On your mark, get set ... I'm tired

Races at around Claudia's house ...
Yves and Theo love running around houses ...

sometimes with more success than others ...

and here is Claudia getting a nice ride from all -

Day by Day

Holiday today (Thursday) ... so a nice relaxing day at home (nap with Theo included) ...
Cast coming off in another 6 days!
Kaia's birthday in another 5 days!
Nice week to look forward to ...

Here is a nice shot of Theo with the 4 chicks this past week.

and another ... 

and Theo getting a big laugh running around Claudia's house (racing with her son Ives)

Here is a shot of what I usually see everyday afterschool as I get picked up by my lovin' family ... they all come to pick me up (Laika included!) ... I love my family!

Funny Theo Videos

Here are a couple of funny videos from this last week ...

It seems Theo got a few nice massage sessions from Mommy - and liked it alot!

'Me want more massage' ...

and another time Mommy chided Theo for coming in from outside quickly ... 'Theo, you don't have to storm in like a trooper!'

Theo's response 'Yes me orm in ooper mummy'

Melanie Day

Well ... what a welcome weekend ... nice to have a short work week back and then a nice weekend to relax and enjoy the family again ... plus, of course - it was another very productive Saturday!
Kaia and Theo of course enjoyed being with the chicks ... here they are proudly displaying them ...

Theo is thrilled!

Kaia and Theo enjoyed helping Moses and Salum make a new garden bed frame as well.

Always wanting and willing to help out these two ... (kids!) - at least for 5 min. before they are distracted by something else ... like a baby chick!

We had a 'Melanie Day' today as well ... to celebrate Melanie's birthday which was a week ago -- and we didn't know!  So we had her over for a dinner and some special cake ...

To celebrate the day Clea and Theo had a nice kiss ...

and finally - here are a couple of shots of the mural and PJ and Claudia in the process of painting at the Blue Heron restaurant

... pretty nice huh?  Yeah!

Post Holidays

Post holiday blues?  Not too bad after all ... only a 3 day school week for Daddy and Kaia.  We all did quite well overall and it was good to be back ... Kaia did struggle to come around to the idea of going back to school but once back she was fine and happy ... and everyday afterschool it seemed (according to Mummy) she raced home/out of the car to get a chick and make sure all was right in the world with her chicken extended family.  She looooooovvvvvveeeesss her chicks!

Here are Kaia and Theo reading to a baby chick ... (who later pooped on the book by the way!)

and here are a few more Easter weekend shots ... the decorative eggs/baskets (that Mummy made) at TGT brunch on Monday ... is this pretty or what?!

Daddy and Theo laughing it up at TGT ... Theo loves his tickles ...

Kaia swinging around at Christiaan and Catharina's house for an egg hunt on Sunday.  Christiaan and Catarina just came back from Germany after giving birth to a baby boy ... they were our neighbors at the old house.

and lastly Theo and Kaia sharing a chair eating some chicken fried rice over the weekend ... yum yum ...

Easter Monday

We have had a wonderful Easter Monday ... up bright and early and out of the house by 8 AM to TGT - where PJ works at times - to set up an Easter Brunch for the community.  Good turnout, around 75 people/guests ... and GREAT GREAT food/buffet.  PJ et. al. worked hard to create a beautiful environment with nice table settings and an egg hunt for the little ones.  More pics to follow tomorrow ...
Here are Kaia and Theo dressed up for success! or for a wonderful Easter Monday brunch!
(the half egg baskets were on each table at the brunch ... cute huh?)

 and later in the afternoon we had our own Easter egg hunt in the yard (thanks to Tia Leslie's chocolates that she left behind for us/them ...) - they LOVED it - and found them all quite quickly!  Whew - we have enough chocolate and treats now for a few days ... not sure what all this is doing to their tummies - Theo still seems 100% even though he has a bit of a sweet tooth!

Happy Easter chicks!

So ... Happy Easter all! 

Theo is feeling much better so we can all celebrate.

... here are our Happy Easter baby chicks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Right on time actually! -- 21 days of patiently waiting!

Four were actually born yesterday/Saturday ... but we wanted to save this for today/Easter!!

How cute are they????!!!!

Kaia was 'over the moon' with excitement ... and PJ was a close second!

They all seem to be doing very well -- there is still one egg that has not hatched (even by the 2nd day) so that one might have to go ... but we are all proud and happy to have these new chickies join our family.

Here they are with their mommy Day 2. 

Here is a shot today of Kaia and Theo checking them out (for like the 100th time!) on the side of the coop.

and after our full day in the garden yesterday - we were treated to an awesome dinner of fresh pan cooked bread with many veggies from our garden (especially some amaranth, beet and radish leaves, radish, green onion and chives ... with fresh onions, garlic, etc.)

And here are our first 5 asparagus ever!!!  MMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmmm ..........

