An evening with friends

Alexis and I spent the morning relaxing at the hotel (translation- Alexis spent the morning taking bath after bath after bath!). By noon, the hotel room was starting to feel a bit small, so we bundled up again and set out for a walk around wet, cold, snowy Sofia (translation- WE only walked for about 5 minutes before her little legs got tired and I carried her around Sofia). We walked around the open market and then stopped at McDonald's for lunch. She loved taking in the sights and sounds of the city and looking into all of the shop windows!

We stopped by the grocery store on the way back to the hotel and picked up some pretzels and yogurt and replenished our supply of fresh fruit. Shortly after returning to the hotel, the housekeeper knocked on the door and asked if she could clean our room. It desperately needed cleaning and so I thanked her and told her that we could go downstairs while she worked. Alexis had other ideas! She wanted to help and so she helped the housekeeper replenish our supply of towels, vacuum the floor and make the beds. Her favorite part was getting to spray the air freshener when she was done!

Housekeeping!

Although she was exhausted, she insisted that she wasn't tired and that she didn't want to sleep. Instead we called home and then she rested quietly on the bed and looked through her photo album, which is never far from her!

Alexis showing me her prized photo album (with pictures of our home and family. . she can't wait to add pictures of herself!)

This evening we enjoyed a special treat! While I was in Philadelphia at the beginning of December, I ran in to a friend from our AMC (arthrogryposis) family. Her husband is Bulgarian and I learned that they would be in Sofia, visiting family for the holidays, during our stay! She graciously invited us to get together with their family while we were in Sofia and tonight we had the opportunity to spend an evening in their home, enjoying a delicious traditional, Bulgarian meal, great friends and wonderful conversation.

Alexis especially enjoyed the opportunity to play with their two girls (and all of their fun toys) and left with a new best friend in Baba Trachliev, who, as all good grandmothers do, spoiled her rotten and gave her a "goody bag" to take home with her!

We had a wonderful time and are so grateful to the Trachlievs for inviting us to spend the evening with them!

Needless to say, bedtime was a breeze tonight and Alexis was out cold within minutes of her head hitting the pillow. Hopefully our sleep will be uninterrupted tonight as we have another fun day with friends planned tomorrow!

*My apologies for the lack of pictures! I walked out of our hotel room without my camera this evening and didn't get any pictures of our time with the Trachlievs :-( Still kicking myself for that one!