Gigi and Babu returned to Kenya to spend Christmas with us, and we had a fantastic visit. Unfortunately, their trip began with flight delays and re-routing through Istanbul, and they arrived 12 hours and one flight later than expected. But the minute they saw the kids their smiles were restored.
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| Welcome snuggles |
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| Within mere minutes of their arrival, the kids had them working (reading) |
The first morning (Dec 11?), the kids and I gave my parents some time to shower and snooze. We headed to our friends' house in Loresho to make Christmas cookies for a few hours.
For the next few days in Nairobi, Cora was inseparable from Gigi (baking a banana bread below) and Silas was Babu's little helper.
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| Changing the batteries in Babu's watch |
We
visited Santa again at the Yaya Center mall.
And then we started preparing for our big trip to the coast for Christmas. We dropped Nimona at our friend Karen's house so she could play with her doggy friends while we traveled:
And had lunch and a tea tour at Kiambethu Tea Farm while we were up in Limuru:
Mom and Dad enjoyed some intercultural fun with us while we were still in Nairobi. One night, we went to a dinner party at the home of Cora's schoolmate Kai. His Indonesian grandmother was visiting from England and had cooked an Indonesian feast for a group of about 20 of us. It was incredible food and great company with folks from all over the world. The next day, Mom joined me for sari shopping with my friend Alessandra, who was attending an Indian wedding in the new year:
And then it was time for our coastal adventure. Nate was finally on vacation with us, and we departed from ILRI in Nairobi at 6am on Friday, Dec 22, in a rented van with our driver, DikDik.
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| We're off! |
We drove to Voi Wildlife Lodge at the edge of Tsavo East National Park in time for lunch and some wildlife.
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| Two HUGE dead scorpians |
Before our evening safari at Tsavo East, we enjoyed the pool:
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| Nice throw! Cora is flying |
Our evening safari at Tsavo East featured a family of striped mongoose carrying their young and a LOT of elephants.
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| Bongo |
The next morning, we did another short safari drive in the park before heading on the long drive to Watamu, our coastal home for the next four days. We stayed in an AirBnB condo right on Watamu Bay.
On Saturday, Nate and I went scuba diving for the first time since the kids were born, and Nate's first time since his certification dives.We dove twice along a shelf reef surrounded by schools of fish, and they were two of the best dives of my life. I can't wait to go back again.
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| Jimbo, our Dive Leader Emmanuel, me and Nate |
Christmas eve traditions:
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| Babu reads the Night Before Christmas |
Santa came:
On Christmas Day, after opening stocking and the few gifts we (and Santa) brought, we did a snorkel trip in the Marine Reserve.
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| Silas is yelling: Merry Christmas! We're on a boat! |
Gigi and Babu got a lot of snuggles on the trip:
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| Silas's new football |
Otherwise, you could find us on the beach:
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| Walking from our condo to the beach |
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| Our condo is the top floor here, Cora is barely visible |
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| Jimbo in front of our condo's beach access |
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| Playing Rage on the veranda |
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| Gelato |
On the 26th, we got a really cheap flight home. Boxing Day price, I guess. I tried to order a pizza to the airport while we waited for our flight, but the plane left 15 minutes early and my pizza was left behind for the security guards to enjoy.
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| At Wilson Airport in Nairobi |
Back at home, the kids opened the rest of their Christmas gifts that couldn't fit in our beach luggage. They were both really excited about the gifts from Papa and Nana Jensen:
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| Silas immediately named him Woof Woof |
And on the day we all went to the Elephant Orphanage, Silas finally agreed to try on Papa Jensen's old shirt:
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