Work in the field

(And you thought this post was going to be about one of Matt’s adventures)

Anderson and Sam working in the bustani (garden).  This is where Anderson spends most of his time when he’s not in school.

Planting beans

Welcome to our world, Marshall.

Born March 14

Marshall Harding Rinasz

7 pounds 15 oz

22 inches

We now have 1/14, 2/14, and 3/14 birthdays in the family.  I love that he has a pi (3.14) birthday for my math geekiness, and the kids love that they now have 3 girl cousins and 3 boy cousins.  I can’t wait to meet you in 3 months little man.  I love you!

Huge Congratulations to Joanna, Mike, and big brother Mikey!

Track still closed – rumor update

And since so many of you asked me to keep you updated on the track closure I thought I’d let you know the rumor on the street it that some sort of wild cat was spotted.  Rumors abound, but some say that it went toward one of the askaris (guards), but reports vary from leopard to genet.  The track is still closed and I’ll be hesitant to ever go in there again even when it reopens. 

Mkuru Camel Safari

We’re on our second weekend with Matt out of town and to make it even longer the kids had a teacher in service day on Friday.  So to combat the “we’re going to all kill each other if we don’t get out” syndrome, we joined the Fischer family on an outing to Mkuru Camel Safaris.  One of the nice things about going here was the proximity to Arusha.  Their camp is located just on the other side of Mt. Meru and took us less than an hour and a half to get there.  There are several ways that you can arrange the camel safari, but since I was travelling solo and we had a combined 6 kids that were 8-3 years old, we went for camel-lite and just did day a day trip with the camels to Baboon Cave (rather than a trek in to a camp in the bush).  I think this was enough of a starter trip and all the kids said they’d happily go back again.  I will admit that getting on the camel and then when the camels have to stand up and then get back down it’s a little disconcerting.  Ashlyn was not a fan, but was an amazing trooper and walked the whole distance that we rode the camels.  She tried for a short stint on the way back, but didn’t last long….of course the next day she was saying that she was ready to try again, so I think it just took her a little while to warm up the idea.  Maybe next time, when we go with Matt, we can be a little more adventurous. 

Two quick videos to try and give you a feel for what it was like when the camels stood up and then went back down.  Tierney (ever the good big sister) can be heard telling her scared sister “See Ashy, it’s okay”

On day two we went for a walk around the camp.  Patrick thought it would be a good idea to *challenge* the kids to find 24 bones total (which the big kids quickly figured meant 4 bones each).  Well, I think we ended up closed to 24 bones each.   The maasai children were probably wondering why we were collecting all the cow bones, but were helpful and kept adding to our collection as well.   

Avalon and Ashlyn even tried to show the kids how to play tic tac toe.

When your parents cut you off from collecting more bones, what is there to do except play with cow poop?

                  The gang:  Avalon, Tierney, Anderson, Siri, Ashlyn, and Magnus                              (Isn’t that such a great sounding group of kid names?)

The bone collection back at camp.  They made their own animal...I can’t remember the name, but it had cow, bird, and camel bones.

More/All pictures:

Running track closed due to “incident with a wildlife”

Hmmm…I’m curious what closed the fenced track at our club.  Guesses?  Hyena?  Jackal?  Leopard?  I’m guessing it wasn’t a run-in with a hartebeest.  I will be driving the back roads home from the club from now on in hopes of spotting whatever it was.  (For those that haven’t visited, TGT is probably 2 miles from our house). 

From: The Heron Recreation Centre <thefitheron@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Mar 6, 2012 at 2:03 PM
Subject: Running track CLOSURE
To: The Heron Recreation Centre <thefitheron@gmail.com>

Dear Members,

Kindly note, that due an ongoing investigation carried out by TGT caused by an incident with a wildlife, the running track will be closed with immediate effect until further notice.

We sincerely apologize for any inconveniences caused,

Kind regards,

The Heron Recreation Centre

ISM International Day

Ashy getting her henna.

Tierney and her two best friends:  Udine (from Belgium) and Flora (from Sweden).  We’ve called Tierney “TT” since she was one when the other kids are her daycare couldn’t pronounce Tierney and started calling her “TT”. Well now Udine and Flora are knows as “UU” and “FiFi”. Udine also has the matching pink stripe in her hair. 

Lots of performances including African drumming and dancing, belly dancing, Maasai singing and dancing, and Indian dance (think Bollywood).

Tierney getting her hair wrapped. Then Ashy did it, too.

Go USA!

The kids have named this lizard, Lizzy.  We sometime see it on the tree just outside of our gate.

Making Cheez-Its

Saturday morning activity making cheez its with Mama Jackie.

 

Swahili singing while making cheez its

Yum!