Family Gathering

Late Saturday night my parents, two sisters and one niece arrived at our house. I was ecstatic to have family here both to show them around and to have contact with "home". While I anticipated they would be exhausted and would want to drop right off to sleep I surprised to find them with more energy than me. We sat up and talked for a while and then excused ourselves to sleep. The next morning we discussed Internet connections and fluxes in power (or the lack of power).

In an attempt to keep everyone awake we forced them to walk the mile (give or take) to church. This was only the beginning of our whirlwind week. I watched as my family members began to fade toward the end of the church service and was feeling drowsy myself. Brian excused himself from the service early to walk home and get the car. We ate lunch, took a very brief rest and spent a couple hours haggling at the Maasai Market. I think overall we came out with some pretty good deals, when I didn't interfere.



*These pictures belong to my dad*


The next day Hellen, the gal who helps us, came over with her son Frank. It was an opportunity for her to meet my family and vis a versa. After a short visit we all piled into the car and headed downtown for the city market and more shopping. When wrapped up there Brian and I decided to take everyone out for Ethiopian food. Almost everyone enjoyed themselves and the food. I learned a lot about my younger sister this trip and during that particular meal. After returning home the kids had swim lessons and Brian, Dad and Katie took a billboard tour with a guy from one of the local companies.

Tuesday we packed up and headed out for Amboseli Game Park. Once we arrived we unloaded and settled into our rooms. We then had a quick meal and got back into the rigs in preparation for our first of four game drives. The first two or so we saw mainly elephants with a smattering of gazelles and wildebeest. We saw several sleeping hyenas, a couple of jackals, ostrich and finally we saw lions. It wasn't until we left the park that we saw giraffe. We also spotted two mongoose. Over all I think we all enjoyed the drives and were ready to head home when the time came on Thursday.

**The first six photos in this series and the photos in the first half of this post belong to my mom. I took the last twelve**

Friday we mostly hung out. Actually I have a hard time recalling all that happened that day and what was the next day. Katie departed late Friday night so for her "goodbye" dinner we took the family to Carnivore. Back in the day the restaurant used to serve exotic game meat (think zebra, crocodile etc). Now they are not allowed to serve game meat and so are limited to beef, chicken, goat and ostrich. Never the less the meal was enjoyed by all. Next we got to drive Katie to the airport.

Saturday we did a little last minute shopping and spent time packing suitcases. It felt as if my family had just arrived and now I was saying goodbye, though not forever. We kindly requested our departing family to carry and extra suitcase packed with things we had already gathered and some clothes we wouldn't need over the next five weeks. Stacy, Brian and I took a trip into the second hand market and after a quick pizza dinner my family and Brian loaded into the car and headed to the airport. I was sad, as were the kids but also took comfort in knowing we would see them all soon.

It was a huge blessing to have my family here for a short time. All of them seemed fairly comfortable in this environment and also handled the fluctuations in power and down pouring of rain very well. After their departure the rain stayed on for several days.

I am so blessed by my family and by all of you. I thank you all for being a part of our lives. As I write this we have a month left before we head back to the states. I believe we are all ready. I look forward to greeting those of you that live near.