pansies

When we moved into our apartment here in March, my mom brought some pansies to plant in the boxes on our side of the front porch.  They added a little spot of cheer to "our" property, especially since when we came it was still cool and rainy on occasion. I am not the world's greenest of thumbs, and I generally forget to water the plants {this might be why a vegetable garden is a bad idea.}  but I was trying with these guys. There was just one problem.

Kyalo.loves.dirt.

One day - back in April! - I was chatting with one of our neighbors while Kyalo was happily digging up the dirt.  Which also meant eating fistfuls of it.

But that wasn't quite close enough for him.  He needed to really get into it.

 

He is ever so pleased with himself.  Do you see the dirt ring around his mouth?  This is a regular occurrence. 

Here's what the pansies looked like after he visited.

Never fear! While we were gone Manny took care of them and they are looking quite fine these days.

I'm also having a hard time remembering needing to be as bundled up as Kyalo is in these pictures since it is 87* in our house at 9 PM tonight. Ugh. And it is just the beginning!

final wrap up

I know I've gone overboard here with the Boston/NYC photos.  And yet, I still have a few more to get up!  I hope it isn't too painful.

A small aside. . .Dexter is staying at the school tonight until at least 9 PM to practice for a big, 8-hour exam he has on Friday on crown and bridge work.  Say a prayer for him: for energy, a steady hand, confidence and wisdom.  And Francis?  You missed your moment...when Dexter comes back to finish up your crown, he'll have to charge you double!  :)

These pictures are from Evelyn's camera, but I like what she had, so I wanted to get them up here, too.  I'll try to keep it short. (Ha. Ha).

ready for church

Bass Rocks, Gloucester MA

This gives you a pretty good sense of what it looks like. A rocky shore.  Most of the buildings you see here are hotels/inns. Come and stay a while!

Walking around Branch Brook Park

Poor guy, has to live with a hot pink stroller.

Evelyn

Love this photo!

Funny story: she has a calendar in Kenya that has Branch Brook Park in it. What are the odds of that?!

And now for her NYC photos:

The Kenyans posing with the Kenyan flag in Rockefeller Center

*proud*

 Giving Bo a little snack

 Statue of Liberty

(squint...she really is there in the distance)

 

The new World Trade Center (is that what they're calling it?)

When we visited Matt & Erica two summers ago, we went into NYC and went to the site. But then it was just a big gaping hole in the ground. They've done fast work!

And here we are, Central Park

May 13, 2012

And that, really, is a wrap.  Evelyn's safely home in Kenya, and back to work and the full swing of things.  I'm back to the daily grind here, as well...but things are getting better around here. I'll tell you more about that later! (Don't want to jinx anything just yet).

more Boston

I am always amazed at the amount of stories and pictures I want to recap for this blog.  Since this blog has become a living journal of our life, I like to get as much into it as possible.  Being back in Boston was a really sweet time both with and without Evelyn.  While she was in school and visiting other family in the area that she knew, Kyalo and I managed to keep busy. 

We had a visit from dear friends Judy & Neil.  We met them in Portland last year so they could meet 5-month old Kyalo.  Since they were "in the area" (Western Mass) they wanted to swing by and meet a more grown up and mature Kyalo.  They also got to meet Evelyn and enjoyed talking with her about her course work at NEJM and medicine in Kenya and other things.  They loved seeing Kyalo again, of course. I wanted to get some great group shots of them with Kyalo, but it was the end of a long day, and he was tired, and more interested in playing with Neil's iPhone.  I thought if I took it away from him I could hold it above the camera to get him to be interested in picture taking.

Nope.

don't mess with a boy and his toy!

 

These were the best photos of the lot!  While there's no real record of our time together it was a nice reunion.  I am enjoying realizing that I will now be seeing people more regularly here in the US.  After so many years away, that's a nice feeling.

On Saturday, Kyalo helped Grandpa cut the grass. . .

which we think he enjoyed until they ran over a big rock and the fan belt (or something) fell off. 

