Kenya Day One

Our plane trip to Kenya had a four hour layover in Amsterdam. Not enough time to leave the airport but thankfully enough time to explore the airport shopping. These are wooden tulips in the first picture. And amazing live flowers in the second. 

 

Also they had this tea shop where you could sit in replica Delft cups to sip your tea. So cool! 

We got to Nairobi about 10pm at night and by the time we got to our hotel after getting luggage, going thru customs and changing money it was midnight. Then on Friday we spent about seven hours in a small bus driving into the mountains to Maua, which will be our base for the next four days. Lots of interesting sights to see along the way. Yes that is a couch on the back of a moped. We saw lots of cows, goats and sheep; we weren’t fast enough to get pictures of the group of baboons sitting on the side of the road. 

At the Springwells Hotel in Maua.  

Off We Go into the Wild Blue Yonder

 Daryl and I left on Wednesday evening from the Tampa airport for Kenya. We are going to visit the South West district Zoe empowerment group that we sponsor, Blessing Kaene. This is a group of 25 orphaned teenagers who are caring for siblings (99 children in this group in total). Zoe groups help with education and micro grants for starting their own businesses to support their families. Our group is in its second year of three years. I keep this picture of our Zoe group on my office window behind my desk so that I can pray for them. 

Our flights there include Tampa to Amsterdam and then Amsterdam to Nairobi. Over 24 hours of travel! We return home on July 12. 

Time to Drive!

Happy 15th Birthday to our Davis!!!! This is our last child to get a learner’s permit. We got in and out of the DMV yesterday super fast and then we went right for a practice drive (and he did well!). 

 

A New Cat Throne

Davis rearranged his room and now he has a great view out his window from his bed. Fergus adores the space and soaking up the sun. So we got him a window shelf. It took him a few weeks but he has finally decided that it is a worthy throne for him.

 

Family Birthdays

Saturday we had a family birthday celebration in Seffner for Davis, me and Uncle David. It was nice to see everyone and celebrate together. 

 

 

Disney Birthday TIme

 While the younger boys were at camp, Daryl, Parker and I headed to Disney to celebrate my 49th birthday! We started on Thursday afternoon at Typhoon Lagoon for a couple of hours (a checkin perk for Disney hotel guests now). And despite the threat of lightning and having to sit aside for about 30 minutes wiating for it to pass, we had a really nice and very relaxing time riding the raft rides together and also floating in the lazy river. 

Afterwards we drove over to our hotel, Port Orleans Riverside. You can checkin on your Disney app now and use your phone as a room key - so they texted when our room was ready and we were able to go straight there. We stayed in one of the royal rooms in the Parterre Place building. I brought along some decorations for the window and we were greeted by a towel animal. 

We got changed and walked over to the French Quarter part of the resort to have beignets for dinner (the guys had beignet sundaes!) 

Then we took a bus to the Ticket and Transportation Center and we walked to the Contemporary Hotel to checkout the 71 Steakhouse Lounge. The waiter gave us free champagne for my birthday. 

 

 

 

And then we ordered their signature drink - the 1971 Sunset - a fishbowl drink for 2-4 people. It was delicious and we made an admirable try but the three of us only got down about half of it. 

On Friday morning we started off in Epcot with a character meet and greet - Phineas and Ferb from one of Parker's favorite tv shows when he was little. 

Then we rode the Living with the Land boat ride and took flight on Soarin!

Then we stopped at the Disney Chase Visa cardholder meet and greet with Minnie and Pluto. 

 

Our main reservation for the day was for a late lunch in Canada for my birthday. Daryl and I have been here once before for our anniversary but it was Parker's first time. He LOVED it. Their steaks are amazing!

We wandered through the park in the drizzle for a bit before getting dessert - a new vegan chocolate soft serve for me that tasted like I remember a Frosty. 

We called it an early night and went back to the hotel to hang out and relax. This was the sight that greeted us upon our return. 

 

On Saturday morning we grabbed breakfast at Boma in the Animal Kingdom Lodge and then headed over to Hollywood Studios. We checked out two new shows there - about Villains and the Little Mermaid show. They were both great. We loved the Villains one with its brand new programming.

On our way out, we ran into these rare characters - these two mice from Cinderella!

We spent some time in Disney Springs shopping before heading out to Seffner to celebrate with the rest of the family.