Last full day at the Club

Today was our last full day at the Club. The day was gorgeous! Sunny and about a high of 80, low humidity (see pictures). We leave for Bogota tomorrow afternoon.
The biggest thing that happened today was that we met a family who was spending the weekend here and had adopted two kids from La Casita. The girls recognized the oldest girl of the two this morning at breakfast. They kept telling me they had seen a girl that lived in Casita and that they recognized the mother, who had visited Casita and brought cake and presents. Eventually the girls approached the family (we didn't know who they were) and we met them. We spent part of the day talking to the couple and grandparents. The girls spent some time with the kids at the pool and at the playing area. The kids had dinner together and were very playful, especially with Sucena.
Mirellen also made some friends including a boy her age who she spent most the afternoon with at the pool, playing cards and other games with younger kids in the sand. ( We were not prepared for this so early, we both introduced ourselves to the boy, he was nice and his name happened to be 'Alejandro', so that was a big plus for Alex). The boy left while we were eating dinner. Middle School... here we go! We also spent a big chunk of the morning repacking all of our 9 bags, so that they would meet weight limits of the airlines.
The girls also got their hair done by one of the girls who is a 'recreacionista' or recreation specialist, Lorena, she told me she was a Physical Education major in college. Alexa was here too, she spent most of the day with Milena. We thought it would be neat to begin some kind of exchange program with some of these university students, but it seems getting a US visa is not easy. Maybe a better way would be to work this through two colleges.. we'll have to think about that. It would be another way for the girls to continue to get connected with Medellin. Something that we plan to work on. Most of the Colombian in the Madison area, that we have met, are not from Medellin.
When we met the family that had adopted from La Casita, she explained to us that they have a parents association who tries to get funds for La Casita. However they don't have a connection with couples from outside of Colombia. We told the family we would love to start a U.S. contigent of the association (you guys know we are not busy enough!). She told us that La Casita is in major need of funds, but they do not solicit. We are planning on continuing to raise funds for both Brittany's Hope and La Casita and plan to involve the girls in this process. We think it is important that we give back. Time to go to sleep. We have a long day tomorrow.