the palms

We're home now in Kenya after a rather uneventful, and thankfully, smooth trip. No delayed flights, no missing baggage, no nasty customs situation here in Kenya. A win all around!  Except that we're dealing with jetlag in a major way. Last night, Kyalo didn't really sleep until 4 am. Tonight he has slept three hours, but now, at 1:30, is ready to play.  So, while he does that, I thought I'd recap more of the trip to California.

That trip already feels so long ago!

Silvio, a former co-worker of my mom's just recently moved to the Santa Barbara area to start a job at Westmont College, so it was only natural to meet up.  Adam suggested The Palms in a nearby town, a place where you can cook your own meat.  It was a fun place to go, but not necessarily ideal for catching up with friends or taking a baby. All the noises scared Kyalo, and so we spent a lot of time taking turns outside with him.

Other than that, we had a great time!

 don't mess with my meat, man!

 Mom & Silvio

 Mom, Silvio, & his mom, Nellie

 Adam and Noelle {gorgeous}

the family, including Mering grandbaby #6, due in January! :)

Well, it is now 2:30, and try as I might, I have not been able to get the little guy to sleep. He's happily kicking on the floor looking rather wide awake, so I think it is time to call in Papa to get the job done!  More California stories to come!

new friends

As I mentioned, my friends Matt & Erica are here with their 4 1/2 month old son. It has been so fun to see them again after a year, and to meet their new little guy (who, is, in fact, little - he's tall and lean, compared to Kyalo's short and stocky).  But it has been especially sweet to introduce our boys.  They don't really know what to do with each other, but it has been fun to watch them trying to figure it all out.  I look forward to our next visit (next year?) when they are a bit older and can toddle around together. 

Could two boys look more different?

They promptly stuffed their hands in each others' mouth, and Bo even took a nibble at Kyalo's feet, so I think that must mean they'll be friends for life. 

And here we are!  There is, of course, an empty space next to Matt where Dexter should be. It hasn't been the same without him.  I hope to never do this long trip to the US without him.  If it weren't so important for Kyalo to meet my family, I probably wouldn't have.  Plus, I really did need to get cheese.

Anyway.  It has been great to be with Matt & Erica, to show them a bit of our area (Matt had never been this way before).  They're exploring Boston right now, and then we'll have Lobstah Rolls for dinner on my parents' porch overlooking the Essex River.  It is pretty idyllic.

I leave Tuesday night for Kenya.  I'm not too excited to get on more planes, but I am excited to be home. 

five months

We interrupt this regularly scheduled programming (more recaps of California and our vacation in general) to bring to you these photos of our little guy on his fifth month birthday.

 {serious}

Kyalo is generally a happy guy.  He can be quite content to lay on his back and kick and squeal for a while. The only trouble we seem to have is at bed time -- it is a huge battle, and I've yet to get him to sleep through the night. Oh, for seven hours! 

Our time in the US is winding down, and the house is overrun with my packing process.  In addition to packing, I'm hosting friends Matt & Erica, who drove up from Long Island.  Their son, Bo, is just 2 1/2 weeks younger than Kyalo.  Even though Dexter couldn't come on this trip, they wanted to come up and meet Kyalo.  It has been great to see them again after a year. Certainly much has changed in our lives!  We sent them off to Fenway to a Red Sox game. The Sox were kind enough to have an exciting game, and a win, for them.  More than they did for me!

California dreaming

It is hard to know how to put our brief trip to California into words.  I think the trip can best be summed up as: Life at the Pool!  The hotel where we stayed has this great pool and hot tub that the kids basically lived in the entire time we were there.  And since we were almost always the only ones at the pool it was nice to pretend it was our pool and that hanging by the pool was normal activity for us.

The good news is that Kyalo loved the pool!  He didn't always like the cold shock at first, but then he was quite content to be in the pool for an hour or more.  Once he even fell asleep in Grandma's arms in the pool. Not a bad way to live!  (No pictures of that as I was busy relaxing in the hot tub. Also not a bad way to live).

our little surfer boy

But of course, the sweet thing about being back in California was being with family, and introducing Kyalo to his many cousins.  They all seem to love him.  Campion, 7, even made him a little gift.  And Caroline, 4, couldn't get enough of him.  She was his entertainment for the trip.  He's going to be bummed once he figures out he's going back to Kenya to just mama and papa.

So, here are some pictures from the pool:

 Abby {almost} 12!

 Adam {today is his birthday! Happy Birthday!)

Caroline, 4

 Jack, 9 (Kyalo's wearing Campion's gift here)

 Noelle. Could she be any more gorgeous?

Vivienne, 1 1/2. Keeping her safe.

Campion

 Gma and Kyalo

Gpa, Kyalo, Caroline

We had perfect weather for so much time at the pool.  It was hard to leave.

