October: A Month of Keira

Blog Post About October 2021

Keira turned 9 with cappuccino muffins for breakfast, a day at school, a scavenger hunt for her presents, and a dinner at a restaurant with fun milkshakes (because that's the only way to judge a restaurant).

You've gotta love moms who take your picture right after you wake up!

A travel kit for her dolls.

And who doesn't need a colorful "My Little Pony" onesie?

This little girl traveled all over America with me last summer, and the benefit was, she got to pick out her birthday presents and travel back with them.

It doesn't always work like that, but she had fun spending ours and grandparents' allotted money amounts.

Washable skin markers

Now you can see why she chose this restaurant.

Three days after her actual birthday, we had a party with some of her friends at a "Fun Zone."

The next week, she performed as a swan in a ballet and participated in a gymnastics routine at a local art show at a hotel.

We love Keira just because, but some of the fun things about her are her great laugh, her joy, the way she loves others, her quickness to apologize, her sensitivity, and the way she eats ice cream bars ;)

This is not an act. She LITERALLY eats ice cream bars like this, and we have no idea how it happens!

Surprise! It's the Last Day of School

On May 9^th, the city had a rare flooding.  It rained and hailed very hard for about an hour, and with nowhere for water to go (mainly because drains are covered in trash), it started coming into houses and rising under cars.

I was in language class in our neighborhood, and this was my view of things.

 My teacher got a call from a friend whose car had stalled and she needed help, and I’m sure she wasn’t the only one who didn’t know how to drive (or not to drive) in high water.

After one hour, the water was pretty much gone in most areas of the city, and Doug and I were able to go out for date night.

 

 
































Keira’s school was flooded on the first floor, and they had to take all the carpet out. 

 

When I went to pick up Keira from school two weeks after the flood on May 20^th, people were stacking chairs outside and hanging more carpets over the balcony.

I went to the door and asked if there had been more problems from the flooding, and the teacher just looked at me and said, “Today was the last day of school.”

Oh!  Nice to know.  Congrats Keira!

I had never been informed, but that didn’t keep us from celebrating.  Milkshakes here we come.

-->

Grass!

I've mentioned before how excited we get about grass.

It's been wet lately, and I haven't taken Keira to the park in about two weeks.  She said the other day, "Mom, I'd really like to see some grass."

I felt bad, so I started thinking how I could work some "grass" into our schedule.

Every Thursday, I drop Kylie off for French tutoring at some apartments; however, I had never walked into the complex, but I could see fountains and grass from the road.

I told Keira we could go with Kylie to tutoring that day and play in the grass for a couple of hours while we waited for her. 

Well, seeing it was all we could do.  It was kind of a "don't walk on the grass" kind of area.

She had fun running around the fountains, though, and just being outside.

But that couldn't occupy us for two hours, so...

we explored the shops that are attached the apartments.

We went in the grocery store and walked by all the restaurants, and decided to stop inside a cute café.

I had heard about this place (because of their milkshakes), but I'd never been here before.

The guys here loved Keira and loved hearing her say some words in their language.  

When it was time to put the finishing touches on her milkshake, they came and got her and took her behind the bar.

When they saw me taking pictures from my table, they told me to come over and watch.

They helped her with the whipping cream because the nozzle was too hard.  

And then they let her stick two cookie-type desserts in the whip cream.

Then they lowered it down so she could put sprinkles on.

Sometimes (and only sometimes) milkshakes are better than grass.

And my coffee concoction wasn't so bad either.

After the milkshake and coffee, we stayed outside for a little while until it started raining.

Then, we called up and asked if we could wait in the apartment while Kylie finished with her tutor.

It was perfect!  Her tutor had a soft, sweet dog and a beautiful, white cat, both of which Keria loved playing with.

I, on the other hand, had a cup of tea and watched the thunder and lightning show off her balcony.

Hunting for grass turned out not to be such a bad adventure after all.