Project 52: Safari

There are a lot of opportunities available to kids in the US that we don't have here: science museums, story time at the public library, vacation bible schools, etc. We make up for it with really unique experiences like safaris! We recently went to the Serengeti with Carson's mom and sister and had a blast. 

Here is a picture of Jude in Aunt JoJo's lap looking at an elephant.

Jude loved the zebras.

Don't miss the lion sitting in the grass in this picture!

Here's all of us in front of the park sign.

Tell Me

Dear Blog Readers,
What would you like to know about Geita? I've lived here a while now and forget what others do and don't know about this place. Leave me a comment and I'll see what sort of answers I can come up with. ;)

safe travels

Carson's mom and sister have made it safely home and my parents have made it safely into Tanzania! We will pick them up today at the Mwanza airport. We had such and amazing time with Carson's family and are looking forward to having fun with mine. 

Jude's first safari pics coming soon!

Project 52: Livestock Dodging

My last Project 52 post was about my new Boba carrier and how much I am loving it. Jude and I went for a walk 4 days this week. It's great for both of us to get out of the house and greet our neighbors. This time I thought I'd share another aspect of going for a walk here: livestock.

It is very common for livestock to be herded down the street to get to another spot to graze. This picture was actually taken from in the car, but you get the idea. You round a corner and a full herd of cattle and goats are walking straight towards you. One day, several months ago, I got over on the side of the road as far as I could. As one of the cows passed he walked straight up to me and head-butted me before moving on. Since that day I do my best to get away from any oncoming herd by taking a different road or getting into someone's yard. So there you have it, motherhood in Tanzania involves livestock dodging.

soaking.it.up.together.

We are enjoying a visit from Carson's mom and sister right now. We don't get to attend typical family gatherings: birthday parties, funerals, holidays. It's just one of the realities of living on the other side of the world, and by far the hardest part. So right now, we are soaking it up. All of it.

Eating. Together.

Laughing. Together.

 Playing. Together.

And as much hugging and holding as a 16 month old can stand.

We don't get the kind of family time we would if we lived in Tennessee, but we are so blessed to have them here with us now. And, 2 days after they leave my parents will arrive. 7 weeks of family time! We are soaking up all the Aunt JoJo and Gran-Nan that we can. Making memories and pictures, to tide us over until we see them again. 

A Day in the Village

We had a chance last Sunday to visit the church at Kasilo. Brett was going to do some teaching so we tagged along. Carson and I spend most of our time in town, and this was actually the first time I had been to a village since Jude was born. There's not exactly a nursery so I spent the day watching Jude which kept me from participating much. That's what I expected and why I hadn't yet attempted a village trip with Jude. It was also a little difficult on him, because he wasn't able to nap any. 

We left around 7 am. This is a picture on the way there.

After being served some breakfast there were some baptisms.

Here's a picture of waiting. I'm not sure exactly what we were waiting on, but you do alot of waiting in Tanzania.

 Jude was interested in pretty much everything. The people. The goats. The rocks. 

It was a long full day. We were served two meals, had baptisms twice (some people were late),  and a church service.

Project 52: Going for a Walk

I've been taking Jude for walks since he was tiny. We used to actually walk all the way to town to go to the market and even back sometimes (Other times Carson would pick us up). Jude has always loved getting out and if he's tired the movement puts him right to sleep. The bigger he's gotten the more of a challenge it has become to go for walks. When he was little I used a Moby wrap, but as he's gotten bigger that has been less ideal. Then I used a sling I made and after that the type of sling that has metal rings. Lately, it's just been too much pressure on my shoulder so we had to stop walking. Knowing that we had family coming to visit we started researching what to use next. We considered a stroller, but finding one that was small enough to be a piece of luggage and sturdy enough to handle our roads was a challenge. In them end we were unsure if any stroller would work on the hills and rutted out roads around our house so we started looking at baby carriers. We settled on the Boba carrier and it arrived with Carson's mom and sister last week. We've used it a few times already and I'm loving it. I'm still getting used to it, but it definitely doesn't hurt my shoulders and Jude seems to be happy with it.

Here's a shot of us heading out this morning:

One of my favorite parts about going for a walk is visiting with neighbors. Shumaili had just woken up, so he's a little out of it.

My sister-in-law Joanna and I. This picture is taken on the street we live on a little ways down from our house.

 My mother-in-law and I

I'm not sure how well you can see it, but the pattern I got is called Tweet and it's super cute with leaves and birds.

By the way, we are having a great time with family. Jude is eating up the attention and new people to perform for and I made tomato sauce on Friday without being interrupted even once! We're also enjoying lot of great conversation and if I can help it we'll be playing some sort of game tonight!

Project 52: More of the Same

Yes, I know. My last Project 52 picture wasn't too different from this one. This remains Jude's most desired activity. EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. He's always preferred being outside, but when EVERYONE is outside working staying in is like torture to this kid.

 Of course he can't be outside all the time, so this is a really challenging time in the world of toddler discipline and time management.

Please note that he has one hand on the dirt and one hand on the hammer. Also note the color of that good Geita dirt and imagine how much stain stick I'm going through these days!

I just noticed that Jude is the only one in this picture actually working! This must have been break-time. The other three have been plugging away at the oven tests. Once they get a little further along I'll do a post about it.