Anderson eating Tanzanian Style

Warning:  this is boring for any non-grandparent (and maybe for a grandparent as well), but I am constantly amazed at what Anderson eats.  This is quite possibly his favorite lunch:  ugali and sautéed greens.  I love how he rolls his ugali and then adds the greens just like he sees Mama Jackie, Elizabeth, Samuel and Stella do.  Today I felt honored that he chose to eat with me and not outside with them (this never happens)

It only took 5 days...

....to degrade to this level on the trampoline.

Ugh! What a day!

To start off, I have a cold; a bad cold where you want to curl up on the couch under blankets and eat homemade chicken noodle soup. And Matt is out of town...day 2 of a 9 day trip. I'm tired and cranky before I even leave the house, but we need food and it's only a few items, so no big deal, right? Not so much.

I drive into town to get cash - I pull up to the ATM and turn off the car and immediately notice that the ATM is out of order. Not unusual and there are a few others that I can try that are close to where I shop anyway. But, then I try to start the car to no avail. Argh! I call our car fundi who says he'll come right away. Luckily I have my ipod and can finish listening to NPR while I wait. He comes in about 15 minutes (our own personal AAA; this is the guy that came all the way to the beach to help us). He fixes the car quickly all the while saying pole sana, mama ('very sorry') - a pin had come out of the gear box and he just had to put it back in and I'm back on my way. By the way, the total cost for him to come (by bus) and repair car was 10,000 Ts (~$6.75). I go to the next store and again this ATM is out of order. I'm left with less that $30...that's enough to get me the tea that Elizabeth needs, new cleaning solution, and our produce, but that's about it. Bummer b/c I really don't want to have to come back to town this week. I head over to buy the produce and I get that done, but she doesn't have the bananas that the kids like. Again, not a huge problem, but it is one more stop that I now have to make. Luckily I pass another ATM that finally works - yeah! Head over to the other fruit corner and get my bananas and come back to find a little vervet monkey sitting on the windshield staring at me ("please give me those bananas"). I wish I was fast enough to get the pic of it staring at me, but by the time I grab the camera it's already jumped off and is now just staring down at me. The woman that sells bananas said that the monkey has a tiny, tiny baby over there and it's been trying to steal food all day (at least that's what I think she said in my very limited swahili). This event did make me smile. I managed to make one more stop to try and find cheese, but Shoprite was out and I did not need anything else badly enough to make the drive back through town...although by now the gas light was on in the car, so I still had to do that, too .... at least now i had the money to do it. So far, it's 3 ATM stops, 1 broken car, 1 amazing and flexible mechanic, 3 grocery stores, 2 produce stands, 1 visit from a monkey, and 1 gas station, not to mention the drama of arusha traffic, and I am now sooo ready for lunch. When I got home Samuel and Elizabeth unloaded the car and unpacked groceries while I showered, I came down and was served lunch that was made for me, and Mama Jackie says she is going to make me leek soup (with leeks from the garden) for me for dinner to help with my cold. I think I'll survive another day.

Happy 5th Birthday, Ashlyn!

I'd say Ashlyn's 5th birthday was a huge success. She was so happy all day: we started the day with chocolate chip pancakes and ended with a cake that was made and decorated by Mama Jackie with a lot of jumping in between.

Poor Samuel had a lot of digging to do..

He told the kids that he was making a tunnel under the house. Surprisingly, they all fell for it (Birch did think that it was the worst tunnel ever because "it's just a hole")
Waiting for Ashlyn to get home from school

The big reveal!

In her hat that her friends made her at school (she wore it all night) and in the wrap from Tierney

It's dark and they are still jumping.

Happy 5th Birthday to my brown eyed girl!

Outing to Maji Moto

Maji Moto literally means "Water Hot" in swahili, but in this case we're talking about the hot springs that are just outside of Arusha near the Kilimanjaro airport. Unfortunately, Tierney and I did not make the travel team (as my dad used to say). Tierney was sick, so I stayed home for some quality time with her while Matt and the A's joined up with the Banks and another family with their kids Jack and Acacia. Sounded like a great time swimming in the hot springs, lounging in the shade and having a picnic. I think we'll have to head back sometime so that Tierney and I can go.

