A photo journal

Oh my goodness! Sarah is actually blogging twice within a 7 day period? Yes, I am...and as promised, here are some pictures. I'm just going to stick in some captions, but hopefully these pictures give you a glimpse of what we've been doing, how much my little cherubs are growing, and what our life is like on a day in and out basis. Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

A few months ago, we took the kids to the Giraffe center where Kai was able to feed (and actually, now that I think about it, see) giraffes for the first time. He wasn't even scared! Now, whenever we see a gifaffe, he says "mama, I want ta smagck it. I want ta smagch da gewaff"

Our only outside space is our front porch, so we spend a lot of time out there reading, coloring, and watching rainstorms. That's our car in front center!

Kai helping papa get ready for "wort" with his "toffee, pooter, and chews"

Kai loves disguises, dressing up, and practicing his facial expressions in the mirror - especially whiny faces, he finds them hilarious

Ndemi, Kai's playmate who lives in the apartment above us - the boys play together almost every afternoon and weekend.

Kai continues to be our little acrobat, climbing, balancing, jumping, and perching in places we didn't know possible. This is one of his favorite front porch perches.

Kai's Red Flyer tricycle has proved to be one of the best items we brought over from the US. He rides it everywhere - even to take himself down the hallway to go potty in his bathroom...adorable. Mika will need one soon, too!

The Handsome Man travels quite a bit, so Kai sends his bunny Babs with papa whenever he travels. Then, we can skype with Babs, see pics of his travels, and know papa isn't alone (this seriously helps Kai feel so much better, and I highly recommend it for all you with little ones and traveling parents). This is a picture of Babs on his way to Canada via Dubai.

Babs driving the bus to Canada...

Kai "checkin mah email"

Babs visiting Mamaa and Papaa in Canda

I've been doing a fair bit of crafting, sewing, re-doing furniture, baking, etc (I'll try and do a blog soon with pics of all the things I've made/done) but for now, here is your sneak preview of a pair of Elmo pajamas I made for Kai...it was my first attempt, and no pattern, thus the neck looks a little more 'lounge-ish' than I intended. Nevertheless, he loves them! (I even made the buttons with Elmo on them! My 80s and 90s were spent in Kenya, so I didn't get to enjoy Shrinky Dinks at summer camp like some of you...I'm enjoying it now)

There she is!! Pretty little Mika, Mikita, mi Mikita bonita, Mikaela, Mikachoo, Meekster....she has a million nicknames, and a million smiles to match. Such a great sleeper, and so contented most of the time, she's a bright, bright spot in every day. She's just started free-standing and walks easily holding loosely onto someone with one hand. She is also a pro at riding on the back of Kai's tricycle while he pedals the two of them around; and a master at getting up a flight of stairs in less than a minute flat.

Beautiful!!!!

We took an afternoon and drove about an hour out of the city, stopped at a little campground spot, had some lunch, Kai fell in the pool (which meant the Handsome Man got to spend the drive home wet), and played around in the open air. So lovely (except for the pool bit)!

There they are - little chariot races...Kai's training for Tour de France, and Mika for her future in wakeboarding.

Father's Day with my parents - they're a consistent Kenya highlight! The kids and I spend at least one day a week at their house, working in our garden (pictures to come), playing in their yard, exploring all the bugs and worms, and playing the piano....wonderful to have grandparents so close by!

We try to get out of town every so often, and usually go down to Lake Naivasha. A few weekends ago, we also went for a walk at a place called Crescent Island where plains animals (and apparently boa constrictors?) roam freely. Kai had a great time, though my shoulders were killin at the end of the day from carrying him around all day. The Handsome Man broke his shoulder, and has a long recovery ahead, so I'm literally carrying more weight :) Great weight to carry, though, and great place to carry it.

Kai and the Handsome Man sauntering through the savanna - in the background are impala, wildebeast, Grants gazelles, zebra, and buffalo (the dark blob near the lake in the upper left quarter of the picture). So fun!

Mika spent her walk asleep on her Koko's back (Koko means 'grandmother' in Maasai, the tribe my parents have worked with for 25 years)

The Handsome Man, me, and Kai on the top of a hill overlooking Lake Naivasha - so nice to get out of town!!

And just to give a little flashback to where we were one year ago - there we are holding our new niece Jennifer who just turned 1 yesterday!! And that little bump pushing through my hospital gown - it's Mika!!! Crazy where we go from one year to the next....

 

 

So - there you go - just a bit of an update via photos from this side of the world. We actually haven't done nearly as much as we should've in terms of traveling/enjoying Kenya over the past 3-4 months. The Handsome Man has been really busy, and we haven't prioritized traveling like we should. But, the Handsome Man's parents get here in two weeks and we have a couple fun vacations planned. Look for more entries coming soon! x - Sarah