Dinner at the hospital cafeteria

     Last Wednesday we went to eat at the Loma Linda Children's Hospital's cafeteria.  Amaya had requested it a few days before and it finally worked out to go. On the drive over she was so excited she had to take a break twice (she was getting too rowdy and being unkind to her sister).  Although most people don't usually care for cafeteria food, we do. We love going there. Since the hospital is an Adventist hospital the food is all vegetarian. And since its a hospital cafeteria its relatively low cost. So we can get yummy food for a good deal (in case you're wondering, yes we are vegetarians). We don't go that often, but try to go on occasion so that the girls learn to not be scarred by the hospital. Since Amaya requested it, we wanted to make sure to go. Lately she's been a bit nervous and scared about her upcoming surgery ( I don't blame her). We thought going there would help calm her nerves.

     When we got there Lidie had to go potty so I took her in, while Josh stayed with Amaya. We had Amaya  take a break in the car and calm down a bit before going in. When Lidie and I  got into the hospital the two main restrooms had a long line. And if you know anything about three year-old's you know they don't do great with long lines, especially to go potty. I remembered a "secret" bathroom around the corner and took her there. I had forgotten all about it. It's one that we found the last time that Amaya was in the hospital. It's funny, after being there several days you get familiar with all the different  bathrooms, cafeterias, chapel, garden, elevators, etc. It starts to feel familiar, like home. A home that you can hardly wait to move out of. 

     On our way to the hospital we made one stop; at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. statue in downtown San Bernardino. After learning about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and celebrating his birthday Amaya was so excited to go visit his statue. She could hardly believe that there is a statue so close to her school and home. She learned a lot of lessons from him; the importance of being kind and safe, sticking up for others, and the power of having a dream. All lessons that she's been taught along the way by us, her teachers, the many good people at Clare Cherry School. It's just so amazing and cool to see one person who modeled all those things. He's a great model for us all, and visiting his statue was definitely worth it.

The girls and Josh walking around the fountains in front of the statue.

Here's Amaya on the statue. She asked "was he really that tall?" 

Here's the girls being silly. Notice Lidie's shinny pants and shinny shoes (she's decided she's a rockstar).

These are their excited faces, even though Lidie looks kind of scared.

This picture is a little dark, but I love the silhouette. 

At the cafeteria Amaya shared a veggie corn dog with Lidie. 

I asked Amaya to smile and this is the face she made.

Then I asked Lidie to smile and this is the face she made. 

The view of  the hospital from the parking lot. It looks so calm and beautiful at night. 

You can even see Venus in the sky.