First

First day of first grade. The sun is in his eyes.

Samantha moved to Oregon with her mother much to the dismay of her grandparents who she has been living with. We miss having her in carpool and in Sean's class.

Jacob isn't in the Chinese program this year and seems much happier.

I was at the school on Thursday working on Tech Trek. Sean saw me in the hall, he was waiting to go to lunch. He said "please, have lunch with me." It was so sweet. I ate lunch with him and his friends. Before I know it he will be too cool to eat lunch with mom at school.

Khloe drinking her first juice box. She has become very adept at using a straw and was very proud of herself when she emptied the entire box. She promptly removed the straw turned the box upside down and shook it to see if there was anything left. She looks a lot like her dad did when he was one.

Oh the guilt

Sean spent the night with his sisters the weekend before school started. He was so excited! They went on a hike, they slept in a tent in the back yard, he had a great time. On the drive home he said "you stole me from Jennie." I said "tell me more." He said "I don't have anything else to tell." I told him how he came to live with us and that Jennie left him with us we didn't take him.  I explained that the judge said they couldn't live with Jennie because she made really bad choices and went to jail. It's hard to know how much detail to go in with a six year old. Jennie and Ryan had so many chances to get their act together but they didn't do it. I felt bad because I know Sean was repeating what Kylie said and Kylie was repeating what Jennie said. When I talked to Lanette she said Kylie is having a really tough time and tells her all the time that "you stole me from my mother." One more reason why the kids seeing Jennie is not good for their mental health. Jennie is pregnant with twins. She is posting on Facebook how excited she is. Crazy, poor replacement babies! Maybe she will do better with babies six and seven then she did with the first five. 

The guilt came with the second part of our conversation. Sean asked (again) why I didn't adopt Kylie and Brie and talked about how much fun it would be if they all lived together. I told him it would be fun but his dad and I just didn't feel like we could take care of all three of them. He said "yes you could have." It's hard to explain that taking on three kids was just not something we chose to do. We loved all three of them but just couldn't adopt all three of them. It's easy to travel and take care of one child but three would have totally changed our lives. A change we weren't willing to make. I don't know that Sean and the girls will ever understand.

Summer

Ryder and his sister and little brother met up for a swim party. Sean and Ryder had a good time. Sean wanted to know how he was related to Holland and Eli. I had to explain that he isn't related to them but Ryder is. Very confusing.

Sean and I met up with Alika at Craft Lake City. Alika is helping Sean make a LCD necklace.

Khloe follows Sean around like a little puppy. It's very cute. Yesterday Sean was in the bathroom and Khloe was banging on the door yelling. Sean was yelling at her to quit yelling, cracked me up.

This is Khloe after a couple hours of chasing Sean around and wrecking my house. She is a fun toddler.

Lego Mania

Sean has been building Lego creations by watching You Tube videos.

Toad is one of my favorites.

Khloe came to assist. She's really funny with Lego's. She doesn't put them in her mouth but she will pick up the really tiny ones and hand them to me.

Khloe, the master Lego maker's first assistant.

She would also pick up Lego's and throw them lie confetti.

87th birthday

 On August 7th Mom turned 87. We went to Red Lobster for dinner. I had a massage therapist give her a massage. She loved the massage and had a second one the next week. She said the first one made her feel great and took her pain away but the second one made her knee hurt. She has lots of aches and pains. I think she had a TIA yesterday when Peter took her to the podiatrist. She felt a little better today but it wasn't a great day for her.

 Khloe grew into the kimono we bought in China. She was holding her hands out for her daddy to pick her up. She said gamma today for the first time. She is so dang cute.

 Light up blinking candles that mom's cousin Jean sent her. She let the kids blow out the candles.

That's a fabulous vacation wrap!

  We  left a stack of Sean's clothes at the lodge. Lots of villagers working at the lodge so hopefully they found a good home.

Final group picture in front of our van. Daniel was feeling sick.

