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.

Juma's new hobbies

I'm amazed at how Juma is now a big kid. No more toddler, no more little boy. He's big now. He reads music and plays the recorder; he can bounce a tennis ball off a wall and catch it; he can balance on a skateboard. I can remember being able to do all that stuff when I was in 3rd grade, too, but it just seems unbelievable that Juma has reached that age.

All his friends at school introduced Juma to skateboarding. So we had to get him a (used) skateboard, and a couple skater shirts to go with it, of course. Skating is a complete package, after all. Still holding out on the Vans shoes, though.




He conducted a science experiment all by himself at the Maryland Science Center. Out of four mystery powders, he figured out which one was sugar by using iodine and vinegar.



And he experienced what it takes to survive an Antarctic winter.



Justin's also been taking him rock climbing. Juma's steadily and quickly progressed from climbing using any old holds to following specific tracks, marked with their difficulty levels. He's up to 5.5 now!

halloween

boy, have I been busy

Well, I have been super busy. I was taking 5 classes and TAing another. I helped my mom and siblings plan a surprise birthday party for my dad's 60th birthday, and I flew out to Utah to surprise him in early October. Then my first term of classes ended with a bang of finals the next week; I spent an entire weekend on campus studying. The minute I finished my last final I started writing a grant proposal, which I worked on feverishly for five days (including an entire Saturday on campus) until I turned it in about 30 minutes ago. Second term started the day after first term ended, but won't hit hard until next week when I have three assignments due Monday and Tuesday, and another grant proposal due Wednesday.

So now I have time to blog a bit while my professor lectures to a class I'm a teaching assistant for.

In Utah, I got to see my parents, almost all my siblings and nieces and nephews--on both sides of the family, since all of Justin's siblings now live there.

I got Liam to like me



by letting him play with the camera on my iPhone. He was very proud of his choo choo train shoes.



Mariah liked to pose for him.




At the birthday party, the kids had a great time playing on the stage and running around the gym and out into the hallways making their parents wonder where on earth they had gone and what they were up to. If they are anything like I was when I was a kid in a church on a non-Sunday (and I'm pretty sure they are), they were getting drinks from the drinking fountain, running in the halls when no adults were watching, and looking for unlocked rooms only to be disappointed when all they found was folding chairs.



While I traveled, Justin and Juma entertained themselves by going to museums and eating Ben & Jerry's ice cream



and going rock climbing. Juma loves climbing. Juma's the one in the green shirt and orange harness.

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.

cute old picture of Juma with his best friend when they were 2

contact info

We now have a new address and new cell phone numbers. I've emailed them to some of you, but if you would like them and don't have them, do contact me at sarah dot beckham at gmail dot com

home!

in Baltimore. New address and eventually new phone numbers. Stay tuned.

next leg of the journey home

We are in the Dar es Salaam airport, killing time before our delayed flight, surfing the net to use up our modem credits, and spending our last Tanzanian shillings on candy. Fun stuff.

on our way home!

Can you believe it? The eight months are over!

We took a boat from Unguja to Dar es Salaam yesterday.

Here's Juma saying, "Goodbye Zanzibar, Hello Dar es Salaam!" Juma was pretty excited because he's never actually been in Dar anywhere other than the airport.



Our next leg of the journey takes us to London on Sunday. We'll spend the night at a friend's house, then our final flight on Monday brings us to Washington, DC.

Once we get to our car and storage unit in Baltimore, I think our first priority will be to find our air mattresses and some linens so we can just sleep, sleep, sleep in our temporary apartment. Then we have one day to unpack before I have to go to school!