This is a picture of Quito from Panecillo (the top of that hill).

So I know I'm delinquent in posting pictures from Ben. and he's only sent me a few. But here are two that are really nice. This is a picture of Panecillo (the angel statue at the top of the hill) from the school that he's attending.

I've gotten to Mount Pleasant. The trip on Sunday was fairly uneventful except for the guy the last 15 minutes that decided to go 15 UNDER the speed limit in an area where I couldn't pass him. It made me so mad! But I got here. Mom and I have been sewing baby slings. We've finished three and started another. It's kind of fun. My last one was shaping out to be a disaster (we made several stupid mistakes) but now it just looks creative and special. My mom is so imaginative! :) And yesterday was Dad's birthday, so we're having the whole family over for dinner.

Ben is doing well. He really likes his tutor. He's learning a lot, but not always getting his homework done. He loves the cool weather! He had a bit of altitude sickness when he first got there, but he's doing better now. He's taken lots of pictures; so when he sends them to me then I'll post some. He was supposed to go to an art museum on Monday, but it rained, so they didn't go. I hope he goes later. And I love technology. I don't know how I'd do it otherwise. We've e-mailed or chatted or talked every day he's been gone. Yesterday we figured out how to do the webcam/microphone Skype call. It's great.

This weekend is a family reunion. We leave on Thursday.

Ben's off to Ecuador. He'll get there about 9 tonight. His flight from Miami was an hour late taking off because they found out that someone had checked a bag in but had not boarded the plane. Ben said he saw the firetrucks and HazMat truck out there before the pilot told them what was up. Fun stuff. Oh, and we overslept our alarm clocks this morning. Good grief. It's a good thing that he was completely packed by the time we went to bed. We never would have made it otherwise! But we got there in plenty of time. Thank goodness (for once) that Kansas City is a small airport. Speaking of not so small airports, he got to ride the train at DFW and thought that was pretty cool. After walking for almost 30 minutes from arrival gate to departure gate in Miami, he thinks they should invest in a similar system! :) And today was busy for me, so that is good! Now I get to go home and clean up the mess that is left from packing for a month away. oh joy.......