The Leon's 2017 Photo Album

Updated: 2017.12.29


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Dec

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Our very own fireplace, as opposed to many years in the past in front of the fake fireplace backdrop at JC Pennys.

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Another pic, with our Christmas Tree background.

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We try to make it to downtown San Jose every year for "Christmas in the Park".

It was a chilly night _for us_ in the low 50s.

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Got the whole gang included, after coercing a friendly stranger to take the pic.

Apologies for the night time cell-phone photos, I forgot my better camera.


Nov

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For Diane's 50th, we got reservations at McCormick & Kuleto's in Ghirardelli Square

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We had a great view overlooking the SF bay

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Just before Thanksgiving, we spent part of a Sat helping with Operation Christmas Child. We didn't pack all those boxes in the truck, but we happened to be there when a truck got full. They were pretty well staffed that day, so we not extremely busy. OCC relies on volunteers to purchase and collect shoe boxes full of presents to kids whose families cannot afford to purchase gifts. Last year, OCC delivered millions of shoe boxes all around the world.

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Jessica's bunny, Hercules, relaxing in the shade.

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Hercules guarding his food bowl from on of the 'locals'.

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Otherwise, Hercules is very friendly. He enjoys running circles around your feet, and nibbling at your shoes and pant leg.

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We enjoyed Thanksgiving at our house this year, and Diane put on an amazing spread as always.

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Dave & Jill invited us over to their place and we had another scrumptious meal.

New wheels for Jessica thumbnail

Jessica finished her Masters program in August, moved back to Nor Cal in Sep, and landed her first job in Oct.

She started just before Thanksgiving, so over the Thanksgiving break, she was busy car shopping, and ended up here.


October

Lake Tahoe

Four couples from our church spent the weekend enjoying the beauty here.

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Some giant redwoods along our Sat afternoon hike.

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We hiked part way around Fallen Leaf Lake, about 1 mile South of Lake Tahoe. The lake is almost 3 miles long and almost 1 mile wide, and was carved out by glaciers.

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The average depth of the lake is around 240 feet and approximately 415 feet at its deepest point.

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A nice view of Mt. Tallac to the West, standing tall at 9,738 ft. elevation. It can be seen in the opening sequence of Bonanza, if you are old enough to remember that. It was really beautiful up there, especially with the fir trees starting to change color.


September

Anniversary Trip

We celebrated our 29th anniversary (which was actually July 29th) in Pacific Grove (next to Monterey), one of our favorite locations.

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We stayed at The Seven Gables Inn - I think this was our 3rd time there. This time, we tried the aptly named Gable Room , that very top window under the highest gable.

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Yup, she has put up with me for quite a few years! (29 for those who don't read sign-language) This room used to be the big play attic of the house, and is the only 3rd story room in the main house.

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This room has windows on all four sides, two of which have "ocean views" (mostly Monterey Bay), and many other interesting characteristics. Off to our left, we could see Lover's Point, which seemed appropriate for the occasion ;-)

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It just wouldn't be a proper visit to the Monterey area without spotting several Sea Lions, etc.

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We had our last dinner at The Sardine Factory, which has been consistently excellent since we have been coming here every few years since we were married! We like to sit in The Conservatory, a large glass dome with a fountain in the middle and surrounded by plants.

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We drove down the coast a bit, and played in the tide pools, and watched the ocean waves crash against the rocks. Yeah, just awesome.

Michigan Trip

Nate, Diane, & Jessica took a trip to Mich to attend our nephew's wedding and also to visit with Nate's parents/family and see their new home.

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Standing outside Nate's parents house, all dressed up for the wedding. Yup, the house is as nice inside as it looks outside!

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Timing was excellent as the Cider Mills were open for business. Fresh Apple Cider and hot donuts brought back a bit of (mouth-watering!) childhood.

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Mini family reunion - we were able to see Nate's two sisters and their husbands one evening for dinner. It has been way too long!

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Got some hiking in while we were there also, but had to get an early start to avoid the heat wave. Really nice hiking / biking trails here (Mason, Mi) as they converted old railroad lines to miles of paved trails.

