Chris First Birthday Party

Hello, again-

We had a road trip last weekend, going up to Maralal for the International Camel Derby. The event was a series of pro and amateur camel races, kids’ camel rides and games, and some cultural shows and displays. Maralal is in the Samburu area of Kenya. The Samburu wear colorful clothes and wide beaded collars (they’re called the “Butterfly People”) and have big holes in their earlobes. The boys seemed to enjoy the shows, especially the dancing. Annette got a kick out of walking by the bar and seeing a pile of Samburu people pile out with a bunch of Western backpackers. The boys enjoyed the seesaw – you’ll see the weight imbalance in the attached photo. There’s also a photo here of Luke riding his bike around while the handlers got the camels geared up for my race. The house we rented had a TV and a Mr. Bean video. The boys watched that and then talked about it for the rest of the week.

I entered the amateur camel race, paying for the privilege of renting a camel and handler for a 10K race into Maralal and back to the camel camp. I should have taken a hint when I first got on the camel and he walked over to lean on a cactus, refusing to budge. The handler eventually got the camel to the starting line (with me running behind them), and we took off pretty well. I was in third place approaching the finish line when the handler started to falter from fatigue. I told him to stop, but he insisted he was okay. A few minutes later, he collapsed in the road, which threw the camel into a panic. He finally let the rope loose, and the camel started bucking. I ended up getting tossed into an acacia tree, which has long thorns. After loading the handler into a police car to get some medical attention, I walked back to the finish line, where the boys helpfully asked, “Daddy, when everyone else crossed the finish line, they were riding their camels. You were walking. Why, Daddy?” Since that time, they’ve alternated between that question, and “Why did you fall off your camel, Daddy?” Annette has spent a good part of the last week digging thorns out of my leg.

We celebrated Christopher’s fourth birthday yesterday with a party at the house. This was Chris’ first ever birthday party, as they don’t celebrate birthdays at the orphanage. He was a little overwhelmed at first, but really got to enjoying the day, he says. On the way back from Maralal last Sunday, Annette asked Chris what kind of cake he wanted for his “Happy Birthday party.” Chris thought for a minute, then said, “Lightning McQueen!” A few minutes later, he said, “Rainbow!” Then “Rainbow and Lightning McQueen!” So, Annette did a masterful job on a cake with Lightning McQueen and a rainbow (photo here). Before bed, he was telling Annette the name of each friend who came to his party, really pleased to have had so many folks gathered to celebrate him.

Annette had an ultrasound on Friday afternoon, and everything is going well. The person doing the ultrasound gave Annette some pause when she looked and asked since we didn’t want to know the gender, did we want to know if it was one or two babies – medical humor, I guess. Mark, Jr and Chris were there, too. I think they enjoyed the chance to see their new brother or sister.

Enjoy the photos,
Mark