Safari Day

Remember the night I woke up at 1 AM and didn't go back to sleep? Well that also happened to be the day that we went on safari.  Don't I just have impeccable timing?  Mama and Papa were great sports and Mama packed a bunch of snacks hoping I would stay awake long enough to see the giraffes.

Mr. Peter was our driver and he was very nice.  He taught me how to say "sawa, sawa," which means okay in Swahili.  He would stop and let us see the animals and when we were ready to move on I would say "sawa, sawa!"

We spent the entire morning looking for a cat, but we never saw one.  So sad, because I REALLY wanted to pat one.  Mama said if we found one we would just look and not touch.  I'm not sure we were talking about the same kind of cat. 

I saw buffalo, zebras, monkeys, antelope, rhinos, flamingos and all sorts of birds. 

I fell asleep around 10:15, but Mama says I didn't miss much.  Since it's "summer" here a lot of animals were already napping by then.  Mama and Papa woke me up to see the waterfall. I was still a little sleepy.

Then we saw SO many giraffes!  They were hanging out under the trees, because it was so hot.  I'm so glad I didn't miss them!

I really loved it and my absolute favorite animal was the giraffe.  What's your favorite safari animal?

Love,
Lucy

BFFs

Julia came to visit me in America last year we had so much fun together, and I really couldn't wait to see her again.  Mama and Papa have been talking about visiting Julia for weeks. So, naturally, I assumed we would see Julia as soon as we got off the first plane. Nope. Maybe the second plane? Nope. Maybe the next day? Nope. Finally! On Monday after a VERY long, bumpy van ride, I saw Julia!!!

Since then, I've only seen Mama and Papa at meals, nap time and bedtime.  We're having so much fun! We play and sing with the babies at the baby house, ride Julia's bicycle, swing on the swing set, and today we're being fairies!

Oh, did you know that the baby house has REAL babies? I thought it was a house full of baby DOLLS.  Who knew?

Gotta run! Julia and I are headed back outside.

Hugs, 

Lucy

What Time Is It?

OK, so I’m confused. I get sleepy during the day and I’m wide awake at night. I try to convince Mama and Papa that it’s time to be awake, but they don’t seem convinced. Our first day in Nairobi, I thought I had it figured out. I woke up while it was still dark outside, but I had an announcement to make. “It’s daytime somewhere!”
Papa told me I was right, but that it wasn’t daytime in Nairobi. Here’s where things get a little fuzzy. According to Mama, my sleep schedule went like this:

Day 1 - Awake at 4:00AM
Day 2 - Awake at 2:00AM
Day 3 - Awake at 1:00AM

Papa said I was “going the wrong direction,” whatever that means. On all those days, I didn’t go back to sleep after I woke up. Sometimes, I got in trouble because I kept asking Mama and Papa questions while they were trying to sleep, but one night was the most fun night I’ve ever had.

It was the 2:00AM day and I woke up when the power went out in our room. That meant the fan went off and it was really really quiet. It also meant that I had to go potty in the dark. Well, not really dark because Mama had a flashlight. That’s when the fun began.

Do you know how much fun a flashlight can be when it is really really dark? Papa decided that since we were all awake anyway, he should get out his flashlight, too, and we could have a flashlight war.

It really wasn’t much of a war, but it was a lot of fun! We made animal shapes with our hands and Papa made a HUGE shadow of my head on the wall. We found out that if you put the flashlight under the blanket and shine it at the ceiling, it makes a funny pattern. We also learned that you can make the whole room blue like you’re in the ocean by shining the light through a blue bottle of water.

That was a lot of fun and I’m glad Mama and Papa were good sports. I think they thought if I got out a little energy, I would go back to sleep. WRONG! It’s hard to sleep when your body wants to be awake. And it’s hard to be awake when your body wants to sleep. After the 2:00AM day, we drove to Nakuru with our driver, Mr. Peter. He was funny, but I was really really tired, so I fell asleep.

