One More Sleep

Packing is in progress, kids are bouncing off the walls (which hopefully equates to some sleepy kids tomorrow evening), iPods and movie players are being charged, and last minute organizing is being done.

IF all goes well, when we finally arrive in Boulder on Thursday afternoon, we’ll have spent over 22 hours on 3 planes, about 7.5 hours in 4 airports, and about two and half hours in cars.  That’s over 33 hours of travel….and we couldn’t be more excited. 

Tutaonana Kesho Kutwa!  (See you the day after tomorrow!)

Happy Father’s Day

We just got back from a relaxing night at Ndarakwai Camp in West Kilimanjaro where we celebrated Father’s Day with the Banks’.  The “tents” were the most spacious that we have stayed in (usually we have to split into two tents). 

We even got morning coffee and hot chocolate on the little veranda of the tent.

We went for a short game drive in the afternoon where some walked back to camp. We saw wildebeest, impala, bushbuck, zebra, giraffe, warthogs, and eland.

After a short rest, we walked to a tree house that overlooks a waterhole for our sundowners.  It was fun to watch the zebra all come down for their sundowner drink, too.

But, by far, the highlight of the weekend was being able to watch a giant rock python finish off a juvenile bushbuck.
Imagine this:

Going into this:
 
In the first pictures below, you can still see the butt and rear legs of the bushbuck outside of the python.  (Please enlarge to get all of the gory details).  If we had gotten there just a little bit later, we would have missed the whole thing (although we still would have seen an overstuffed python).

How did you get to celebrate Father’s Day?

Happy Father’s Day!

Watch out for the wildlife on the road

Almost hit this little guy on our road today.  Our friend Emily is back in Tanzania and she did not make friends with this chameleon as it hissed at her (I think it even bit her). 

The baby bunnies are now two weeks old and so, so adorable.  Anderson has been known to sneak them in to his room and leave them there “so they’re safe”.

Total Lunar Eclipse

We are lucky enough to be living in a place that got to see the full lunar eclipse last night.  The pictures don’t begin to do it justice.  The full eclipse lasted over an hour and a half and the entire process was 3 1/2 hours.   I didn’t stay awake for all of it, but when it did get to full eclipse it was a beautiful color red. 

Air Obama?

Yeah, I don’t get it either, but it made me giggle while I was stuck in traffic the other day.

Love my girls!

Well, obviously.  But, with Matt out of town this week I’ve been lucky enough to get to ride with them to school.  I love that they are riding singletrack…on the way to school!

Singletrack

The Karibu Fair was this weekend and Ashlyn has been turned on to Khan’s Indian barbeque.  She ate huge plates two days in a row of the chicken and chapati.  I don’t blame her; it’s really good.

The girls got their faces painted, Anderson spent a lot of time in the jump castle, and Matt spent the time making connections and working deals for future travel adventures (the fair is really a travel industry fair with hotels and lodges showing off their stuff).  I tried to do a little shopping for gift ideas, but ended up just getting Tierney a handmade pair of leather sandals…not a bad deal for $5. 

Even the maasai have to do their shopping somewhere. 

School ends next week and we’ve started the countdown to our US trek – we leave three weeks from today.  The kids have decided that they are most excited about eating blueberries and Pirate’s Booty whenever they want (I’m sure they’re excited to see all of our family and friends, too)

The itinerary:

June 29 – leave Arusha for Colorado (arrive June 30)

July 16 – head to Rochester

July 22/23 – Adirondacks

July 24-30 – Cape Cod

August 1 – fly from Boston back to Arusha (arriving Aug 2)

phew!  I hope you all are ready for us!

What a difference a month makes

Here we go again.  We have more baby rabbits.  The last litter was born on May 1 and this round was born yesterday (June 2).  Yep, that’s 32 days between litters.  Yikes!  The attrition rate on the first litter wasn’t very good:  we have one remaining from the seven that were born.  I think we can do better this time.  I’m not sure how many there are.  Definitely 5, maybe 6. 

The kid.  She (?) has been named Wander.   One month old.

The babies.  One day old.

The mommy is now separated from the daddy and her eldest (to care for the babies), so I don’t think we’ll keep this procreation rate.  Thankfully.