In the last seven days we've cleared four times in three countries.  Here's a shot of Canaan's excitement to finally be clearing customs in Jamaica after a long, hard day of travel from Quito, to Miami, to Jamaica.

After so many lines and forms I can say that I greatly appreciate Ecuador's sensitivity to parents with young kids and expectant mothers.  They are the best at whisking you straight through to the front of the lines.  Yep, you read that right: expectant mothers.  Currently we fit both those criteria!  

The onesie Canaan is wearing in this picture says, "Big Brother in Training."  He greeted his grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousin with the letters dripping off the shirt from all his drool and his pants eliminated for heat purposes but they got the message loud and clear anyway.  Canaan's role as the baby gets usurped  at the tender age of 18 months sometime in late, late November or early December.

Since two days after I got to Quito, I've been involved in a women's bible study.  I wasn't sure how I felt originally about committing to a semester-long bible study with 8 women I didn't know.  I decided to try it out anyway and am so glad I did.

I have loved meeting with these women every other week.  I've appreciated the intentionality of the group.  And for me it's been a really good mix of bible study and time talking about and speaking into each other's lives.  With the semester ending, this particular season of the study ended as well.  This past Sunday we got together with all of our families as a fun little ending.

We had the picnic at a private park at the entrance of someone's home.  Canaan took his first ride on a trampoline.

He really wanted to get to the top of hill because sweet little Molly was at the top but it was a little steep for his climbing skills!

Linsey has been a fun friend to get to know.  Funny that we went to high school with her husband but never knew him because of the age difference then.

Some of the group

After there was a family soccer game that Canaan was having no part of.  He ran along the sidelines crying, because he wanted the ball for himself, his dad for himself or just because he was frustrated at being slower than everyone??  And then his dad pulled him in on the action, playing with him piggy back and he cried some more.  What a little punk!

It started with a tira de asado (Argentine cut of meat) that Nate discovered at the grocery store and just became the sweetest, relaxing couple of hours one Sunday afternoon.  Crisp, sunny weather, the smell of dewy grass, a brick grill and our little family.

For the two seconds he stayed in his chair

 guys, why am I sitting in a CANADIAN chair? And why will no one pull down my pant legs and save me from baby dork-dom?

Down from his chair and eating dirt from a flower pot within five minutes

El Teleferico is a tourist attraction that was built probably 4 or 5 years after I left Quito as a child.  The main attraction is a gondola ride up Pichincha, an active volcano whose east base starts at the city center and is part of the Andes' mountain chain.  In addition to the gondola ride, there is a humble (by American standards) amusement park at the base, restaurants and coffee shops at the base and the top, hiking opportunities, and horseback riding.

(Nate and Ricky on the Pirate's Ship.  For a special Carnaval price of $.50 for this ride you can't beat it.  Neither can you beat the opportunity to watch a new friend scream like a baby when the ride got going.)

It is a genius idea, boasting beautiful views of the city that splays over the valley below and incredible heights, yet something just didn't quite take.  Local accounts say that it was packed solid for the first few opening months but quickly died off.  There are large, new buildings built up all around that used to host bars, a discoteque, and all sorts of shopping that now stand empty.  The amusement park limps along and the gondolas continue but much of the other vibrancy of the place is gone.  Still, it's a tourist destination I would be sure to take my visitors to just for the views and mountain air.

(Canaan was far more interested in tasting the dirty, cement wall than watching the bumper cars)

Carnaval is Ecuador's equivalent to Spring Break in the US.  Except instead of bikinis and beaches it involves squirt guns, water balloons, and any pedestrian or driver with her car window down as a target.  Because we had a few days of vacation, Ashley (another chaplain) and her boyfriend, Ricky, invited us along to check out the TeleferiQo with them.

(Just hopped into the gondola, while Nate tries to catch a quick snap before the gondola leaves him behind.)

We picked a terrible day to go as rain and fog rolled over the city all day long, but had fun anyway.

We had a bit of a hard time getting Canaan on the gondola.  It turns out there is a rule that no child under 18 months is allowed.  We couldn't figure out why as he was strapped to me and the gondola is completely enclosed.  Finally, because he is larger than most Ecuadorian babies and because they said if he can walk he can go, he was allowed on.  But we were asked repeatedly along the way how old he was (by workers) and how we got our baby on (by other tourists with babies at the bottom).

