Getting Over Covid

 The girls, Julia and Michael are all testing negative for Covid now. That is a blessing. I don't even dare test yet as I am still coughing and my ears are still filled with liquid. Jeffrey has had extreme fatigue  and coughing also, though he is walking long walks and putting his office into an organized fashion.

I go on walks with the children every day to 1. let their mom do her homework 2. Get them out in the sunshine to run and play 3. To build up my reserves again. I have to tell people  (two) I can't chat or breathe on them, but most people are not out in the mornings. It has been really wonderful to get to know and be with the grands again.

Makynlee climbing to the "top of the trees"

Isla enjoys a book with Opa

Julia reading to the girls in their "dress ups"

Isla's happy place at the park

Two girls who found the perfect rock

A lot has happened in Two Years

 Coming back from Lake Tahoe leaving the rest of the family - some to stay, some to come home - we enjoyed Isla's birthday on Thursday. She was excited to have a birthday but didn't really understand what it entailed or was about. Like her sister, she can figure out things fairly fast.

What are you talking about? Blow?

Listening to advise from her sister

There is a candle with a flame.

The songs and the best wishes brought out the smile

She needed help to blow out the candle though she did start blowing. Her only interest was in the purple roses. She went for that first thing. Her sister was mainly interested in the frosting also, but she used hers for dot art.

Yes, the frosting is good, but....

the art and texture play is better

Purple Frosting is the best

Two years ago, Isla was born in Kentucky. Shortly after her birthday the whole family moved to California. Michael changed jobs, Julia was able to be closer to her family and they both took care of our home while we went on a mission to Africa. Michael had a job at Tesla, stopped then began a certification in coding. He finished and then got a job as a Staff Web designer (I think that is the title). When we left Isla was just beginning to roll over and crawl. Today she is running, dancing, talking and blowing out the candle. (And getting over Covid) She is actually a baby born during Covid, raised during Covid, and got Covid when she was two. She doesn't really know anything about large social meetings. She is very good at family interactions and is the sweetest mild mannered baby.

Then it was time to leave this wonderful place

 

Maasai village from the air - just outside the border of the Reserve

And then we are back to Nairobi, back to civilization, back to this little airport and on to another to go Accra, take a week or two to pack up for real and go back to California. What a ride!

Lion Pride

 On our way back from looking for Rhinos and cheetah's which we didn't see, we ran into a pride of lions sleeping in the shade. Joah said they were sated and full, but we didn't see what they had eaten. There didn't seem to be any cubs either.

Migration Path - though not today

Mara River 

This is the bend in the river in the middle of the migration route that will happen in another month or so.

Looks calm and mild today

Waiting crocs

Standing alert

Grass that will soon be gone when the migration comes

We were warned not to stay or move on any hippo trails like this one

I keep wondering what is just below us that we cannot see

Since he is across the river, his size must be enormous

 Not finding any white rhinos or cheetahs, Joab took us to the place where National Geographic has filmed the migration - that will begin the end of June and early July. He showed us the Mara River and the hippos and crocodiles that hang out all the time. During the migration, lions and leopards join in the festivities for their fair share of the migrating animals.

Lunch under a Leopard Tree

 On our last day, Joab ordered a picnic breakfast so we would not have to come back in to eat. He wanted to make sure we had time to find whatever we wanted to see and combined two Safari's into one trip out in the savannah. Though he searched a long time in Rhino country and looked through cheetah territory, those were the animals that we never did see. But lots of cape buffalo, elephants, giraffes, zebras, antelope and a pride of lions.

We got quite attached to our group and guide and did not want to switch up with the other group.

breakfast in a box

Joab showed us the little shin bone of antelope from a leopard's dinner

That dangling "branch" in the middle actually has a tiny hoof attached.

Joab set us up on top of a hill with a tree that had a thin leg dangling from. It was a leopard's tree, though not a the present. He told us about setting up a group one time for a picnic lunch while looking for leopards. That hadn't had any luck that day. Just as they were finished up lunch, a leopard jumped out of the tree their picnic was under startling everyone. Joab says he looks long and hard anytime he sets up a picnic under any tree now.