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This part of the trail follows along Sycamore Creek, so we saw lots of interesting critters. Also, this trailhead is at the local cemetery, which could be handy if the hike doesn't go well. ;-)

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One interesting tidbit about this area, the courthouse scenes of the film Real Steel were taken at the Ingham County Courthouse in Mason. Indeed, the courthouse is amazing.

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Mason is very close to East Lansing where Nate & Diane attended college and met for the first time. So we took the opportunity to reminisce and give Jessica a mini-tour. This is Landon Hall where Diane stayed during her 2nd year.

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Beaumont Tower, and icon of MSU. The MSU carillon (bells played from a keyboard) was first installed here in 1928.

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A picturesque view down the Red Cedar as we cross the bridge between the library and the stadium.

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Across from the Admin building, one of my favorite places to sit, and listen to the relaxing sounds of water falling over the rocks. Nice touch with the rock pile sculptures modern Spartans!

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Outside the building where I spent too many long days and nights, and yet, some good memories too.


August

Dad's 85th BDay

Nate & Diane went to Southern Cal in August to celebrate her Dad's 85th Birthday.

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Family came from Mich, Ohio, and even Alaska to celebrate!

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We had a birthday dinner at their favorite restaurant

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and of course, cake

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then, back to the house afterwards to open presents

Range Time

Nate & Zachary spent some time at the range before he headed back to San Diego State U. We had such a good time, that we came back again with a few of his friends.

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paper targets @ 25 yards - looks like we still have some work to do ;-)

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I'd say the steel target lost

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Andrew and Daniel joining us this time


July

Zachary's 21st birthday

He decided to cross an item off his bucket list - willingly jumping out of a reasonably functioning airplane.

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strap in tightly

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what goes up...

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must come down

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free falling

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nice view of Santa Cruz and Monterey Bay

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Zachary taking a turn with the reins

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On the ground, safe and sound.

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Celebrate with friends, swimming, pizza, and of course, cake!


June

San Diego visit

There was a chance that Jessica was going to finish her Masters program in June, so we booked this trip just in case. It ended up being a fun stay-cation. :-)

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Nice view of Coronado across the San Diego Bay from the top of the Manchester Grand Hyatt. You can even spot the Hotel Del Coronado in the top, middle of the pic. (just to the right of the tall building - the Coronado Shores condos) That is the Embarcadero Marina just below, and you can even see the USS Midway from a different window.

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Looking back at the Coronado bridge, before walking around Seaport Village. Construction and was started in 1967, and the bridge is over 200 feet tall. The height was required by the Navy in order to pass an aircraft carrier underneath. This resulted in the bridge needing to be longer in order to achieve a reasonable grade. Hence, the bridge is curved almost 90 degrees instead of going straight across the bay.

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One afternoon/evening, we enjoyed walking around "Old Town" San Diego. This pic was taken in Washington Square.

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Lots of historic buildings, yummy restaurants, and of course, shopping.

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Nate manages to get in the picture.

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We spent one afternoon at Balboa Park, which is amazing if you are ever in the area. It is right next to the San Diego Zoo. (technically, the zoo is part of the park) You can spend several days in the non-zoo part of the park, visiting some of the 16 museums, 17 gardens, riding the carousel, catching a performance at one of the theaters, taking in some amazing architecture, etc. On this particular day, there was an International Festival, and we happened to wander into the House of Scotland. Diane's maiden name is MacAfee, so the host there was very excited to show us some of that family name history.

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The family crest, with motto, "Pro Rege". This translates as, "For the King", which was originally a war cry.

More info and a slightly different version of the crest found here. And loads of family history from the Macfie Clan Society of America

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The island of Colonsay, just off the West Coast of Scotland, appears to be the original home of the MacAfee clan.

Learning a little more about the MacAfee history inspired me to put up a new page based on a scrapbook we received as a wedding gift from Diane's grandma.

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On our last day, we did some hiking around Torrey Pines State Reserve. Jessica has been at UCSD for six years, and this was my first time hiking around this beautiful coastal area.


May - Zimbabwe

14 people from Valley Church, Cupertino went to Harare, Zimbabwe to volunteer at Habitation Of Hope (a summer camp for orphans run by Hands Of Hope) for just over two weeks.

Travel / Dubai

We left SFO on Wed evening, and arrived in Dubai on their Thur evening, slept there over-night and flew out the next morning, followed by arriving in Harare on their Fri evening. It's a long haul no matter how you look at it!