Rafael trying to cheer Daniel up. About two hours into our six hour drive back to the city Daniel was crying that his stomach hurt. His mom said he had only thrown up once in his life when he was two. The longer we drove the more intense his crying. I had some pepto in the back of the van. I knew it was only a matter of time before he threw up I told "Rafael, pull over Daniels sick." He had that van pulled over and Daniel out fast! I'm sure he's dealt with sick passengers before. I was digging for the pepto and found it about the time he got sick. He was still crying. His mom was getting stressed. Sick kid, middle of Africa, we didn't have a lot of options. She had some lortab in her purse and I suggested she give him half of one. Not usually my first thought for a sick kid but he was howling in pain. With limited options it seemed like the best. He went to sleep about a half an hour later. We got back to the hotel in Nairobi where we had the use of a hotel room for the afternoon. It was great. We took a little walk to the city, had lunch, went swimming, took a shower. It was great. Mariana said Daniel slept in their room the entire time. We had lunch at the hotel, not great. Around six we left for dinner at a place called "Carnivore."

Not a fan! Gristly food. There was a cat under our table eating a lizard.  Cats were roaming free throughout the restaurant. Daniel and his mom are vegetarians so definitely not a great experience for them. They sat on the patio away from all the meat. As we were getting ready to leave Daniel felt sick again. He was trying to run to the bathroom and an employee blocked his way and told him he had to go around. Daniel barfed everywhere. I thought it served them right for not letting him go to the bathroom. Mariana was mortified. I told her not to give it a second thought as she was never going to see these people again. A couple of men in suits put a chair over the barf and the four of them stood around trying to figure out what to do. I was laughing as we left.

Poor Daniel was miserable all the way to Brussels. The drive to the airport was awful, traffic was stopped. I don't know how people drive in Nairobi. No stop lights, or stop signs they just pull out in front of each other. It took us forever to get to the airport. I was pretty sure we would miss our flight. It took forever to get through customs. Fortunately our plane was delayed two hours so we made it. I was not impressed with the Nairobi airport. They wouldn't let us take our carry on. They made us check it which ended up being OK because we didn't have to carry it around but it was annoying. Daniel was sick and they kept asking "what's wrong with that boy." I was worried they wouldn't let him on the plane. I don't know if they thought he had Ebola or what. I said "it's midnight he's TIRED!" They stuck us in a pre boarding room with no bathrooms and made us wait over an hour without any information. When we finally started boarding they yelled at Mariana for not boarding first with a kid. Good grief. We all slept until Brussels. It seemed like a fast flight because we were all out!

When we arrived in Brussels Daniel was magically cured. The Brussels airport experience was much better than on the way to Nairobi. The shuttles were running back to back. There was an agent outside the plane when we disembarked telling us the terminal and gate we needed to go to. The flight from Brussels to NYC was kind of a drag we had psycho woman in front of us. Don was sure the woman sitting next to him was masturbating. The worst flight of all was NYC to SLC. We were on a Delta plane and the seats were so close my knees were aching. We were so happy to get home to our own beds.

All in all it was a great trip no major travel problems.

In case you were wondering, this is what jet lag looks like.

Masai Village

I'm not even sure where to start with the Masai Village. Before we went I read a couple of reviews where people said the village was staged (they had tables set up in the back where they sold souvenirs).. There were people who said the people at the village didn't even live in the village but came in to put on a show for tourist. I don't know if that is true or not. Rafael said they were real and didn't get notified in advance of when tourist were arriving. The Masai said that they "made" the items they sold and I knew that wasn't true because I had seen the same stuff at every roadside shot. Rafael said that was true they didn't make it. I bought the overpriced stuff without dickering and hope they use the money for immunizations and clean water! I've never been much of one for haggling with poor people. Some Americans feel like they are getting ripped off. I feel like I am donating to the local economy.