On Saturday, Matt, David and I went out for a 3 hour mountain bike ride. It was great fun except for the double flats for me and when I hit a goat and went down. No harm done to me or the goat (my friend Rebecca said "mmmm, nyama choma" which is the grilled meat that they eat around here). I was telling Matt that it felt much like a normal Saturday morning was for us pre-kids....truck loaded with bikes, listening to loud music, headed off on an adventure. Matt was quick to point out that our Friday night was nothing like our pre-kid Friday nights though (kids in bed early, us in bed by 8:30 to watch a movie). So true.

Anderson has been super cute lately and causing all sorts of trouble. Yes, he climbed up there all by himself and yes, he brought the blanket with him.

(I also finally figured out how to add an email subscription box, so you should now be able to enter your email address in the box in the upper right corner of the blog if you want to get email updates when I publish a new post)

Happy First Birthday Chuckie!

(internet was out yesterday and this took all day to load - ugh!)



Can't wait to see you in 2 months!

(And only a couple of more weeks to find out if I'll have a new niece or a new nephew...so exciting and so hard to be overseas)

Back to the Beach and 9 years of marriage

We went back to the beach for one last hoorah before school starts back (tomorrow!). We started at Peponi where we went earlier in the summer and then moved to a lodge a little further south called Emayani for the last few nights (we splurged a little for our 9 year wedding anniversary). It was a great way to do the trip and I could see us doing that again. We were very lucky because at both places the girls ran in to some school friends and we got to spend time with other adults. It was perfect. At Peponi we walked on the beach, played in the tidepools (where we found a starfish), and swam in the pool. The day we moved resorts it was raining, so it worked out well. We got to take the car on a ferry on the way there and as soon as we arrived Tierney saw her friend Dana (pronounced more like we would say Dawna) and Matt and I got to make new friends with her parents. We knew each other to say hi at school, but they were awesome to spend several nights with. We also met an American family living in Rwanda who are going to come and spend a night with us tomorrow as they pass back through Arusha. It’s so fun to meet people like this.

At Emayani they have a turtle hatching program (well, it’s the dive shop next door, but it’s right there). They move nests from a sand island offshore (where they are at high risk for being covered by water which would make them non-viable) to the beach outside the dive center, so every day we walked down the beach and watched the baby turtles hatch and make their way to the ocean. Really amazing. Ashlyn also got the crap scared out of her when a giant hermit crab blocked her path to the bathroom in the middle of the night – one of the hazards of open bandas. She was actually fine and now she thinks it was pretty cool

We did have a minor (well, major) hiccup as we went to leave. All loaded up at 8 am, car loaded, and kids buckled in and the car wouldn’t start. After lifting the hood and attracting all males in the vicinity we made the official call to stay one more night. We were very lucky in that Joey was out of town and our car fundi (mechanic) was available, so he went and grabbed their car and drove down to meet up (8 hours!). He verified the problem and rode back with us to Arusha yesterday where he immediately got the part repaired; he got on an early morning bus back to the beach this morning to install repaired part and drive it back. It could have been so much worse. Here’s hoping he has no trouble getting there, installing, and driving back tonight. All just in time since Matt has a 6 am flight tomorrow morning for the remainder of the week. Thank goodness for great friends and a great fundi!

It’s a big week with traveling, our anniversary, friends from Germany/Serengeti visiting with their new baby, David’s birthday (today), and school starting tomorrow…not to mention new friends coming tomorrow night and Matt leaving town. Whew!

The kids at Peponi

About to get onto the ferry

Our banda at EmayaniNice view

The seamonster He’ll pick up anythingMatt taking the kids for a kayak ride Dana, Flo, and Tierney (ISM friends)

Waiting for the turtles to hatch

Ash making sure it gets all the way to the ocean

The boys

Tigers near Kilimanjaro???

Anderson chasing the village kids

And because I couldn’t get this to load last time….

Hadza Dance