried to finish things up in anticipation of being open on Monday.










































The neighborhood:  Restaurants, traffic and the big new hotel going in next door.  It is a member of the Aloft group









On the way the traffic was heavy giving me a chance to take a photo from  the road along the shore.  You can see way up on top of the cliff the area in which Mary lives.  It is along the Malecon.

Thursday, Aug 2

Mary is working this morning, so I hung out with the boys.

Wednesday, Aug 1

Again today, Mary and I spent the first part of the morning playing with the twins.  They have gotten so much stronger and better at sitting and rolling over than they were when I first arrived!  They are very busy and like to have something in their hands.

Next project was to go to Wong for groceries.  And then we treated ourselves to a coffee at Starbucks.  Both Mary and I spent time on our computers mid day.  I had trouble with my e-mails....but did not give up and finally fixed the problem.  I was very worried about the possibility that I might not be able to use my earthlink.net address for the rest of the trip!

Lunch was wonderful.  Meche fixed a traditional Peruvian dish with chicken wings that Alberto had requested.  It was served with rice and sweet potatoes.  In Peru the main meal is at lunch.  We mostly just have sandwiches or a snack in the evening.

Here is a photo of the boys hanging out with Mary and me waiting for their own lunch....which they weren't big fans of:  broccoli.  However, they had liked breakfast very well!  It was some sort of peaches.  Esther prepares their "baby food" from fresh ingredients.  Funniest day was the day that they had papaya.  Mary doesn't like papaya, so she wasn't that disappointed when Jack threw up after his meal of papaya.



Mary is working hard getting ready for the opening of the Market next week.  She sent invitations:



I am very excited that I stayed long enough to be one of the Friends and Family that will be attending!