Back again! (maybe?)

After several more failed posting attempts over the last couple of weeks, I quit trying for awhile... but I'm going to try again, just in case our connection is better tonight. As usual, I have a lot to say. =)
Kid news first, for those grandparents who haven't heard the news- Silas is in motion and all over! He has a great seal/swimming thing going. He's no longer content to sit and be a his sweet cuddly self. He has places to go, things to eat. He also has discovered the joys of Cheerios. He still won't eat any kind of baby food, but loves Cheerios. Go figure! Good thing we brought a few bags with us. They're reserved for Silas only, since we can't get anything like them here.

I'll add all the news one small post at a time, in hopes that it will work a little better.

Ballet Class

The girls had another exciting event this week- their first ballet class! Miss Tiffany, who is here for a few months, agreed to teach a ballet class for 3-6 year olds. Kira and Brynn have been talking about it for several weeks, and on Friday they had the first class. There were 8 little girls gathered in Ceton's living room for an hour. Tiffany is wonderful with them, and they can't wait for next week! Elayna thinks she attended the class as well, since she danced around the room when we went to pick up Kira and Brynn. So all the girls left happy.

Treasure Island

Last night was a family fun night planned by the student council at Sahel Academy. The theme was "Treasure Island." We had a great time, eating playing games, and dressing up. Well, the kids dressed up anyway! The girls made lovely pirates.
Their highlights of the evening were the camel rides, face painting, and craft table. They also ate hot dogs, played carnival games (the homemade version of course!) and heard a pirate story. Laney even got brave enough to ride the "Stormy Seas" after her sisters did. She was quite perturbed that they got to go on the camel with Daddy first, and she had to watch! When her turn came she had a blast! Ok, I keep getting cut off, and having to redo this- so I'm going to forget where the pictures are and just post before I lose it again. I'm sure you can figure out what's what.

Kira and the shell-less eggs

I thought I would share a funny Kira story. Kira went with me to the stand where we buy eggs. On the way home she was looking at the flat of eggs on the floor, and asked "Mom, why do some of them not have shells?" I was a little confused until I realized that three of the 30 eggs were white, while the rest were brown. It's been about six months since she has seen brown eggs. So she thought they were missing shells. I assured her eggs came in white too! When we got home she wanted to feel them, just to make sure they really did have shells.

Internet issues...

While all kinds of fun and exciting things have been happening around here, a working internet is not among them. =D Supposedly it's fixed now, but I'll still try several small posts as opposed to a newsy long one. That way I lose less if we have to shut down and start over AGAIN!!! I've written a few times in the last couple of weeks and been unable to post. But it's time to try again. So here goes the first try...

Mango Camp

Some people have lake houses. Some people have beach houses. Others have mountain houses. Well, there are no lakes, mountains or beaches here. (Though Kevin will argue that there is plenty of sand for a beach, just no water!) What we do have is the river. While we don't have a house beside it, we now have the next best thing- a mango camp! Mango camps are so named because of the (can you guess...) mango trees that grow next to the river. There are small plots of land for rent, and just recently one became available. Along with Winsors, Cetons, and Chamberlains we are the new renters of a beautiful water front location about a half hour from home, by the Niger river. It's got water on two sides (a little inlet on one side, and the river on another) and lots of shady mango trees. Don't worry- it won't break the bank! Our share of the rent, including paying the custodian/guard and some odd repairs will cost us less than one night at a nice hotel. Here is part of the road headed down hill toward the camps. It drops out of sight in the picture, as it goes steeply down, and comes out where you see the small trees below. This is still the nice part of the road. It gets a little rougher at the end. Yes, we have a 4 wheel drive!
I had never been out there before, so when we arrived yesterday for a picnic with the other families, it was very exciting! It's got a beautiful view, is away from the city and is so peaceful. Well, except for the 10 kids and two teens we brought along...
The guys have plans to fix the fence around, (we don't want the kids swimming-on purpose or accidentally!) as well as improve the "bathroom" facility. (currently a covered hole with a 4 1/2 foot mud brick wall around it) A small hut will recieve some roof repairs, so that chairs and things can be stored there to use each time we come. Then we will be able to picnic or camp in comfort.
The kids were thrilled with the tire swings Chad hung up, and spent a good portion of the morning swinging. They also spent time digging in the sand, and playing with their friends. Even a bit of "wildlife" joined us for our picnic. While the adults enjoyed the sighting of some distant hippos out in the river, the kids were entertained enough by the passing herds of cattle and small fish swimming by.
There were feathers all over the ground, and Kira insisted that I share this picture of a pretty colored one that she found. It was gray at the bottom, then a band of white, and the top was red. It really was quite pretty! I wish we could have seen the bird it came from.

Everyone enjoyed the time outside, and it was even a bit breezy, and not too hot there in the shade.

I look forward to many camping trips and picnics out there. Guess we'll have to think of investing in a new tent next time we are home, though. Our family seems to have outgrown the two person tent that we own. =)
Here is the road headed back up the hill towards home.

It was a great weekend, and is a great place for family time away after the extremely busy time Kevin has had lately. He jokingly said this week that instead of four ten hour shifts like some people put in for a week, the SIMAIR guys just went for two twenty hour days. Unfortunately they still had to work the other days too! So the kids and I were glad to see Kevin a little on Saturday. We can't wait for many more times with family, as well as friends out by the river at the mango camp!

Never a dull moment!

I'll start out with the cute, just for fun pics. Here's Silas being his handsome self!


and Laney being her goofy self! See the cup she's holding? It's her security blanket. She walks around all day saying "Mommy, I'm thirsty!" and trying to get Emilie to fill up all the kid cups in the cupboard for her.

It's been a busy day around here! It's now 10pm. Kevin got up at 5am to leave for a flight as co-pilot for a French company who have an outfit here. (The SIMAIR guys do occasional flights for them to make a little extra money for SIMAIR, in an effort to make it as inexpensive as possible for other missionaries to fly!) After making his lunch and sending him out the door, I was able to at least sleep another hour before my day started. Kevin returned from the flight at noon, only to get caught up in an inspection on the plane. After running into multiple problems Kevin, Dave, and David are still working as far as I know! This is before they will be up early tomorrow AM for another flight! Ed hasn't been slacking in the meantime- he was co-pilot for another flight this afternoon, and isn't home yet either! So we have some tired guys! Please pray for their safety, as there are flights each day for the next three days, and they are all worn out.

As for me, while it's busy at home, my only downside-other than missing Kevin- is that I missed my weekly scrapbooking night with some other ladies since he wasn't here to keep the kids. Thankfully I'm mostly ready for leading Bible study tomorrow, so that shouldn't be a big deal- as long as Kevin is home to keep the kids for that!

We still await the arrival of the "baby"- er, plane that is! It sounds like it's all set with the new engine and ready to go. Now we just wait for the ferry pilot to return from another trip. So another few weeks and we hope to have it here. Of course, we've said that before...

The girls enjoyed having Andrea and Joel over last week to play. They had a fishing theme day- playing in the water outside, and fishing with Brynn's magnetic fishing set. Then they came in, and we read some fishing stories from the Bible, and sang "Peter and James and John in a sailboat." Their favorite part was the snack though! We recently found some goldfish-looking (though NOT tasting!) crackers and we used pretzel sticks (which we can buy here!) to dip in peanut butter and "catch" goldfish. Snacktime took a while, but they enjoyed it!

Today Kira tried something new- baking a pumpkin pie! OK, she had a little help! =) We are going to wait until Daddy is home tomorrow to try it, since he didn't make it home in time to see the kids today.

Well, as I was writing Kevin arrived home, so I'm off to see him while I can!