Garden Day

So, Saturday ... nice / good day for working in earnest on projects around the house -- especially the garden.
Here is a nice shot of one of the square garden plots that are doing so well so far at this house, with the chicken coop in the background ...

Oh! - and speaking of the chickens ... our boy 'Junior' decided to hop up on the roof of the coop yesterday - and then over to the neighbors yard!  Fortunately our neighbors were away - so Salum and Moses did a rescue to get him back ... and by the way, they had to do this twice today!!!!!  PJ put up a wire fence/blockade by the end of the day ... sheesh!

Too much for Kaia and Theo ... they had to have nap - Theo on the chair, and Kaia on the table!!!!  Wow, that is exhaustion! 

Mommy took one or two breaks today, here with Kaia and notice both are sitting on Sassy! - who would not move ... silly cat ...

Theo has not been feeling all that great for the last couple of days ... so, lots of naps for him on the porch ... this was earlier in the day ...

and ... a cute video from a couple days back ... the magic of tasting mustard for the first time!  We were trying to get him to say 'Me like mustard so much' (as he did just a few seconds before the camera came out ... ) - of course, as it goes ... still cute ...

Bathtub antics

Why does it seem that so much of our life with our children is centered around the bathroom?  Something seems wrong there no?  Maybe not ... they do get dirty with their everyday/everyhour antics so easily ...

Here are a couple of cute bathtub pics that we wanted to share ... the first is a very cool idea that PJ had/found for bathtub 'paint'!  All that was needed was food coloring and Daddy's shaving cream ... quite easy and so so fun for the kids ... Kaia just loved it.  Next time we should invite some friends over!

This next shot has Kaia and Theo posing with their new 'light up' Crayola toothbrushes!  The toothbrushes light up when pressed and stay on for 2 min. or so - so kids are encouraged to keep brushing for all that time to do a good job!  (nice training tool!)  Thanks Grandma Love!  The kids love them!

and, a video now ... Theo is getting better and better at independently using the potty (a real grown up one!) - he sure has to work for it though huh? 

Counting

A cute one here of Kaia doing some impressive counting!  She can (at times!) get up to 30!

and ... not to be out-done by his big sis ... Theo takes a turn ...

Daddy's boy - Spiderman

ahhh ... def' my boy!  Knows his superheroes proper!

Elections and Goodbyes

Goodbyes ... well, we were all very sad to see Leslie and John leave us yesterday but we drove them down to the airport to pick up their flight to Zanzibar for a few days and then off to Ethiopia for a few more ... our kids really bonded with Leslie and John and it was so so so good to have them around and 'hang out' ... we did our traditional 'goodbye' routine of driving them down to a game lodge for a lunch, see a few animals and monkeys in the trees ... and then on to the airport.

we saw a few monkeys in the trees there ... 'Colobus monkeys' ....

Here is a shot at the airport ...

and then one last adventure for the day ... local by-elections ...
as we were driving to the airport, around the town of USA River, we ran into a few demonstrations ... and quite a few people! - they banged a bit on our windows and doors but it was for the most part a celebration of the ruling Chadema party win.  Still, it was a bit much for us ...

So, as PJ and I headed home from the airport ... we ran into even more people, so we decided to take a short cut ... haha!  Quite a few km's of dirt / back roads ...

As much as we were a bit scared by it all - it was also kinda of uplifting believe it or not!  People were walking by flashing peace signs, honking horns, waving flags and smiles smiles smiles ... Tanzania is quite famous for being such a relatively peaceful country on this continent and it was fun to drive through the celebrations and great moods - even our security guard when we got home was quick to share a smile and show his good humor with the election results. 

 

Last Days in Arusha

Hi, guest bloggers Leslie and John here. We've had a fantastic few days in Arusha, hanging with the kids, and checking out the local sights.

Even the animals vied for my attention!

We drove out to Maji Moto one day with a group of Carl and PJ's friends. After about 3 hours - 1 1/2 of which was on a dusty, bumpy track - I was beginning to wonder if these hot springs were really worth it! But they definitely were! Gorgeous clear blue, warm water. Both Kaia and Theo were right in there. Here are PJ and Theo contentedly floating along with the small current.

Kaia and John happily painted one morning.

Snack break on our hike around Diluti Lake. We didn't see anything very unusual except a small deer - daika I think. The kids made it about half way before clambering on John and PJ's backs. Note Theo's pants tucked into his socks. Just in case of doo-doos (bugs) and snakes!!

My friend Viviane sent along some wooden dolls for Kaia to colour. They were a hit! I did one too!!! In case you are interested, their names are Red and Pink.

The car suffered a bit after that trip to the hot springs - overheated radiator and non-working battery - fortunately John knows alot about cars. Here he is giving PJ some pointers for next time.