Day 4 - Granada

Just before he fell asleep Sam said to me... "I never have trouble falling asleep here".  Sometimes back home, he would lament to me at bed time about not being able to fall asleep and I would continue to reassure him that if he relaxed and thought about somethings he would.  Well about 4 seconds later I felt him moving around and I propped myself up on one arm and watched him a few seconds......he was laying flat, eyes closed, but acting like a singer on stage, hand holding a mic, legs bopping every which way.... and a few more seconds later he said, "Mom, I just had my favorite dream....I was on stage dancing and singing to the song Thriller".  I just love this kid!

Today was Sunday and it was very relaxed.....no plans to speak of....so I dug through my Nicaragua book to figure out what we should do today.  Well we only had a little bread leftover so I had given Sam that along with some of the juice we bought the previous day for breakfast. Well he kept saying he was still hungry....so I changed my search from "what could we go do today" to "where should we go eat today". Well it is Sunday and it was like brunch time....so when I saw Kathy's Waffle House I knew that was it!! He wasn't really in the mood to go out (and clearly wasn't that hungry still) so we did the usual morning pool time and hanging out before it got to about lunch time.  Then decided we'd walk down to the area and take a taxi back...that was my plan.  Well Kathy's Waffle House was great and very busy today....we ended up getting a table just inside which was fine (the patio faces San Francisco church, which is all white and beautiful).  We hung out and played travel-size Connect Four which Sam had carried down with us in his new bag.  Sam had the Chocolate Waffles and I the mushroom and cheese omelet (with potatoes and gallo pinto)....yumm!

Giant Sam touching the top of San Francisco Church

After breakfast we putzed around the block and park a little, then found the heat extreme while in the sun....luckily on the walk downtown we could walk on the shady side of the street or we wouldn't have lasted 2 blocks....it's really amazing the difference in temp from shade to sun at that hour of the day....we ended up back on the same road we'd come down on the same side of the street looking for taxis going our way.  Well we never really saw that many and ended up walking all the way back to the hostal...this is worth mentioning because on Day 1 Sam didn't last more than 3 blocks and I was thinking, oh no....this isn't going to work....how long will it take to work him up to 5 or 6 or more? Well, not bad.....he did half that trip on an empty stomach and the other half on a full one. 



After we got back to the hostal (and wifi) I discovered a few video texts (thank you Glide!) and regular texts (thank you What's App!) from family and friends....can't tell you all how great it is to get your messages and stay connected.  We are certainly meeting a lot of new people here and enjoying that but it's also nice to have the support from loved ones at home....so thank you!

The turtles were out when we got back....fun with perspective...not feeding them his finger.

So that spaghetti sauce in a bag I bought the other day at the grocery turned out to be tomato paste....to the nice Frenchman at the hostal who gave me a tomato and onion to flavor it up a bit I say thank you...it turned out ok, I also added in a little leftover mac and cheese from the previous night, some carrot from the market, salt and leftover breakfast sausage....not bad. Not particularly great either but well you know... Sam ate it, I ate it and we were happy.

Drawing time before bed for both of us

Finished off our night drawing together just before bed....smartest thing I ever do before a trip is buy him a blank notebook and a pack of markers...he makes the best drawings, about Pokemon battles tonight. But the other day he talked about finding things that "inspired him" to draw and he ended up drawing several things around the hostal...like the little turtle pond and a fountain in the courtyard. I also brought along a drawing book and pen for some zentangle (relaxation drawing) for myself that a friend had given me as a gift....it was a great night doing our drawings together and winding down.