August update

We had open house on Saturday, August 25th; here are some pictures from Jaden’s kindergarten experience.

The Elementary School Library

Jaden and her teacher, Mrs. Burr

The wildlife has continued to be fun in Kenya. Here are some pictures from the animal orphanage. Baby Elephant (which we were able to touch).

Wart Hogs (which we did not attempt to touchJ

Here is a super-sized slug on the edge of the pavement by our house. You can see the proportion with the girls hands, it was huge!

Down town Nairobi storks live in the trees. When they land on a branch, they are so huge that the branch moves a few feet, it is quite a sight!

We have had a great time with the chameleons! They are so much fun. I found a dead one and that was pretty exciting, but right after that, Matthew found one in the hedges. Here is Jaden with it on her shoulder.

One day one of the helpers at the language school caught three while we were picking up Jaden from school. We came home and Katriel ran out. “There are lizards in the bathroom!” This wouldn’t have surprised me, as there are always bugs and interesting stuff in the bathrooms. We opened the door and found the three chameleons. We played with them for about an hour, here are some of the highlights.



There is a place called City Park where there are monkeys (and no other white people). If you think that ducks and geese are pests, you have not seen anything yet! While we were walking holding a bag with our lunch, one jumped from a tree slicing the plastic bag and stole an apple! Then as we sat to eat, they swarmed us. Matthew and John (one of our Kenyan friends) protected Lisa and the girls as they sat on the bench. Jaden was more than happy to attempt to feed the monkeys.

Then as we were eating, they started to climb up Matthew sitting on his shoulder. They liked to sit up there and “share” his orange with him. When it was time to go and they were done with the orange, Matthew waited for the monkey to get down and he didn’t, so he just started to walk. We walked almost to the exit of the park which was quite a distance (as you can imagine, the Kenyans thought this was hysterical—a white person walking about with a monkey) and finally the monkey, on his own terms came down. It was great fun!

I just thought you would enjoy a few scenery pictures. Here is our school room with our roommate Suzanne.

This is a picture of Limuru, the closest medium sized town (large for here) to us. Notice the hardware store, this is no Lowes!

If you think traffic gets bad where you are, it is much more fun when you share the road with all kinds of things, pedestrians, donkeys and this lovely human carried trailer. Notice the writing on it, apparently it is a Toyota and one should never give up! Of course, safety first in Kenya and it does have reflector lights and a spare tire.

This picture is mostly for Lisa’s dad, but any contractor would appreciate the beauty of this picture. Look at the great scaffolding that is around the building. It is branches tied together with twine. Again, in Kenya, safety first!

How you take a bath in Kenya.

Jaden at school.

Our house at language school.

Another view of our home in Tigoni.

Jaden's first lizard.

Nazarene Boarding

This is where we are staying prior to leaving for language school. The girls are loving the playground and the other kids to play with too. They are getting along great with the Kearby's girls too (they are 6 & 8). I will try to post pics of the tomorrow when they are here. Jaden is being tested on Monday and I go to the doctor to establish care (CT scan is due in September).

London Bridge...

is not falling down, nor is this it. This is the tower bridge which is often mistaken for it!

Westminster - Beautiful from the London Eye!