Like much of the world we are spending most of our days at home. Changes in our normal routine:
Masks on outside of home. Curfew 7PM-5AM Once/week to the grocery store. No other shopping. Morning walks in Karura Forest with dogs. Bike rides/walks with dogs every evening before curfew. Virtual learning 8AM-3PM (timing flexible for ES children but we try to keep to this schedule with many breaks). Children have been given a temporary phone to be used until school reopens. They use it for Whats App, Skype & FaceTime with friends and family. Our staff is living with us for safety. Our housekeeper and her adorable 4-year-old daughter now live in our guest room downstairs. I count myself very lucky that she was willing to do this!
8 months ago....
...how times have changed!
Trumpet Lesson!
Show George the hamster to his friends.
A virtual introduction to Middle School.
Other parents are promising me that I never have to look at this schedule again. Apparently the kids figure it out easily. Yikes!
Rinsing off the dogs after a muddy romp in Karura Forest.
Maria's teacher conducting a Zoom class with a read aloud.
The school library challenged us to recreated a few book covers....
Off for a bike ride/dog walk before curfew.
I feel so lucky that I get to spend nearly every morning (sometimes I let Paolo go) walking the dogs in Karura. It is the only time I spend away from home these days.
How is this comfortable? This is her favorite sleeping spot. Look below for a video of how she gets herself in there....
The kids and I spend quite a bit of time cooking together these days. Gio has a real passion for it. Today's request was to attempt cake pops...
Success!
A positive about this stay at home period is that Maria has two friends living with us. Rose (left) has always lived with her (her father is Paolo's driver) but last weekend Jasmin moved into our guest room with her mother who is our housekeeper. The two little girls are teaching Maria Kiswahili and Maria is helping them with English. They are a loud and happy trio!
Here is that promised video.
How much longer will she be able to do this??
(She is still growing!)
Virtual learning is easier with Bruno's company!
Dogs enjoying Karura after a big rain...
Post Karura rest.
Ready to pounce on her friend Pepper!
My two wildest beasts enjoy the flooding from our very heavy rainy season....
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Every single school day....
Jasmin (left, housekeeper's daughter) and Rose (right, driver's daughter). Maria loves having two friends living here.
Our feral cat Cinnamon has taken to spending his days with Paolo in his office. Beware any dog who dares come near!
Seesaw math activities are Maria's favorites.
One of Maria's Earth Day assignments was to go outside and record the sounds in the garden. Jagger had other plans.
When I have spent too long on the puzzle Salt intervenes....
On the final Friday of April we took in this foster dog. The adoption agency (TNR Trust) asked us to rename him as he had not actually had a name at KSPCA. Gio chose "Ragu." He is 12 years old and had been at KSPCA for 2 years. He is a real sweetheart and never leaves my side.
Guess who turns 1 next month! Plenty of time to improve her table manners....
We are guessing May will look much like this past month. 6 more weeks of virtual learning...
March felt about 7 years long. And I am guessing the coming months will feel the same. Hard to believe the month started off "normal"....
Bags packed the night before as Gio leaves for early morning swim team practice at 6AM.
A Sunday playdate.
Pool party!
Whenever I cook....
This goes on the entire day....
Student-led conferences...here in the Spanish room.
Reading to us in her classroom.
Beating Papa at a math game!
Gio doing some improv on his trumpet.
Back home and reading to me. Maria started the year as a non-reader so this is really impressive!
All signs are pointing to Coronavirus arriving here soon and the restrictions that will come with it. So I began hoarding....dog food!
Sensing that the school would close any day, Gio set up his desk for virtual learning. In fact, the next day the first case in Kenya was reported and all Kenyan schools closed.
Embracing the new world both Gio and Maria have become LEGO fanatics. I have no idea where I am going to put all of their creations.
We joined the Rex family on a weekend trip to Mt. Kenya. No lockdowns had yet been announced and with one case so far in Kenya we felt we could take one last weekend away. Lots of precautions were in place including hand sanitizer everywhere we went. We staying in an AirBnB in a wildlife estate- I think only about 3 houses of the 70 or so in the estate were occupied. Needless to say, we were socially distancing!
The estate was built right next to Ol Pejeta Wildlife Sanctuary. We were able to ride and run amongst zebra, warthogs, monkeys and antelope.
We had lunch at Mt. Kenya Safari Club (very very few other guests!). Maria had fun posing with one of the "ugly five"- a Marabou Stork.
Out on the lawn during our lunch.
Visiting their orphanage.
Best friends.
Mt. Kenya itself.
And then we were home for what looks like will be many months. The children began home learning on March 23 (the week before had actually been our spring break). Here is Maria doing yoga online.
Writing about our trip to Mt. Kenya....
Math!
Zoom chat with classmates!
Studying time.
This remains Gioia's favorite sleep spot. She has grown so big that doing the u-turn it requires to get into this position is getting harder and harder for her. Yet she persists!
Most mornings Maria asks to come with me to Karura (we are still allowed to walk our dogs).
So, yes, we spoil Bruno A LOT. He has always been a difficult dog to feed. Currently the only food he is willing to nibble at is spaghetti with meatballs. So every few days I whip up a huge bowl of it. At least I have plenty of time these days....
Gio's Zoom with best friends...
Gio and I have been trying out all sorts of new recipes. This was sushi night. Not too bad!
And suddenly I have to cook lunch. Yippee. Today George the hamster joined us.
We take dog walks every evening before the 7PM curfew with the children speeding around us on their bikes. Maria has mastered her bike and can now easily keep up with Gio.
Never been so grateful that we have a pool!
Opinion piece on why horses are THE BEST.
I suspect my April post will look a lot like this one....
