Bullets

I haven't updated much lately, so I thought I would write a little bullet list of all the interesting things I've been doing and thinking of... (For the reading pleasure of the 2 people who actually read my blog...)

* Swimming/trampoline jumping/running through the fields of the British High 'Permissioners' house.
* Reading for hours with Josh and Claire and Andrew
* Feeding Peter--and reading by myself for hours
* Doing 'fun projects' like: making zoo animals with shapes (tangrams); fences out of popcicle sticks; worksheets on all the letters of the alphabet; painting on the walls outside with water colored with food coloring and sponge brushes; etc. etc. etc.
* Going to Playgroups
* Wednesday outings: Going to the Zoo; to a fitness walk; and our favorite of last week, riding bikes around a giant parking lot by the Palais des Congres!
* Swimming at the embassy pool, then lunch with Dad
* Swinging in the front yard
* Puddle Jumping at the giant parking lot of the Palais des Congres
* Story time
* Shopping with dad at the Marche
* Dancing to Music
* Watching Scooby Doo
* Going on long walks almost every morning

These are just a few of our favorite things that we've done in the past little while.

I've been trying to take on more responsibility so that once I get to Finland, it won't be such a shock to my system to have to do it all again. :) It seems like I'm having a race to see how much I can do before my housekeeper can get to it! Ha! So, in the morning, I have the kids help me do laundry, make their beds, get dressed, make breakfast, do the dishes, clean the living room, pick up their toys, and go outside and play--all before 8 am! I feel like super mom every morning! Then, it seems like Pascaline and Meekness don't have as much to do. They sweep and mop the whole house every day--something that I wouldn't do. That's a big enough job as it is--who would want to seriously sweep and mop a 4,000+ sq ft tile floor every day? Not me! They also clean all 6 bathrooms every day--which is also something that I wouldn't do if left to my own devices. (I also wouldn't have 6 bathrooms if given a choice. Three is my happy number.) They also iron ALL the clothes. And I do mean ALL. Socks, underwear, t-shirts, towels, jeans, EVERYTHING!! I've had to tell them to start reading labels because there are seriously some things that you just don't iron. If it were me, I would only iron button up shirts and slacks. Although, at this point, I'm just letting it go since we really don't have that much time left. However, I have noticed that if you iron everything every day, it wears out MUCH faster. I must say, that anyone planning to come to Africa and have household help, just plan on replacing pretty much everything you own after being here for 2+ years. It is all seriously worn out! Crazy.

(We just experienced a funny, so I had to write it down. Devin and the kids are playing hide and go seek. Claire was it and turned into the corner to count. She closed her eyes, folded her arms and started: "Heavenly Father,...Oh! Wait! One, two, three..." Ha!!! At least I've taught them to pray with their eyes closed! :))

Kid's Eye View

We went on a long explore and I brought along the camera. I wanted to take pics of our walk from the point of view of the kids! :) So, I had them find 'super cool' things, and they got to take turns taking pictures by themselves! The rules were, however, that they couldn't take any pictures of houses, walls, gates, cars or people. So, here is what they found!


Josh:

A giant pile of dirt:


A post sticking out of the ground with rocks inside it:


A hole in the ground:


A Chicken:


The 'sidewalk' (for lack of a better explanation):


Big bin o' ripening bananas:


Drainage ditch:


Pile o' used water bottles:


A door in the wall (in Josh's words: I think it's a door for holding stuff inside it):


Claire:

Pile o' gravel:


Wheelbarrow with flowers:



Pile o' sticks:



Flowers (her obsession with all things pretty continues...):










Andrew:

Pile o' trash:


Old crusty bucket:



Weird Tree:



Me:

A cool planter thing:



The kids running up and down a big hill (Wheeeeee!):





Claire with a 'Poppie' Seed:



Peter!! :)

Kribi Beach

Yes, it's been almost 2 weeks since this beach trip, but it was so wonderful! I just couldn't let it go without posting some pics and fun facts about it! :)

We got there on Friday afternoon and enjoyed a quiet evening.



The kids and Dev all slept in this 'bed' (2 twin beds shoved together). Peter and I were in another room.



There was a small playground that the kids enjoyed:




Some fun in the waves (and other places...):


















(Yes, this last one is me waving from far away...I haven't actually swum in the ocean for such a long time! it was absolutely the most fabulously relaxing feeling ever!! :) I enjoyed every second of being in that huge warm body of water! The kids, however, felt differently! Especially the time that both Dev and I were swimming way out in the water and the kids all noticed and stood at the edge of the water screaming for us to come back--they were afraid we were being swept out to sea! Poor guys!!)


We had some face painting fun:







We ate lunch at a fresh-caught beach barbeque:










(Sea Bass, shrimp, plantains, and french fries...SO good!)

We ate continental breakfast...which included hot chocolate! The kids were SO excited about that. Although, I think Andrew was more excited about the sugar cubes. I don't know how many of those he ate!!





It was an absolutely wonderful trip! SO relaxing and fun for everyone! The kids were wonderful! They played happily, slept well, and enjoyed our time there. Thanks to Leonora for organizing that fun time out! It was SO fun going in a convoy on the way down, and having those crazy Americans zoom past...and those crazy Brits passing giant buses (yes, we did follow--I was seriously wondering if I wouldn't have a heart attack!) Super fun!!!! :)