Parks, Refried Beans and the Easter Bunny

Obviously I'm running out of creative titles for my blogs so this one is very straightforward. First of all I finally met again with my friend from Parque 93 and she took me to a new park - Parque Chicó. It is a huge park in the middle of Bogota and so beautiful! It was originally a huge estate owned by a woman named Mercedes Sierra de Perez. She donated the grounds and her home to the city and it was turned into a park - Mercedes was the one who originally designed the area so we have her to thank for the beautiful landscape! The park is located at septima (or seventh) and calle 93. Bogota has a great address system. It's similar to Salt Lake making most addresses really easy to find. Here are some pictures of the kids playing at the park.

 Amaya pointing to the swing next to her and saying, "That's Jays!"

They loved it! Jay especially had fun going on all the "secret paths" and Amaya had a blast throwing rocks and leaves into the ponds and streams throughout the park. Unfortunately at one point she climbed down into a little ditch to get to a merry-go-round without realizing there was water in it. her little feet got soaked! She didn't like that too much. Everyone had a good time at the park though and we will definitely be going back to get out of the city life from time to time.

Jay and Amaya and I spent some time at a new friend's house last week too. Her name is Kellie and she lives up in Los Rosales area. Right behind her is a beautiful mountain area where you can hike around and play. I love how green Bogota is! Here we are taking a hike. Jay again was very excited to explore the paths and they were both thrilled to be outside and, in Amaya's case, out of a stroller!

Ok, so what's with the refried beans? We have been staying in a hotel with a TINY kitchen - it literally only has a microwave and a hot plate and no counter space. We also have a mini fridge but it is not located in the kitchen. It's upstairs in our bedroom!!

What in the world? Makes cooking interesting. They also only gave us a few pots and 1 glass to use. I was stealing plates, bowls and utensils from room service until Mike called the front desk 5 times and they finally brought us some things to use. At one point I was actually kneeling on the floor cutting a watermelon on a dinner plate with a butter knife. Something I'll never forget :) One thing we didn't have even after they brought us some plates/cups/utensils was a can opener though. I had bought some refried beans from the little commissary at the embassy and was going to make the kids bean burritos for dinner. (Sounds delicious right? I only had so many options - believe me!!) I called down to the front desk and they said they would send someone up. When they came up they told me they would take my can and open it in the kitchen and bring it back since they had no can opener we could actually use in our room. So after a few minutes, this is what they brought back...

Hahaha!! Looks really appetizing, right? Here's another treasure for you...

MyMy picking her nose standing in front of the toilet that she just threw 2 new rolls of toilet paper into. What can I say? You get pretty bored after staying in a hotel so long!! She was just trying to be creative! And the Easter Bunny. We went to the mall the other day and found this little guy.

Easter is coming and Mike gets two days off here!!! Gotta love getting both US and Colombian holidays off at the embassy.