More updates about our time West to come.  Irene extended our time there by a couple of days, which was great, but now I'm scrambling to get everything done before leaving next Tuesday.  So, I'm off to the post office and then to the grocery store to stock up on cheese and chocolate chips.

a recap

We've been in the States eight days and it has been a whirlwind -- as it always is.  Somehow, even though I'm on vacation, I haven't had a chance to blog.  Must be something to do with all the relaxing I'm doing!  I love being home, it refreshes my spirit. Sometimes I haven't even noticed how in need I am of a good dose of Essex.  Things move slower here in Essex, and it always feels the same when I come back, and that's a good thing.

So, since we've been home we've: met lots of new people (Kyalo, anyway), eaten a lot of ice cream, been to a Sox game, had lunch with friends, visited Target (and we'll visit again!), eaten more ears of corn than can be counted, had our first summer swim, and played with new toys and gadgets.

Most of the pictures from the Sox game are on my mom's camera and we can't find the camera cord for it so you'll have to make due with these photos snapped early in the morning on game day.  The hat is too big, so it stayed home so as not to get lost (but, I'm actually not sure where it is at the moment. Lot of good that did me!).

Going to the Sox game with a four month old was an adventure. Our seats -- right over the Sox bullpen -- were directly in the sun.  I spent a lot of time inside eating ice cream and escaping the sun, and trying to keep my cool Kenyan baby happy.  And then the Sox had the nerve to lose.  Jerks.

One of the things my mom was able to borrow from friends is a Bumbo.  They're all the rage, and we're happy to be trendy! 

Kyalo scoffs at the latest trends:

So, the jury's still out on the whole Bumbo Phenom. But we'll keep trying.  I think these (blurry) pictures are hilarious, though, so I couldn't resist sharing.

More important than things, though, is the people we came to see.  Grandpa is just as important as Grandma! And Kyalo's had lots of good bonding time with Gpa.

So far it has been a great trip, and tomorrow night we head to California to see my brother and his family.  Kyalo is excited to meet his five cousins and meet his Aunt Noelle and Uncle Adam.  I hope I'll have the camera with us more regularly to get more pics of Kyalo's "firsts".  Brace yourself. . .

johnny jump-up

Kyalo and I have been home a few days now...adjusting to our jet lag, summer, family, and life without Papa around.  Thankfully, the plane rides went very smoothly -- Kyalo slept pretty much the whole first flight! -- and I landed with my sanity (mostly) still in tact.  We traveled through the Amsterdam airport for the first time and that was a vast improvement over Heathrow.  The one downside was that the entertainment system on the second flight (Delta) was down for the entire plane, so it made that 7-something hour flight a little brutal.  Good thing I had Kyalo to distract and entertain me.

Being home has been great!  Kyalo is the center of attention (maybe I could have stayed in Kenya?), and we've been busy.  My mom borrowed a bunch of baby things from neighbors and friends to help keep the little man occupied.  By far his favorite is the Johnny Jump up which enables him to bounce around and take little steps.

Observe:

 {happiness}

The best thing about this is that he's quite content in it for 20-30 minutes sometimes!  I'd get one for Kenya, except that I don't think any of our doorways have the molding to hang it from. Maybe that could be a home improvement project.

The other great thing about being home is all the new arms to hold the babe.  Here he is with Jacquie, a former co-worker of my mom's.  He seems especially sweet to me when he sleeps.  And that's not just because he's quiet!

I love the one in the middle.  Jacquie's mom is Ghanaian and her dad American.  In these pictures I think Kyalo looks like he could be her son. :)

But of course, the most important person we came to see is Grandma!

It has been a happy reunion.

Today Kyalo went to his first Sox game. Priorities.  More on that later.  And next week, we head to California to meet the cousins.  This is a short, but jam-packed trip.  At four months, Kyalo is already a little world-traveler. Not bad for someone whose name means journey!

all fall down

Looming over our house was a very imposing, and very dead, Jacaranda tree.  Jacarandas are beautiful when they're alive and in full bloom. Their purple blossoms are really quite something to behold.  Even though Dexter tells me they create quite the mess with the sap, I am rather sad that our tree was dead beyond resurrection.

Because of its proximity to our house -- and the car -- we decided something needed to be done.  So down it came!  

So, we talked to the powers that be and hired some guys to come chop it down.  This included one man with a chain saw, and one man with a panga (machete)  and a few guys to pull the branches down with rope.  I had no idea that it would be so labor intensive! But, the tree's branches were quite big and our house and a neighbor's house were dangerously close to their reach.  It was an all day affair.

We asked Daniel to come in special to help out. It was nice to have a familiar face on the team bringing the tree down. 

Watching the action was actually quite frightening for me since heights are not my friend!

And then, finally, it was down!

We now have a very significant supply of wood to keep us warm during the cool Kijabe nights.  See that pile of nicely chopped and stacked wood?  We have Daniel to thank for that. Off we went to a wedding and we returned to that.  There's still plenty to chop, too! At least he doesn't have to worry about running out of things to do. . .

Now, a question. I've just discovered PicNik for photo editing. I'm not really sure what I'm doing, but I had fun doing it.  The question is this...is it worth it to keep going?  Do you like what I've done?  Leave me a comment and let me know. (*shameless plug to get people to comment* :) )