  What I do know as fact is that we passed dozens of Masai Villages during our drives. They were all similar to the one we visited though most had an inner ring of branches inside the village. The one we visited did not. The ring of branches inside the village would keep the kids from playing in cow poop. Otherwise they looked the same from the road. I know that the people in the village were real people sitting on the dirt, surrounded by cow poop and they were covered in flies. The kids were real kids kicking a plastic bottle around in the dirt. As we left the village we saw women carrying water and fire wood back to the village. We saw people lugging water by hand or mule cart all over the country. In my opinion it was an incredible opportunity to glimpse the inside of a world most people in the U.S. only read about. If I were ever to return to Africa I would want to visit more villages and perhaps spend a night at one. Roshan who was in our group talked to a couple who had camped at a Masai village. They left when one of the Masai children was bored by a wildebeest and had to go to a hospital. The campers had cooks and clean water so they weren't eating native. I think it would be interesting and I don't like to camp, it would be an educational camping experience.

We were greeted by villagers in traditional dress. This is where I can see the potential for staging as I don't know that men are sitting around in their villages in traditional dress. Then again I didn't see the men doing any work so maybe they don't have anything else to do but sit around looking like peacocks. I saw a lot sheep herders wearing traditional clothes, just not quite as fancy. Truth or partly fiction I was blow away by what I saw. It was like walking into a page in the National Geographic. My most memorable part of the trip. I wanted to talk to the midwife, see the school, ask about immunizations and medical treatment, mortality rate in pregnancy. I had so many questions.

Traditionally Masai are nomads moving every ten years. Because a school was built for their children they now move within a 10 kilometer radius. The houses last for ten years so when they rebuild they move to another site with new grazing area.

The Masai only eat meat and drink milk (with blood in it). They don't grow or eat plants. Daniel an 8 year old vegetarian in our group asked what happened to vegetarian Masai.The Masai just looked at him, not understanding what he was asking. So funny, they die Daniel. I wondered how the villagers not suffering from scurvy. I read that there are lots of people through out history (including multiple tribes in Africa and Eskimos) who eat strictly meat diets. The way their bodies utilize foods and vitamins is different than people who eat vegetables and they stay healthy. It was interesting to watch Sean at the village. I can't fathom what I would have thought if I had gone somewhere like that when I was six. Sean did really well. The little boy in the picture had flies all over his face. When he was Sean he ran up to him so excited and grabbed his hand. I could tell Sean was freaked out but he shook his hand. Later Sean said "the boy with the bubbles all over his face kind of scared me." I told him how proud I was that he shook the little boys hand. He couldn't process that many flies and interpreted them as "bubbles." 

The kids were so friendly. Then again I found everyone I met everywhere we went to be exceptionally friendly. I asked this group if I could take their picture so they were posing for me. There was a baby that ran behind them. She was camera shy.

The Masai make their homes out of cow poop. The huts are formed in a circle and there are branches outside the circle to keep wild animals from wandering into the living area. They keep their cows inside the circle at night to protect the cows from animals. There is cow poop everywhere. People are sitting in it, kids are walking in it. I kept thinking these children must had incredible immune systems. There is so much bacteria in poop and they live in poop houses. There is no running water, no plumbing, no electricity. They bathe in the river, poop near the river and the river is where they get their drinking water. We are so spoiled in the states. Don was carrying Sean's Nintendo and one of the villagers asked Don about it. Don told him the kids played games on it. The villager said "the children would lose all the sheep if they had that."

Note all the cow poop behind this little girl.

The women make the houses, gather the wood for fire, collect the water, cook, clean and tend the children. I'm not totally sure what the men do. I only saw men herding so that must be what they do. The Masai used to have the huge gauged ear lobes and the older one still do. The chief's son said younger Masai aren't gauging anymore because it interferes with sports and they don't like it. Now our teenagers in the state are gauging their ears.  Tribe members are identified by their teeth. When children get permanent teeth they pull out one of the front bottom teeth leaving Masai with a distinguishable gap between their teeth. The chief's son said the tooth pulling tradition began about 250 years ago as a treatment for tetanus. Sounds like a great way to get tetanus!

