Saturday

A couple of black swans.


The boys walking down the tunnel of vines. Each column had a different type of vine growing up it.


Cresta in front of a blooming bush in the Tropical room.

The Desert room at the Gardens

Gues who is behind the huge leaves!!

Cohen was especially fascinated by the waterfall.

Today we decided to take a trip to the Botanical Gardens. It was about a 20 min. taxi ride there during which our taxi driver was very interested in us but didn't speak any English. He ended up calling someone on his cell phone and had Cresta talk to him so that we could fully determine our destination and that we were visiting from the US. Everyday is an adventure and very interesting. We definitely wish we would have worked a little harder on our Spanish before we came down but we are catching on and seem to be getting a long OK.

The city is huge but it is like anything else, you become familiar with your little area and the places you like to go and it becomes more comfortable. We are enjoying all the sites and getting a taste of the culture. I know some of you in the U.S. think that it isn't all that safe down here but it is like anywhere else. As long as you stay in the right neighborhoods and are smart about how you travel around it is fine. The times I feel the most unsafe is when we are in the taxis. They drive like they are nuts but you don't see very many accidents on the road. They are all use to it so it is common place.

The Botanical Gardens were beautiful. It was very large and had trees and flowers from all over Colombia. Each area of the gardens had plants from certain areas of the country. All the text on the signs was in Spanish so we didn't get much from that but with two boys leading the way you don't get time to stop and read the signs anyway. They had three green houses connected together and each one represented a different climate. This is mostly determined by the altitude due to the mountains. There was a walk way that took you through all the building and the boys liked it so much we had to go through it twice. They also had a man made waterfall that was very pretty and we got some good pictures. The boys thought this was the best spot in the whole park. It was very cheap to get in too. It was only $5,000 pesos or about $2.50 for the whole family to get in.

After the gardens we flagged down a taxi and headed to an Exito (like a Target) where another Minnesota family here (The Kopkas) told us they had Bubblegummer shoes. These are kids shoes that are reasonably priced, are good quality and the soles smell like bubblegum. Kaleb was in desperate need for new shoes so we got him a pair and we got Cohen a pair of slip on shoes (like Crocs).

The Exito had a balcony area where you could get food and tables to eat. There were 4-5 food places that we thought were fast food but once we ordered it took 15 min. to get our food. That is something that we are having to adjust too. Everything will happen in time, you just have to be patient and wait.

After that we came back to the hotel, ate supper and now the boys are watching a movie with the Kopka boys. They have two boys very similar in age and they all get along pretty well. We take turns hosting the movie so that the opposite parents get a little quite time. It works out pretty well.

That is about it for now. Hope all is going well back home and keep us in your prayers for a quick court process down here so we can return home and show off our new daughter.

The Melchers