Hello, folks-
We enjoyed a visit from Annette’s sister Emily and our nephew Alex at the end of June. Alex hadn’t been overseas before, but we heard he held up great on the long plane ride to Africa. He spent his first night in Nairobi in the same bedroom as his three boy cousins, all under the age of 5. After that, he decided he’d be better off in another room; I guess this house is a little louder than others. It was the first time for both Emily and Alex to meet Christopher and Joy. Chris took a few minutes to warm up, but I think he was pleased to meet his aunt and cousin.
We spent their first weekend here on safari, when we went to Sweetwaters tented camp near Mt. Kenya. Emily and Alex seemed to enjoy the wildlife quite a bit – we saw lots of elephants, some hippos, and lots of giraffes, in addition to the usual suspects of zebras, gazelles, impala, etc. Alex did a fine job of driving us all over the reserve, sitting on my lap and handling the steering responsibilities.
During the week, they did some tourist activities, including the giraffe park and elephant orphanage. Alex stayed at school one day with Mark and Chris. We all went to Mark’s graduation from Melon class on the last day of school. Mark wore his gown and mortarboard well; there’s a photo on a different, broken computer that I’ll send along another time.
For Alex’s last weekend, we (the four boys, Clifford, and me) went camping at Lake Naivasha. We had a nice time, roasting some hot dogs and finding hippos on a boat ride. The boys went to sleep early since they were so excited about sleeping in the tent. Clifford did quite well, and I didn’t have to tie him up for the most part. He only tried to get away when we were on the boat ride, apparently with the idea of going for a swim with the hippos.
Mark, Christopher and Luke emulated everything Alex did during his visit, obviously looking up to him. I told Alex, “The boys think you walk on water.” Christopher overheard me saying that and aid, “Why you want to walk on water!? Your shoes will get all wet!”
I’m thinking I’ll make the ‘Kids Always Win,’ the title of a recent entry, a regular feature. A great man who will remain nameless but who I knew from a young age always said in sternest voice, when we were in trouble, “Do you think that’s funny?” I apparently say the same thing to my kids, because Chris recently misbehaved and I got irritated and said, in a stern voice, “Why did you spray water inside the house?” He immediately replied, “Because I thought it was funny but it was not.” It was only because he was staring at the floor with his lip out that he didn’t see me struggling not to burst out laughing while I left the room.
Hope you’re all well,
Mark & co.
