We're good...really, we're fine.

Hi everyone. Well I haven’t written in a while, mainly because there really isn’t much to tell! This is a good thing, actually. Over the weekend we visited the elephant orphanage, ate fabulous sushi, sat around the pool, yada yada, you know the usual. CDC has allowed us the use of one of their vehicles along with a driver so we are being chauffeured around everywhere. We are really spoiled now. With an hour commute to the office we are able to do work in the car.

Kenya is quiet, the political talks are going well, and politicians are preaching non-violence which seems to be taking hold. Kisumu has been quiet for almost two weeks now. Tuesday the embassy decided that it was ok for a small number of essential Americans to go back to Kisumu for 3 days. That is were Kayla is tonight, she’ll be back on Friday night.

The kids are really doing remarkably well. Although the ‘we’re on an adventure’ spin is starting to wear thin with them. They are missing their animals and toys and friends in Kisumu. Kayla is exhausted and so am I really; we have our good days and bad days.

So Nairobi has a big game park attached to it. And in that game park is located the elephant orphanage where they accept elephants from all over Kenya. They care for them until they reach adulthood then set them free. If you pay a little money you can actually adopt one of these elephants. It give you privileges to visit them on a more intimate level. We decided to adopt one. We went with some friends in the evening. Seems they are herded out to the bush for the day then they are brought back to their barn for dinner and sleep in the evening. We arrived just before they came back from the bush. They are so cute! And every bit as mischievous and playful as any child. We hung out with them while they ate dinner. We adopted the littlest one, her name is Didah. She’s about 4 feet tall. The kids had a wonderful time. The trainers (some of them have to actually sleep in the barn with these babies so they won’t be lonely) were wonderful; they even allowed Max and his friend Bennie to go into the barn to pet the babies. Man, what a life these kids are having. I’m so glad I’ve been taking photos as I don’t think they will believe they have done all these things in Africa when they are older! All the babies loved having their trunks petted. And if you blew air into their trunks they would remember your smell so they would remember you the next time you where there.

One day when the elephants were coming back from the bush a baby rhino followed them in. Turned out that this little baby was totally blind. So the orphanage adopted him too. They named him Maxwell, whose name of course was a big hit with us.