Trying to get back to Routines...

We tried to get back to a routine today, having the girls do homework, help with chores etc. It's hard because some nights tend to go a little later than others, it all depends on what we are doing and what we are having for dinner. We seem to have gotten off our 8 o'clock bedtime since the fireworks. We found out today that the fireworks were for the pre-opening celebration for the owners of the stores in the mall. It seems strange that the owners get all that and not the public, and that it wasn't announced that there was going to be a fireworks display. Last night we went outside thinking there would be another display and there was nothing.. Oh well, there is always 4th of July, wait until they see those with the music that goes along with it.
Today Alex and I slept a little bit longer, we needed some rest, and had left a
letter on the table that we would sleep in this morning. It was not necessary because they slept in as well. It felt good to sleep in. We did some homework, then we did some cleaning around the house, the girls helped and then I took the girls to the grand opening of Santa Fe, the shopping mall across the street. Needless to say the place is huge. Is the largest in Latin America, I guess. It has five floors and I don't know how many shops. There is a grocery store there as well as movie theater. We are glad about not having to cross the big avenue for that. I took the girls and they were most fascinated by the fountains. The fountains are syncronized and are quite beautiful. We did not buy much, just some lotions, earings for the girls and a gift for our guide. Alex went later to the grocery store and we had to meet him there because he had bought too much, but since it is across the street, I went with the older girls to bail him out with the younger girls. It's very convenient to have this mall across the street. There is anything you need there. But it was too crowded today, we wanted to just look around.
Another thing that happened today was that I (Mercedes) received my first flower arrangement for Mother's day. My parents sent it to me. When I first got the call they said that I had gotten flowers from Cali(Colombia)then they told me it was from papi and mami. I called my parents to confirm, since the owners here do not want us to give our address to anyone (there were a couple of robberies in the last couple weeks in one of the buildings). The delivery guy was a little annoyed, but I gave him a good tip.
We are starting some TPR with the girls. For those non-ESL people TPR is Total Physical Response. That is, you do actions or show the student how to do something with a demonstration. Yesica and Sucena tried it out today and did well. We took a video of it and they watched it over and over. We will have to try to do this again.
We tried uploading it and it did not work. Sorry. Enjoy the pictures from today's visit to Santa Fe mall and my first Mother's Day flower arrangement.