Weekend in Review!

Saturday 2/15-
We are so excited for the weekend!  It has been beautiful weather.  70 and sunny almost every day.  It does rain around 3pm for about an hour or hour and a half.  It is a good time though as we usually come back for A to take a nap and spend some one on one time with Isaac.

Today we went out for a late Valentine's Day lunch at Crepes and Waffles.  It is a local chain here that is delicious and many friends have recommend that we try it.  My sister in law said that they had one in Quito also that they would visit when she was living there for a year.  Isaac had a waffle with nutella for dessert.  It was amazing!

After lunch we went for a walk.  We plan to walk every day if it is nice out.  It is nice to get out and about a bit.  We walked the area to learn where more things are at.  We found exito ( much like target or walmart) and the mall.  It looked like rain so we did not shop much but walked back home just in time for a down pour.  We have heard there is an arcade at the mall so we will be sure to go back and check that out!

We arrived back at the hotel just in time to get a delivery of formula and before the rain started.  A is on a special type of formula as she has reflux so we buy it from a pharmacy that delivers.  A man comes on a motorcycle about once a week and delivers the cans with no delivery fee.  Such a great service!  The formula is expensive so I am debating changing it but I know I will once again have to do this once we are home so we will see.

After dinner Isaac played hide and go seek with Sara and Camilla (the daughter of one of the girls who works here at the hotel) for an hour or so.  It is so nice to have some kids here for him to play with.  They both speak Spanish so it is fun to hear him speak Spanish!! :-) Dinner is usually at 6:30 so our evenings involve eating, playing for a bit, showers and baths and usually the kids are in bed around 8:30 or so.


Sunday 2/16-
On Sundays they close many of the roads for something they call Ciclovia.  They close off one side of many of the roads for runners, bikers, and walkers to enjoy exercise and not have to deal with the traffic.  It usually runs from 7 until 2:30 every Sunday.  Many of our friends have said they looked forward to Sunday as there is less traffic, they were able to get out and about, and there is a great flea market not too far from where we are staying.  After breakfast we packed everybody up and headed out with the stroller.  It was so nice to enjoy the sunshine.  We have to be careful however as the sun is fairly intense as we are so close to the equator.  We walked about 1 mile to Usaquen.  There were a lot of tents set up and different vendors selling everything you can imagine.  We spent a few hours wandering the market.  Isaac bought a few little things and we scoped out many things that we will go back for to bring home with us.

There is a church in Usaquen so at noon we attended a Catholic mass for a bit.  Baby A got a bit fussy so we left early but it was so fun to experience this.  There was a lot of singing and greeting one another. There was a large park outside the church with a few swings that Isaac played on for awhile and many people sit in the park and feed the pigeons.  After lunch there were musicians and different people dressed up that you could take pictures with.  It reminded me of when we were on Hollywood boulevard.  :-) We decided to go to lunch at a near by restaurant that was Colombian fusion food.  It was very delicious.  Once again the manager spoke some English so he came and told us all about what he thought we should try.  We told him bring us whatever he thinks is good.  We had a traditional Colombian banana with cheese between it and some shrimp and tomatoes with avocado.  It was amazing!! :-)

People stop us and tell us baby A is "muy linda" ...very cute... often.  People are extremely friendly here.  It is really amazing and so nice.  We are amazed at how many people are able to speak some English and how many of them have family in the states or have lived in the states themselves.  Jeff and I both have commented on how we wish we knew more Spanish.

We stopped at Carulla grocery store and picked up a few snacks and fruit on the way home.  Isaac has been trying many new fruits while here.  I will post more on that later.  We intended to go to the park but it started raining so we headed back.

A has not slept real well today so was a bit fussy.  We tried rice cereal and pears tonight and it was a huge hit!! She loved it!! Almost all baby food here has sugar in it so I did bring some cereal with me as recommended by a friend.  Juanita has been blending a few things for us also for her to try but I am going slow with it.  We visited with the family that is here from France that will be here until Friday.  They shared some chocolate with us that was simply amazing!! :-)

Evenings tend to go fast as we eat around 6:30 pm.  Once done eating it is baths and bed.  Isaac has really enjoyed having some other kids here.  We have not even touched the movies we brought with yet.

We learned tonight that there is more to the market than we even saw so we are looking forward to going back next week!! :-)

Baby A has been practicing her rolling and rolled from stomach to back this weekend.  SO fun to see and so funny the expression on her face.  She is doing new things every day.  :-)
Here are some pictures of the weekend! :-)

“The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.” -Psalm 126:3