Ghana Days 5 & 6

On Saturday, the day after court, we took the kids swimming at The Dutch Hotel.  It wasn't very far at all from our  hotel.  They were very nice there and Auntie Ruth talked them in to giving us a little discount since there would be 6 of us swimming.  Yeah Auntie Ruth!!

The hotel was really nice and you could walk right down to the beach.  Beautiful! 

Abi and Joseph don't know how to swim but are very eager to learn.  Joseph was fearless and will learn very quickly....  in fact he probably would have been swimming in a day or two if we had been able to go to the pool consecutive days.  Abi is a little more cautious but she kept stepping out of her comfort zone more and more.  Brave girl!!

We also took Rebecca with us (another girl in the foster home very close to coming home to her parents).  She LOVED the water!!!!  A complete fish.... we called her bubbles after that.  It fits her!  She loves the water and she has this cute little bubbly personality and laugh!

All the kids in the pool with Daddy! 

Abi and Rebecca

Joseph being a little pouty

Abi, Rebecca and Brendon

Abi (left) and Rebecca (right)....such good friends!

Joseph still a little pouty.  He wouldn't come all the way down to the beach.....we never could figure out why... hmmmm

Needless to say the kids were EXHAUSTED that night!  So much fun!! 

On Sunday we took the kids to the Accra Mall.  It is a very modern mall much like our malls....actually much better than the mall in our town!  The kids asked to go there a day or two after we arrived.  There is a kids play area they like and it is a treat for them to go there.  There is also a Shoprite that we could buy some groceries for our hotel room and a food court where we could have pizza!  For some crazy reason we didn't get pictures that day.  :( 

It was a great bonding weekend with our kids!  It was obvious they were cycling through a broad range of emotions as they adjusted to us, and us them, learned about us, and us them.  They would go from ultra happy to pouty and emotional and back very quickly but we felt like this was perfectly normal.  Through that they learned that we are their parents and they are our kids and we would handle things as they came up...... hug them when they need it and tell them no when needed as well.  Omar and I felt like just acting like normal parents on an outing with our kids was the best way to gain their trust and judging how our time in Ghana progressed I think it worked well.


To be continued......