Friday Favorites

I see funny things online and this was one of them this week.  

Meanwhile, it is still sunny and 70 degrees here!  I posted this picture on Instagram last week.

We get great views of the sunset each night, so we take a lot of sunset sky photos.

This was quite pretty in person.  The photo doesn't quite do it justice.

Here's another funny saying I saw online this week.  This is true from my generation and previous.

Avery began watching Parks and Recreation and eventually got me hooked on it. We started watching it the 6th season, and they just finished their 7th season.  We watched 7 seasons within a year, watching most episodes on Netflix.  This week was the season finale, and I'm not going to lie, it made me sad, even tearful through a lot of laughs.  

I can relate to the main character Leslie on so many levels.  I love the idea of everyone working together, getting along and the being with the people I love.  Interesting enough, there was an article about her in Christianity Today.  

So many people have told us the character of Ron Swanson reminds them of Avery, which is really what got him watching the show. They do have a lot of similarities & I even bought him this poster for Christmas.  

Last week I shared a photo of me holding a baby.  Today, I will share pictures of her big sister (aka...the Lynn of my siblings).  We took Annie with us to the mall yesterday to give her mom a break (she has 3 kids under the age of 4, she has been sick, and her husband is in the USA for the week).  We had fun & I was excited to go to a Bath & Body Works, the only one in Colombia.  So yes, I traveled 45 minutes by taxi just to get hand soap (clearly a different mall than the one next door to us).  Crazy things we do here.

At the mall

Annie

On the top level of the mall, there is an outdoor space where you can stand on these colored circles and activate the fountains.

Happy Weekend!

Let's Go to the Movies!

Come to the movies with me in Bogota!  Today I am going to write about the experience here of going to the movies.

This is a photo from back in January when the girls & I went to see Night at the Museum 3, which we really liked.  


A few movie facts in Bogota:

• The majority of movies here are in Spanish.  It is rare to find movies in English.  All movies in English include Spanish subtitles, which can be good for those of us learning Spanish, yet a little distracting too.
• Movies that are in English come and go very fast....like it can be in a theater one week, then gone in the next.
• You have your choice of purchasing general admission or preferred seating. We have only done general admission & with either choice, you pre-select your seats prior to entering the theater.  
• If you go to the movies on Wednesdays or prior to 2pm, tickets are cheap.  By cheap, I mean $2 USD to get into a movie.  
• The best value is to purchase a kids snack meal.  It includes a drink (think average medium size fountain drink), popcorn, & candy.  We had a bag of M&M's last time (so good candy), and they even allowed Avery to exchange it for a Snickers bar.  
• Movies are released here on different dates than they are in the states.  And often, some movies are not released here.

This is an example of the kids snack meal.  All 4 of us went to see the movie Annie, which we also really enjoyed, got popcorn, drink, and candy for $21 USD.  It was a deal to say the least.  

So in general, going to the movie (especially if you go at the cheaper times) is a fun experience here.  The hardest part about it is travel time to see the movie.  We do have a movie theater next door to us in the mall, but they rarely have any movies in English.  In 10 months, I have been to 3 movies, which is pretty average for what I would see in the US!  At home, we either watch movies on Netflix or rent movies from Amazon.  

Bogota Bridges

Today I posted about our church at Bogota Bridges blog.

Weekend Wrap-Up, Week 8

It was a super low-key weekend, but we sure started our weekend off right.  We took a trip to Krispy Kreme Doughnuts.  Last week, we introduced Edwin to cheddar cheese.  This week, we introduced Clara to Krispy Kreme.

No doubt, the Americans can out eat the Colombians!

The process of watching the doughnuts must be photographed!

The icing

The look of watching the doughnuts about to be glazed

There they come.  They were delicious.

Our Saturday was pretty lazy at home.  Isabella did go babysit Saturday evening while Avery, Brook, & I grabbed a hamburger at the mall for dinner.  

We found out Saturday night that we have a new place to meet for church.  I will post more about that on our Bogota blog this week.  The last Sunday of each month there is cake to celebrate any birthdays from the month.  Isabella and one other person had February birthdays, so this is a picture from the prayer for Isabella.  I'm sure it was all very nice....the prayer of course was in Spanish.

Sunday night was disappointing as Brook (& me too) were looking forward to watching the Oscars, but our internet & computer were not cooperating & we can't watch live from the website because we are in another country.  That is sometimes, no all the time, frustrating when our computer is prohibited from things because we are outside the USA.  We will get the re-caps online this week. 

That is all of our weekend......pretty boring.  But our Monday should be exciting....we are scheduled to be without power from 9:30-4:30.  That means the obvious....no electricity, lights, internet, etc. The bigger meaning of that to those of us who live on the 16th floor is that our elevators will not work today.  The plan is to have our Spanish class at the mall so Clara doesn't have to walk up 16 floors.  I plan on walking down the stairs once & waiting to return home until after 4:30 so I can ride an elevator.  

