sit properly

Dear Sky,

You won’t be two years old until next month and you amaze me with your vocabulary and understanding of past, present and future time. We were out on your deck yesterday. You put our doll baby up on the tricycle seat and said, “Sit properly baby.” I was amazed and asked you what properly means.

“See she fall down like this (you turned the doll to the side) and like this is not good (you leaned her into the handlebars). Properly is like this (and you placed her nice and straight).

You pick up your shoes and put them away in the shoe drawer, you put your toys away, and you know what goes into re-cycling and put them in the right places. You share with your brother. You give hugs and kisses away freely and tell everyone that you love them and they love you right back.

You are one smart cookie and yes, like Nana Beth you love your sweets. But maybe what’s what makes us both so sweet and loveable.

XXXOOO
Nana Beth

perfect nails

I think we're in trouble. She's already into doing her nails. Thanks Aunt Meghan!

I have a feeling Aunt Meghan will also be the one that gets her ears pierced....but not until she's twelve years old!

good ol' fashioned horseplay

What's he smiling about? He just finished a marathon horseplay session in the pool with Uncle Dullah. Basically Uncle Dullah throws Aiden up into the air probably a good six feet and Aiden comes crashing down into the water...the bigger the splash; the bigger the smile on Aiden's face.


I have a feeling he's going to be an extreme sports guy. The other day I cought him watching skateboarders on a halfpipe on TV. When I asked him what he was doing he said, "watching skateboarding....I like it when the do the big jumps and fall".

Ngorongoro Crater and German Hospitality

This is the lioness that was standing up in the shot above.

About 5 seconds after this picture was taken the lioness became increasingly annoyed with my boldness and stood up threateningly. I was hanging out of the jeep (arms, head, and torso) holding my iPhone making annoying noises to get him to look up at the camera as I took the shot.

This picture was taken by my trusty iPhone.

Wildebeests grazing in the crater. They seemed like very peaceful animals. You could almost always find them mixed in with the zebra or the gazelles.


Two lonely warthogs...I never saw more than two at a time.

Watching these guys eat was a little amusing. They have to get on their knees to be able to reach the grass to eat.


That's me excited to see a cheetah in the distance.


Cheetah!

Here he is lounging as he scans around for prey. He was pretty far from us so we used the zoom to get this shot. I was impressed by our driver, Barutti's ability to spot this cheetah in the distance. When I asked him how he know that the cheetah was there he pointed to the gazelles and the impala about three quarters of a mile away. "You just have to look at the gazelles and the impala - they always know where the cheetah is," he explained.


Molly and I had a great trip. We both enjoy the outdoors and the wilderness. We also love teasing each other. There were times where we'd be laughing so hard we couldn't breath.

Crowned -- something.


Impala


More wildebeest




There was no shortage of zebras in the crater which means there was not shortage of food for the lions or the cheetah.



Notice the three Masai men behind the elephant. The Masai is a very large tribe living in Tanzania and Southern Kenya. They heard cattle in the Ngorongoro Crate and the Serengeti -- they and their cattle sometimes fall victim to the lions.


Look at him...he just looks evil. Sorry, I'm just not a fan of this animal.


Hippos....you can smell them a mile away!

For some reason we decided to eat our lunch while watching and smelling hippos.






The best is when they make eye contact with you.


Elephants seemed to patrol the crater....reminding me of the movie The Jungle Book.


These guys are walking appetizers for the lions.


Thompson Gazelle


Grand Gazelle


The hyena were starving because most of the animals had already migrated. The hyena will starve for months at time. No wonder they're so aggressive.


Lions cubs resting/hiding in the tall grass. We estimated these cubs to be about four months old. The mother was napping about 3 feet away (see below). The mother often has to protect her cubs from adult male lions and even hyenas.


A cat nap in the sun....these lions know how to live.

Ostrich....these guys can be aggressive too.

Lake Eyas, the Hadzabe, and the Datoga

It took them about 45 seconds to make a fire, roll some tobacco in some random leaf they picked off a tree near by tree, and roll a little cigarette. I heard later that the bushman get tobacco by bartering with tribes that they encounter while hunting in the bush.