The time with Mom passed by so quickly, but I think we made the absolute most of it. The highlights of her visit were certainly just catching-up, helping her get to know Salamanca, our church, and neighbors, and watching her and Noah bond. She arrived with a tiny bag for herself and a whole suitcase full of surprises for us, and especially for Noah. She had wrapped many of the gifts, as it was kinda like Christmas, and Noah quickly learned about all the presents she had brought. She had labeled them with days of the week so he could open something each day of her visit, but once Noah saw them and realized they were for him, he got to work and opened all of them by the second morning. Many gifts were books - reading them was one of Grandma and Noah's favorite activities. Every morning he would wake up and as soon as he remembered that Grandma was here, he would run to her door, knock, and then open it, often bringing a couple books to read with grandma in bed. Grandma was in heaven!
We did a little touring to give her a feel for the city. We went to Miraflores, took a look at the Pacific view from Larcomar (the mall built into the side of a cliff), walked through Parque Kennedy, played in the fountain a little, then briefly visited the Indian Market before having lunch at one of Lima's finest Italian restaurants. We sat in a place where Noah could watch them making the fresh pastas, and they even gave him a lump of pasta dough to play with!
The next morning, for Valentine's Day, we visited the Plaza de Armas - to visit the Cathedral, the government palace, and the changing of the guard. That particularly interested Noah as we explained what a marching band was. We pointed out the trumpets and now "trumpet" is very much a part of Noah's vocabulary - using the word whenever he hears them in music! He also liked the way the soldiers were all dressed. It reminded him the way Goliath looks in his little Bible, so when he saw them he pointed and said, "Goliat." Then we went to the Catedral de San Francisco. There, they have large catacombs with lots and lots of bones still in them. Creepy! Noah must have picked up on that too as he said "Bone yuck!" while were down there on our tour. His favorite part of this Catedral were las palomas (pigeons). There were hundreds of them! He had such a blast running through them and making them fly. (Don't worry Mom, we washed hands well after playing among those birds.) He also met a little girl there, maybe a year older than he, who he started chasing around. At one point he caught her and gave her a hug and a little kiss. Then she started chasing him through all the pigeons. Our little Valentino is starting young!
That night Elita watched Noah so we could all go out together. All the restaurants we wanted to try were full, so we went back to Larcomar to try our luck at one of the oceanview spots. Praise the Lord we found a perfect table at "Mango's" right on their terrace on the cliff! It was very special to get some time just with Mom that night. After getting back at 10, she and I went out to a Valentine's Day party, believe it or not, at the mission house while Michael stayed home with Noah. We had a lot of fun mingling and meeting the crowd, and Paulo even got Mom to join in the salsa dancing!
More to come...
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