Thursday, June 18

Happy birthday Peninah!

Thursday was one of my last days to meander solo prior to the school year coming to a close.  And so I did.

Around town sun shades are being put up.  This one is across the street from Plaza del Duque and at the start of a main pedestrian-only-ish section of town.  The shade covers make a HUGE difference!

While wandering, I found this Italian restaurant to try.  The kids had requested Italian for lunch.

You can enter from one of two pedestrian streets.

And we ate outdoors surrounded by plants.  The food was great and a nice change for us.  We all seem to enjoy our Italian no matter where in the world we are.  

After lunch we went to El Corte Ingles to figure out Croc shoe sizes for the kids.  There was a small selection there.  But, both Devon and Cody wanted instant satisfaction and they both picked out pairs for themselves.  Rosa chose to wait and order from a broader online selection.

From there we walked to the boys' classmate/friend Enrique's apartment.  He lives near the cathedral in a beautiful and big apartment.  The kids had a blast playing before it was time to go to a triple birthday party for 3 of their classmates.  Enrique's mom, Cristiana, had offered to drive all of us to the party in her 3-row family car.  It was great, because otherwise we'd likely have taken 1.5 hours to get there.  The party was in the suburb of Montequinto at a golf course.  And, it's more or less on the way home for Scott when he drives counter-clockwise vs. clockwise (which he does about once/week).  All of the kids at the party had a blast splashing in the pools.  And it was such a joy for us to see Devon and Clara holding hands and jumping into the pool together over and over again.

Merienda (afternoon snack) was served at 7:30pm followed by cakes for each birthday boy.  And then there was present opening.  We probably left around 8/8:30 and got home 30 minutes later to still need more food and then start the bedtime routine.  Life is just different here.  It's certainly more laid back and with much later hours.  People we encounter are usually smiling and welcoming and we're really happy to be having this experience.