Friday Favorites

This week has been good, in spite of my short list today.

Edwin gave us a game in Spanish last week...Scrabble in the form of cards.

In Colombia, people have 2 last names (mother & father's).  The initials of Edwin's last names are Q & P, but he also added B for Bridges.

I take Isabella to tennis lessons at a nearby neighborhood 2 mornings a week.  One of my good friends here lives in this neighborhood & has 3 kids, girl, boy, girl.  They are almost exactly the age differences as my older sister, brother & I.  I love watching them interact, making me think of how we might have been as kids.  This is me with this youngest, who I hold most every week. 

One thing I am thankful for this week is to be feeling better.  Last week & through Monday, I wasn't feeling my best.  I had mild cold symptoms, but I am feeling much better now.  

This week was Ash Wednesday.  Many Christians I know also give up something they enjoy for lent.  Usually, it is a favorite food or drink item.  I have even done this in the past.  Being in Colombia, I feel like I have given up many of my favorite things year round.  I read on another blog about  this...Reverse Lent Challenge.  I really like this idea.  

We have no major plans for the weekend, other than to run a few errands tomorrow.  Hope you all have a good weekend...& stay warm from the snow & ice!

Show and Tell Tuesday, How I Met my Husband

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This week's edition of Show and Tell Tuesday is How I Met My Mate.

I remember the day my roommate called to ask if I wanted to go to the Mid South Fair that Friday night, & I said sure.  Before we went, we met at her parents house & a friend from church came & brought his roommates.  One of the roommates was Avery.  We went to the Mid South Fair that night & they call came over afterwards & stayed really late.  I remember Avery & I talking quite a bit that night.  We had an instant connection.

After 3 1/2 years of being best friends & me preparing to move to Singapore for 2 years with the International Mission Board, Avery suggested we get married.  And so we did, 3 weeks later.

This May we will celebrate 17 years.  I don't have pictures from the "early days" on my computer, and as we all know, we didn't have the technology then which also encouraged taking as many pictures then!

This is from 2009 at a cruise port.  Two of my favorite things...Avery & cruises!

So this is from a cruise too, but one of my favorite funniest pictures.  It totally looks like Avery is missing a leg and has a cane.  We had just finished playing putt-putt on the cruise ship and asked someone to take our picture.

This was taken in Halifax, Nova Scotia (we took a cruise there too :))

New Years Eve 2012

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Paris, January 2014

And one of my favorites....here we are from our 10 year Vow Renewal.  That was one of the sweetest times of our marriage, celebrating with our daughters, family, & friends.

Weekend Wrap Up, Week 7

It's Monday morning & so foggy here, I literally cannot see anything from our windows this morning. But I am guessing some of you may be looking at ice or snow this morning :).  The temperature here will be the same....high 60's or low 70's.  We actually didn't have rain this weekend, which was good since we were outside Saturday.  Really, this should be called Saturday Wrap Up!

We finally visited Salitre Magico...an amusement/fair type park in Bogota.I compare it to a fair because you have to buy a wristbands, & even that doesn't include all attractions, so you do have to buy individual tickets for rides too.  

Avery & Edwin on the bumper cars

Isabella & Brook 

Brook look very determined

Brook loved the swings

This was the funniest moment of the day for me...watching Isabella & Brook ride this.  I have never seen this ride go so fast before & it was their first time to ride this type of ride.  

Brook & I rode this, then rode it again with Avery, Isabella, & Edwin

Edwin, Brook, & Isabella

Avery, Isabella, & Edwin rode this drop ride.  I watched Brook on the swings while they did this.

There is a huge ferris wheel we rode.

Great views of the mountains

We had a good view of the rides too

Some girls heard us speaking English & asked to do an interview for her school, although the questions were in Spanish.

Pirate Boat ride

  

Avery, Isabella, & Edwin were on this ride.  Brook & I watched :)

 

Only Edwin rode this & we watched.  It looked like a spacecraft to me.

When we exited the park, it was overwhelming, all these food vendors basically screaming at us to come buy their food.  Transportation is always a challenge here, & it was another challenging, long,exhausting ride home.   Edwin spent the night with us.  We introduced him to cheddar cheese for the first time & I told him what a casserole is.  I made Poppy Seed chicken Sunday & he ate biscuits Sunday morning.  It was a good USA/Southern experience.

Valentine Day cards from my parents

 

Valentine biscuits (that I actually didn't make until Sunday morning since I was gone to my book study Saturday morning)

This is a picture of restroom door from a restaurant.  This is when I'm thankful I have a basic knowledge of Spanish so I could properly choose which door to enter!