Memphis Bridges

Friday, April 10, 2015

Friday Favorites

Isabella took this picture of Brook & I last week at the birthday party.

Cheap avocadoes

I had to walk a few block to buy them, but I bought 3 for $1.00!

Our home

I am thankful for where we live in Bogota. From looking at this photo, our apartment is on the top far left, about four from the top.

So this isn't a favorite thing, but this is a part of our week. This shows we spent 65 minutes in a taxi to get to our team meeting Tuesday morning.

And this is the distance we rode....132 blocks.

It was an okay week, but it went by fast. Today, I need to get through Spanish...I had lots of homework. Tonight, we are babysitting overnight for some friends

Happy Weekend!

Thursday, April 9, 2015

As I mentioned in my weekend wrap-up, we took a drive last Saturday to Guatavita, Colombia, a town about an hour away from Bogota. It is a pretty town, & is best known for the small lake of El Dorado. (If interested, here is a link to the myth of El Dorado. On a side note, the Bogota airport is called El Dorado Airport.) We just went for a few hours because we had plans that morning, so we visited the town & reservoir lake, but did not take the hike up to Lake El Dorado. Here are some photos & a video from the day:

Our view on our drive

One of the sights along the way

There were lots of animals (cows, sheep, chickens) on the side of the road along our drive, but I never got a picture of them.

Walking in the town

This house had some pretty flowers & it is extremely rare for us to see a house with a yard, so I took a photo.

View as we approached the water

Looking back from the arches

Very pretty arches

Isabella

Brook

A pretty view with the bell tower

And I liked this too

A little closer to the water

At this point, there was a food stand & Johnny Cash music playing. It was the perfect choice of music, yet seemed strange hearing this boy from Arkansas singing in this small town of Colombia!

Family photo :)

Don't worry, eye cream is on my list to buy in the states. I sure look like I've aged a lot this past year!!

This is a bull ring we saw as we were beginning to drive out of town

Roof lines looking back where we were

The traffic was terrible coming back. It took us 2 hours to get home, so we had our fill of a road trip, but were glad to see a new city that was nearby.

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Bogota Bridges

If you would like a little more information on Easter here, including a photo & videos, head to
Bogota Bridges today for a blog post.

(Brook & I decided to not go to her school classes today. I don't think I can take any public transportation today. We were in a taxi for a total of 3 hours yesterday. It sounds silly, but it is exhausting at times in this traffic here. I really think Atlanta traffic doesn't look so bad now, and that's a stretch to say that if you've ever been in Atlanta traffic!)

Happy Wednesday!

Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Show & Tell Tuesday, My Favorite Vacation Edition

Today focuses on my favorite vacation. Well, y'all know I love to travel. I have since I was a small child & we took vacations every summer. I remember asking for a road map when I was 12 years old for Christmas & use to plan family trips, like almost down to the minute. I am not too far from that now when I travel! I worked for Delta Air Lines for 1 year, then was a travel agent for about 10 years. I have been blessed to travel a good bit, but there are so many more places I would like to see! To think about my favorite vacation doesn't come too easy. Instead of a favorite vacation, I will highlight some of my favorite places.

First, my favorite city in the world, New York City. My first trip to NYC I remember was in summer of 1983. I was starstruck by the city & starstruck by meeting some celebrities. Every trip afterwards has been great. I try to do one new thing each time I go now. I have been countless time & I am still energized each time I go.

Isabella's 1st trip to NYC in 2007

The girls there in June 2013, Brook's first trip

My Dad & I in Times Sqaure

Another place I am energized is Disney World. I always enjoy trips there & it is fun now to experience that with my own kids.

November 2009

I was so excited this day. It was my 39th birthday & we made it at the gates a few minutes before the park opened. That is huge for our family!

I always loved Brook's expression seeing the castle for the 1st time!

(She had been once before when she was under 2, but didn't remember the park.)

The stars of the show

This picture was from January 2011. Avery says we need a 5 year break time between trips. We will be returning this fall, so we will be 2 months from making it 5 years.

Another favorite travel activity is taking a cruise. I am always up for that :). My last cruise was with my mom, sister, & niece. One thing that made that so fun was that it was such a last minute trip!

Here is my sister & I on that cruise

Another fun cruise was one Avery & I took from NYC. It was a wonderful moment I wanted to bottle up forever....leaving on a cruise out of my favorite city! I was standing on a cruise ship looking at the skyline of NYC on one side & the Statue of Liberty was in view when I looked off the other side of the ship. It doesn't get much better for me...or maybe a Disney Cruise out of NYC :)! Here some pictures from some other cruises:

I am loving Brook's hair in this photo!

And as y'all know, we absolutely loved our time in Europe last year. There are past blog posts with pictures from that trip as well.

A few other more favorites: camping with my family & friends at Village Creek State Park (this use to be a yearly Easter tradition); Boone/Blowing Rock, NC; Land Between the Lakes, Kentucky; Washington, DC; Seattle, Washington; Las Vegas with my sister: and even homeschool conferences in Dallas, Cincinnati & Nashville.