Africa 2009

Hey there! We are back on line.

We spent a few days and nights in the Serengetti (3.6 million acres) and they were just spectacular. We slept in "tents" that had toilets and outside showers with hot water. We had dinners outside by the campfire, ate lunch surrounded by the animals of the Serengetti. Here are some of the highlights: had a giraffe right outside our tent, heard lions roaring all night while we slept, had 8 hour game drives, saw a lion mating with TWO lionesses (they mate for a minute every 15 minutes for 5 or 6 days in a row, wow!), a leopard in a tree, a giant python that had just eaten a gazelle (size of a small deer), a baby wildebeast being reunited with its mother, and a cheetah stalking a gazelle.

Next, we flew to our last destination, the Grumetti Reserves (350,000 acres). We all stayed together in a Villa overlooking the plains. We saw elephants walking in formation from our pool. It is an amazing hotel. All of the hotels have been wonderful in their own right, each offering a different perspective of Africa.

Now we are on our layover in London. Sorry we have not been able to post as much as we had hoped. We didn't realize how busy and tired we would be (who knew that sitting on our tushies all day would be so exhausting and exhilarating!) AND how little time we would have to be online (not to mention internet was spotty at best, so it took much longer to make entries than we had hoped).

Anyway, we hope you had fun seeing a little glimpse into our African Adventure. We had a wonderful time. We will be home late Wednesday night and look forward to filling you in on everything! "Asante sana"

Jambo! You’ve probably been wondering why there haven’t been any posts since Nairobi. Well, the bush does not offer a lot of internet access (should be no surprise there, I guess) and our days have been very full. We finally have internet access although it is still limited… it’s not in our room and there is only one computer for the hotel and the connection is slow, plus everyone wants to check email when they can so I need to share computer time.

We spent our first two days in Tarangier National Park. We were so happy to finally make it to “the bush”- it was time to see some animals. As soon as we stepped off the plane, we got into our open air jeeps and the real journey began. We saw gazelle and impala right away. We continued on our 2 hour safari, seeing lots of animals on our way to the hotel. We stayed in tree top huts that were amazing.

We arrived at Ngorongoro Crater yesterday. As soon as we arrived to the park, we were greeted by baboons- literally hanging out in the parking lot and in the trees just off of the parking lot.

Africa is absolutely amazing. Magical even. Hard to put into words how moved we are by the country. The landscape, the people, the culture, the animals are all breathtakingly beautiful. The way the animals co-exist with each other and the people is unbelievable. We’ve had to stop our car to let giraffe cross the road! We’ve seen many animals already: impala, elephants, giraffe, hartebeest, zebra, cape buffalo, and wildebeest to name a few. My time is limited; I apologize for the brief detail, but wanted to post a few pictures for you all to see.

Enjoy the pix. Don’t know when I will be able to make my next entry so… until next time.

Jambo (hello)! After 28 hours from the time we left our house, we made it to our hotel in Nairobi. Don't have much to report, though, as we still have not seen anything yet. It was 9pm local time, therefore dark out and not able to see much so far. We checked in to hotel (they greeted us with a fruity beverage- will upload pictures later), had a quick dinner, tried to skype with the kids- only got Meghan and Bella as Noni was running the other two around. Bella blew us lots of kisses and said her sweet la loo ("love you") to us. Megan and Greg were able to skype with Sophie and her parents, that was cute. We had dinner and went to bed. Got 5 1/2 hours of sleep, up at 6am and still no day light. we are leaving hotel after breakfast at 7:30 to head to the airport to fly to Tanzania. Not sure when we will be able to have internet access next. But, can't wait for today's adventure!!!! Which animal will we see first???!!! We are so excited to actually SEE the country. Ciao!

Well, we finally made it to London. Pretty much all of us slept 3 hours, with the exception of Megan who pulled an all nighter. What a great flight! We were seated in the "upper deck" (yes, kids, this plane even had an upstairs and we were excited to be sitting up there- kinda cool to walk up the stairs inside a plane, huh?).

