We started our Father's Day celebrations a day early, because Sunday was also the Colombian presidential election day, which meant no alcohol for sale. Also, Elena couldn't wait for Jeff to open the present she'd made for him. She drew a picture of her and daddy, and then her teachers put it on a coffee mug.
We decided to go out for an early lunch and try the French restaurant, Balzac, over near Andino. We got a nice table outside, and they had mango juice and strawberry juice, so we were off to a good start.
Jeff and I split the pate, which was pretty good. I got mussels in white wine sauce which was a nice treat, since the other French restaurant we like doesn't have them. I had to share quite a few with Elena though. She loves mussels, which I find hilarious. Dessert was also a big hit with the girls, since they had Nutella crepe for Vivian and chocolate ice cream for Elena.
Jeff tried the chocolate mousse, and I tried the creme brulee. It was all good, but we were so full, we couldn't finish anything. Our overall verdict is that this French restaurant is more family friendly, but we like the food at the other one better if it's just Jeff and me.
We also had a shopping mission, we needed Colombia team jerseys to wear for Colombia's World Cup game. They were selling knock off ones all over the neighborhood, and, as far as I could tell, they were perfectly good shirts. We were walking around checking sizes and prices, but what I hadn't bargained on was the fact that the Adidas store is in the neighborhood too. Adidas sponsors the team and sells the official jerseys. Well, of course, Jeff wanted to go in. We ended up getting the jerseys there, which may have been for the best, since I don't know if the street vendors had the size range we needed, XS to XL. I also don't have to worry that the jerseys will fall apart or bleed in the wash. I did find it hilarious though, that the street vendors were selling knock offs directly outside the Adidas store. So much for trademarking.
We made another unplanned purchase. There are people who walk around with handfuls of Disney helium balloons (also illegal, I'm sure), and one of them had been standing outside the restaurant the whole time we had been eating lunch. Elena had her eye on the Baymax balloon. We got charged gringo price, but it still wasn't too expensive, so Elena proudly carried it home through the mall.
We stopped at the mall, so that Jeff and Vivian could get tickets for Incredibles 2. Vivian's Father's Day present was a movie date.
We started the official Father's Day off with breakfast from Bagatelle.
Then Jeff and Vivian headed off for the movie.
While they were gone, Elena may have over hugged her Baymax balloon. He started losing air pretty quickly.
She was pretty upset. In looking for things to distract her, I discovered that there's a new Big Hero 6 TV series, so I put that on, and she cheered up. She also settled Baymax in to convalesce while she watched.
The next day, the girls and I headed off for the last Monday of the school year.
It was also the last relatively normal day of the week. Tuesday was all about football. Colombia played Japan at 7:00 am Colombia time. All classes stopped, and various viewing stations were set up all over the school. We came prepared in our yellow jerseys.
The girls even got a little practice in before the game started.
The school was a sea of yellow, and our Colombian friends were all grateful for the support. We said that since the U.S. isn't in this year's World Cup, Colombia is our team. Unfortunately, the game got off to rough start with a Colombian player getting a red card, and Japan scoring a penalty goal all within the first ten minutes. I stayed and watched the game with Elena's group. They didn't really understand what was going on, but thoroughly enjoyed chanting Co-lom-bia! During half time the teachers put on Shakira's two World Cup songs, and the kids had a dance party.
So now, in addition to chanting, Elena occasionally starts singing, la-la-la-la-la or waka waka. Colombia ended up losing, but it was a great World Cup experience to be a part of. They're playing again tomorrow, and we're hoping it goes a bit better.
Wednesday was our last flag raising of the year, and they managed to get it done in under an hour which was fabulous. We had had another 20th birthday celebration the Friday before, and while we all enjoy celebrating, I think everyone was feeling about done. Although, the cupcake display the previous week had been pretty impressive.
Our house, Minotaur, ended up coming in second for house points this year, so hopefully next year will be our year.
Thursday was Vivian's exit point project. They have been doing a big science unit on Mars, and her final project was to design a livable settlement. She proudly presented it to me and explained all of the features. It was pretty cool.
Thursday was also the Nursery's trip to the Dinosaur Circus. One of the parent's companies had free weekday tickets to the Dinosaur Circus, and they invited the class to join them for the circus and pizza afterwards. Elena really wanted to go, so I said sure. The dad with the tickets came with his car to pick up me and the six kids who were going. Luckily, we picked up another mom along the way, so the adults weren't completely outnumbered. Since we had quite a bit of time between when school ended and the circus started, we decided to play a bit at the pizza place first, since it had a big indoor play area.
This was Elena's favorite part, but there was a larger climbing area which several of her friends were trying. Eventually, she worked up the courage to try it too.
She was super proud of herself for about ten seconds, and then she freaked out and started screaming for me to come get her down. Sigh. I got in and got her down, but it was quite the contortion exercise. She stuck with the little play area after that. We let the kids play for about 40 minutes, and then it was time to head to the Dinosaur Circus.
We really weren't sure what to expect. What is a Dinosaur Circus anyway?? When we got there, there was a big circus tent with two dinosaurs in front. Inside the entrance tent, they had an animatronic dinosaur set up in each corner. Only two of them were actually working, and that was pretty much the theme of the circus. It was a so-so circus with occasional dinosaurs. The kids had a great time though. Even though the triceratops didn't move, it was a kid favorite.
The circus wasn't full, so we put the kids in the row in front of us and spread the adults out behind them.
There were some dinosaurs at the beginning, and there was a big dinosaur egg that sat around during most of the show.
The first act was trapeze artists who fell almost as many times as they got caught. This let to me being terrified for the rest of the acts.
I enjoyed the superflexible lady with all the hoops and the dancers.
But I was terrified someone would get gravely injured for most of the rest of the acts.
After about an hour, the egg began to crack and some more dinosaurs showed up.
By that point it was almost 6:30. The announcer said they would have a brief intermission and then more acts. The parents came to the consensus that an hour of excitement was plenty, and we should probably take the kids to get pizza and skip the second half. By this point, several other families had joined our original group, and even more were planning to meet us for pizza.
Even though the kids were getting a bit tired, they had a great time playing together. Elena even braved the shaky bridge up high above the play area and didn't get terrified.
Just as they were starting to get really hungry, pizza and juice boxes showed up.
Elena and I didn't get home until around 8:30, which is a super late night for her, but she talked the whole way home in the car about how much fun she'd had. It was a great way for her to end her school year.
Yesterday was the last day of school, and the kids left at 12. I had to stay until 2:30, and I'll go back next week, but we are starting to feel like summer is here.
