Sunday

Kariana working on a little present for Daddy.
This was hilarious to watch. She grimaced like this about 6-7 times before she was done.

Today we experienced our first Sunday markets. Although we went to the closest and smallest one, it was nice. It was in a fancy hotel called Hotel La Fontana in the court yard. There were a lot of flower tables (Colombia is the second largest exporter of flowers behind Holland we were told), there were also other tables with jewelry, toys, and clothing. I got a beautiful silver and onyx necklace and we got 'Ana' in handmade painted letters for her room when we get back. Kerry got a t-shirt but Kaleb couldn't decide what beaded necklace he wanted so we told him we would keep looking. After we left there, we headed to a large McDonald's with a big playland that we promised the boys we would go to. Just an FYI that McD's tastes exactly the same in Colombia as it does in the states although milk didn't seem to be an option for the Happy Meals so the boys had orange juice instead since they don't drink pop. The store even had a staff member playing in the play area with the kids and she painted faces and made ballon animals. Kaleb got his face painted like a tiger and he was super excited about it.

Unfortantly, it rained on us from about the time we left the hotel until we got to McDonalds so we were fairly damp by the time we got there. It has been fairly rainy here although the first couple of days after we got here were beautiful. Since then, it has rained almost every day which makes site seeing interesting. Luckily it doesn't rain all day but it is hit or miss. The clouds come off the mountains which are close to the city. Actually, Bogota is 8,000 ft above sea level and is built on a platau in the moutains so what we can see from here are actually just some higher peaks. The altitude hasn't affected us as all although I get really winded coming up the stairs in the hotel which makes me feel really out of shape. I'm the only one that gets so winded so maybe I really am out of shape! Otherwise, the tempature is about 50 in the morning and gets to about 72 on sunny days. Because the country is so close to the equator, they don't have seasons here and the tempature is extremely consistant throughout the year. Bogota is cooler because it is in the mountains. In fact, it is so consistant that there is no heating or air conditioning here. That means it is cooler in the mornings and in the afternoons, you open the windows. Its not bad at all but long sleeves are required most of the time although we have been known to drop down to t-shirts in the afternoons when it gets warm. Even one of the big malls we went too doesn't have a roof in some places so that the plants/trees in the mall can get rain.

This afternoon we walked to the big park to play and are now hanging out in our room. We are waiting to hear when our Defenders of the Minors meeting is. We found out today that it will not be Monday which means that it will likely be Wednesday since Tuesday is thier national independance day here. Its their bi-centenial so it will be interesting to see how they celebrate.

We are starting to get the hang of Kariana's schedule and becoming more familar with her mannerisms. She is still a pretty content little girl most of the time. Cresta has been calling her our sleeping machine becuase it seems like she is always sleeping. The long point of the day that she stays up is usually from 6-9 pm. Otherwise is seems like she is rarely up for more than two hours at a time.

Well that is about it for now. Will post more tomorrow.