We had our own "pods" complete with seats that reclined fully into makeshift beds, flat screen tvs with a vast selection of movies and tv shows, and they even had automated windows between seats that Todd enjoyed putting up and down.

As soon as we walked up the stairs and got situated, the girls got our groove on listening to music and drinkin' some bubbly.

We were all so excited! Here's Megan getting the phone from Greg, they were "talking" to Sophie... awww.

Next was dinner... we are livin' the life! What a fun way to travel. Frank, was all "service with a smile"

Matt quickly put on the socks from our complimentary toiletry bag and as most of you know, I love products and as such was very happy with our selection of Elemis spa products.

Next was movie time. Jill and I watched a horrible movie that Matt ditched after the first 5 minutes. And, oh don't forget plenty of reading time (yes, for the fellow fans... I am slightly embarrassed to admit am into my first Twilight book).

We woke up. Had a good breakfast and it was time to land. Yay! We made it to London.

We got here an hour late and are leaving an hour earlier than we anticipated, so we don't have as much time to enjoy our lounge experience. That's it for now!

We are in Chicago. British Airways computers were down for almost 2 hours. We stood in line waiting for the computers. Finally, they were back up, but only after we filled out manual forms, just like the old days. After finally getting checked in we headed to the international lounge to grab a quick bite to eat. Linda and Jill had a glass of bubbly. The rest of us just ate. The next entry will be from London in about 9 hours. See you then.

After changing my carry-on bag three times and about 15 phone calls to Jill (my sis-in-law) to compare notes, I am finally ready to go! oh, and I need to give a shout out to my friend, Wendy Inglis, who let me borrow a durable small messenger style bag that will be suitable for travel and safari (which gave me just enough room to fit everything I need to take on the plane). Thanks, Wendy! That's it for now... talk to you tomorrow from Chicago, during our first layover.

We got a fun package in the mail today from Classic Escapes... it had our e-ticket, important documents booklet with a detailed packing list and itinerary, species list booklet (checklists of Animal and Plant Species of East Africa we will see), and a personal journal filled with all kinds of information on the animals we will see (zebras, cheetahs, gazelles, hartebeests, wildebeests... you get the picture). Who has time for books on the plane when we have all of this to read?

Wow, this feels so real now! We are in for such a treat. I have a few last minute things to get, but I am almost there in terms of packing. Hope to be all packed up by this weekend, so I can concentrate on learning more about my new camera and of course learning more about how to "blog". We are going to watch Planet Earth again before we leave, starting tonight.

11 days until take off... what an adventure this will be!

Wow, our task list is huge... packing for us is pretty easy, but packing for the girls to go to noni and grandpa's house is another story- school bags, lunch boxes, clothes, soccer uniforms (3 different ones), gymnastics clothes, dance clothes, and even decided today the keyboard must go as well so Alexis can practice 10 min/day while we are gone... this is in addition to the "normal stuff" kids need (diapers, wipes, food, clothes, toiletries, medicines, etc...). Not to mention, I have typed out pages of detailed notes depicting daily schedules for all 3 girls, transportation to/from activities, "important phone numbers", etc. and somehow I know that even with all the pre-planning, something(s) won't go according to plan. As my grandpa used to say, "we make plans and god laughs." So true and yet I plan anyway in hopes of making this as easy as possible for all involved. I know my kids are in great hands and will be very happy living it up at their grandparents' house, their "home away from home."

And, yes, in the midst of all this craziness I decided to teach myself how to blog before we leave. I think it will be very fun for our kids, though, which is why I am doing it. So here I am making my 2nd entry... good night. I will practice some more tomorrow.

In the meantime, I will leave you with the words of Mark Twain: "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

Exactly.

Hello to our girls! Daddy and I thought it would be fun to write a blog about our trip, so that when you come home from school everyday, you can read about what we are doing and seeing everyday. Actually, Alexis or Noni will have to read it to Tessa and Bella .

Right now, we are in the midst of all the packing and planning (for us and for you guys to go to noni and grandpa's house). I have never written a "blog" before, so I am testing this out. xxo, Mom

The Loves of Our Lives... Our Girls!