Spring Break Cartagena Style ~ Part 1

Spring Break was 2 weeks ago, but I am re-capping our vacation this week on the blog.

One place on our bucket list while living in Colombia was going to visit Cartagena.  Other than Bogota, it is probably one of the most well known places in the country.  Cartagena is the oldest city in South America and my favorite so far in the country.  This was our first family vacation within the country and we really enjoyed it.

The weather prediction was to be hot, and hot it was!

Departing Bogota

Arriving at the airport in Cartagena

The first night we found our favorite restaurant.

The juices were the best I've had in Colombia, and the food was delicious.  We went a second time to this restaurant for breakfast our last morning of the trip.

This was taken from the highest point in Cartagena.

Cartagena is a cruise port, so of course, I took a picture of the cruise ship!

Castillo San Felipe de Barajas

We crawled through some tunnels in the castle.

The sun was brutal and it was hot, so we pulled out the umbrella!

More photos coming tomorrow from the beautiful city center/old center/walled city of Cartagena!

In the meantime, Avery is on a flight to Medellin, Colombia this morning, the girls have left for school, and I will be going to bible study this morning.  Enjoy your day!

Weekend Wrap Up ~ Lazy Saturday & Baseball

We had a really nice weekend, yet very simple.

Friday morning was a crazy traffic morning for the girls going to school. 

These are views from balcony of the street in front of our apartment. 

Brook went with her social studies project in tow!

We've had lots of rain here lately, but still not as much as in the south in the USA!

Friday night, both girls had youth group.  Brook's group met in the same conjunto (neighborhood) as the Browns (our teammates).  Laura Kate, our teammate and her youth group leader, walked her to group as we were dropping off Brook.  Sweet Laura Kate and her husband also just returned from Europe and brought these goodies for the girls.  

Avery and I stayed at the Browns, ordered domicillios (had dinner delivered), and visited in their new apartment.  The girls and I came home later and Avery spent the night so he could be near the church for Saturday morning.  He attended a mens retreat this weekend with United Church Bogota and enjoyed the get-a-way with a good group of men, most he did not know.

Saturday, the girls and I had a lazy Saturday.  We stayed inside all day!  Our teammate, Angela, came over and stayed all day.  We visited, ordered domicillios again (our choice for lunch was ajiaco soup!), and did lettering.  Angela has been doing lettering/calligraphy for a while now and taught us some basics.  We had fun practicing our new script!

Sunday, our church was cancelled because the building is being painted.  The girls and I  stayed in except for me going to buy groceries.  I do love some cheap fruit, vegetables and bread here!  The girls did homework and Isabella and I watched an episode of "When Calls the Heart".

Our bread store had a re-grand opening and I bought 6 pieces of bread for 90 cents.

 

I needed strawberries and walked to the local market, hand picked the straweberries I wanted to buy and purchased them for 90 cents!

We also prepared to surprise Avery with a baseball party since it was the opening day of baseball season.  We had decorations and baseball food!

Our front door

Notice the mustard in a bag??

I cooked fries the Belgian way...double fried!  I dipped the strawberries I had bought earlier in the day in white chocolate.  The Twizzlers and sunflower seeds are totally imported from the USA!

Decorations on our windows 

I wore my Yankees shirt!  Avery liked all the baseball touches and is looking forward to another season.  It was fun for me to decorate, prepare, and surprise him, so it was all a win!

Friday Favorites

Some of our teammates went to Eurrope this month and they brought us this delicious chocoate!

I loved the Rocky movies when I was younger (well, the early ones).  I just watched the most recent movie, Creed, two weeks ago on the airplane and really liked it.  I don't like boxing at all, but I really like these movies.  I am a Sylvester Stallone fan and watched the movie again this week with Avery.  I cried for the second time watching this movie in a two week time period!  It gets me every time after the fight when Rocky walks up the stairs. 

Brook came home from school with a notice that she made high honor roll this past quarter!

Our bible study group hosted a surprise baby shower for one of our members.  It was really special because she was told there is no medical way to have a baby.  They had an adoption that fell through, an IVF that wasn't successful, and then applied to adopt again.  Well, that adoption was approved and now she is also pregnant.  They will adopt baby girl #1 the end of April.  They will have baby girl #2 the end of July.  The cuteness of pink was overflowing and we all tried to wear pink and/or gray, which are the colors of her baby nursery.

(the mom-to-be is next to me in the cardigan)

Avery and I had lunch with the couple who photographed Isabell'as quince party.  The husband is originally from the St. Louis area and he is married to a Colombian woman.  They are both very nice and we really enjoyed their company and getting to know them better.

Tonight, both girls have youth group and then Avery will go on a mens retreat with UCB, so it will just be the girls and I hanging out around the house.  

Happy Weekend!