Fighting SAHM boredom

OK, let's face it, sometimes hanging out with your kids is boring. There are only so many times you can watch Dora or Thomas the Train. There are only so many times you play Duplo and blocks before that starts to wear on your nerves. As cute as they are, their conversation eventually becomes... predictable and not exactly stimulating to the adult mind.

When I find myself in this state of mental anguish. I pull out my camera. Usually we come up with something entertaining and for whatever reason, both kids are such hams and/or self-absorbed that they LOVE to have pictures taken of them.

Above, is Theo saying cheese with some cheese on his bottom lip.

A bit gross. But also kinda cute.

Below, is Lana, I was at the end of my rope and so we decided to build her name with Duplo and then do a photo shoot.

Liberia trip

Here's an article from the Liberian Oberserver about the Google event we hosted in Liberia. Also, here's the White Paper on Liberia that I helped put together.

Longonot Climb

It's Easter Weekend - hooray!!! Four days off work and Nadia has her first Sunday as a greeter at Karen Vineyard Church. We went on a dayhike up Longonot. In preparation for the drive, I got a new spare tire the afternoon before - the most expensive, high end Bridgestone you can buy. It has gnarly heavy tread that's perfect for ungraded Kenyan backroads. And of course, the next morning it was flat. Completely. Apparently they didn't change the valve stem, which should have been normal course of business. So after spending an hour getting that fixed properly, we headed off to the Rift Valley for a nice climb up the mountain.

We were lucky because we parked, paid and threw the kids in the backpacks right at the middle of the day, which could have been toasty hot. But there were high fluffy clouds (marshmallow white, so no rain) and a nice breeze. The trail is steep and sandy in spots, which makes for slow going, but it took little over an hour -- including a pee pee stop for Lana, four water breaks for the kids and a healthy snack of animal crackers -- to reach the crater rim. It's a spectacular view into the crater, including views of Lake Naivasha to the West and the Abedere Mountains to the North.

Monkey on our roofdeck

It's three o'clock and I'm at my desk typing away email response. My phone buzzes and Nadia's speaking excitedly on the line.

"Did you get it?"

"What?"

"The picture?"

"What picture?"

"The monkey on our roofdeck! It was trying to eat our lettuce and basil and I had to get Winnie to shoo it away because I was too scared and she said that's what you're supposed to do - just shoo them away."

"That's great, Honey."

"And I moved all our herbs onto the ground floor so he won't eat them."

Lana at Lavington Kindergarten

Lana started her first school ever last week - three mornings per week - and is having a blast. The grounds are warm and happy, with old growth tropical trees and brightly painted slides and swing sets. Lana's actually learning stuff too! This morning Nadia and I were both amazed as our two year old actually fit together legos, even matching and aligning ones of different lengths so her stack looked neat.

I asked Nadia, "Have you seen her do this before?"

Nadia, surprised, "Heck no!"

And Lana was all excited about a red and blue streaked painting she made and brought it hope to show mommy and daddy. Very fun!

Neil

First family safari - Hell's Gate and Crater Lake

Saturday morning, amidst an unseasonable drizzle and fog, we left Nairobi with some new friends of ours - Jason and Krista Wendle, their son Jonah and our driver Alfred - for a two hour drive out to the Rift Valley. The view from the escarpment was washed out. It felt like we were in a cloud! But after descending it cleared and we made it to Hell's Gate national park to see zebra, giraffe, warthogs, gazelle and other fun critters. After a great picnic of Italian salami, sharp cheddar, crackers, yogurt, etc., we headed for a hike through the main gorge area.

The narrow canyon was a mini wonderland of florescent algae filled hot springs, glassy black obsidian stones and undulating rock walls. The whole hike down the gorge - probably a mile or so - was lined with waterfalls and pools of various heat levels. Some tepid, others barely touchable. One, as Nadia said, was 'the perfect temperature for dishwashing.'

We then went to our fun 'tented camp' at the Crater Lake Lodge. It's a gorgeous private location, very peaceful with tons of birds - including a few flamingos - and colobus monkeys. Nadia went on a quick night game drive and saw everything from hippos to an African kangaroo, which of course is not really a kangaroo but some sort of hopping hare. The next day (and not very early because Theo was up half the night), we went on a game drive in Crater Lake's private reserve and saw herds buffalo, elan, giraffe, gazelle, and zebra along with hippos, baboons, and a ton of brightly colored birds.

It was a great trip!

waiting

We are waiting. Waiting for word on when we can call the shippers. Waiting to buy 4 tickets to Nairobi. Waiting to be able to tell everyone ANYTHING. So. Anything new? Nope, just waiting...

Here's Theo (at your left). Doing his impersonation of his sister's favorite doll.

Enjoy. If you need us...we're waiting.