October 8th was a holiday in Peru, memorializing the Battle of Angamos, so kids were out of school and people were off of work. The government even kindly gave people Friday off (since the 8th was a Thursday). Our friends the Engles were having a Halloween cookie decorating party, so we went to that. With the campaign for Matt's work looming and preparations for our return to the States, Matt still had to work, but he opted for a half day and came to play too.

We headed to Everett's house for another play date on October 7th. We sure love hanging with them and will miss them terribly. This day, the kids played for quite a bit in the pool house. Funny story, they have some kid-size plastic lawn chairs in there, and Beau got ahold of one and was walking all over scooting it around. I told Holly Beau now needs to be a little old man for Halloween :)

The kids also played on the trampoline for a little bit. Henlie lasted a very little bit. She has played on them before, but she had a bit of a hard time jumping with the boys jumping at the same time. Instead, she ended up getting wet playing with cups of water next to the pool. Holly went inside to get a towel and some of Everett's clothes to wear. While she was inside, Everett managed to get soaked with James' help.

October 1st was a lovely day, and I decided I wanted to get out of the house. That usually means heading to the "Slide Park" so Henlie can work off some of her energy and we get a nice little walk in. With two kids on my own, I typically put Henlie in the stroller and Andrew in the wrap. However, the wrap is less than comfortable (okay, not the wrap itself, rather having a baby on my chest :)) and it gets hot and sweaty wearing it. Then if I have to nurse him, I have to pull him out. (I know some people can nurse while baby wearing, but I am not one of them.) Instead, we tried something new. I reclined the stroller and put Andrew in it. Realistically, he's still a little small for it, but he did okay. I just wish it had a three-point harness. I think it would have helped. Anyway, I put Henlie's leash backpack on her (packed with some snacks, of course) and made her walk. She had walked to this park before, so I knew she could do it. I used the leash backpack just to make sure she didn't run away from me or run into the road on the way there and back, since I couldn't really leave Andrew on his own if something were to happen, either.

I don't know what it was about September dates that end in 2, but apparently it was a thing :) 

I have a few expat friends here in Peru thanks to church. However, also thanks to church, none of them live near me. (Okay, my friend Christina used to live close-ish, but she and her family decided to up and move back to California. ;)) Anyway, pretty much everyone we know is on the other side of town in La Molina. 

Now, please allow me to paint you a picture. From our house to our church in La Molina is about 20 minutes on a Sunday. It is also 8 miles away (I Google Mapped it and then converted the kilometers for you. You're welcome.) To another friend's house in the La Planicie neighborhood of La Molina is about 10 miles. To Rinconada, it is 9 miles. Okay, so we go from 20 minutes on a Saturday to......45 to 60 minutes at any other given time. Welcome to Lima traffic. Fortunately, Andrés drives me and I don't really have to deal with the Lima traffic. Also, my children generally take a nap, so it works out well for me :)

Anyway, since we are moving back to the States in November, I have wanted to hang out with people I consider friends a little more in an effort to make staying in touch easier and less awkward. Well, My friend Holly has three adorable boys, and her second is Henlie's age. They watched Henlie quite a bit after we had Andrew, even letting her spend the night. (That's right, my not-quite-three year old has stayed over at a boys house haha) Anyway, I have not entirely secretly betrothed Henlie and Everett because they're adorable, his family is adorable, and they are such good little friends :) So a play date with them is perfect for both of us! Oh, and her youngest, Beau? Totally could be Andrew's brother. Aside from a difference in complexion, both Holly and I feel they look a lot alike :) It's destiny. haha

On the 12th, we went to the park. Since Andrés lives just on the other side of the park, Matt messaged him to see if he wanted to come hang out with us. He did, so we hung out at the playground waiting for him. Henlie didn't want to play very long because it was a bit crowded, so we headed to the other half of the park to hang out and run around on the grass.

Matt took a day off and we ended up having a bit of a family day. We went for a walk and decided to get some lunch. We went to the place next to Matt's work. They had wanted to see Andrew, and they have yummy, cheap food. (They had their noodle salad that day. So good!) and since Henlie had fallen asleep, we decided to eat at Matt's office.