Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Safari

Safari Pictures! Finally!!

Here's our little crew of Safari goers....
And this is our van. The top rises up so you can look out and take pics.
And this, well this, is where we slept. Now let me be the first to say...I am not a camper. Not in the least bit. But this was the pits. We booked our safari at the last minute so all the camps were full. So we did get this tent, but we had to sleep on the ground. Okay, I did have a mattress but it was about 2 inches thick, no lie. Uncomfortable doesn't even begin to describe it.
Then there were wart hogs all over the place! One night the girls swear they heard a hippo going through the camp. Seriously, they really did.
The morning of the safari...Amazing views as far as the eye can see. And to top it off, we got to see an African sunrise:) It was cloudy though. but still:)


Palm trees aren't native to this area. They are here because elephants brought the seeds in their poo.
I think these are called Cobs.
Elephants! Wow. Up close and personal.
Usually people don't get to see lions, but we did!! Our driver flew over to this spot when he heard there had been a lion sighting. It was awesome!
Hippos relaxin
In front of the hippo pool.
Can you tell we had fun?
The other side over there is the Congo. The LRA (Lord's Resistance Army) are believed to be hiding over there. There are guards near the water to protect the people on safari. The LRA are the ones who capture children to use as child soldiers.
Cute little monkey
I had to have a picture of an african tree! Yes, I know they are all African trees, but this one just screams "I am in Africa!!" You know, The Lion King. We were singing Hakuna Matata over and over.
These things are so majestic. Whoa.
The ones with the darker markings are males and the lighter colored ones are the females.


I didn't realize how enormous hippos are
Baboons are plentiful in the park!



After the safari, we went on a boat ride up the Nile. This is Jennifer, me, kim, Ericka, and Nate

Crocodiles!

We were bummed we didn't see more elephants before, but then we got to see this whole pack on the boat ride!
The crocs are opening their mouths to keep cool. At least that's what they told us.
The bottom of Murchison Falls


So safari was AMAZING! It was worth all the tent camping, not showering for three days, and being beat to death by the roads. This doesn't look bad, but let me tell you....I thought I was going to die being thrown to and fro in the van.


That's a little taste of what it was like. Think of this for 6 hours at a time, for two days. Migraine city. I was so sick. BUT still, it was totally worth it!

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Luau for Reesee

 Guess what?!  I plugged up my SD card and there were 300 pictures still on my camera!!!!  Praise the Lord!  It's SO not like me to leave pictures on there, I almost always delete them right away.  And they aren't exactly in order.  They are the pictures that are MOST precious to me from Uganda.  Can you say, the Lord did this!!  Oh I am so grateful.  There are pictures from our days at the orphanage, when we went to feed the kids, Ruth's going away party, and when I babysat her and she just talked and talked to me.  Sweet sweet memories preserved!

AND REESE'S FIRST BIRTHDAY PICTURES WERE ON THERE!!

So I still have a lot of catching up to do.  The girls are sick, sick, sick this week.  You know how hard that is to be needed by all of them at the same time:)  But it's also one of my favorite times because there's lots of cuddling time.

Without further ado....Reese's Birthday Luau!













Connor
Madison! She sat in Mimi's lap for a long time:)
Meemaw
The kids had a blast swimming and swimming.  This is our first pool party since the other two have winter and spring birthdays.
Sydney
Tristen and Pipes
Ellie Bellie
T
Bella loves Madison:)
I love this picture of Ryan and Kelly Marie
Madison has lots of pictures on this post.  I can't help it!  This was her first time in a pool and she LOVED it!  She was in the water the whole time.  She wouldn't let them out her out:)  It was so cute.

And she would just jump right in!  No fear!  She swam with Aunt Gale for a long time.
Reese LOVES the water too!
Reese and Samuel had a chicken fight.  Reese won:)
Kelly Marie is ridiculously cute!
Another one of my favorites of the night.

Tristen, Piper, and Sydney
Happy Birthday to you little girl!

Nanny and Madison.  Gosh, another favorite.

Hmmm
The girls wanted to do a luau dance for us


The girls always get a baby from Mimi for their first birthday:)


Happy Birthday to you our sweet Baby Reese.  You.are.a.blessing.