The girls are also really into finding fluffy white dandelions. I got a fun picture of them with their dandelions on Crazy Hat Day.
Crazy Hat Day was a fundraiser for kids with cancer.
When the traffic is kind, they are often the first kids at school, and they have the place to themselves.
Vivian has swimming twice a week after school, so that's another thing that keeps us busy. Even though it's one more thing on top of an already long day, I really enjoy spending the time with her. We have a fun walk with lots of interesting things to see along the way. We kept passing this one cupcake place, and finally we decided to go in and buy one.
The packaging was fantastic, and the cupcake was pretty good too. We still haven't found cupcakes to top the ones at Best Buns in the States though. I also got to go to a poetry festival with Vivian. Several of the English speaking schools got together to celebrate Ken Nesbit and poetry in general. Vivian and her friend recited a Nesbit poem. She was nervous, but she did a great job.
With all this running around during the week, our weekends become precious, and while we try to get out, sometimes we just want to chill at home. The girls have tons of toys to play with.
They like to go out to lunch sometimes.
Especially if ice cream is involved.
In the past month though, we've really only had two major outings, one involving meat and the other involving eggs.
One Saturday, Piedad came and stayed with the girls, and Jeff and I went to a "meat festival". It was at a local steak restaurant that raises their own cows, so it was a farm to table type of place. They also had lots of different wines.
First, we had a presentation on all the different kinds of cows there are just for beef. I knew there were lots of different kinds of cows, but it turns out there are over 300 species total. The presentation was all in Spanish, but by that point, we had already split a bottle of wine with some friends, so our Spanish was perfect.
Next, we moved outside where half a cow was hanging, ready for the session on what different types of meat are called in Colombia, the U.S., and Argentina.
There were big grills at the back, so as the presentation went on, the cooks started grilling some of the meat up and passing it around for us to enjoy with our many bottles of wine.
It was not for the faint of heart.
We were having a good time though.
They had a sommelier come out at the end to talk about two kinds of Malbecs and a Cab Sav to pair with steak. He was really good, but by that point we had already picked our favorite.
They saved the best cuts of meat for last, and let us go pick which ones we wanted to eat and slice our own cuts. Jeff was super excited about the chain mail glove they gave him.
Given the amount of alcohol most of the people at the event had consumed, it was probably a good idea. I left Jeff in charge of selecting and cutting. He had some help though.
The end result was served grilled up with some delicious potatoes and salad. Yum!
The best part was the herb butter. We spread it on everything. We would definitely go back to the restaurant just to have a regular meal.
This weekend we had a more family friendly outing. The embassy had an early Easter egg hunt, since most people will be out of town for spring break. We got lucky with the weather, and it was a beautiful, sunny day.
They had hired some kind of Easter party company, so we were greeted by a dressed up Easter bunny and some real bunnies, ducklings, and other animals.
The egg hunt itself was divided into age groups, and there were different areas and start times for the different age groups. Elena got excited when she saw the hill dotted with colorful plastic Easter eggs.
We had to call her back to the official start line. Luckily, her primary concern was getting one of each color, so she was perfectly happy to stop after that. Vivian's age group was on the steeper part of the hill, and she was on the hunt for the special "golden eggs". There were two for each age group and the person who found one got a special prize.
While Vivi was hunting, Elena and I discovered another Easter bunny inside. If you brought him your basket full of plastic eggs and returned the eggs to him, he gave you a bag full of candy and treats. I thought it was a great way to have the kids clean up the eggs and still get a treat.
Once we told Viv about the egg return deal, she gave up hunting for the golden egg and went in to get her loot. She didn't want her picture taken with the "creepy" bunny though, which made me laugh. We found a nice spot in the shade to hang out while the kids ate some of their candy.
Elena also got a little craft in her bag, but we had her wait until we got home to put it together, because we were afraid we might lose pieces in the grass. She followed some of the directions, and then added her own personal flair to it.
It was a fun way to spend the morning, so we felt justified relaxing for the second part of the day. Jeff and I are re-watching the first season of Legion, since the new one is coming out soon. The girls were happy playing at home. It's good we stayed in, because half way through the afternoon it started pouring, even though the sun was still out. We went out on the balcony, and Jeff managed to capture the rain in photos.
The driver who took us to the Easter party described Bogota weather as bi-polar, and he's not wrong, but we love the nice cool weather here, and we're fine with the occasional downpour. Even though our daily lives are very busy, we're really enjoying living in Bogota. It's a lovely city, and we feel so lucky to be here.
