safari

Here is a little taste of the safari we went on last weekend to Ruaha National Park. If you want to see more, I put 87 of the 400 pictures on facebook.



This elephant really was that close. This is not using the zoom.



This lion wasn't really that close. I was using the zoom.

whoa, it's been a busy month

The blog doesn't say so, but it was a busy August. We still haven't gotten permission from the government and university to do the research that we were supposed to do this summer, but we had lots of other tasks, like visiting organizations and government officials, and furnishing the project house. Here are some events and pictures from August:

Three times we drove (Justin drove, we were passengers) south to visit other towns in the region for work. Njombe is a large town, far enough away that we had to stay overnight. Once, we broke up the trip and stayed on a farm in between Iringa and Njombe.

Lucky us, the staff made a mistake and upgraded us to a luxury cabin.



We took the day off and hiked around the farm, stopping to see their crops, cattle, and lakes.




On one of the trips to Njombe, we stayed with some new-found Danish friends, on their farm. They had tons of fowl, goats, sheep, and cows




as well as a bunch of pigs. These little piglets were just 4 days old.




Njombe has a club that was once the British colonial club, complete with a library of old books and a snooker table. It's a bit like pool, but the table is huge.



Part of our work-related travels were documented in a Tanzanian newspaper!






Back at home, we put our fireplace to use. Yes, it is cold enough in Iringa to have fires!




Juma roasted hot dogs over the fire, and invented a new dish: chocolate hot dogs. He claims it was good. Later, Justin has a metal worker make a grill for the fire, so we can cook lots of yummy stuff.




Since we moved into an unfurnished house, Justin has been having a carpenter build us furniture (Iringa region produces timber). Here's a view of the empty dining room



and now with our 8-chair table.



We also bought some tables that are serving as work desks for now in our once-empty living room. (We still don't have couches or anything.)






We also had beds made, then fancy mosquito nets.




Right now, we are in Zanzibar for the end of our trip. We got to see the new baby boy of our friends we met last year. Meet Nuh (Arabic version of Noah).

Disney

As part of a Beckham family reunion in California, we took Juma to Disneyland with his cousins. Juma is a perfect age for Disneyland, and had an absolute blast, especially playing with Rylee and Tristan.





Some of his other cousins were a bit young to quite enjoy it...but they were very cute all the same.

cousins' weekend

Randall & Ashli and the kids came down to Baltimore for the weekend. We had a great time hanging out in Baltimore and in DC.

In Baltimore on Saturday, the kiddos played Wii while Jane napped.



Then we explored the Inner Harbor, downtown, and all its strange sites before hitting our favorite pizza place.




On Sunday, we drove down to DC where we saw the White House



and the Museum of Natural History.



By the end of walking all around the National Mall, the kids (and grown-ups) were pooped! Kate pulled out her classic "I'm so cute, give me everything I want" frowns.



And the rest of us sat down on the sidewalk and moaned.



But little Jane had sleep soundly in her stroller, so was as happy and refreshed as could be by the end of the trip.




Everyone was sad we had to say goodbye. But we only live 4 hours apart, so hopefully we'll do this again soon.

Laura in DC!

we heart Colbert

DC, Gettysburg, and Philly

Justin's sister, Andria, and her husband, Matt, and their baby, Amelia (aka Millie, Miller, Mills) came out to Baltimore to visit us for Thanksgiving. We took the opportunity to go see some amazing sights in Baltimore, Washington, DC, Gettysburg, and Philadelphia. (Well, I went to work the day they went to Philly.)

The long walk along the Reflecting Pool in the freezing cold wind up to the Lincoln Memorial:







The man himself:




The White House! There were a bunch of presidential-looking black SUVs out front, so we guessed Obama was inside. Did you know you have to request tickets from your representative at least 30 days in advance to see the inside of the White House? We didn't either. So we didn't see inside.




Lincoln at Gettysburg:




One of the many cannons and memorials throughout the 25 square mile battleground:



We got politely chewed out for letting the kids climb on this cannon, by the way.


Juma climbing on part of Philadelphia's Washington Monument

all dressed up

Justin and I got a babysitter last weekend and went to my school's fall formal with a bunch of my classmates. We forgot to take our own pictures, but my friends snapped a few.

fun in the city

On our very first day back to the States, we got a family membership to the aquarium--of course. Juma still wants to be a marine biologist. The downtown area that is full of museums, shops, and the sites of the Inner Harbor is within walking distance of where we are staying. (Walking distance for us, anyway; it's a good 15 blocks. Juma gets to ride his scooter for such big walks.)



At the aquarium, we saw awesome jellyfish, these among them:



Lots of sharks and rays:



And also a dolphin show. But mostly we just enjoyed being together. Also, Juma has gotten to the stage where he can't take a normal picture.

Juma is 8 years old!

Juma turned eight! It was the last day of school, too; what better birthday present is that? Well, even better than that is that Justin came down from Pemba, suffering two awful ferry rides on a choppy sea, just to be here for two nights to celebrate with us.

On the first night, Juma's actual birthday, we ate out at an Italian restaurant (pizza! gnocchi! three types of bread!) then had a birthday cake (unfrosted, at Juma's request).





The next day we took a boat ride with some of our friends out to Changuu Island, about 30 minutes away, for a relaxing picnic and swim at a little beach.

Abdul, who lives downstairs, and Najesh, who lives across the street, came along. Juma's known these kids since we lived in this same house in 2004, when they were all just toddlers. They had a blast playing in the ocean and then in the sand.






And of course Juma's namesake Juma came along, and helped him stay warm in the wind after his swim.



Our newest friend, Chase, also came, for her very first trip to one of the outlying islands in the archipelago. (That's me, Sarah, in the picture, by the way, the one with the shaved head and sunglasses.)

Pemban flying foxes and a rain forest

On Valentine's Day, we took a "tourist day" and borrowed a car to go see some sites on the island. Not far from our town is a roosting site for the Pemban flying fox, a large bat that has black wings but reddish-brown fur and a face much like a fox's. There were hundreds in one grove of trees.







I know they are hard to see, but each strangely-shaped blob is a bat, hanging from the branches.



Our second stop was a indigenous rain forest in the northwest corner of the island. Most of Pemba used to look like this, before people started living and farming here about 1000 years ago.









Notice how green everything is. And did I mention this is the dry, hot season?