Weekend of Frollicking and Fun

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Lots to catch up on. Thursday evening we went to the Boudnath Stupa at night. We had heard that it gets all lit up with candles so we met several of the other families for a rooftop dinner and view of the Stupa. Unfortunately, it was not lit up, but it was still pretty and fun to be out for the evening, we got some nice moon pictures, and the kids had fun. There's was lots of pointing out the airplanes that flew overhead throughout the evening, a favorite pastime of all our children.

Friday Tara had a half day at school, so after getting some work done we just took it easy at the house. We've been running around a lot in the evenings and she's tired, so I need to get her back on track. She's had a few nights of crying/tantrums at bedtime - mostly because she's overtired - so I'm trying to reduce a few of our activities and let's see how that goes. So - after an afternoon of relaxing a bit, a video and nap, some playing with puzzles and reading, Tara decided to sweep the patio. Now - I have heard that cleaning is something that little kids often love to do - and especially they like to sweep - but I had not yet seen evidence of this (other than putting away her toys). But, when I came out of the bedroom after putting some things away, Tara had found the 'broom' and was sweeping away on the patio. We'll see how long I can encourage this behavior :)
Then it was time to get ready for Friday evening dinner. Often times we meet the families at a restaurant outside of town, called the Summit, on Friday nights. But, several of us decided we didn't feel like going that far and since our favorite breakfast place, Mike's, does Pizza night on Fridays - we all met there. Lucky for me, it's just a 10 minute walk. So I did Tara's hair (note the piggy tails AND barrettes) and off we went to spend the evening with the girls, their mom's and the one guy among us (Mark - surrounded by the little ones). Note - Tara's hair didn't stay all 'decorated' for very long.


Saturday morning we slept in and I made pancakes for us to eat on the patio. After our few rainy days, we have been blessed with lovely weather getting up to the upper 60's/low 70's by the afternoon. That, I cannot complain about.

We met Jennifer and Maya at Mike's for some mid-morning chocolate milk before heading out to play at the Shankar hotel. Of the many reasons we spend so much time at Mike's - including that 's comfortable and away from the craziness, and the food is pretty good - is that the staff there is wonderful with our children. We know our girls can run around and the staff will play with them, take them on tours of the kitchen, and give them treats - giving us a few minutes break to enjoy our meal. On Saturday, they made extra pancakes for Tara and Maya (after they had fought over one on the table). Needless to say, the spoiling our girls get at Mike's will be missed by them, and us!


After some afternoon play outside at Hotel Shankar, and Tara having a short nap, we got nicely dressed and met Celia and Karina, and Celia's sister and niece, at the fancy hotel Dwarika for happy hour. This is the same restaurant I went to with my sister for our 12-course meal. They have a lovely lounge and 2 for 1 cocktails in the evening. So while Celia and her clan had drinks and then went to dinner, Jennifer, Maya, Tara and I had our drinks (they had juice) and some snacks and called it a night.

Sunday was mostly low key since we were both tired!!! We've spent a lot of time this week with Jennifer and Maya and we will both greatly miss them when they fly off tomorrow night. Today, as we walked to school, Tara said 'no school going, play Maya'! First of all, that's the longest sentence we've gotten so far, but it also shows how attached she gotten to our new friends. We'll spend more time with Celia and Karina this week (now that their clan has also headed out) and then hopefully it will be our time to go. Given the conversations between my lawyer and USCIS, I am expecting to hear either Tuesday or Wednesday. Let's hope for Tuesday so I can keep my Monday night flight that's already booked!!!!