Botanical Garden and More

If you have been keeping up with our blogs you know that when we are out-and-about Little Miss Dana can be found riding in her Baby Bjorn. I thought I would share the beautiful view that I have when I look down at Dana. We just can't tell you enough just how gorgeous she is. You will soon see her for yourselves:)






Well, what have we been up to lately, you ask? Last Friday, Mark and I celebrated our 16th anniversary by going out for lunch at a place called Crepes & Waffles. Jeaneth from our guest house offered to watch Andy and Dana so that we could go alone, but Andy wanted to come with us. It actually turned out to be a good opportunity to spend time with just Andy. He ordered a cute ice cream sundae for dessert. As you may have guessed, he ate the chocolate eyes first. He is our chocolate lover, that is for sure.

Yesterday, we went to the Botanical Garden here in Bogota. It was so nice. We enjoyed how quiet and peaceful it was there. It was hard to believe we were in the middle of the city. Freddie was our driver and guide for the trip; and Sidsel, Allan, and Jonathan (a Danish family from our guest house) joined us as well. We took so many gorgeous pictures of flowers and other Colombian vegetation. The park had different areas showing the various habitats found throughout Colombia. It gave us a great picture of the diversity in the landscape of this country.Always time for a family picture.

A very pretty pond .

The national flower of Colombia, the orchid.

Sidsel, Allan, and Jonathan. They arrived in Bogota the same day we did and have not received their Sentencia yet, but we are hoping that it will happen this coming week for them.

We have met so many nice people during our stay here. We Americans don't really know too much about Denmark, and I believe this is the first time we have even met anyone from Denmark. We can tell you though that from our experience, Danish people rock! Today we said good-bye to another family (pictured below). This is Tomba, Metta, Emilia, and Sebastian. They were here for 4 weeks. Andy and Emilia played a lot together so it was hard to see them go. It was funny--when they were getting ready to leave, Andy was chasing Emilia trying to give her a hug. She was definitely enjoying the chase.

Below is a picture of Sebastian and Dana. They were actually born only 5 days apart. Dana on Dec. 21 and Sebastian on Dec. 26. As you can see they have the exact same hairdoos.

The picture below was taken right before the Danish family left. It will be quiet around here tonight with just us and Sidsel, Allan, and Jonathan. The family from Belgium left this morning for Santa Marta for 9 days. Tomorrow there will be 3 families with older adopted Colombian children arriving. They have come to show their children the country they were born in.

Another family from Denmark arrived a couple days ago with their 2 teenaged Colombian children. They are not staying right at Las Palmas but instead are staying in an apartment a few blocks away that is owned by, you guessed it, the "dynasty." They come here for dinners and to just hang out. Today they walked with us to the market. Once again, another nice Danish family. The kids' names are Katharine and Casper. Below is a picture of Andy with Katharine and then one with Dana and Katharine. She is really cute.

Walking on Sundays around here is great because they close parts of the streets for bikers and pedestrians. It sure makes getting to the market a lot less stressful.

Dos Amigos!! This is Andy and Pedro. Pedro is 7 and is being adopted by the Belgium family. He and Andy like to play together, and Pedro loves to kiss Dana. He's not shy about puckering up and planting one on her.

Just a really cute picture of Dana and Daddy. She loves her Big Daddy.