#kenyagram

 Baby elephants and Mt Kilimanjaro.

 Team Kenya on safari. 

 Racing a pack of hyenas. 

 Thumbs up for zebras! 

Oh hello there.

Rooftop sunsets at Watamu.

Our delightful holiday house, monkeys included.

Mojito hour.

Besties.

Making friends with warthogs.

--

 A little bit of insta-theft from Kate and Peter.

a merry little christmas dinner

 

Even though we were sick in bed on December 25, we didn't want to miss the opportunity to celebrate the most important birthday of the year (or of the history of the world, really!). So we loosely adopted the Ethiopian calendar, which celebrates Christmas in early January and hosted a cosy Christmas dinner with friends on January 5.

Our favourite memories from the night are probably the hilarious series of mishaps that almost made us cancel. First, some key ingredients for our Christmas menu were impossible to find at various shops, despite being on the shelves just a day earlier. And then our oven, which exploded a few months ago and was finally fixed the day before, actually turned out to still be broken. We only discovered it when I went to put a tray of brownies in, about an hour before we'd need it again to start the roast pork.

Long story short we got access to our neighbour's apartment and used their oven. Which also wasn't working perfectly, but managed to do the job. But not before we almost lost our pork roast and a tray of veggies when Will slipped on a huge unseen puddle of water and ended up flat on his back and dripping wet. Thanks to his super quick ninja skills the tray of food miraculously ended up on the counter and not all over the kitchen floor!

 

We decorated in red and gold and I diy'd some glittery safari animals - you can see more on my blog. The warm brie with honeyed raspberries and pistachios was a big hit and these paleo brownies (with santa hats) were rich and delicious. 

We had such a nice night - isn't good food and great company all you really need? It was a very merry belated Christmas indeed.

And this was what we woke to on 'Boxing Day'.

happiness is...

1. Having our travelers arrive safe and sound!
2. Yummy hot chicken soup for dinner (and breakfast too)
3. A suitcase of wonderful goodies from home - thank you family and friends!
4. The growing pile of Kenyan goodies ready to send home
5. Finding photos in our inbox of our beautiful niece and nephew loving their new Kenyan hoodies
6. A peaceful day as voters throughout the country voted in the primaries
7. The thrill of upcoming adventures - a safari and a beach trip are calling our names!

 xo

on the tennis court

To celebrate our friend Simon's birthday, and in honour of the Australian Open, we spent a lovely sunshiney Sunday afternoon out on the tennis court with friends. One thing we really miss from home is the abundance of wide open green spaces - it was so nice to have so much green grass to enjoy!

There was an elusive cardboard cup to win, so the stakes were, you know, really high. But the competition stayed friendly, with handshakes all round. In the end, we ran out of time to progress to round two, so we'll just have to find another nice Sunday to head back to the courts and enjoy this perfect Nairobi weather.

 

One week until these two arrive in town. Seven sleeps! We're pretty jazzed.

And we're also pretty happy we got a copy of their flight itinerary. For some reason we thought they were arriving a day later than they actually are. I had flash backs to the time our family arrived in NZ for Christmas but our grandparents had mixed up the dates and we were stranded at the airport at 1am in the morning. Being stranded at Nairobi airport would not be a fun start to their African adventure.

We've been sending emails back and forth as they make arrangements to bring various things from home for us. Things we miss - like our good kitchen knives, our favourite lollies and some clothes we forgot - and things we can't get here - like a vegetable julienner and a replacement camera lens cap. We even have some coffee coming over which is kinda hilarious, given we're living in Kenya of all places!

With all the travelling we've done recently, we've actually seen very little of Kenya, so we're keen to explore this great country with two of our favourites!

Seven sleeps!

the countdown

Less than two months now until these two travel half way around the world to have the best holiday of their lives. In Kenya! With us!



 We've been lucky to catch up with a handful of friends passing few Nairobi, mostly old work colleagues of Will's. It's been so great meeting people I've heard so much about, who shared a lot of good (and bad) times with Will in Sudan, and continue to stay good facebook/skype/twitter buddies. We also got to share a meal with a long-time Fraser family friend whose known me since I was a baby - that was very cool!

But Kate and PC will be our first real visitors and we're really looking forward to sharing our new home with them. We've got a growing list of places to go and things to do and I'm not ashamed to say that many of them revolve around our favourite restaurants :) The countdown is on!

#uralla12

Easter long weekends are the best because of a special tradition my parents and their friends began 18 years ago. Half of them travel down from Brisbane / Gold Coast, and half of them travel up from Sydney, and they meet at the halfway point - a lovely couple's house in Uralla. Every second year since 1994, we've spent Easter with our Sydney / Brisbane / Uralla friends, and every single time it's been wonderful. See here, here and here for photos from Uralla 2010.

 
Road trippin' with Kate and Baz.
   

We usually all stay at Carol and Stephen's house (above), but due to our growing group, Will, Jeremy, Kate and I stayed at a gorgeous B&B called Aurelia's Farm (below). The view of the country side was amazing, the house itself was beautifully presented, and our hosts Tara and Andrew truly spoilt us with homemade nougat, fresh banana bread and loving cuddles from their cat Max.

 
Sunset. Moonrise.
   
Rowdy family dinners.
 
Girls shopping trip.

Gostwyck Church.

My love.

Picnic at Dangar Falls.

Family photo shoot.

Bye bye Uralla.

Holiday time is special time, and even more so when it's out in the country, under a big blue sky. I went a little crazy with the photos (and the instaspam - oops!), but how could you not when this country of ours is just so spectacular?