Earthquake!

This morning at 8:51am we had an earthquake here in Quito. We don't yet know how bug it was but it did last about 20 seconds. This was one of the very few earthquakes that I have felt. 

In the middle if the earthquake, one feels very helpless. 

Sent from Samsung Mobile

Nail practice...

Joshua has been practicing his hammering skills using a boat load of nails and a lot of hammering.

I'm sure that I caused my father some grief when I was the same age, using wood meant for another purpose or using up a lot of other materials. But, I know it kept Joshua busy for quite some time and he is learning how to use the tools.

Great minds think alike...

I had to snap this picture of Joel and Petra drinking from the same fountain.

Our new home

I thought it was about time to upload a couple photos of our new home. It has everything that we were praying for and we thoroughly enjoy living here.

It is still close to work but I do get a better workout walking to and from work, especially returning home as it's all up-hill.

It has a lot of windows so that the house is really quite warm in comparison to other houses and apartments that we have lived in. The boys enjoy the yard (even though it's not very large) and it even has a fig tree (with a lot of figs right now, just waiting to ripen).

Balancing act...

Joshua and Joel decided to do something a bit more daring and stand on the teeter-totter rather than just sitting. So, here they are showing their prowess at maintaining their balance.

Change, changes, changes...

This is what used to be our old home. What we referred to as Vozandes 242. The lot was purchased from HCJB a while back and had been under "deconstruction" for some time. What could be salvaged was taken out of the building and sold or given away.

The big day arrived and they brought in the heavy equipment to take down the structure. It only took a few hours to destroy what probably took a long time to build.

We have fond memories of this house which we can take with us wherever we go.

Voting in Ecuador

Yeah, I know the constitution says that foreigners holding a legal residents visa are not obliged to vote.But this morning Marlene was checking and my name appeared on the voters list.

Unlike in Canada where voting is a non-obligatory right, here you must have your voting paper to do pretty much anything legal.

So, I went to my signed voting poll and added my NO vote to the other 43% of the people who voted NO. It will still be another two hours before the official results start coming in.

Barry