Somewhere along the way we realized that the rule had nothing to do with his safety in the gondola and everything to do with his safety in the altitude.  The gondola drops you off at a hefty 13,400 feet (4,100 meters).  If you've ever been to Denver, double your altitude and your in Quito.  Now add another 3,000+ feet and you are where we were at.  This isn't an attraction that you take tourists to on their first day in town or you might end up with some pretty sick guests.

Hiking UP from 13,400 isn't a cake walk.  Add an extra 22 lb. weight on and you might start to sound like your asthmatic grandma!  Canaan did well (he wasn't doing the walking after all!) but I started to see signs of the altitude pretty quickly as he became pretty drowsy after about 20 minutes of hiking so we headed back down and left Ashley and Ricky up top with the horses.

The people who offer horseback riding, walk these horses two miles in and up from another part of the mountain every morning to do this.  At $5 for a half hour on a horse it hardly seems profitable but Ecuadorians are definitely hard-working by nature and by necessity.  They also haul in food and supplies to offer homemade humitas, tamales, fried plaintains, and pinchos.

A mangy, lone dog along the trail

We ended the day wet, with some cotton candy to share, in the backseat of a van that was crammed with 22 random people and driven around the city center to all of us were dropped off in walking distance of our homes.

Last Sunday was beautiful and we took full advantage of it.  We took Canaan on an apartment search/walk around the little park near our house and we also went to another park: Parque El Ejido.

El Ejido is equal parts family destination and tourist attraction as it boasts picnic areas and loads of different playgrounds along with paintings, artwork, and other artisinal finds.  We'll take you on a tour of this park on a Sunday afternoon.

One of the six or so playgrounds scattered throughout the middle of the park.

Pretty fantastic swing experience for locals while tourists shop behind.

Bike path through the middle of the park.  And just like with car traffic, bikes stop or swerve for no one.  Cross at your own risk.

Little push pedal cars that families can rent.

Now this is classic Ecuadorian fun!  A board arranged with little chiclets and other cheap candy, a coin to play ... and a 4 year old with a real bb gun aimed at the board in the middle of a park full of people.

Chochos, a bland, white bean commonly served with red onions, tomatoes, and ahi (hot sauce) on top, is a street vendor staple in Ecuador.  Good for lunch, good for breakfast, good for a snack.

Donuts and other bread just hanging out on an open cart.

And stalls full of woven clothes, leather sandals, jewelry, pan flutes, scarves and so much more waiting for the gullible tourist and the bartering to begin.

And finally, to round out our park tour there is this:

Shortly before Thanksgiving we knew we were confirmed to be in Ecuador starting in January.  So this Thanksgiving and Christmas are the "last" holidays together as we've experienced them together but a great opportunity to get time with most of our family together in one place.  Thanksgiving was spent with Nate's side of the family.

(The whole family together)

Seven kids and 1.5 grandkids all swooped in at once on Dan & Melody's house.  It was a full house with Canaan sleeping in one of the bathrooms and Matt subjected to the living room floor for a few nights.  This is a flexible family though and sleeping arrangements didn't stop anyone's fun.  As is traditional in the Taube family, meals were big and game-playing was non-stop for the whole weekend.  Favorites of this holiday were Take Two, 5 Queens and a new game called Dominion (which I possibly only liked and semi-succeeded at by being paired with Matt).

(A game Matt introduced to us on our last night together)

(Not a great look for me, I know)

Thanksgiving Day was just the family.  We all hauled coolers of food with us from Chicago and Melody worked hard in the kitchen, getting things ready and doing LOTS of cleaning up.

(Nate's Thanksgiving plate)

The day after Thanksgiving we celebrated Dan's birthday.  This celebration included all of us, plus the Albrights, Slussers, and Grandma Taube.  Dan grilled steaks for everyone and the aunts had a whole menu prepared ahead of time that ended with Dan's favorite: German Chocolate Cake.

(Grilling steaks in 15 degree weather)

Highlights and memorable moments of the weekend included shopping at midnight on Thanksgiving with Mark, very pregnant Kora, and Matt, Mark giving everyone one of the worst flues they've ever had just in time to head back to Chicago, Melody working tirelessly the whole weekend, getting to know my newest brother-in-law, Garenne better by having more time together, putting him and Laura on the spot at meal times and working on this website together, and having a whole crew of built-in babysitters.

A crew so big that Canaan never had to play by himself and came home both a little spoiled and very sick from that dern flu:

So spoiled! (And we were too with all the extra help)