This is a kitchen. They have little solar boxes on the roof (it's the little yellow box you see in the picture above this one) so they can power a light at night. "The Americans gave them to us. We like Americans" the chief's son said.  The roofs are low and the homes are claustrophobic. At least that's how it feels to someone who lives in a big house with three levels and high ceilings. They keep the fire burning to keep mosquitoes away. I wondered how the people sleeping in the huts didn't die of carbon monoxide poisoning. They have a tiny little hole in the wall near the "stove" to vent. Doesn't seem adequate to me but these tribes have survived for thousands of years.

Beside the kitchen is a room where the children sleep on animal skins. The parents have another room and then they have a "spare" room for guest and cows. They keep the calf's inside the house so they don't drink all their mother's milk. Masai are big milk drinkers. Instead of Hershey's syrup they mix cow blood in their milk. They don't kill the cow for blood they  use a blunt dart to poke the cow and collect blood.

The men were showing us how they make fire. It was comical because they couldn't get a spark. Lot's of smoke but no flame. It became a matter of pride. They were blaming each other for getting the wrong kind of wood. Eventually they made fire but mostly they made us laugh.

The little girl looking at Sean is named Susan. She is the chief's granddaughter. The chief's son only had one wife and four children. He said the first wife is an arranged marriage and the second wife is for love. He said he is also a doctor. I'm not sure a doctor of what. He was very young. They have a midwife in the village who takes care of the women. There are about 350 people living in the village. We only saw about 30. The school was just up the hill from the village and he said it was the children's last day of school for the year. They said they don't count their cows because it's bad luck and if they do cows will die.

When I packed Sean's clothes for the trip I packed clothes with the intent of leaving them at the hotel with a note. When we left the village I told Sean we were going to leave his clothes in Africa. He was really excited about giving his clothes to the children in the village. If I had known what the village was going to be like I would have taken clothes with us and Sean would have had the opportunity to hand them to the children. Sean wished he'd had some of his toys to give away too. I will try to make that a part of future vacations if the socioeconomic climate of the country make  it plausible. Then again that's plausible in our own country.

Going on Safari

Oh Hogle Zoo however will I visit you again? I have been spoiled: Tigers, zebra's, cheetahs, hippos, monkeys, baboons, gazelle, wildebeest, ostrich, leopards, elephant, giraffes.... There were zebra's and wildebeest for as far as the eye could see. We saw so many giraffe that people quit saying "hey look there's a giraffe."

Daniel and Sean in look out position ready to snap a picture.

Zebra crossing. Everywhere was a zebra crossing. Out guide Rafael said in another month there won't be a zebra or wildebeest anywhere in the reserve. They will have all moved on.

It was so nice to have another kid in the group for Sean to share the experience with.

Wildebeest

There's a cheetah in the tree.

Pride rock. OK, not really but that's what I thought of.  Nala just resting in the sun.

This was our van for the entire trip. It is the only vehicle we road in.

There were lots of ostrich running around. Don was pointing at ostrich way far away. He turned around and handed me the binoculars and asked if I wanted to see and ostrich. I said "like that one that's crossing the road right behind us?" Don looked at the one right next to us and said "yep, just like that one."

Watching giraffe saunter across the savanna was breath taking. They are so graceful. At the zoo they are so caged in that you don't observe their grace.

Such a pretty kitty. I wanted to pet her. I told Rafael I had to go to the bathroom and asked if I could get out of the van while everyone watched the lion. He said I could get out and they would see if who was faster me or the lion. We did see a male lion with one of his women. I'll be doggone if I can find the picture.

We watched this momma and her cubs for awhile.

A leopard.

We only saw one elephant in the wild. Rafael said the elephants don't like all the zebra's and wildebeest.

Baby baboons hanging on a danger sign.

There were baboons sitting along the roads. There would be baboon families lined up along the dirt road. 

Here's our crew as seen by the other half of our tour group. There were a total of 11 people in our group. Most the time we felt like there was only the six of us because we were in two different vans. We met up at rest stops and when we got back to the lodges and hotels all the kids played but when we were on the road we were apart.

Photo of the day was this lioness eating a wildebeest. Awesome. Well not awesome for the wildebeest but awesome site to see.