On Monday Evelyn was done with school early so I picked her up at the train station and we went in search of lunch.  Even with a(n old) GPS thing we got lost a lot! We finally found our place though and had a very tasty Mexican meal.  Kyalo is an absolute terror (everywhere) in restaurants: he climbs out of the high chair, wanders around the room, makes a total mess. I'm sure they were glad for us to leave!!  After lunch and a bit of shopping, we headed to Crane Beach in Ipswich.  Evelyn was instructed by Francis that she must put her feet in the Atlantic Ocean or he wouldn't bring her home.  And there needed to be proof. 

Here it is:

It was also first time for Kyalo to be at the beach, and probably to experience sand.  He loved it, and was sad to go.  {And yes, we're all bundled up...it was clear but still cold!}

After the beach we got ice cream cones from a local stand.  Ice cream in Kenya is not that great so I wanted Evelyn to experience a) an ice cream stand, b) the many, many flavors available and c) GOOD ice cream.  A success. Plus, I think I found my new favorite ice cream: coffee ice cream with a fudge swirl and heath bar chips. Yes, please.

The rest of that week was filled with more good things...dinner with friends, story hour at a local library with a high school friend who's son is just a couple of weeks younger than Kyalo, walks, and simple living.  Suddenly, it was Friday and time to go.  At this point I realized I had gotten zero photos of the two of us together, so in the midst of packing up the car we got a couple.

I love the early evening light on the Essex Marsh.  That's basically my parents' back yard. Not a bad view!

Once the car was loaded up, off we went for our five hour drive to NJ, books on CD ready to go, and Evelyn the trusty co-pilot. . .who promptly fell asleep.  Still, we made it home safely, and it felt good be be back.

up in Boston. . .

Words cannot fully express how wonderful it was to have Evelyn here in the US. The transition back into the US has been hard and lonely, and having a good friend around for two weeks was good for my soul.  Because she came for a course at the New England Journal of Medicine, we couldn't do as much as I would have liked. But, we managed to squeeze a lot in over the weekends and evenings that she was around.

There was plenty of shopping, eating ice cream, and talking and catching up. We actually talk quite a bit on the phone since it is super cheap for them to call us (a 45 minute phone call is usually less than two dollars. Imagine!), but nothing beats a long conversation over an ice cream cone, a cup of chai, a walk on the beach, a ride in the car... etc...

Here are a random assortment of pictures to recap the time.

Since she was commuting from Essex into Boston every day, my parents and I took her on a dry run of the bus and subway routes she'd be taking into the city.

Kyalo was excited for his first train ride

Evelyn's course was being held at the library in the Harvard Medical School.   Here she is, standing in front of it. . .

 . . . and representing Aga Khan, the University Hospital in Nairobi where she got her Master's training.

Unfortunately, that's the extent of my Boston pictures, even though after this trip to the school we walked through the Farmers' Market at Quincy Market (strawberries were $1.00 a pound, I think. It was ridiculous!) and grabbed pizza there before heading home. 

The next day, I gave her a little tour of Essex...which took about a minute, and then we went to Gloucester to walk along the ocean.  It was a cold, windy day, but clear and beautiful. 

 is she enjoying this?

 I would love to see the inside of the house

The highlight of the tour was, without a doubt, Nor'East Cleaners my dad's dry cleaning business. Sadly it was closed being Sunday, but we got this picture anyway.

Well, this ends the first weekend she was there.  I have some more pictures and stories of what we were up to in MA to come. Stay tuned!

twins

When we went to Bo's birthday party last month, I carried with me a little gift from Auntie Jenny for him.  When you live in Kenya you always take advantage of folks going to the US!  Turns out that this was a green Kenya T-Shirt, and I just so happened to buy the same one for Kyalo so I could continue the monthly photos of him.  When I saw it, I knew I wanted to get a picture of our boys in their matching shirts.

I had visions of them sitting nicely side-by-side, serenely looking - even smiling? - at the camera, and everyone saying, "awwww. . . "

I must have momentarily lost my marbles because clearly, getting two one year olds to do anything, let alone the same thing, is basically impossible.

Still, it was fun to try!  Plus, we were by a pond in Central Park, so at least the setting was serene.

 can I have some?

 see ya later

I think this spot looks just fine. . .