I woke up just before we got to Nakuru and I got to spend the rest of the day with my friend Julia. I’ll tell you about that next time! But for now, you’ll be glad to know that I FINALLY slept until the sun came up. Mama and Papa seemed really happy this morning and said I slept until 6:45AM. Papa said they’ve ever been happy for me to get up that early, but this is Africa!

I’m having so much fun here, but for now, I need to go, because Mama says it’s time for a nap. I’m TOTALLY not tired, but (yawn)...I guess I’ll go...night-night...now...

We finally made it!

Well, we made it, in one piece, but it wasn't pretty and thankfully there are no pictures (mama lost her camera on the first plane, we think).

I'm not sure that it was fully explained to me how long and torturous the whole getting to Africa part would be.  I mean a girl can only watch so many movies and play with so many stickers and eat so many packs of applesauce before she goes stir crazy.  It was nearly impossible to sleep on the plane.

Also, I'm sure no one told me there were two flights involved.  I wasn't impressed when we landed and they said it was 0 degrees outside and we were in Amsterdam.  I thought maybe the pilot was confused and took us to the wrong place that starts with an 'A.'

All in all Mama and Papa said I was really good and only had a couple of meltdowns, which was seriously fantastic since I only slept about 4 1/2 hours out of the previous 30 hours.  If you know me at all you know I LOVE to sleep and I've been known to take a 4 1/2 hour nap AND sleep 12 hours at night, so you can imagine how lovely I am today. (BIG SMILE)

I fell asleep at the lunch table  (sorry Mr. Doug and  Ms. Sue), and  when we got back to our hotel Papa had to carry me in and I didn't even wake up!  I hope to be back to my cheery self tomorrow.

Oh , side note. Did you know that Kenyans say different words?????  I'm already trying to copy our driver Mr. Arthur.  He's happy and that makes me happy. So, I'll leave you today with one of my favorite questions to ask "Are ya happy?!?"

Lucy

Hi my name is Lucy!

Hi my name is Lucy and I'm 3 years old. I live with my Mama and Papa in Texas and I'm getting ready to make my first trip to Africa.  I'm not sure where that is, but Mama and Papa say it's going to take a really long time to get there, like longer than it takes to get to Tennessee, which by my calculations is about 56 episodes of Dora, give or take a few.  I know that my friend Julia lives in Africa and Mama says we'll get to see giraffes, lions, hyenas, etc.  I think Mama forgets stuff, because we see those animals at the zoo all the time.  But, that's okay, because a trip means I get new stuff to play with and new movies to watch.  YAY!  I had to get my picture taken too, which was weird, but the nice post office man liked my hairbow, so it made it okay.

Anywho, here's my Mama's list of essentials for taking a toddler on an international trip:


Headphones for Kids 
These are pretty cool, because they actually fit me and Mama says you can turn the volume up and down so they won't hurt my ears.

Lollipops
I LOVE lollipops, and Mama says this is the best way to help my ears when the plane lands.  I haven't figured out the whole chewing gum thing yet and I'm WAY over a bottle.  I'm game for lollipops!

Window Decals
These vinyl stickers will stick and restick to the airplane windows, seats and trays and peel off with no mess.  I love me some stickers and these are happy!

MY cup
This is my FAVORITE cup!  I can drink like the big girl that I am without spilling!  Mama says it doesn't leak in my bag either.

Individually Wrapped Snacks
I eat, a LOT!  Sometimes, I don't know when to stop. :)  AND, Mama says keeping large bags of food fresh is almost impossible, so I get little packs of gold fish, fruit snacks and granola bars.

A Bib
My mama is a little OCD about keeping clothes clean and even though I'm 3 I still rock the bib!  She says eating meals on a plane is messy and if it keeps mama happy, it's worth it.

Gotta run!   I have to go to bed, where I'll roll around for about an hour and get up 3 times to "potty" and finally fall asleep around 10.

Good night, sweet dreams, bye, love you, see you later!

Lucy