Jinja

We're back. Tired, happy and a little bit sunburned. It was a good time away, if you overlook minor details like the hotel not having recorded our reservation. Ahem. And not having a bungalow big enough for our family. And Larissa being made to sleep in a crib because of said oversight. Oh well. We overlooked it and had a good time. :)

This is a tea plantation that we drove by on the way to Jinja. It was beautiful.

When we got to our hotel, we parked under a tree and right away I heard birds. We got out and looked and the tree was FULL of birds and nests. I've never seen anything like it. They were Little Weavers, and they were building nests and making a huge commotion while they were at it. It was amazing. There were hundreds of birds and hundreds of nests.

We ate lunch almost right away after we got there, and while we were waiting for our food, the girls played "Mother May I."

The cute little "Mother" who likes being in charge.

We swam for awhile after lunch and then we went for a boat ride. The hotel was on Lake Victoria, but very near the beginning of the Nile. The hotel had boats for hire, so we found another couple there who also wanted to go and we all went together. Unfortunately, our camera isn't really good enough to take pictures in a situation like this, but we went onto the river and for one hour we just went up and down the shoreline. We saw about 12 different kinds of birds, monkeys and 2 monitor lizards. It was all just so fun and so amazing.

This morning after breakfast, the girls swam again before we had to check out. You can imagine that a pool like this was a big hit. :) They are getting very comfortable in the water now, and like to try new tricks all the time.

When we left the hotel we drove over the dam (hydroelectric dam in the Nile) and went to find the Bujagali Falls. The photo above is the dam, and the photo below is the lower side of the river.

Here we are at the Bujagali Falls.

In this photo you can see the rafts and kayaks getting ready to go over the falls. It looked like so much fun, and the girls begged to go. Someday. That's the sort of thing that makes me look forward to having teenagers. :)

We stopped at a little cafe called the DeNile Cafe. :) We ate fish and chips and couldn't resist the passionfruit cake and ice-cream. It was delicious! I think I might have to figure that recipe out now. I saw this tree as we were walking to the cafe, and thought it would make a good picture.

Larissa was so tired on the way home, and convinced her Daddy to stop the car (proof that he's wrapped around her finger...) and get her blanket out of the suitcase. :) She was asleep soon after this was taken.

We stopped for groceries on the way home, then came the unpacking/sorting/cleaning up that comes after a weekend away. Now the girls are bathed and in bed, and we are relaxing. :)

Bowling and other stuff

Listening to stories on the mp3 player.

My girly-girls.

Caitlyn (she got a few spares and a strike with that thing!)

Aimee (I think she got a spare or two as well)

Sierra (she also got a few spares)

Larissa (she got two spares...she is aiming the ramp in this photo and she had a pretty good eye for it.) Unfortunately this is the best photo we have of her, and I had to crop my head off because I clearly didn't know that anyone was taking my picture at the time. :)

Cooking lessons

While we were in Ohio at Vicki's house, I bought some Usborne things from her (she is a good salesperson, but I am also a sucker for Usborne's wonderful books and things!). One thing that I got is this recipe card set. For the last few weeks, the girls and I have been having cooking lessons on Saturday afternoons, using that set as well as this one. This past Saturday we made Bread Rolls and Spicy Bean Soup, both from the healthy recipes set. The three youngest did most of the work for the rolls, and Caitlyn worked on the soup. At this point, I'm still helping a fair bit. It's fun to see them learning techniques for cooking and I know it won't be long till I'm not needed!

Carnaval

Last Friday was the fete de Carnaval at the girls' school. This was Larissa's first fete where she really knew what to do. Unfortunately, we didn't get the memo about the change to the starting time, so we only saw her last song. :(

This is the best picture I could get of L. She didn't love it, but she did sing nicely. :)

Aimee and Sierra were a bit confused about what they were supposed to be dressed as. Aimee told me she was a rabbit, so she dressed in white/khaki clothes and we made a fabric puff for a tail. (Sorry, no photo of the tail...) Sierra was sure that she was supposed to be a cat, and since we couldn't think of a quick way to make a cat costume, she decided to be a princess cat. When we got to school, I sure couldn't tell the difference between the rabbit mask and the cat mask. I think the cat had a lot of teeth showing under her long ears. :) The picture below is the girls saying a part of a poem that their class recited.

Picture this:

I have the 'pick-up at school' end of carpooling, so I thought I would document it. This is the road we walk on from the school to the truck. And, yes, this is posed. :) Normally they are in 4 completely different places.

Sierra (and Aimee, too, for that matter) is taking off with reading. She's so cute when she's reading since she wants to be sure we all know that she's really reading it. I guess she means she isn't guessing or remembering what she heard before.

Larissa really loves Judah. Could you tell? :)

My yellow rose bush. What more can I say about that? I like it.

We missed the first bananas from our trees while we were in Canada. Now the second batch has been cut, and they are ripening in a box in the garage. I foresee a lot of banana bread when these all ripen at the same time. :) Actually, I'll probably give a lot away unless they ripen in stages.

Does anyone know what this is? Matthew took this photo on a trip the other week, and he had to tell me what it was. I would never have recognized it.

a little of this, a little of that

Larissa's first day back to school. She is totally loving it so far, and it's making her sleep really well at night. :)

Aimee and Sierra's first day back to school. They also had a great time. (Notice the wall behind them? That's my newly painted entry/hallway/stairway colour. I like it, except for the places where it didn't stick. :( )

Sierra's lip and eyes were swollen when she got up this morning. :( I gave her some Benedryl and she laid around for awhile and it's going down now. She doesn't seem to be feeling sick, so I think it was just the Benedryl making her lazy. :)

Aimee lost her first two teeth today! She's been waiting and waiting, so this is quite a monumental day. :)

Today Larissa was at school, and the rest of us got quite a lot of schoolwork done. So when some friends called to say they were going to the pool for lunch and a swim, it didn't take too much to convince me that we should go. :) Caitlyn only got out of the water to eat her lunch and to climb to the top of the slide. :)

I had such a great day with the kids today. I don't know what all was different, but I would love if the majority of our days were so happy! Even Sierra's lip didn't get us down today. We just had a good day of learning and playing together. I guess I will thank God for it and pray for more like it! :)

Petting Zoo

October photos

Larissa made friends with Great-Uncle Sam. There is no predicting when she will or won't make friends with people. :)

It was wonderful to reconnect with my cousin Eric and get to know his wife, Michelle. They were wonderful hosts and took us to a museum in Cleveland one day.

Happy 6th birthday Sierra and Aimee! (The tent was part of A's gift.)

We were at Larry and Kendra's house on A and S's birthday and Kendra very kindly got a cake and presents for the girls! They loved it. They also loved letting Kendra's girls give them "makeovers" after supper. :)

Kendra and Larry - one of the most fun parts of this trip is connecting with friends from our past. :)

Photos, again.

Caitlyn and Caitlyn, second cousins and both 7 1/2 years old. :) Hopefully friends for a long time!

Connie and Michael...what wonderful hosts and wonderful people. It was great to catch up again!

A table full of Slaubaughs. :) So fun to be with family...

Leonard taking Larissa for a ride, Sierra walking beside.

The rest of these pictures are from our trip to an Amish farm to have buggy rides. Twila loaned the girls hats and/or boots and they loved it! We all got to have a buggy ride (with a real Amish guy driving it...if that makes it better - ha.) and then look at all their hundreds of goats. It was fun to see the girls taking it all in since they've rarely been on a farm, never mind an Amish one!

WHAT is up with Blogger not letting me organize my pictures like I want to??? It makes me cranky...