Our tent number 3.

we have a porch that looks out to the woods.

The entire walls can be rolls up so it  feels like we are out in a "tent".

This is the lobby area.

This is where we had meals every day.

Andrew found a bar.

Our first meal at the camp.

A fly drank my beer.

The food was absolutely fantastic. Just when I though that the trip can't get  any better than this…

We're finally setting off to Masai Mara National Reserve, where we'll be staying for two nights.

Our destination was the third stop made by this small airplane. 

Now we have to drive for an hour to get to our camp. On the way there we saw…

one of the villages

Local shopping center

villagers

We stayed near the Wilson airport, which was our connecting airport for the Safari in Masai Mara. Unfortunately, we missed our safari flight so our travel agent put us here, which is where we spent our first night in Nairobi. 

View from our window.

The hotel staff advised us not to go out after sun down. That thought hadn't crossed our mind anyway. Our place had a gate and our guard had a machine gun. No need to say more.

After breakfast, we were happy to get out. 

Virgin Atlantic airline over booked passengers on our flight by 40 people, so we got bumped off. Being desperate to keep our tight schedule in Africa, we took the next best thing, which was a flight from London to Dubai to Kenya, instead of our original flight from London to Kenya. We were hoping to make it to Nairobi in time to catch our flight for our safari. 

Dubai airport was impressive with lots of shopping available. Unfortunately, I was on the phone the whole time trying to make arrangements for Africa, given we missed our original schedule. Andrew managed to get his Cuban cigars but I didn't get to shop at all. We had McDonald for lunch. 

After the 12 hour flight detour, we finally made it to Nairobi, Kenya. 

Andrew insisted that we have to have fish and chips in London. Not bad.

Cool street to go shopping.

We very much enjoyed London. People were very nice, food was great and shopping wasn't bad either. Hope to come back here to visit again soon! Cheerio. 🙂

Our journey begins tonight as we set off to London for 2 days before we head off to Africa for 10 days. We are attending Aleena's wedding in Mombasa, Kenya next week so we planned a trip for just Andrew and me. I felt bad leaving my children behind with my parents, but I had to stop myself from feeling this way. I felt peaceful praying about this trip and I fully trusted that God would take good care of everyone. I just needed to remind myself over and over again. 

At the same time, I've been excited to spend time with my best friend. This is our first trip without the kids. 

We're staying here  in London. 

View from the balcony

My favorite store in London. If I lived here, I would come here everyday.

We got on a tour bus and saw most of London in one day. It's fun being a tourist. 

We had the best Indian food here on Baker street. 

We set up a pool in our backyard. 

We celebrated Naomi's second birthday party today and the party theme was Elmo. You'll see.

My kids had a blast in the pool splashing, kicking, and singing… and the other kids stayed away. Yep… they are mine. Lol.

Hello, birthday girl!

Hello Elmos… You in the back! Stop staring at me!

Chloe, being shy with the Elmo.

'Haha it's just a cupcake! right mommy?'

'… Or are you?'

Chloe, contemplating whether to eat it or not.

Chloe, still thinking… Shane and CJ, no problem digging in.

Chloe, still staring at her elmo. 

Later on these happy pictures, I took away just the elmo frostings off their cupcakes because I didn't want the kids to eat too much sugar, and oh boy… they both went bananas on me. 

We had a GREAT time at the party. Thank you so much for inviting us! Happy birthday Naomi, hope you feel better. 

This evening after our Bible story time with Chloe, something wonderful happened. I've been reading her a kid's Bible in Korean then translating into English so she fully understands. For some reason, she's fascinated about the story from Adam and Eve and she's been asking me to read that chapter over and over again for the last couple of months. I can read the story with my eyes closed from memory by now. Anyway, tonight, after the chapter was done, she asked me why God was sad that Adam and Eve sinned. I told her that God was sad because they sinned, that they disobey God's words. Then I told her that it's okay though, because God sent a gift to us to save them from sin…to save all of us from our sin. 

me: Chloe, do you know what that gift is? 

Chloe: (she paused to think for a while… then she said) Jesus? 

me: that's right! He sent his only son Jesus to save us. Do you know where Jesus is? 

Chloe: in my heart (while putting her two little hands on her chest) 

and my mom's cooking begins…