March 2019: Zip-lines, 4th grade Market & the End of Summer

Our third month in Kenya went quickly.  We feel quite settled in at this point.  With each new post it seems to be easier and easier to feel at home. 

One reality of life in Nairobi is security.  Many of the bigger shopping areas have explosive detection dogs that hop into every door of our car before we are permitted to enter the property.  I do notice that the dogs are quite interested in the smells on our car in particular.  Probably they would love to take a day off from work to come visit Bruno & Jagger!

Maria's first love note...

And her letter back to Santi: "Thank you for being my best friend."

A Sunday visit to The Forest with
our friend Quddus to do the zip tour.

First of the zip lines.  I was honestly relieved that Maria is too small so I had to stay behind!

Paolo off first!

And then Gio....

Maria and I took a tour on horseback.

Rift Valley view on our way back home.

Quddus and Bruno are quite a pair.  They both adore each other.

Gio's 4th grade market.  He and his partner Abel came up with a plan to sell mini hamburgers.  They made quite a profit!

One of those toys labeled "indestructible"....
Jagger ignored the suggestion.

Maria reads her book....

Snuggles.

Waiting for the school bus.

Smiles.

Sooooo many bananas! (YUCK!)

Maria adores our night guard Benjamin.  She often greets him when he arrives every evening with a new drawing.

When you try to do a puzzle at our house.

Coloring while we wait for pizza.

What?? Is that fruit AND veg on your plate, Gio??  

Maria art.

Maria and Gio began Italian school.  Maria attends a group class on Thursdays after regular school.  Gio takes private lessons on Wednesdays.

Hanging out.

Gio headed off on a class trip for a few days.

They visited many Kenyan companies as a part of their study of economics and marketing.

One of the companies was Brown's Cheese- a favorite of many of ours.  Yum!!

So relaxed!

A weekend away to visit Lake Naivasha.

More milking!

At night we were not allowed to walk around due to the roaming hippos.  Luckily this one was safe!

A visit to Hell's Gate National Park and the geothermal baths.  They are a part of the geothermal plant there that supplies over 40% of Kenya's energy.

"This water smells like my farts."-Gio

We had a guest Golden for part of the week.  Meet Honey (center).  She is 5-years-old and belongs to neighbors of ours.  They are moving to Bangkok soon.  Due to the summer heat in Thailand Honey cannot fly to join them until September/October.  She will stay with us until then.  This week we had her as a trial to be sure the dogs all got along.  They sure did!

The kids had a week off from school.  One the first day we went to the local SPCA to visit this adorable boy we call Potato.  He has been at the shelter for years (and, yes, is missing a front leg).

Making friends.

Scootering with Quddus.

We set up quite a few playdates during this week off.  First one with Maria's friend Morad.  We tried out the cinema for the first time.

Bed head.

Maria takes a dive!

Love.  These two are inseparable.

Quddus' 14th birthday!

The baker missed the S in his name so I had to improvise...

Two cakes (one homemade and a professional one as backup just in case mine was terrible!).

16-year-old Caleb was very kind to let Maria paint his nails!

Quddus and Bruno are a great pair.  In fact, Quddus will take care of Bruno at his house when we go to USA next month.

Maria adores both of the brothers.  

Another playdate.  Malou and Dina had done Maria's makeup before lunch...

...I was happy when they decided to swim later that day!

Book club meeting at my house.  We were able to FaceTime with the author (Adrienne Benson who wrote "The Brightest Sun").

Watching the monkeys in the parking lot. 

The rainy season has not started and the heat has been intense.  Water supplies have dwindled.  We used to get 3 days of city water but in the last few weeks only getting half a day at most.  So we have had to start ordering water to fill our storage tanks.

 Playdate with 4 children, 7 nationalities.  International life is very cool sometimes!

March ended with a huge swim gala at ISK.  Gio did very well! This is him in his first heat of the 50 backstroke. He won!

Happy Spring/Fall to all of you!  Next month we head to the USA for our annual visit.

xoxo.  Clara