I posted some pictures today. Hopefully, I'll figure out how to do a web album in the near future and put the link on this blog.
Thanks for reading! And thanks for any comments you have left or will leave! It was great hearing from our friends and family through this website while we were there.
Monday, January 5, 2009
January 2 - last day in Kenya
Busy day today for us. We all went to the Maasai market by about 9:30am. It's at the parking garage in the mall near Crums' house. MANY sellers with all sorts of Maasai items - scarves, baskets, carvings, jewelry, glassware, shoes, shirts, bags, etc. If you make eye contact with the seller or point to an item, the bartering will likely start then! Pat and I bought some wooden bowls, baskets, scarves, giraffe carvings and kikoys (wraps for skirts, etc.). Claire bought some jewelry, a picture frame, a giraffe shelf-sitter, and purse/bag. Kyle bought some wood and soapstone carvings, and a Maasai shield. You decide what you want from a certain seller, then they tell you their price. If it's high, you tell them what price you will pay. Then you barter until you are both happy with the price. Rachel helped us and Claire a couple times. Connie helped us know what a fair price for the baskets and bowls was. Josiah helped Kyle some, too.
Next Rachel, Claire, Connie and I went for manicures or pedicures in a salon at the mall. Claire, Connie, and I enjoyed the pampering of the pedicure. Rachel enjoyed a manicure. What a treat!
We all met in the food court and had lunch before going back to the house to finish packing and to get ready for the flight home.
We ate supper together at Java House, which is a place we have heard great things about for a couple of years from Crums. Yummy food, and nice outside dining. We all talked about what the highlight of the trip was for each of us, which we decided was the game drive on Saturday. They drove us to the airport and Connie gave us good instructions about all the steps we had to go through there. Lots of hugs for everyone came next, and some tears, too. We will miss our friends so much!
We went through security, etc. with no problems. The only glitch was that we had bought 4 liter bottles of water to take with us. We then found out that we were not all the way through security as we had thought, so we had to throw away the bottles! It was about $8 worth of drinking water! Yikes. Live and learn...
Our flight to London was uneventful - we were served a supper meal at 1am in the morning! Then we all slept some the rest of the flight. We had a 6 hour lay-over in London at Heathrow airport. We ate a traditional English breakfast there - eggs, bacon, sausage, baked beans, grilled mushrooms/tomato, toast and hash brown. Then we played a game of Euchre to kill some time. Our flight to Chicago was again uneventful. We were able to get the back to the van easily and then drove on home. We were pretty tired when we got back on Saturday evening, but we had felt the prayers of our friends and family! What a good feeling to be safely back in our own house after about 30 hours of traveling. Thank you, God, for our safety!
Next Rachel, Claire, Connie and I went for manicures or pedicures in a salon at the mall. Claire, Connie, and I enjoyed the pampering of the pedicure. Rachel enjoyed a manicure. What a treat!
We all met in the food court and had lunch before going back to the house to finish packing and to get ready for the flight home.
We ate supper together at Java House, which is a place we have heard great things about for a couple of years from Crums. Yummy food, and nice outside dining. We all talked about what the highlight of the trip was for each of us, which we decided was the game drive on Saturday. They drove us to the airport and Connie gave us good instructions about all the steps we had to go through there. Lots of hugs for everyone came next, and some tears, too. We will miss our friends so much!
We went through security, etc. with no problems. The only glitch was that we had bought 4 liter bottles of water to take with us. We then found out that we were not all the way through security as we had thought, so we had to throw away the bottles! It was about $8 worth of drinking water! Yikes. Live and learn...
Our flight to London was uneventful - we were served a supper meal at 1am in the morning! Then we all slept some the rest of the flight. We had a 6 hour lay-over in London at Heathrow airport. We ate a traditional English breakfast there - eggs, bacon, sausage, baked beans, grilled mushrooms/tomato, toast and hash brown. Then we played a game of Euchre to kill some time. Our flight to Chicago was again uneventful. We were able to get the back to the van easily and then drove on home. We were pretty tired when we got back on Saturday evening, but we had felt the prayers of our friends and family! What a good feeling to be safely back in our own house after about 30 hours of traveling. Thank you, God, for our safety!
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Happy New Year 2009
We heard some fireworks last night at midnight! Pretty fun to ring in the new year on a different continent. Jeff and Tammie Brown and their 3 kids, Emily (10), Elliott (8) and Edison (2) joined us at the Crums' house for supper and New Year's eve fun.
Yesterday, we went to a giraffe farm on the outskirts of Nairobi. What a thrill to feed them by hand (or mouth for Kyle and Pat!). We got to see a 2 week old baby giraffe also. Then we went to an elephant orphanage nearby. The first group we saw was about 6-7 little babies (just weeks old). SO cute! Then they were led away and another group of 6-7 came close. They were older and bigger (6-24 months or so), but very playful and funny to watch! They drank milk from big bottles which was a riot! One of them trumpeted really loudly - mad about something. We enjoyed watching them play in a mud puddle and climb around and kick a soccer ball, too.
We ate lunch at the Carnivore restaurant, which is one of Nairobi's 10 best restaurants, we were told. Big place, all decorated for a New Year's Eve event. There was a whole cow roasting on a spit inside the main seating area! HOT charcoal fires on 3 sides of it. Pat and I both had ostrich meatballs with our lunch. They didn't taste like chicken! haha Pretty tasty though.
Spending today (Thursday) hanging out at Crums' house and packing. Going to the Maasai market tomorrow morning. We went last week to check it all out. Rachel and Josiah are going with us tomorrow to help with the bartering. They are pros! Then we'll get cleaned up in the afternoon, eat supper at Java House and head to the airport. Our flight leaves at 11:30pm. We are scheduled to land in Chicago on Saturday afternoon at about 3pm.
Yesterday, we went to a giraffe farm on the outskirts of Nairobi. What a thrill to feed them by hand (or mouth for Kyle and Pat!). We got to see a 2 week old baby giraffe also. Then we went to an elephant orphanage nearby. The first group we saw was about 6-7 little babies (just weeks old). SO cute! Then they were led away and another group of 6-7 came close. They were older and bigger (6-24 months or so), but very playful and funny to watch! They drank milk from big bottles which was a riot! One of them trumpeted really loudly - mad about something. We enjoyed watching them play in a mud puddle and climb around and kick a soccer ball, too.
We ate lunch at the Carnivore restaurant, which is one of Nairobi's 10 best restaurants, we were told. Big place, all decorated for a New Year's Eve event. There was a whole cow roasting on a spit inside the main seating area! HOT charcoal fires on 3 sides of it. Pat and I both had ostrich meatballs with our lunch. They didn't taste like chicken! haha Pretty tasty though.
Spending today (Thursday) hanging out at Crums' house and packing. Going to the Maasai market tomorrow morning. We went last week to check it all out. Rachel and Josiah are going with us tomorrow to help with the bartering. They are pros! Then we'll get cleaned up in the afternoon, eat supper at Java House and head to the airport. Our flight leaves at 11:30pm. We are scheduled to land in Chicago on Saturday afternoon at about 3pm.
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