The clear highlight of this month was the arrival of Gio's belated surprise birthday gift- Winston! So the vast majority of this post (and the last 4 weeks!) is devoted to him....
The arrival!
First trip to the vet for vaccines.
Passed out halfway through the exam.
Gio's bubble buddies spent the night to help with the middle of the night visits to the garden.
Zoom call with one of her camp directors to ask questions about this summer. Maria had written out 3 pages of things she wanted to discuss!
Imitating his big brother.
Family walk.
Trouble brewing. No one messes with Jagger's beloved tennis balls!
Walks are hard. Winston lasts about 5 minutes...
...yet it only takes him 2 minutes to polish off his meals!
It took 2 weeks but eventually Gioia accepted Winston.
Gio with his childhood stuffies and now his real one.
Playtime!
How Winston prefers to take walks.
Photos from his puppy class....
Going back for some more jabs at the vet.
This turned out to be the last morning the children waited for the bus. Sad times. Bonus if you can spot Jagger & Ragu.
Since most of us got locked down in Nairobi for spring break Maria and her buddy Alessia spent quite a few sleepovers together.
I promise (slightly) fewer dog pictures in April. Sadly we learned at the end of this month that Kenya was shutting down schools and locking down Nairobi. Our planned trip to the Coast was canceled and we enjoyed instead the Easter break at home. School will begin online once again April 6th....
February brought vaccination for my parents in Washington DC and Maria's half-birthday party.
Both of my parents getting their second shot of the Pfizer vaccine. Grateful to Mom's doctors at Lombardi Cancer Center for making this happen easily and early for them both.
Proof cats are jerks. 13-year-old Ragu shut out of his bed.
Maria's half-birthday party (she did not have a party in August) begain with spin the bottle to open presents (their invention- I just came upon this scene).
Foamy slide fun!
Maria's cake request- her pony Cherry and Jagger....
Cake time!
Art project.
When parents came to pick up their girls Gioia was excited to show off her excellent manners...
Enjoying their last few days of being a gang of 3. Of course, they have no idea what is coming soon...
Arriving March 5th! Stay tuned....
If you watch closely you can see our puppy on the right of this video eating grass and then on his back playing with one of his siblings. He has black-rimmed eyes.
Evie's birthday party at the stables.
Tune in next month for the debut of Gio's surprise puppy!
The big excitement of January was that the children went back to in-person school!
First our travel from snowy Italy to sunny Kenya...
One week of virtual school and then time to go back to campus after 10 months!
I do not know who was happier to see this bus- the kids or me!
The dogs missed the kids being at school all day but they were happy that they could now spend longer mornings at Karura Forest.
Reuniting with her best friend.
Wednesdays are half days at our school. Gio gets together with his gang while Maria attends a gymnastics class in a friend's garden and then they head to the stables for riding.
Spirit Week at school meant some creative outfits (and, yes, Gio has a broken bone in his wrist from a bike accident)...
Jagger destroys a palm leaf while best friend Gioia keeps his beloved tennis ball safe.
Weekend time with Amelie.
Our attempt at a family photo for International Day.
The obsession continues... 4 times a week!
Our biggest and our tiniest.
January 20th- such a happy day for us!
All business on top, party down below....
Our very well-trained dog....
...every dinnertime!
Maria started some swim training on Saturdays.
And that is about it for January. We are enjoying being back in a school routine. February will bring Maria's half-birthday party and this very exciting surprise for Gio (late Feb/early March)...