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Here is the whole gang getting ready to leave for the airport. We each had our own suitcase and one other full of crafts, puppets, supplies, etc. This year, Zachary was able to join us. It was totally last-minute . . . he finished finals early, got home on Mon, we purchased his ticket on Tues while he was still finishing a final project, and we left Wed. Ever spontaneously decide to go to Africa tomorrow?!

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A few of the guys standing in front of the Burj Khalifa - most of the team ventured out in Dubai, even though it was after 11 PM local time, and it had been a long 15 hr flight.

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Welcome to Harare, Zimbabwe - we were very glad to arrive!

Habitation Of Hope

Getting settled in at the camp.

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We stayed in the same chalet as last year, with the same resort-like view out the front door!

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I don't recall seeing poinsettia flowers last year, but there they are. A butterfly or two seemed to like them as well.

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We had an awesome puppet stage last year, made by Jordan McDevitt. There was only one thing wrong - it was made out of large PVC. Guess what happens when a water pipe springs a leak at the camp? Yup, the maintenance crew repairs it with whatever they can find. Thus, we had to construct a new puppet stage this year, but didn't have enough connectors. Using that same McGyver spirit, here we see our camp director (Garikai Masuka) making a connector by heating up a pipe over the stove. :-)

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On Sat morning, we went into Avondale, and mingled with some of the 'locals'. A few of us met a man named Jeremiah who was selling belts. We got to chatting with him, and he asked us to bring him back to the US. I thought he was joking, until he asked a 2nd time. He went on to say, "we are suffering." Things are very bad there for many, with unemployment estimated as high as 95%. Here we are at the office, so that we could get internet access, and let friends and family know we all arrived safely.

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After our quick office visit, we had lunch with the ladies at Westgate Haven, one of the first HoH homes. They served us an amazing lunch, followed by singing us two songs, and ended with two different cakes.

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Here we see Dr. Charles drawing a crowd.

Camp - Week 1

On Sunday afternoon, the first wave of kids arrived for camp.

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The Red Team completing a task together. The ~50 kids were broken into four teams (~12 each)

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High-5 relay race

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Getting ready for a game of "Red light, green light", although, we called it "Mhanyai! / Mirai!" ("Run! / Stop!")

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The dodgeball games were a hit. :)

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Shamiso ("wonderful") sinking one in the bucket - nice shot!

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The balls were building up to the water balloons. Arbby catches a handful of water!

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Arbby shakes off the water, and translates for Diane, as she explains how they will decorate T-Shirts.

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Later in the week, the kids also decorate string-bags, which came in handy to carry all of their crafts home.

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One afternoon, the kids made crowns.

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Zachary assisting some of the kids.

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The crowns were a big hit, and all the kids wore them that evening, and even some on the following day(s). Even one of the puppets wore one that evening. :)

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Every afternoon was team-building games, led by the Zim team - they worked really hard all day long.

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This was our Red Team working on their egg-drop project.

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Proudly displaying their efforts, basically an egg surrounded by straws and a layer of masking tape. We had scrambled eggs that afternoon.

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On Thurs afternoon, we visit the mud pit. Here the teams battle it out on the muddy pole.

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And then see who can make it across The Ropes.

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Only a few made it across without a refreshing dunk.

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Valerie had a great smile, but we didn't see it very often. You can't tell from most of these pics, but these kids have had a rough life already.

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Red Team photo

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Sunset behind a few of the A-frames where some of the kids stayed.

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Peeking backstage during a puppet practice. The kids loved the puppets, and we had fun too.

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Final Thurs night dance party, before the kids left Fri morning. A few long hugs like the one in the background.

The Weekend between the two camps

On Friday morning, we headed for Bally Vaughn Game Park

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Well, not so fast. Our "combi" (van) would not start. We tried pulling a battery out of a nearby SUV, but could not get the posts to line up. Finally, we pulled the battery off the camp's back-up generator and used that to get us on the road.

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A few hours later, relaxing at the game park lodge.

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Until Stripes, The Very Friendly Zebra, came to visit. He has a sweet tooth, and is quite smart. For example, he tried to knock the tea & cookie out of my hand by nudging my elbow so that he could claim them for his own.

