Ten Months Old

Owen is 10 months old. That means now he's been outside of me longer than he was inside of me! I enjoyed the pregnancy, but these past 10 months have been so much more fun!

Noteworthy things this month:

*His favorite sound to make is "ooh, ooh" while puckering his lips. He sounds like a monkey or an owl, and he does it all the time. It's pretty cute and funny.

*He's discovering how things work. He loves to try to buckle the straps on this high chair, he turns the toys on his walker from underneath and loves to watch them turn on top, and he knows which is the Power button on the radio/CD player.

*He loves to spin wheels...the wheels on his cars, the wheels on the stroller, the wheels on our ab-roller. He also loves to crawl around while pushing something with wheels in one hand.

*He will crawl around with toys hanging out of his mouth, like a little doggie carrying a bone or something.

*He tries to climb out of his little bath tub or throws things over the edge so he can reach out and grab them.

*He is finally starting to enjoy it when I read books to him (rather than just trying to chew the book) and will listen for maybe half the book before he loses interest.

*He likes having his teeth brushed.

*He likes to help open and close doors.

*He loves to play in his bedroom, even when all his toys are in the living room. Some of his favorite things to do in his bedroom are to pull out his nightlight, pull out all his diapers, and pull out all his baby wipes.

*He has a hard time sleeping anywhere but his bed and doesn't nap well if he's not in it. When we do put him down in his bed he usually falls asleep right away.

*He has an internal alarm clock in the morning because he wakes up at 6am without fail, every day, no matter what time he went to bed the night before.

*He laughs hysterically when he touches the whiskers on Josh's face.

*He has curls in his hair, even when we're not in humidity.

*New foods: cheese (he LOVES it!), chicken, white potato, lentils, ground beef, kiwi, watermelon, broccoli, fish, tomato sauce, turkey, sweet potatoes (thanks to grandma W. for bringing it to us) and even a taste of vanilla ice cream. :)

*He must always be playing with something in his hands while he eats solids, usually a plastic spoon or container. He also understands what the spoon is for and tries to scoop up food with it, but can't quite get it to his mouth yet.

*He has four teeth, including his 'fangs,' and two more on the way.

"ooh, ooh, ooh"

He finally takes a sippy cup, but this is the only one he'll take because he doesn't have to suck on it to get stuff out, he only needs to chew it.

Mindo

We are lucky enough to have Josh's parents visiting us in Ecuador!! We wanted to show them a little jungle so we took a trip to Mindo, in a cloud forest about 2 1/2 hours northwest from Quito. It was our first time out there as well, and we really wanted to go because it is a favorite among tourists. It's popular for its birdwatching, and people come from all over the world just to see the over 400 different bird species, including the rare Cock-of-the-rock and many many hummingbirds, that live in the area.

We stayed at the really cute lodge of Sachatamia, a few miles outside of Mindo. We had our own private cabins, and could see several bright and colorful hummingbirds right from the restaurant. Our favorites were the bright green and blue hummingbirds.

We walked through the beautiful thick jungle behind our lodge and saw a river, lots of flowers, lots of birds, and even a puma!!! As soon as it saw us though it ran off to be seen no more. We came across a big cable and rope, and Josh and Jack (his dad) couldn't resist taking a swing on it. They felt like Tarzan.

The next day we went into Mindo to ride the ziplines!! Josh had to stay behind with Owen, unfortunately. There were 13 different ziplines, and it was so fun! I was even brave enough to do the "superman" (hanging from the back with arms out) and the "bat" (hanging backwards upside-down). This zipline was the longest- 300 meters - and the three of us had to go together in order to have enough weight to get to the other side.


After the ziplines we went to a butterfly farm. We saw them in all stages of life, and we even saw one hatching out of its chrysalis! This blue butterfly was one of the biggest, and one of our favorites.

Owen enjoyed him self by going swimming. We even dunked his head all the way under for the first time! He didn't like it too much.

Owen's other favorite activity was playing in the rocks and eating the dirt. Is he such a boy or what!

My First Fondant

I've been thinking about Owen's first birthday cake already (yes, it's still a few months away but that's what happens when it's your firstborn and you have nothing better to do all day). Well, I've been considering a fondant cake because they always look SO nice and pretty! (I know Owen won't really care if it's 'pretty' or even halfway decent looking since he'll just want to smash and smear it anyway...I know the first cake is really just for me and the pictures).

Anway, I've never made fondant, I've never even had it before. So I thought I should probably practice making it before I made it for a special occasion, plus it would give me something to do. My sister Amy has gotten into cake decorating a little and she told me how *easy* marshmallow fondant is, so I found a recipe and went to work.

