Ecuador Part Something

Sorry, this is really old. This is from Ecuador.

Some of the kids decided to color. Andy just couldn't miss such an opportunity to show off his superior coloring skills.

Andy w/ the picture he colored all by himself!
Max.

Zach.

Jared.

Maddie.

Nate.

Isaac!

Zeke.

Mr. Rogers and a monkey in the zoo. He said if you get too close they sometimes take your glasses.

A taper in the zoo. No fences around it. It was just sittin' there...

The monument "at" the equator. It's not exactly right, but it's close enough!=)
Becky doing a cartwheel over the equator!
Andy.
Guinea pig, yum, yum!
A guy at the equator finger painting. Yes, he did all that w/ his fingers, nail,or palm!Ben.
Nick. He likes pink.

Part of Quito.
Looking down from the cable car in Quito.

Me and Ben in the bus.

A feather that I bought for my Aunt Feather who loves horses and likes to paint(especially birds)

The resort.

The awesome view on the way up the mountain while riding the Peruvian Pasos (horsies). This is one of the few times we were going slow enough to take pictures.

An Iguana in the tree outside my hotel room window in Guayaquil.

Flying out of Quito on the way home.

The "gross" pictures.
Angel and her momma.

Ecuador!!<3 Part 1

For anyone who didn't know before, my all the family on my mom's side(except for Uncle Chee) got to spend 2 weeks in Ecuador for a family reunion!=) It was a ton of fun, though traveling almost constantly wears you out. Jane Bloom graciously drove us to the St. Louis airport so we wouldn't have to leave the Hickle's van there.=) After being delayed a couple hours in St. Louis, we flew to Miami, met my grandparents and my mom's older sisters and her 2 boys, and flew to Ecuador the next morning. The Rogers met at at the airport in Quito and we split up and stayed at the Senior & Junior Rogers' houses. O, btw, the Rogers are a missionary family in Ecuador. They fly into the jungle in little planes and preach the Gospel as well as setting up schools for the Waorani natives there. We got to go into the jungle and see one of the villages, but because of our super busy schedule and other stuff, we could only stay for the afternoon.=( I really wanted to stay longer and actually help out w/ something instead of just going to gawk, but I guess I'll have to do that another time. Actually, we might have been able to help out w/ something as it was community workday, but it rained while we were there so everyone had to stop working for awhile. We thought we might get stuck overnight and I wouldn't really have minded..........but, after raining about 45 min., it stopped. and the air cleared enough for the pilots to get through. My Dad just commented that it was a LOT of rain for the short time period. Aparently this happens often, but Dan Rogers(the son who went in w/ us) said he's never gotten stuck for longer a day.

We stayed at the Roger's a day or 2(I don't remember) and saw the equator and went on the cable cars up the mountain, then we went to Cuenca(which I thought was spelled Quenca for the longest time....) and did some stuff......then we got a bus and drove to a resort in the middle of nowhere in this big bus on some really small roads around some very sharp turns and through some super tight places, like only and inch to spare on each side. Seriously! We made it to the resort alive and we were all very thankful that we had such a good bus driver!=)

At the resort we played lots of pool, ping pong and of course euchre. For those of you who haven't heard of that game it's super fun and it's pretty much a Douglass family game.=) According to my cousin Nick, I'm really good, but I think I just get lucky, like in pool.=D There was also a zip-line over a pond at the resort, which was a big hit. Of course it turned into a competition of who could do the coolest most creative thing and I'm not sure who won. O, it was kinda like a swing seat, so there were more options. I was the first to try 'superman'(or woman) and that got me lots of points even though I didn't put it far enough down on my body so I had to bail before I hit the dock.......O yeah, we were doing all of this in our clothes w/ life jackets over. Even though it's Ecuador, I suppose they do have some rules.=) I can't remember all the other cool things everyone did except for one. Zach(my cousin, about 12) would lean back and dip his head in the water while holding on w/ his hands. Being that it was a competition, I had to do him one better by dipping my head back, hold on w/ my feet and sticking my hands and arms in the water too. Unfortunately, I couldn't get back up, so I had to bail before I hit the dock w/ the back of my head. Everyone thought that was really funny of course, but it wasn't too bad. The water was pretty nice temp-wise, but the wind was cold when you got out...brr.....also at the resort, they had a concrete slide that went down the mountain a little and was super fast! The ending was a bit dangerous the first time, but then you learned real fast how to stop. You definitely have to wear shoes though, the ground is a bit rocky and hurts when you fly off the slide and land w/ bare feet. O, there was a swing too. It went off the mountain. Apparently, when my cousins went last time, there was a bigger swing that went off a cliff and was a lot higher up. I gathered that either they took the tree out, the tree broke, or the swing broke or something......... Wow, this is getting really long! Congrats if you made it all the way to the bottom!! I think I'll save the rest for another time. Of course I'll probably forget...... O well. Good night.=)

In Illinois

**WARNING** VERY BORING(yet again)

I've arrived safe and sound in IL. Got here some time shortly before supper on Wednesday. But to back-track a bit, Wednesday morning I woke up and got ready to run as usual, only to find that it was raining outside.=( But since it wasn't raining very hard and I'd be running in the woods most of the time, I decided to run anyways.=) Besides, running in the rain is FUN! It was the first time I'd been in the woods w/out AF, but I figured I could remember the trail well enough not to get lost.......thinking back I probably should have gone the same direction we'd gone the day before(on the scavenger hunt) but I didn't remember there being that many forks in the path. It went OK for the first half, but then I chose a wrong fork, and while I was going the right direction I kept running into houses(not literally). I finally decided to make my own path and I found a road. I figured out where I was on the lake and found my way back, but I was totally soaked. O well, it was fun, though my tennis shoes are still wet. Anyways, I'll try to stop rambling now..... We had a big breakfast of pancakes, sausage and eggs, then we packed up and were on the road by 9:58 a.m. We got to the farm and I quickly(for me) transferred my clothes to my suitcase adding all the other clothes, stopped by Melissa's to get the shoes I'd left in her car and went to meet Mrs. Q at a gas station. The ride down was uneventful, we didn't stop and listened to Odyssey tapes the whole way. Oh, Malachi had a really bad headache, not sure if he's ok now....he did sleep part of the way though.........We met G-ma and went to pick up my cousins(from Dubai) then went out to eat at an Itallian restaraunt called.....Biaggies. I was complemented for my great posture then we went to G-ma's house and set up a game she'd bought that called itself "ladderball"(otherwise known as "hillbilly golf"). I soundly trounced both my cousins Ben & Nick.=) Also played some euchre.=) G-ma & I vs. Ben & Nick. We won the fist game 10-8, lost the 2nd 2-10, won the finals 10-3.=) Got them while they were still confused(jet-lag). I'm tired, good night.