Lesson: Watch out for mice in your underwear drawer

 

Yes we had a mice catastrophe.  The mama mice had five babies in the chupi drawer and Birch found them at night while getting his school clothes ready. At least 10 pairs destroyed.  We decided the baby had to go outside which would mean that they would die.  Birch suggested since they had to die we might as well take them to the snake park on Sunday because that is when the snakes eat.  So….. my kids are ok with the whole circle of life thing even with cute baby mice- especially if they eat your underwear.

Adventure: Wii for the first time ever in our house

Enjoy the videos if you can. Nana and papa are to blame or thank for these as you see fit. Luckily power outages 12 hours at a time limit Wii screen time. Of course see how opposed to Wii David is when you watch the videos.....

Travel: I am sooooo late with these: Zanzibar

The boys being funny. 

Stonetown in ZBZ

Our sunset luxury boat cruise

Dinner at the finest restaurant in town- kids ate shrimp

The kids talking to the bar man about the bush baby that comes at night

Cole loses first tooth in Zanzibar and tooth fairy brings 650 Tsh  ( 30 cents), but it sounds like a lot if you are in to Monopoly.

Travel: Safari with Grandparents- David loves animals

Went to the Ngorogoro Crater and to Ndutu to see animals for the New Years. The Crater had tooooooo many people but that is because you can see so much. Here are some highlights.

Birch finally saw the one animal he has wanted to see since our arrival- a serval cat. He saw a BBC show with a serval catching a bird mid air and has been obsessed since. Such amazement on his face. Our too since it was the middle of the day and we were leaving the crater.

serval cat info

Coles favorite the bat eared fox and David loves Hyenas more than lions.

Speaking of lions. A male chooses a mate to have for five days and mates her every 15 mintues for 5 days. He takes no food just water. Birch informed us that is 96 times a day. When I pressed him to explain mating he said there definitely has to be a growl at the end. We talked a little more in technical language appropriate terms and he said “how does that happen” and “ I don’t know much about that”. Which is crazy cause Birch knows something about everything with lots of confidence. (just like his dad)

Random picture of love- birds

Cool migration. 30 pass in 10 seconds and kept on coming for 10-20 minutes.

Saw a million cheetahs- which is great because kids had just watched a movie called “Duma” about a cheetah.

Of course we had a sundowner. Kids playing in the park with above cheetahs probably near by…. who knows.

Adventure: XMAS in Arusha

Felt the same except we went swimming the day before, had a Bao-bob Christmas tree, and the kids really didn’t get excited until a few days before since we have no television and commercials.  Santa didn’t bring everything they wanted because Santa didn’t know about some of the American type toys on the wish list until a few days before.  Cole was very excited about his woopy cushion until mom sat on it and the first fart broke it.  Time for new years weight loss resolutions I think.  Birch our birder got his own binocs.  Legos still the hit of the party.

Travel: Ethiopia- only a vacation spot if you have experienced Africa already. So beautiful but a little rugged.

Posted 5 posts today- so scroll down to see our last two months if you have time. Peace and happy holidays. Lots of internet connectivity today so I had to just keep going.

We did 10 days in Ethiopia to see the beauty, the history, the religion, and the baboons. It was a lot of driving in a mini van, lots of little planes, lots of walking, but lots of really cool stuff you could never see unless you agreed to the above.

We started in Lalibela. The churches are rock hewn which meant they are dug out of the ground not built up. 12th century stuff. A guy walks around with you as you go in all the churches to be in charge of your shoes as you go in the church. We could market for Keen I think.

At night we would look over amazing horizons and watch the sun set. We would talk about saints, god, and as Cole said the holy and the holy and the holy ghost- he knew there were three of something somewhere. Cole would paint pics and add “ god “ to the top of them. He was a little overwhelmed by all the god talk. He even has us cheer to God at dinner one night. The views did make you believe in a higher power of some sort.

As we travelled the country side we saw women and girls doing back breaking work. So many people and so much more poverty than Tanzania. But people were so welcoming and everyone smiled. Our guide Kora helped with all the stories, translation, and child control. He was very passionate about his Ethiopian Orthodox religion, country, and people.

Van rides were long. 5 hours for 110 km. Kids crashed well during these times. I never thought I would love an Ipod so much. Only one broken tire!!!!!! Yes we are terrible parents- we take them to places with no car seats or seat belts even available.

We did a traditional coffee ceremony. Even Cole tried some ( with 5 spoons of sugar). We were all really tired by the end of the day so we begged for only one cup each- tradition says you take three cups at least to not offend your hostess, but that much caffeine late can be kind of scary- especially if your 6 yo is taking it also.

Next we went to Gondar. Great castles. I got deathly ill with stomach cramps so I missed this day. It wouldn’t be a vacation in Africa unless someone got a stomach disease at least once. David said the kids loved the trees that seemed to be eating them. Funny thing at this tourist spot a group of Ethiopian tourists took pictures of our kids with their yellow hair. We could hardly say no since we take pictures of them as we drive by in our van all the time.

Lastly we went to the Simien Mts to see the canyons, the Gelada baboons ( only there) and the Walia Ibex ( decided not worth seeing if meant 5 more hours in the van). Breathtaking like Grand Canyon style views. Tons of new birds for the big and little birder in my family. Those baboons mate a lot, so we had a whole set of other talks besides religion talks this trip.

Ended our trip at fancy hotel in Addis. Swimming pool and a barber shop for the kids- can’t beat that. Ate traditional Njera- but had our fill for a while I think. We were really excited to get Pizza back in Arusha.

Ethiopia is so big, wondrous, and amazing. My few pictures can’t begin to show you what we saw and experienced. Christmas today……. Blog again soon. Peace and Love joey