Special Visitors

It was great to be able to show Mum + Dad some of our day-to-day life in Dodoma. It really makes a difference having family actually here with us so that they can picture first-hand some of the places and people which are so familiar to us, but normally so far from family.

First day and of course we took them to the MAF hangar and airfield!

 Joel showed them the way up the stairs into the MAF office:

One afternoon, Dad walked over from our house to the MAF hagar in time to watch Andrew land his plane after a day's work - and then struck a pose with the MAF pilot - and then tried out the captain's seat, with Ben close at hand to assist!

 Mum and Dad were pleased to be able to see the school where Esther and Ben attend and popped in to see Ben's classroom, which made Ben a very happy and proud young boy!

 One Saturday, our visitors experienced Dodoma's "ice-cream parlour"- a cool place to take a break from the burning African sun:

Ice-creams could be justified for us ladies, since Mum had been brave enough to venture into the swimming pool at 9am that same Saturday morning, to join me and other MAF/ Dodoma-based ladies for our weekly Aqua-fit class:

And on their first Sunday, our visitors came along to both the English and then part of the Kiswahili service at Dodoma's Anglican cathedral...

...the very same place where, the following week, Dad was able to take a very special service of Thanks for little Joel- but that is a whole other blog...

Special Occasion

It's been a wonderful 3 weeks with my Mum and Dad visiting us for the first time here in Tanzania. The time passed in a whirlwind of fun and busy times, so much so that getting to my blog has simply not been possible!
One of the highlights of the past 3 weeks has to be the fact that Mum + Dad were here with us for Joel's 1st birthday, which made his birthday extra-special. In our family, Esther has celebrated 6 birthdays and Ben has celebrated 4 birthdays: all of these celebrations have taken place in the Southern Hemisphere and not a single one of them has ever been celebrated with Grandparents. So for us all, it was a very special treat to have grandparents with us for a family birthday!
Joel made the most of his birthday by having 2 parties: a joint birthday party with his Swedish friend David, who is just 2 days older than Joel and then a lovely family birthday party with Nana + Grandad and Auntie Claire joining the 5 of us at our home.

First came the joint party. Here, the birthday boys get ready to blow out the single candles on their cakes (the green cake is a traditional Swedish birthday cake and has to be coloured green- and tasted absolutely delicious!)

 There was fun to be had by unwrapping presents...

...and fun with the 4 little guests who came along to celebrate! The honoured guests in this line-up represent America, Sweden, New Zealand, UK and Switzerland- a bunch of mini international-jet-setters!

Two days later, Joel had his second party at home- with some more wonderful gifts:

 AND another cake!

 Now that Joel is one year old, chocolate cake is not forbidden, so Joel made sure he ate up every single delicious little crumb!

 It did get a little messy with all that chocolate cake, so after a little snooze, Joel headed off for a quick bath and then worked off all those calories with an energetic walk around the house with Nana + Grandad:

A fun end to a very special occasion!

Reasons to be Excited!

• the rains have continued and the crops are flourishing! Tanzanians are relieved that their food is growing. On a walk across town with Joel last Wednesday, we saw corn growing healthy and tall on all the spare land around the houses and at the side of the (somewhat muddy) roads:

• Joel is excited to have teeth! After waiting 10 months, he finally decided to start growing his teeth and at 11 months, he seems to be growing them all at once! Here are the biggest ones on display (with plenty more just starting to cut through the gums)
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•  I am very excited about the peaceful mornings we are enjoying! Since Baba Kambenga delivered our letter, we have had no early morning noise at 05:30! I have to say that we all feel much better with these restful early mornings :-)
• All 5 of us are Very Excited about the imminent arrival of Nana and Grandad here in Tanzania! Andrew set off in the Parker MAF Mobile bright and early this morning, to drive to Dar (happy to have the company of a MAF collegue who needs to go to Dar for work this week). Andrew will stay in Dar tonight and then drive to the airport early tomorrow to meet Mum and Dad from their plane, then drive them the 7 hours to our home in Dodoma. Joel and I went to wave Andrew off this morning, shortly after Esther and Ben had left on the school bus- and we are all looking forward to his return tomorrow with the Benge Grandparents!