May Day Is Lei Day...

in Hawaii, and in Peru it is Labor Day and therefore a Government holiday. Isaac went down for his morning nap earlier than normal so we left him home with the maid and headed to Coney Park with Caleb. Coney Park is about the size of half a city block and features coin operated rides, carnival rides and games, bumper cars, cotton candy, popcorn, hot dogs (sort of), face painting etc. Fun? Yes - if you are under 10. Coney Island? No. For about $7 you can buy a wristband that gets you unlimited rides all day long. Children between 80 and 100 centimeters must be accompanied by an adult on most rides so Kenny folded himself into some fairly tight spaces in the name of Caleb's enjoyment. We have been to Coney Park in the past and each time we have had to coax Caleb into doing more than heading straight for and into the ball pit (yes I know they are full of bacteria - but we live in a third world country, bacteria is something we have learned to live with - so we just let Caleb wallow to his heart's content) - this time we were able to convince him to broaden his horizons and try out several other rides before diving in.

the roller coaster

the tower - frankly, I was surprised they let him ride this accompanied or not

the train - Kenny loved this!

the carousel - Kenny tried to ride his own horse but got in trouble for not
holding on to Caleb appropriately and had to get down

the ferris wheel - Caleb had a great view of the ball pit from here so...

he made his way to his personal heaven at last

After crawling into the ball pit myself, we managed to extricate Caleb from it and Coney Park and went home to collect Isaac for phase 2 of celebrating Labor Day. We joined some other non-laborers and headed to the Olive Park near our home for a picnic. The park is roughly 6 blocks long and full of fruit-bearing olive trees. Legend has it that these woods sprouted from just three small branches, planted by the Peruvian saint, San Martin de Porras. The expanse also formed part of the Limatambo hacienda belonging to the Dominican Monks. In the middle of the park is an enormous fountain where we chased the pigeons and did our best to stay dry.

Caleb eyeing the water - he said over and over that he wanted to jump in
(never mind the fact that he cannot swim and that this is not a trick of
the light - the water really is that lovely shade of murky green)

making friends with some other children and their nannies

Isaac doing what he does best - lying around relaxing

our friends Carlos and Heather and their son Sebastian

playing amongst the Olive trees with Daddy

After we took the boys home and put Caleb down for his nap, Kenny and I ended our day at a nearby movie theater where we watched Eastern Promises. Movie options in Peru are fairly limited and this seemed the best option available. Neither of us knew much about the movie and though we found it to be a very good thriller, it was too graphically bloody for my tastes. Not the perfect ending to an nearly perfect day, but Viggo Mortensen was unexpectedly good and there was movie popcorn so not a total loss.