Meet Maodo

On Tuesday night at 7:15, a bus pulled into Grimsby and we met Maodo, our visitor that will be staying with us for nine days. He comes to us from New York through the Fresh Air Fund's Friendly Town program. He's seven years old (same as Austin) and so far seems to be having fun with the kids. The plan yesterday was to spend the day at a conservation area close by but when we got there, we realized it was quite cold. We tried fishing but it was way too windy and we definitely weren't dressed for the temperature. We planned to have an outdoor picnic but instead we put all the seats down in the van and picnicked in the back. We ended up coming home and just having some backyard fun instead. It's amazing seeing the world through his eyes - we take so much for granted . . . . hummingbirds at the window, frogs, fishing . . . even self checkout at the grocery store. These are all things he's never seen or experienced.

Last night, bedtime ended up being kind of funny. Maodo is used to going to bed quite late when he's at home and our kids go to bed quite early. Maodo is sharing a room with Austin and last night around 8:30, Austin called, "Daddy". When Mike went upstairs Austin said, "Maodo says he wants to go home because we go to bed too early". So when Mike tried to ask Maodo if that was true, Maodo didn't answer him. Upon further inspection, Mike realized that Maodo was fast asleep! And he slept right through until 7:00 this morning. LOL. The fresh air is definitely tiring him out! (There's been no more mention of home so let's pray he doesn't get homesick!)