Let me just say, I hated nearly every part of making this cake!

I hated how sticky and impossible it was to knead.

I hated how it completely stuck to my hands, even though I covered every square inch with butter.

I didn't like how powdered sugar got everywhere as I made it.

I didn't like how hard and dry it was when I tried to knead it the next day.

I didn't like how hard it was to roll out.

I didn't like how it was completely stuck to the surface when I tried to pick it up after rolling it, despite putting tons of powdered sugar down, so I had to RE-roll it out.

I didn't like how it was nearly completely stuck to the surface when I rolled it the second time, despite putting both butter and powdered sugar down first.

I didn't like how my hands turned all blue when I mixed the coloring into the fondant.

I didn't like how bumpy it looked, when fondant is supposed to be smooth.

I didn't like how the fondant would hold any shape so the bow looks ridiculous.

I didn't like how long the whole process took.

I don't know, maybe I did something wrong.

Maybe it was because I used cheap, Ecuador brand marshmallows because that's all they have here.

Maybe it was because I added too much powdered sugar.

Maybe I should have used shortening instead of butter.

Maybe I shouldn't have added a little water to help soften it to knead the next day.

Maybe I should have rolled it on cornstarch instead of powdered sugar.

Maybe it was becuase I don't have a rolling pin here so I had to use a little toy baseball bat (embarrassing to admit, I know).
Maybe it would work better if I made it in the states.

Then, to top it all off, the fondant tasted horrible! And the cake mix I used was an Ecuador brand that was dry and not nearly as good as my favorite Betty Crocker or Duncan Hines.

So, unless I'm convinced otherwise, I think I'm through with fondant!!!

Guess that means Owen will be getting buttercream on his birthday cake.

Question of the Week

Do you ever go to the movies by yourself?

My Answer:

Nope. I never have. I don't think I ever would either.

To me, half the fun of going to the movies is to go with someone else so you can discuss it and talk about it afterwards. I'm definitely secure enough with myself now (probably not in high school) to go alone if I really wanted to, but it just wouldn't be as fun or worth the trip. If there's a movie I want to see and I can't get anyone to go with me, I'll just wait until it's on video to see it. Josh, on the other hand, has gone to the movies by himself several times. Usually it's to see movies I don't want to see. He really enjoys it as he really loves movies.

Lots More Fruit

We've tried a lot more fruit over that last little while, and I've saved them all for one big post. I want to remember all the things we've had, so here we go:

These are granadias. They are very similar to Maracuya (aka Passion Fruit), but not quite as tart and tangy-they're better. They're actually one of the first exotic fruits we ate in Ecuador and we really liked them. The outside is a firm shell that is easily cracked open to find hundreds of little seeds encased in a juicy membrane. The person who gave us one called them 'monkey boogers.' Guess that's a good way to describe them. But you just spoon or slurp the seeds out and eat them whole. Sweet, juicy, yummy, and fun to eat!

This is another really good fruit, the babaco. Another name is mountain papaya, and it originated in the highlands of Ecuador. When it's cut in half, you see the cute star shape. It's seedless so the entire thing is edible, including the skin. We decided though, that the fruit isn't very good eaten plain, but it make a delicious juice when blended up! It's sweet but not too sweet, it has a sort of pineapple-apple-pear flavor. Yum.

I know these don't look too exotic, but they are red bananas. They're pretty much the same as regular yellow bananas, but a little more plump, a little more sweet, and the inside has more of a creamy-peach tint. Ecuadorians often use them in cooking.

This is a sapote. There are several varieties, but I think this is just considered a South American sapote. It's not very good at all. I has the texture of a pumkin- a bit stringy. It also tastes like pumpkin, maybe a little sweeter. Not very good to eat plain. We've eaten another variety of sapote called a Mamey, and it was really good and sweet. It's more football shaped and has a big black seed in the middle. We didn't get a picture of that one.

This large fruit is a guanabana, also known as soursop. It's related to the cherimoya which we wrote about before. It's often prepared into a juice, which is how we first tried it and we really liked it. We decided to buy one to make our own juice, but quickly learned that was a bad idea. Inside there are hundreds of black seeds, each individually encased in the fleshy fruit pockets so you have to squeeze each seed out one at a time. It's quite messy and very time-consuming.

This last fruit is called achotillo. It's related to the lychee, and is known as rambutan most everywhere else in the world. Ecuador is the only country that calls it achotillo. They are native to southeast Asia. I like that they are bright and colorful and unique looking. Inside is the oval fruit- translucent juicy flesh surrounding a big seed. The texture reminds me of a grape. They are good, but you don't get a lot of fruit from them so I wasn't a huge fan.

