US update

A picture update with what we have been up to for the last week and a bit (complete with some links to some of the websites):

 View from our lodge in Pinedale Wyoming, Lakeside Lodge

 Our (rental) ride in Wyoming, we would love to buy one of these

 float trip on the river getting started

 Julia watching the local cowboys train for rodeo, after eating at the Pitchfork Fondue

 The wedding venue, Ft William

 Next stop, visit to uncle Mike in Esterbrook Wyoming. This is the view from his place on Laramie peak

 Next stop: Denver, with some great Mediterranean food....

 ....and local microbrew

 Denver skyline from our hotel

 Next stop: Kansas City, with some presents from great grandma

 and great Mexican food

 supporting a local rally by the fire fighters in Jefferson City

 And a paddle down the Missourri River

 real holiday: a nice margarita (or two, or three....)

 visit to family in Humansville MO, feeding the catfish

 and trying the tractor..

 Back in Jefferson City: story time at the local library

 and the Cole County fair

and monster trucks

more soon.....

Wyoming

Some pictures of our first day back in USA, in Laramie Wyoming.

 College campus

 more campus

 public park after dinner

swings...

J1

our new house

This one was promised for some time....So we moved house during the last week of February, after living at two different places OUTSIDE of Gaborone, we finally moved into the city. We love our new house, an old house with a very large plot and garden, and many large trees. Here are some pictures:

This is our entrance gate, taken from the road

With our car port

parking space for some motorbikes and camping equipment

The rest of our driveway

Front garden with pathway to the frontdoor

backgarden....

more backgarden

the swimmingpool, outside of the guest wing

back porch and the all important braai

side garden looking back at carport

Then inside: bar under construction (more details to follow)

excercise room

diningroom

living room

 and this last one is the guestroom, where we hope to welcome some visitors soon (start packing those bags....)

J1

3rd birthday

Some pictures of JJ's 3rd birthday:



This was the night before, baking the cake for school the next day, a yummy peanut butter and chocolate cake.

Then of course there were presents to unwrap, during dinner with her favourite: pizza.

The birthday present from us was a new trampoline, and she helped assembling it the next day!

With lots of jumping and bouncing (for all) when finished.

This blog is NOT a "look at my baby" blog, but....

Against all our intentions to not make this a totally child-centric blog, I couldn't help but show off this oh-so-grownup shot of our freshly-turned-3 year old on her birthday a couple weeks ago. 

It was certainly a nice day. And our first experience ever with someone wishing for something specific: when asked what she would like for her birthday, the answer was:  "Cake? And juice." Let's just hope we can keep up that non-materialistic sentiment that we've been trying to hardwire her with.

February pictures

A couple of pictures that sum up the month of February, which involved a knee operation:

There was also a nice meeting with our adoption support group in Pretoria, conviniently while J2 was still recovering down south

And JJ had a chance to play with all her new friends there.

One other big event during February: we moved house. This kept us busy for some time obviously, the whole packing and unpacking is always a nightmare. I just realize I have no pictures at all of the move, but will post some pictures of the new house soon.

J1

some random January pictures

Here are some randim pictures from my phone, all taken during January this year:



This is a sight you would not see in many places, but is a daily occurance in Gaborone: a baboon visiting the one of the most prestigious office parks.

We started taking long walks a few times a week, to get those little toddler legs used to some miles. One of her favourite stops was the guiney fowls.



We bought a new tent for the office for fieldwork, and before taking it out I put it up on our lawn quickly, to make sure it was all complete. Someone did not want me to take it back down.

J1

Another Blogging Hiatus - with good reason

Yes, it's been another one of those long breaks, but not without purpose. There were things like knee surgeries (mine) which included long weeks of immobility and crutches, house moves (into The Big City!), a 10 year wedding anniversary & birthday (also mine!) to celebrate, and an extended temporary haul of someone (me) to Lesotho for one of our many existing jobs in far-flung locations. Some photos of the events that have transpired are included below, in that order.

The first one - knee surgery (x2) in Johannesburg. Luckily our friend Alan lives there and I holed up at his place while bed-ridden. J1 & J3 came down to visit for the 2nd half of my "lodging experience" there. The hospital in Jozi was great, although very lonely :(  I had a 4-person room all to myself and no visitors. Drag. Luckily a very sweet husband brought me a banjo to occupy my time with, once he made his way down to help me recoup.

The anniversary/birthday week included a child-free weekend in Madikwe game reserve where we saw lots of animals and refused the 6am morning game drives so that we could sleep in. Very lucky to have friends the Foxes to look after the youngling while we enjoyed some time OFF of parental duties.

Lesotho is a beautiful mountain kingdom with diamonds. We're working on the environmental studies for one of the big mines. The fieldwork was actually semi-pleasant for a change, being in such stunning scenery and having a "special guest star" consultant join me for the aquatic biology component of the assessment. Hint: we used to share a last name, and have literally known each other since Day 1...