Just a quick update to get some photos up. Well, we survived our first Christmas in Niger! It was a great time with family and teammates and we managed a quick trip out to Parc du W (borders Niger, Burkina Faso and Benin). We stayed in a quaint "cabin" and got to see elephants, monkeys, deer-like things and many other creatures. Kids had a blast exploring and hanging out with family and teammates. Hoping everyone had a great time over the holidays, celebrating the birth of our Lord and ringing in the New Year!
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| Christmas Eve Day...kids got to open one present each |
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| Jaelyn got a swatch watch! (we bought it at the airport on the way back from Turkey) |
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| Nathan got to open his lego car! (Thank you auntie Jocelyn!) |
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| Christmas baking! |
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| Christmas day...more presents! Thank you auntie Helen and uncle Teddy! LEGO! |
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| boxing day festivities with teammates...these 2 get mistaken for each other all the time...wonder why?!?! |
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| puzzling...proved that our team is indeed full of people who like to get things done once started! |
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| finishing up a 1000 piece puzzle that was started 2 days earlier on Christmas Eve! |
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| playdate with McIvers a couple of days later |
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| taste-testing to make sure all will be good |
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| short bread cookies! |
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| Jaelyn and Bennett watching "Wizard of Oz"...Yes, 언니, the one you bought us a couple of years ago was finally opened! |
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| Nathan and Arielle love to play "mommy and daddy" together...they are so cute! |
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| this is a typical "bush taxi"...they drive up and down the highway and take people from one village to the next...they can get pretty loaded up! |
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| after we drove past them, had to get a shot from the front...there were people on top, inside and hanging off the sides! |
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| in Parc du W!! Can you spot the crocodile? |
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| my foot inside the print of an elephant |
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| Jaelyn standing inside an elephant print |
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| this was a LARGE animal of some kind...I would guess of the elk family |
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| we had to take this pirogue to get to the island where we stayed |
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| on a different boat...a canoe this time. |
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| we took the kids on a canoe ride one morning...these are Jaelyn's words: "Now I know that I will never do that again!" :*( |
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| one of the favorite things for the kids to do...climb rocks! |
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| the beautiful sunset!! we got 3 days of this!! it was fabulous |
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| New Year's Eve...Happy New Year! (kids took a nap hoping to make it until midnight, but the lasted until 10pm before the meltdowns started....) |
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| the cabins where we stayed...hard to see but we were on a small island away from EVERYTHING (including electricity, internet, etc!) except for nature...it was great! |
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| the ongoing solar water heater improvements...the kids helping Rog "insulate" the heater (he puts this on top of the heater once the sun is setting to try to retain the heat). He has refilled old juice/yogurt bags with shredded paper and has attached them to the cardboard to help with the insulation...we will see how it works! |
Love seeing all the photos - miss you all. Had to chuckle and wonder how you managed to get all your paper work for your truck so quickly. After all the crazy back and forth with Lisa's truck, glad it was not the same for you. Drive safe and enjoy the ride.
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