A Sunday walk in the neighborhood

We live near a very old (some say hundreds of years) olive grove and they have maintained a small part of it with a park and paths.  If we were to move (what a hassle) I think it would be just 4 blocks to be on the park.  Along the path there are Koi ponds, signs explaining the birds you'll most likely see, a very old olive oil press and small old people selling snacks, ice cream and drinks.  Everything a person could want.  Here are a couple pictures of the park:

 

And me enjoying our walk:

A place to deposit your Scotty Dog (as you do):

Lastly, Anne chased this wedding photo shoot  group down the street for a picture.  They looked pretty neat walking down the street amongst the old homes.  We often see fashion shoots for magazines - down by the beach, at the ruins, near the mall.  

 

A typical Saturday

So on this Saturday we ran a 6k Breast Cancer run mostly on a horse track.  Then we had a breakfast with some of the runners, went home to clean up and met several people in Barranco for an amazing lunch.  We went to Canta Rana (the singing frog).  One of the members of the running club owns it and it was great!  This review  (http://travel.nytimes.com/2006/04/16/travel/16next.html?pagewanted=1) starts out talking about La Mar (just down the street from us) before reviewing Canta Ran, La Mar does not compare to Canta Rana.  It's good food and if you are near SF you should try their location there but Canta Rana is more down to earth, better octopus, much better pisco sours, better prices and the owner is present and involved.

Life is good.  Come visit us and help us work our way through all of the good restaurants in Lima!

Here's a picture of us inside Canta Rana:

 and here's a shot of Chumpi, Gonzalo, Susan, Marie Jose and some guy on the street in front of the restaraunt:

and of course Anne preparing (by stretching her smile) to start the morning's race:

First case of Peru-belly...

and luckily it wasn't me - but poor Spencer was really hurting.   We got a small shrimp salad that we think was the culprit, and Spencer didn't eat for the next four days!  We got him hooked up with some antibiotics, and after a few days, he was on the mend.  The upside?  Rapid weight loss.  I'm still not convinced it's worth it.  Luckily, the day before the fateful shrimp day, we finally got Direct TV (after having waited for three months and given up hope that the local cable provider would ever show up to install our cable).  At least we had lots of entertainment. 



Things are back to normal and life is good again.  Halloween was a huge affair at the school and almost all of the kids dressed up.  I had a few zombies, Thing 3 (Thing 1, Thing 2, Thing 4 and Thing 5 were in other classes), a pirate, make-up artist, skeletons, spider boy, witches, an Egyptian princess and I was a hippie.   We had a party at lunchtime, and kids brought in cakes, cookies, cupcakes, candy, drinks amd chips.  Pretty much like our parties at Grayhawk!


Friday, I went to Women & Wine night, and Spencer stayed home, still making sure he was truly well after his Peru Belly.  We walked on Saturday, met friends for coffee, relaxed and met more friends for lunch.  Rough life!  We didn't have any trick-or-treaters, but on Monday, my kids told me they went trick-or treating around their neighborhoods.  Must learn more about that - is it just where I live?  

That's all for now!