C.C. Andino - June 18

Last week, some very good friends, the Castañeda family, invited Mateo and Francesca to centro comercial Andino to the kid's amusement park. Oh what fun! Jairo Andres treated Mateo and Francesca like a prince and princess and Mateo went on every ride and played every game... it really was a special treat for my two babies.

Gracias, amigos Beltran-Castañeda! Fue una tarde espectacular!



Francesca waiting to go on her big date

Mateo loved jumping in the balls. After playing a while, he decided to start throwing the balls outside of their home. One of the ladies who works at the park came over to tell him not to, and Jairo Andres rushed to defend Mateo... "Please talk to the child in English. He does not understand Spanish, so if you want him to understand you, you need to talk to him in English!" That was that!

Francesca with Gladys Castañeda

Mateo and Jairo Andres

Mateo wanted to play this again and again ... "Mas, Amigo!" he would say to Jairo Andres

Mateo and Margarita Maria - los chefs at Archie's Pizza. Mateo even got to create his own pizza.

Francesca also had a great time at Archie's!

Quiero subir la montaña!

Today we went to La Valvanera - a small mountain in Chia (a small town to the north of Bogota). Mateo has been talking about how he wants to climb a mountain, so that's just what we did today. It was great fun and good exercise!

Bajando la Valvanera

Hermanos

Mateo was thrilled to mount this horse at the bottom of the mountain

Francesca was not so sure about getting on this horse (she now signs "horse," of course!)

Francesca practices her walk near the boarding school Maria Auxiliadora where abuelita studied

Fernando and Mateo spin el trompo in a plaza in Chia

In front of Centro Chia

At the kids park inside Centro Chia

Who doesn't love a carousel?

Francesca giving abuelita "5" each time the carousel passed by

After riding the carousel, Fernando spotted a little girl with Down syndrome. I immediately looked for her parents and struck up a conversation with them. Paula Natalia is 5 years old and full of energy! It was so fun to see her interacting with all the games and imagining Francesca doing the same soon. After just a short time chatting, we discovered that Paula's uncle is Javier Piñeros, a good friend of ours who studied English in Omaha and was one of the groomsmen in our wedding! "El mundo es un pañuelo" ... It's a small world. (We took a picture with Paula, but Francesca does not look so cute - I couldn't justify posting such a goofy pic of my darling Ces).

Abuelito's 60th Birthday

Today is Abuelito Jose Agapito's 60th birthday! We woke him up this morning singing "Happy Birthday" and "Feliz cumpleanos" complete with a little cake that Daddy brought fresh from the corner bakery. The only oddity of the morning is that we had to WAIT for Mateo to wake up before we could sing ... the Cogua's are infamous for waking el cumpleanero/a at the crack of dawn, so waiting was near torture for abuelito, who surely thought we had forgotten it was his special day!

Francesca plays in the kitchen drawers while we stall

"Feliz cumpleanos" ponke

Mateo finally woke up and we sang in our very best birthday voices! ;)

Later we'll go swimming ...

Almuerzo donde Gladys y Fabio

On Tuesday we had lunch at Gladys and Fabio's home. Gladys made ceviche (one of my favorites) and baked tilapia for lunch - delicious! Afterward we played in the park in their complex.

Fabio is one of Mateo's favorite people

Francesca loves walking (with a little help, of course)

Abuelita told Mateo tons of stories while sitting on these little posts Storytime

Francesca and "Tia" Gladys

Francesca in the park with bisabuelita Carmen

Play

Well, we`ve been feeling much much better lately! Francesca says "hola!" to just about everyone she meets and is enjoying all there is to see and hear in Bogota. The other day we went to the Bulevar mall and the kids rode the different attractions. Tia Gladys joined us for a while, too!