Merry Christmas

Before... (around 6:30am)

During...

After... (around 7:00am) - Now it's playtime!!!

Parent's Day 4 - Christmas Eve in Zambia

On this rainy Christmas Eve we stayed around the guest house mostly. Dad and Ricky went downtown to buy more tile for the project going on here in one of the rooms. Mom and I made chocolate covered pretzels. We were also busy making a video to send back to Denmark for their Christmas Eve service. It took about 6 takes before we got the video complete. The kids wanted to take Meme and PopPop over to the showgrounds and show them the horses. So while Ricky & I stayed at home to prepare lunch and wrap a few presents, the kids took the grandparents for a walk across the street and into the muddy pasture. They saw the baby colt and loved on all the other horses. They also gave Edward (their friend at the stables) a New Testament Bible that PopPop had brought from the States.

Dad is checking out the fleet of BMOZ vehicles parked at the guest house.

Boys will be boys! Ricky and Dad playing Wii.

Tonight, we went to the Marlin for our Christmas Eve dinner. We took the kids here last year on Christmas Eve, so I guess we made a tradition.

Christmas Singing in Zambia

Parent's Day 3 - Shopping

Tuesday, our day started out by shopping at Game. We were buying another refrigerator for the guest house, and so we gave Mom and Dad the opportunity to visit our "Walmart" for the experience. Game is located at one of the shopping malls - Manda Hill. They were very busy this day, so we decided to get the refrigerator delivered so we wouldn't have to wait on it.

After going to the shopping mall, we went to the "real" shopping of Zambia - in the open market. First, we passed the vegetable section, then it was on passed the lady getting her hair done (under the hair dryer), then through some mud puddles in the "aisle" (actually we had to jump a few). We arrived at Albert's wood working shop to purchase a few goodies. We made our way down the aisles to where the ladies were cooking all sorts of things, but we had to pass by the ladies cleaning fish (which Mom did not fair well smelling that), and across the way, a lady was cleaning and chopping up a chicken - fast food! We showed them the many different types of food you can buy ready to eat at the market, like caterpillars, inswa (termites), kapenta (dried baby minnows), all with a side of chips (french fries). YUM! Mom and Dadloved the experience of the market - with all its sights, sounds, and even the SMELLS!

After the open market, we had to make a trip downtown Lusaka, which was very busy. Here is the main round-about leading into the downtown area.
We ended the night with a Subway sandwich and a movie rental (from Blockbuster, of course). These Subway employees thought we were really weird taking pictures of the menus and the food. They thought they were celebrities. Mom & Dad said it wasn't the same taste as Subway of Williston. We couldn't get Wyman to leave the mall because he was videoing the Christmas music sung by a church group outside the mall.

During the movie, Mom kept the mosquitos away with our handy tennis racket/bug zapper. She was very entertained the whole night!!!

Parent's Day 2 - Protea Lodge

Protea Hotel Safari Lodge is located about one hour outside of Lusaka. This is the rooftop of the main reception area where we ate lunch.
This is an orphan elephant from South Luangwa Park. Her name is Mkumvu (I think this is the spelling), and she is 17 years old. Mom was a little scared of her when she came up to the truck and sniffed everyone out!
Coby is trying to feed her.

A couple of zebra running away from our oncoming safari vehicle.

This bushbuck decided to eat from the foliage around the reception area. Pop Pop was a little brave and petted it, but he advised Kelsey not to get too close since he bit Dad on the hand.

Everyone is looking on as the bushbuck eats.

The lions were hard to see today. This is the son... the daddy was locked up.

This is the momma lion.

The kids talked the guide into climbing on the elephant like before. He was kind of dusty, but the kids didn't care about getting dirty. Mom and Dad refrained from climbing on!

Goodbye, Mkumvu!!!

Hartebeest

We saw lots of baby animals today, as this is the season for babies being born.

Sable

Eland