Ben's Birthday Bash

Ben is 5!

To celebrate, he had a very special birthday party last week, with 7 little friends and his brother and sister.

The party theme: "Fire Fighters".

The venue: Ben's Fire Station

 The decorations:

The special surprise that we had organised in advance for Ben's party was a visit from the "Airport Fire and Rescue" truck! Ben was delighted as we all rushed round to the MAF hangar to see his party visitors:

 The fire services staff were most kind and helpful and let the children climb on board...

...and visit the roof to see all the ladders and fire equipment.

 Even Joel was excited, despite the roaring noise of the powerful engine and the very high steps to get into the cab. He posed happily with his personal "Fire Fighter Joel" badge!

 The staff then took the children to the edge of the MAF hangar to see the hose pipes in action- and kindly let them all have a turn!

Back at the house, we had time for a few fire-fighter themed games, time for toasting marshmallows on sticks on a BBQ in the garden and then Dad stoked up the BBQ to make some impressive flames. Ben-Birthday-Boy then extinguished the fire with our garden hose!

There was also time for a party tea, of course, and a fire-themed cake!

Now Ben is proud to be 5, after a day of fiery fun to celebrate!

Look...

...what Andrew killed last night!!

This snake was slithering around the MAF compound in the early evening. Andrew's quick-thinking reaction meant that this green reptile didn't stand much of a chance- the head was soon severed with the help of a long stick- which broke in the decapitating process!
Whilst Andrew regretted having to kill it, the potential danger to the residents and especially the children on our MAF compound is too great a risk to leave the creature free and easy. So the beheaded snake spent the night on our patio, after a photo shoot next to my shoe to give a sense of scale!

Happiness is...

Happiness is a plate of home-made chocolate chip biscuits- and some lovely new zip-lock bags to store them in! 

Chocolate chips are a rare delicacy in Dodoma and cannot be picked up at the local shops, so I was thrilled with this gift of real, white chocolate chips, all the way from America! A much appreciated gift from a visiting MAF family (who will be coming to live here in Dodoma in February next year). There was much excitement when I received the above bag of chocolate chips! Out came my recipe book- and the baking began! The happiness continues, since I have so far only used half the bag and there is still opportunity to bake some more delicious chocolate chip biscuits!

The zip-lock bags also need a mention. Ziplock bags are a well-preserved treasure in the kitchens of Dodoma ex-pats. We use them, wash them carefully and hang them out to dry- and then use them again! Several times over! The bags I brought with me to Tanzania from England 18 months ago are starting to look a little ragged- and smell a little stale inside!! So I am very happy that I can now add some sparkly new bags to supplement this rather tired-looking collection of ziplock bags below, hanging up to dry on my washing line:

Meanwhile, whilst happiness to me is new ziplock bags and chocolate chips, the children are made happy in Dodoma with a tasty ice-cream on a hot day!