Aquarium of the Pacific

Today after church we loaded up the kids, sans nap (two days in a row eeeek) and headed to the Aquarium of the Pacific. They had so graciously donated two tickets to our family so that Dzintars could experience all they have to offer! It's safe to say that he loved it. Never before has he been able to touch or see the creatures he saw today! Prepare yourself for an onslaught of pictures as he was asking for photos left and right!

As you can see, Kaelyn has a new camera smile:)

Sea lions.

 The kids were excited to learn there is a new penguin exhibit!

He was in awe of the penguins and kept trying to touch them through the glass. 

"Penguinos" (as she calls them, thanks Dora) are Kaelyn's current favorite animal.

He got to touch everything from stingrays, to starfish to sharks.

Sea otter.

Octopus.

 The shark tank was a big hit.

This guy was ferocious even from behind the glass. Yikes!

We ended our day with dinner at "Bubba Gumps". The build your own sundae dessert was a big hit with Dzintars! Ice Cream is definitely one of his loves!

Even though our day ended with Brennan in a huge screaming mess (remember, no naps two days in a row, the dude does not do "tired" well), it was so worth it! It was a day Dzintars will remember forever! I'm so thankful that he is as excited for these new experiences as we are! Prior to his arrival we were told that many of the kids become overly stimulated by things like museums, amusement parks and big department stores (I was seriously worried I'd have to go five weeks without Target-ha!) but fortunately that isn't the case with Dzintars. He just takes it all in and then asks for more:) Today I heard a lot of "Stacey! Homa (that's how he pronounces home) no!" We did in fact have to leave, the littles were so overly tired they were ticking time bombs! But luckily for him, we have a few more adventures up our sleeves this week:)

Dzintars has become more and more affectionate with us lately. This past week he's started telling us that he loves us. At first he'd call my name and then just mouth the words without any sound, but after a few times of me saying "I love you too" he started saying it aloud as well. Now he tells us both multiple times a day that he loves us and gives us tight hugs before going to bed. He's completely let his guard down and tonight he asked me via Google translate if we would allow him to come stay with us again. My heart broke as I saw that question as typcially kids can only be re-hosted by the same family more than once if the family is in the process of adopting that child. I love this kid and I'd jump at the chance to host him again, but I had to explain to him (without mentioning adoption) that the program he came here with usually only allows kids to stay with a family one time, but that he'd likely be able to come to America again and stay with another family. I took special care to make sure he knew how much we loved having him with us, and that we'd LOVE to have him stay with us again, but that it might not be possible. Questions like this just break my heart. He's told me multiple times that he does not want to go back to Latvia but wants to stay in America with us. His departure date is just over a week away and I'm already dreading it:( I don't want to let him go....