3-23-08 Hoppy Easter!! I opened my Easter card from Joe and got ready to go see Emma. She really lit up when we walked in! She smiled and started bouncing from excitement. It’s so amazing the transformation from that first week when she just had that blank expression. I dressed her in this pink and white, spring-like outfit, with sewn on butterflies and flowers. We then had a “photo session” posing her with the many bunny and chick stuffed animals with the Easter basket I brought her. It was a tiny one I brought from home that fit in a little bunny and a chicken that when you pull the string, it vibrates. She found this interesting and got the hang of putting her finger thru the loop of the string while I pulled it. After feeding Emma her daily “cereal” and cup of “milk”, she opened her card, from Joe, and actually pulled it out of the envelope herself this time. Then it was time……….. we gave her a pink bunny Peep to eat. Well, she was soooooooooo funny! She first just squished them in her hands like what the hell is this??? Then when I put it in her mouth, she made this face like I put sand in her mouth (I think the texture was what was getting to her) she seemed to like the sweet and bit off a big piece. Now, picture us doing this trying to sneak it so no one yelled at us for giving it to her. It was like a secret mission. Her mouth was all pink and so were her hands!! They were all sticky and she didn’t know why! Then she started rubbing them on the blanket so not only was the pink getting on the blanket but now all the fuzzes were sticking to her hands. Oh we were laughing! Trying to clean her up with wet ones wasn’t easy either b/c the sugar crystals didn’t melt and they were all stuck b/t each finger like grains of sand. It was hysterical! Emma seemed very fun and interactive today. I played peek-a-boo with her from behind the door leading into the hallway as well as peeking thru the other side of a stained glass door. She got a kick out of it. Then Emma was in the walker, and Mom was “whipping” her from one side around to the other side of her, almost like being on a ride at an amusement park. She smiled during this, and when mom stopped, she arched her back like she wanted to do it again. She “chased” and followed me around the room in her walker. We then started a game where I’d roll her a few feet away, then said “come on, come here” she’d run toward me with a huge smile on her face. Once she reached me, she’d reach out both of her hands, I’d grab them and say YEA!!! After a few times of doing this, she then started clapping after the YEA! We all had a fun time. Mom and I decided to go out for dinner, and thought we’d venture over to the hotel where some of the other families had stayed (they had a bar, restaurant, bowling alley, etc). So we ask for the restaurant… we’re pointed to a door where, when we opened it, it was a huge room with levels of tables and a stage. We can only assume it was some type of entertainment area/dinner theater. And it was empty. We walked down the hall and saw a bar. It was closed. Then we saw some other tables where we made eye contact with a man behind the bar and he seated us with menus (in English). What a riot THIS experience was. We were asked if we wanted bread TWICE...never got it. Asked us for drink? juice? tea? we're trying to ask for wine. He had no idea till mom said vino? OH vine..... Brings us a wine menu with only 4 kinds that were sold by the glasss so we said no....how about a mixed drink......looked at us like we had 6 heads. Then........... we said vodka.... Oh THAT he knew. So I thought I’d go out on a limb here… cranberry juice? No. So I had it with cherry juice. (later find out that they charge you for juice and a charge for the alcohol) Mom had rum and orange juice. We asked the waitress to explain some of the dishes on the menu. She just kept saying NO. No what??? No you wont explain? No you don’t know what it is? She got so frustrated she sent over a waiter. Turns out, No, means “we don’t have that available today.” After we placed our order, we were asked if we wanted bread. We said yes. Eventually we got our tiny drinks in a glass with a bendy straw and 2 tiny ice cubes. He then looked at us, he took out a pad and pencil (like he was gonna take our order) and walked away. We waited 45 min and nothing. No bread. Nothing. We asked where everything was~ mom showed her watch and rubbed her stomach....waiter put hands in air and said sorry. Then made a phone call to the kitchen maybe and came back and asked me what I wanted on the side (which I told him with my order 45 min ago!) I knew he hadn’t even put the order in yet! Another 20 min go by and we finally get our dinner. No bread, but dinner nonetheless. We both ordered beef medalions with vegetables. Which showed up with no vegetables. We asked where they were, had to show them on the menu that it was supposed to COME WITH IT, and they eventually brought out one small plate (for us to SHARE-eventhough we were both supposed to get veggies) of 2 small slices of egg plant, 2 ¼ pieces of a tomato and 4 slices of pepper all grilled. My side dish was BOILED potatoes "in their own jackets' which I assumed meant w/the skin on..... nevertheless.....no jackets and NOT boiled but fried. Do we dare order dessert? Then dessert menu.... the pasty I wanted was another NO. (more of them not having any) and mom ordered a dessert that CAME WITH fruit, ice cream and chocolate. So she asked waitress if it was chocolates on the side or chocolate sauce on top. She said sauce on top. It comes 15 min later. Its 4 scoops of chocolate ice cream with some chocolate powder on top. Mom said "chocolate sauce" and waitress said no. Uh, YES…that’s what you JUST told us. Then we asked, where’s the "fruit"?????? She looked at us and said “oh you want fruit?” and had to go back and ask someone....She comes back with “No, just fruit OR ice cream”. Thats NOT what the description of the dessert was. Do they not even know what’s on their menu? Or does it just offer things then they make what they want and hope you don’t notice? Unbelievable. We gave it back and left. Asked front desk to call a taxi and went home. The drive home was nice, since we’ve never been out after dark. A lot of the streets have colored lights strung across them, like you’d see for a special occasion or holiday by us. Also, many colored lights lit up the buildings or had rows of blinking lights going down them, again, like Christmas decorations. And of course, its snowing again.