Family Outings

We've had some fun family excursions the last few evenings. Since the weather gets so hot during the day this time of year, most locals wait until 9 p.m. or later to go out and run errands, do things for fun, etc. It's not uncommon for them to be out with their kids until midnight or later. We're not quite ready to inculturate that much, but we have been delaying bathtime and bedtime a bit so that we can go out and do some fun things after dinner.

So, a few days ago we discovered that the Starbucks that has been "Coming Soon" since January to an area near our house has finally opened. It's right across the street from the river, and within walking distance for us, so we decided to take a little after-dinner stroll. The kids did great with the walking (translation: didn't ask to be carried), and they enjoyed their frappucinno almost as much as we enjoyed ours.

We had so much fun with that outing that we decided to head out for some more fun last night. This time we walked to another place near our house that has all kind of play stuff for kids. It was a week night, and a bit early for the locals (we left to come home around 8:30 p.m.), so it wasn't crowded at all. The kids had a blast. They got to climb in a huge McDonalds-style play area (including the ball pit you see above), swing on swings, slide down slides, and sit in a bunch of cars and trains and planes like the one in the picture below. (I say "sit in" because right now they are just as happy sitting in them as they would be if they were moving, so we don't pay the extra money to make them go. I'm sure the days of our getting away with that are numbered!)
Lee Anna climbed up in this airplane and said, "Bye-bye! I'm going to America!" While I'm sure the grandparents would have loved it, she had no token to make it go, so she had to stay here with us. Maybe next time...