Question of the Week

How often do you take a bath? Not a shower, but an actual bath?

My Answer:

Practically never.

For some reason I don't really like to take baths. I know they're relaxing and all, but I'm just not a fan. I think it's because I've never had a really nice tub to bathe in. I've always lived in older homes and that means an older, small tub, older tiles, etc. The idea of sitting in an old tub in a small bathroom looking at a toilet or a yucky shower curtain (as is my case...I admit my shower curtains aren't always spic 'n span), just does NOT sound very relaxing.

NOW, if I had a really nice and big bubble-jet tub in a big bathroom, that was separate from the shower and the rest of the bathroom (like not next to a toilet) THEN I think I might enjoy taking baths more often. Ahhh....maybe when we actually own a house someday.

Cajas National Park

During our trip to Cuenca we took a day to see Cajas National Park, also highly recommended to us. It's filled with breathtaking hills and valleys, formed by glaciers, with many lakes and lagoons dotted all over. A large variety of flora and fauna exist, and the park is great for hiking and fishing. You could spend days exploring here and still not see everything.

We had planned to do a 4-5 hour hike, but unfortunately it ended up being cold, windy, and rainy. We still hiked, but did a shorter 2 hour hike. Because of the rain we didn't see any fauna either. We still had beautiful views though.




By Laguna Patoquinuas.



Laguna Toreadora.

Cuenca

This week we took a trip to Cuenca, the third largest city in Ecuador and arguably the prettiest city. Its full name is actually Santa Ana de Los Cuatro Rios de Cuenca. It's a beautiful colonial city in the Andean mountains of southern Ecuador, and it's a UNESCO World Heritage Trust site because of its historical buildings. It has lots of old churches, cobblestone streets, lots of red-tiled roofs, etc. We were told we couldn't miss seeing this quaint city, and we're glad we went!

The main square is centered around Parque Calderon. This is where the Catedral Nueva (New Church) and Catedral Vieja (Old Church) are located. The old church was built in the 1500's, then the new church was built in the 1800's when the old one got to small to serve the people. We didn't take many pictures of the old church because we spent so much time admiring the new church! It really is massive and impressive. The designer of the church intended the bell towers to be much taller, but they couldn't be built according to plans because then they would have been too heavy for the foundation to support!



Inside of the New Church.


Blue domes of the New Church.


San Sebastian Church.


Santo Domingo Church. We stayed across the street from this one night. It was beautiful all lit up.


A cute colonial street. We loved all the balconies on the buildings. This part of town had a very European feel to it.


Cuenca is where Panama Hats originate from. Yes, Panama hats are not actually from Panama! They got the name because they would be shipped from Ecuador through Panama first before being shipped throughout the world. Ecuador tries hard to keep their country's name associated with the Panama hats.

We went to a Panama hat museum/factory/store. We learned that they are woven out of dried leaves of the toquilla straw plant. Today, a genuine Panama hat is still hand-woven by villagers living near the coast where the plants grow, then the unfinished hats are sent to Quito where they are trimmed, pressed, shaped, given their final touches, and then sold or shipped. The tighter the weave is, the higher the quality as well as the price. A really fine hats takes 4 months to weave! They can carry water and food without problem, and they can also be tightly rolled up for transport without a single crease once unrolled!




These women are wearing the typical dress of the indigineous people of Cuenca. Notice the woman in the middle is wearing a Panama hat.

These are part of the ruins of Pumapungo, right in the middle of Cuenca. Many artifacts were excavated here and are displayed in the Museo del Banco Central, located right next door.

An alpaca (similar to a llama) at the Pumapungo archeological park.

Josh and Owen enjoying themselves in the garden at one of the places we stayed.

TelefériQo

Friday I was finally able to go up the TelefériQo (I don't know why it's spelled with a capital Q, but it is). Josh had already gone up a few months ago to hike in preparation for his big Cotopaxi climb. Last time both Josh and I tried to go up we had Owen and they wouldn't let him go. But this week we had an available babysitter and a nice clear morning, so we took advantage! I'm so glad we did! It was awesome.

The TelefériQo is cable car that goes up the side of Pichincha, the volcanous mountain we see in Quito everyday. It is one of the highest aerial lifts in the world, going from 8,850 feet to 13,400 feet in less than 10 minutes. The top provides amazing, breathtaking views of Quito and the surrounding area.

We think the páramo landscape of the Andes is some of the most beautiful landscape in the world. In order to fully enjoy it we went on a short hike. This was part of the trail. People can rent horses if they want. The temperature was noticeably cooler compared to the Quito valley, but it was still nice. We even stopped for a little picnic lunch and took lots of pictures. We'll definitely miss all the mountains in Ecuador!