Fun with the kids

Last Saturday was a busy day with a visit to a park in the center of Quito - El Ejido - we often call it the "Art Park" because on the weekends there are a lot of artists who display their work for sale. We had a guest from the states with us, so we thought it would be fun to take her there so that she could do some shopping. Little did we know that the park now has lots of fun things for kids to do - Nathan and Isa had a great time playing on the playground equipment (which was the perfect distraction wile our friend Christy did her souvenir shopping!). Later in the day, we went to the Harvest Festival at the school and Nathan played a few games, but his favorite was racing cars! He loved it! And Nathan's hair now looks a lot better since his bad haircut two weeks ago and he no longer is sporting a band-aid on his chin!

Drawer Fun!

I couldn't resist taking these photos of Isabella the other day while she was having fun playing in one of the kitchen drawers . . . it's usually full of games and toys for her and Nathan to play with, but she found it more fun to take everything out and try to get in herself!

Papallacta Hot Pools

Some gracious friends came and stayed with Nathan and Isabella for a night so that Santi and I could get away for our anniversary. We had a wonderful time (and both of us thought we should do it more often!).

We stayed one night up at the Termas de Papallacta - a beautiful resort high up in the Andes Mountains that features natural hot springs. We enjoyed our own private pool right outside our cabin. The views of Antisana - a snow-capped volcano - were spectacular as we relaxed in the hot pools. And it was fun to take a hike up the mountain side to see some of God's creation. Here are a few photos of our time away.

Here was the view outside our cabin door at dusk.

Can you see the snow-capped mountain in the background?

Mt. Antisana still showing it's snowy glory in the morning.

We found some llamas during our morning hike.

This was a fun organic garden - featuring mint among many other things.

Everything grows up in the mountains - even beautiful flowers!

There is no such thing as a tree line here at the equator

(even though we were at 10,000 feet altitude).

We stopped into a little museum along the way and

saw this big huge feather from Ecuador's national bird - the condor.