So, as you can see, it didn't exactly go as I had planned.  We did manage to get this one photo of them...

May 13, 2012

At lease blue-eyed Bo is looking at the camera.   Kyalo's eying his food with envy.

Both boys will be so different the next time we're all together again.  It'll be fun to see the changes.  I'm so glad they've had a few visits together while still in the baby stage.  I can't wait to see where God takes each of them.

new york city!

I'm way behind on this little blog...I always think that heading up to Mass --  ie, the grandparents! -- will mean a life of easy living for me, time to enjoy slow mornings, quiet cups of coffee while tinkering away on the blog or reading a book and just generally relaxing.  In reality it means chasing Kyalo around the house to keep him from all the things he shouldn't touch, trying to keep him quiet while Grandma still sleeps, and to keep him entertained on rainy days.

Needless to say, that doesn't leave a lot of room for blogging.

Plus, Evelyn was in town and I was much more interested in spending time with her than writing about it!  So, I think I'm going to start at the end and work my way backwards.

After two weeks in MA she and I drove down to NJ so that she could see Dexter, our little apartment, and the area in which we live.  She and I walked in Branch Brook Park on a beautiful early summer day enjoying the slow pace and easy conversation.  She brought one of my favorite foods from Kenya, ndengu (a green lentil type thing), and so I made those while she made us chapatis - a real treat!  I'm resisting the urge to go raid the freezer for them right now! 

On Sunday we headed into New York City to meet up with Matt and Erica, who were in the Bible Study with her as well (when I was living in the UAE).  It was a fun reunion, especially since she was meeting Bo for the first time. 

We hit all the hot spots:  FAO Schwarz, Empire State Building, Times Square, Central Park.  Dexter and I took over 100 pictures! That's not excessive, right?  Here's a smattering. . .

ready for some serious site-seeing!

 on top of the Empire State Building

there's NJ in the distance! if you squint real hard, I think you can see our house. . .

Towards the end of the day, Matt thought Bo needed some sunscreen...but he may have gone a little overboard.  So, of course, sunscreen can double as hair gel. Right?

Central Park Group shots:

the boys {should've gotten a girls shot!)

 note the "heavenly glow" around Kyalo & me. naturally.

There are a few more fun shots, but I'll save them for another post.

It was truly a great day! Perfect weather, not too humid, minimal (I guess?) crowds to navigate through, easy company and conversation. Kyalo did a great job throughout the day, though he did take a little snooze through Times Square.

 

I really think he'd rather be out-and-about, exploring the world, than at home with Mama!

I hope Dexter and I will get into the city - esp Central Park - a lot while we're in the neighborhood.

The one sad piece of the day was realizing that with Matt & Erica moving down to Tennessee in June, and Evelyn returning to Kenya tonight, that we don't know when we'll next see these dear friends.  Still we have sweet memories to hold us til we meet again!

13 months

I'm still trying to adjust to the fact that I have a one year old, and suddenly, he's 13 months! Yikes.

He continues to be a sweet, easy going little guy who loves to be around other people. . .especially if those people are Grandma and Grandpa. He loves to put on a little show for them, which is fun to watch. We're in Mass right now, getting lots of quality time with them (even IF they did leave for four days) and more importantly, getting quality time with Evelyn who's here from Kenya! She came from for a course in Boston, so of course Kyalo and I came up to see her. Duh.  More on that later.

Kyalo loves things with buttons...remotes, cell phones, etc. Give him an iPhone and he won't be too happy when you take it away from him (good thing I don't have one!).  Yesterday I think he spent an hour playing by himself putting things into containers, taking them out, putting them in again.  I read. Bliss.

I'm carrying on with these month-by-month photos because I like to see how much he has changed and how much crazier his hair has gotten.  It is cold, grey, miserable here in MA right now so the early morning light wasn't the best, and Kyalo will NOT sit still. So these are the best I could do:

 

love this photo

'rar'

you're scared, right?

In other news, Kyalo now seems to be an unassisted stander -- as long as he has a cell phone or remote or some other gadget in his hands, anyway -- and has taken his first (small) unassisted steps today! Such a big boy.

More posts to come about the time here in MA.