Boyd Bear Tracks

We spent New Years Day with the Carters. We all decided (actually, mainly Laura and I) that we needed to do SOMETHING and not just sit around the house thinking about what relatives and friends might be doing at the time. The kids were thrilled to have more "buddy time". In fact, even after they spent the whole day together they still didn't want to go home! We went out to the camp and were able to play a game of soccer with the caretaker and his family. It was a little interesting to be playing soccer and try to keep an eye on which playground the kids were playing on. Sometimes I looked up and couldn't find them for a while; but, they eventually showed up--the camp is enclosed so I wasn't too worried that they would wander off.

Then, came the preparations for the Boyd's visit. Jon's parents came to visit us and we had a GREAT time. In fact, after they left, the house seemed pretty empty. Plus, the kids were bored--they didn't have around-the-clock playmates anymore :-(.

We finally took a vacation from school (for almost three whole weeks!--yes, we'll be in school until the end of June now :-(!!). Today we started up again and Lucas was right on task. I guess we need to have vacations more often :-)!

The first day we went to Monserrate (a church up on the mountain--you get there by cable car). I think the Boyds were glad we didn't drag them up the stairs :-). I know I was glad I didn't have to carry a child several hours up the mountain! Five minutes in the cable car is just right! We even managed to see the grocery store right by our house (it's painted a very bright lime green--couldn't miss it!). It was a nice clear day, although there was a little smog.

Then, we went to Villa de Leyva. It's a little town about four hours away. It has kind of a desert climate. We stayed in a cabin overlooking the town. It was nice, but they were filming a movie or something so everything was painted drably (usually all the buildings are white). The fun thing was that we even took the dog! He was so good. He just stayed in his kennel while we traveled and didn't even make a sound. I almost forgot he was back there! And, he didn't make any messes in the cabin (which I was a little concerned about).

Bungee got to stay home and "guard" the house (well, he was in the bathroom). He seemed to do well. He didn't even finish all his food and he still had water, so now I know he can stay for a little bit by himself.

Our biggest "mis" adventure was driving around trying to find a big hole in the ground (made by a meteor or something). The road wasn't marked so we stopped to ask for directions. Then, after driving for a while, we realized that the van wasn't going to make it up the hill if we went down much further. So, Jon tried to turn around but the wheels sank down in the mud! We thought about running up the hill to get the oxen we had seen to pull it out; but, with a couple of us pushing we did get it out!

Needless to say, we didn't see the hole. Instead, we stopped at a vineyard. It was a neat visual illustration of a verse Lucas has been learning "I am the vine, you are the branches . . ." As an added bonus, I can write it down as a field trip for school!

We saw the fossil of the marine dinosaur they have in Villa de Leyva, but we didn't find any fossils ourselves. Although, we did find some quartz around the cabin. First, I found some while I was walking Boomer. Then, Lucas went with Grandpa and found some more. Lucas was so excited!

At the end of their stay we went to the salt cathedral. This time, I didn't let Lucas lick the floor (like he did when he was 2). Actually, none of us licked the walls or the floor (probably a good thing). I let the kids take their new flashlights which was a brillant (:-)) idea! Whenever they were scared because it seemed a little dark they could turn their flashlights on.

I still liked the old salt cathedral better (it wasn't quite as uniformly sculpted as the new one). Although, they don't seem to have a problem with the electricity in the new cathedral, which they did have in the old one (one time, the only way we could find Oma was by the orange light from her flash! :-)).

So, now it's back to the ol' grindstone. But, we did have a nice vacation ,so it's not as hard to "hit the books".