We had a wonderful time while Inigo was here. It was great to see the two brothers together, and I can tell they like each other very much, which is really neat. I heard them chatting away late into the night, catching up, I am sure on all their adventures and comparing their experiences.
Ever since Andoni had see the rides at the Mall of America, I knew that his heart was set on getting back there. So, it was the perfect place to take all of the kids, especially since Andoni wanted to go on the "scary" rides and the girls prefer some of the tamer ones. So, after getting some of the morning duties out of the way, and after lunch, we packed up the car to the fullest (6 kids!) and headed to the Mall of America. I got unlimited ride wristbands and told Andoni and Inigo to meet up with us in an hour. They ran off and I caught sight of them once or twice running from rollercoaster to rollercoaster. After the first hour, they met me promptly at the designated spot and I told them to come back again in another hour. Inigo said, "One more hour?!? We have already gone on all the rides one time!" Andoni said, "No, it's okay." And off they went, and one hour later, they had gone on their favorite ride 5 times and I think were satisfied. We then did a little shopping which was fun to watch the two boys deciding about what to buy. I wish we had had more time there, but we needed to head home for soccer games and practices.
We ate dinner together after soccer games and talked some more. It was hard to bring Inigo back to his host family, I have to admit, we all had such a nice time together. We learned so much about all of Inigo and Andoni's travel experiences and their town and family. We all enjoyed our time together very much.
Inigo is so kind, like Andoni, and I think it meant a lot to Andoni and Inigo to be able to spend some time together. Although, Inigo did tell me that he knew it was better for their English practice if they are not together. Inigo will travel next week (I believe) to the Black Hills in South Dakota, which is a great trip. I gave his host mother a list of all the things that our family has enjoyed there, and I know they will find some of their own. I hope to hear all about it.
Yesterday was a quieter day. Andoni and Jeff were looking forward very much to the soccer match and Jeff even came home from work to watch with Andoni. Of course, no one in our family now wanted Spain to win, but oh well. We are counting down the days until the final game!
Andoni will be playing soccer this weekend in a tournament match which draws teams from all over the Midwest (Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa) and even Canada. I think in the past, there have also been some Scandinavian teams. So, last night, Jeff, Quinn and Andoni went looking for some cleats so Andoni would not have to borrow Quinn's anymore (which is what he was using for practices). They couldn't find any of the brand Andoni was looking for in his size, so Jeff, will take him today to one more place (called Soccer Express) and hopefully, they will find some there.
We also took Andoni with us to our small church down the street last night for a Family Bible study. When we got home, he showed us some pictures on the internet of his family church which is lovely. Our church is Protestant Christian, and quite different from what Andoni is used to. The children were read a story and then we had a discussion about God's forgiveness and love for us. Andoni asked if there would be some type of exam, but he soon found that there wasn't. We also ran a race together at Bible study, I don't know if Andoni has ever done that at church either. We will finally bring him to a church service this Sunday (since we have been out of town the two other weekends he has been here). He will see a little more reverence in the church service on Sunday, last night was a fun family event.
Today we may go swimming at the pool. We'll see!
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