We have arrived in Nairobi and now so has the luggage...

We were fortunate to have a very short layover of only 45 mins in Amsterdam before boarding our final flight to Nairobi. This allowed us just enough time to change the girls diapers and run to the new gate before boarding. Unfortunately this was not enough time for our luggage to fly with us... a glitch we anticipated when at the gate the ticket agent/KLM steward who was imputing our luggage id's kept looking at the screen confused and saying "stupid computer." It is pretty humorous now in retrospect. Michael, upon hearing the agent say this a couple of times predicted the outcome and stated "the blame game begins." heehee.

Nonetheless we arrived safely in Nairobi late Saturday evening and this is how we looked after all that travel. It's such an accurate depiction of tiredness, excitement, restlessness, and relief in all of our faces.

So after filling out proper description forms for our luggage and tracking it to the next inbound flight the following day, we took a cab ride to our dear friends (the Ogutu's) lovely home in Runda. They were sweet enough to host us for all of the nights that we spent in Nairobi and we will forever be grateful for their generosity and hospitality. It took us a couple of hours to get sorted, bathed and fed that evening. And then we were able to lie down to sleep. That's the best feeling - when you've been traveling for so long and mostly sitting, your body just longs to be horizontal and melts into that bed and you sleep hard. Which is what we did and we didn't awake until nearly noon the following day. Lucky for us our rental car and five of our six bags arrived shortly thereafter. The missing piece was mine but it wasn't a complete stress because my Moms bag made it and we wear approximately the same size so I had clean clothes even still. (There were sooooo many perks & blessings to having my Mom along on this trip.)

Due to our severe jet lag, we made it a lazy Sunday and we didn’t venture far that day. We did enjoy a little walk around the outside perimeter of the Ogutu house and then a brief stroll around the block to see the neighborhood and get our blood flowing again. It was a great to chat and catch up with Tom and Sheila whom we hadn’t seen for nearly five years. It was also fun to watch our girls quickly befriend Rodney, Jasmine, and Whitney. The kids all enjoyed playing together and posing for pictures while we relaxed and enjoyed the gorgeous cool weather.

We had another slow start to our day Monday morning, but changing time zones will do that to ya! So we did head out for a few exciting adventures and we brought Rodney along for the fun. He acted as part guide/babysitter and was a gem to have along and hang out with. Our first stop was the Nairobi Giraffe Center where the highlight is to hand feed giraffes.

We walked up the stairs to the deck area and were each given a handful of food/pellets along with instructions to please give only one at a time. Savannah was terrified at first of these huge hungry animals being ever so friendly. And it didn't help her fears much to see a large amount of slimy saliva left on Daddy's hand after the giraffe ate the food. I admit that seeing that turned me off of the experience and I was content to take photo's of the braver souls. Michael ended up with mine and Mom's handful of food so he was at the rail feeding those giraffes for quite awhile and he kept saying it was the highlight of his day. It really was an incredible experience to be so close to these majestic creatures. They were beautiful and gentle. It's funny how some of the strangest looking animals can possess so much grace. We stood watching the giraffes from the deck and down below for quite sometime and it was an amazing experience. I'm so glad that we can expose our sweet girls to such amazing things and teach them about the world and the incredible creations that God has made. I think that we will go back to the center many times in the future to explore and learn more about their conservation efforts. Next stop was lunch. When you travel with two toddlers meal times have to remain somewhat consistent so one way to keep them happy and us as adults happy is to make an adventure out of meal time too. So we went to the Carnivore. From the website this is the description: Many different meats are "roasted on traditional Maasai swords over a huge, spectacular charcoal pit that dominates the entrance of the restaurant. (It was really something!) Constantly basted and turned until cooked to perfection, the meat is succulent and well flavored. (We certainly thought so too.) The Carnivore doesn’t conform to the familiar restaurant traditions of passing out menus and waiting for people to order. Diners simply take their seats on the Zebra striped chairs and the movable feast begins. First comes the soup of the day (which was awesome - I wish that I had the recipe) then a sizzling cast-iron plate is placed in front of each guest along with a plate of home baked brown bread and butter. An army of carvers wearing zebra striped aprons (I wanted one of these aprons for myself) and straw hats then move from table to table carrying the Masai swords laden with different prime meats deliberately carving unlimited amounts onto the sizzling, cast iron plates in front of each guest. Accompanying the meat feast is a wide selection of salads and vegetable side dishes, and also a variety of exotic sauces made from the Carnivore’s own recipes and stacked on to a double story-revolving tray in the center of the table. The feeding frenzy doesn’t stop until defeat is declared by the over-fed guests who signal that enough is enough by lowering of a white paper flag perched atop the central tray. This is followed by dessert and coffee. The full meal including a soup course is at a set price." If you've eaten at a Brazilian steakhouse before the experience is similar but with some exotic meats. Our selection that day included chicken, beef, lamb, goat, pork, ostrich, and crocodile. All were seasoned quite nicely and I found that I didn't even need to add the suggested sauces. Another perk to the restaurant was the Ribena playground adjacent to the outside seating, so the girls and Michael were able to play awhile before we loaded back up in the car. Our final adventure of our Nairobi day trip was a drive-thru safari at the Nairobi National Park. The park is a 120 km square area of wilderness right outside of the populous city of Nairobi. It was quite incredible to drive around spying on the residents for miles and miles, yet still see the city scape in the far background. We thoroughly enjoyed driving around at our own pace to see the sights but our tune changed quickly when we realized that the sun was getting low and there are no lights along those dirt roads in the park. So we navigated our way back to one of the gates out of the park (going towards civilization) with just minutes to spare before the park was closed to visitors. I wonder what would have happened had we remained lost after hours? As it was we felt a little uncomfortable because we didn't exit out of the main gate (the one we had entered in by was still lost to us). So when we pulled up at this less traveled exit, the gate guard was interrogating Michael (who was driving) about what we were doing in the park and where were our passes, etc. I know that the guard was simply doing her job in making sure that poachers and hunters aren't using the park as a game preserve. But it was a funny experience getting lost and just being that we were dumb tourists relieved to have found our way to an exit before nightfall. And upon arriving back at the Ogutu's home in Runda, we found that my suitcase had been delivered that day so I was able to relax and lounge in my pajama's with everyone else that evening until bedtime.