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After he realized I had set it down, he went after Diane.

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She wasn't too comfortable with him nibbling at her back.

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Here was our ride as we went to feed a few elephants and see some other wild life. Looks like it will fit about 8-10 comfortably.

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So we crammed 13 of us into it. :-)

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The view was breath-taking at just about every turn.

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We got up-close and personal with two elephants.

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Nate's turn to feed one of them.

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We also saw some Zebra and antelope there.

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And a brief glimpse of an eagle.

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We ate well the entire time, but especially here. All 14 of us, plus our fearless leader (Glen) in this pic.

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A handful of ostrich running around the park.

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And some nice sized golden orb spiders.

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Speaking of big, these caterpillars are probably around 8" long.

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The wildebeests kept a close eye on us, but didn't seem very worried.

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The African (Cape) Buffalo (aka Black Death) on the other hand, would not let us get very close, and that was fine with us, given his reputation for charging.

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Not your ordinary donkey - check out the legs - it is a zonkey!

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Looks like he is waving hello, but it is actually more like pointing out who he plans to eat first.

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This was one angry cat. He was brought here after getting his throat tangled up in barbed wire. He survived, but now has a low, gurgling roar.

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I would not want to meet this guy on his terms.

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Ms. Lion was also one with whom you would not want to toil.

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Their biggest lion at the moment - this guy was starting to make a dent in the fence.

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Finally, a more friendly face. Who knew hyenas liked to have their chin scratched?!

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I believe this is a croc based on the teeth.

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Looks more like a gator, but again, the teeth make me think croc.

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This poor guy has arthritis, and is moving very slowly.

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Beautiful coat

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Of course, the photo doesn't do it justice, but you can start to get the idea, just gorgeous.

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We shared a nice little house between four of us, and had this view of the savanna in the morning.

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Looking up at the main ("mwanga") lodge, named after a hard wood tree.

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Diane made friends with the Zebra before we left. (by having food for it of course :) On the left is one of the twin girls (Abby or Eden?!) who grew up here, and taught Stripes most of his sneaky tricks. ;)

On Saturday, we headed for Hatfield (near Harare) to visit an orphanage there (The Philadelphia House)

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This little girl (Makanaka-Ishe) was one of the friendliest folks we met on the entire trip. She went around and shook everybody's hand.

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Loni and Autumn seem to be enjoying the company.

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Diane got to hold baby Seth on several occasions.

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Finally Nate got a turn to hangout with Makanaka-Ishe.

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On the way back to camp, we passed one of President Mugabe's homes - not really all that inviting.

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A group of us climbed up some boulders back at camp to watch an awesome sunset that evening.

Constellations

It did not occur to me last year that we were looking at different constellations in the Southern hemisphere.

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Just above the middle of this pic is a kite-shaped constellation, known as The Southern Cross, or Crux. To the left of that, the two bright starts are Alpha and Beta Centauri, which point to the cross.

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This pic contains Scorpius (aka Scorpio), although it is difficult to pick out unless you know exactly what it looks like.

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This shot has a shorter exposure, so that the Scorpius constellation is easier to discern. (start with the curve of the tail in the middle of the pic, and then move up and to the left for the head. The bright star near the head is Antares.

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All dressed up and ready to go. We attended Green Valley church on our 2nd Sunday there.

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We put on a puppet show for the kids, and they all wanted a backstage pass afterwards. The show went well, except we were pretty much outside, and it was a bit breezy, so our scripts and such were blowing around during the skit.

Camp - Week 2

On Sunday afternoon, the next wave of kids arrived for camp.

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Many of the kids had never used a frisbee before.

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Again, the high-5 relay, this time the HoH National Director (Charles Kaguda) is participating.

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The kids have a blast with duck-duck-goose.

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Lots of team-building games. In this one, they had to use the small cup to bring water from a bucket, fill up the larger cups one at a time, and blow the ping-pong ball down the line. If it fell out, the larger cups were emptied, and they had to start over.

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friendly rivalry between the US and Zim leaders - the points were all tied up at the end of the week, but more US leaders successfully crossed The Mudpit Ropes, just sayin' ;-)

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Filling 35 water balloons simultaneously using this clever invention.

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Of course, the water balloon games are a huge success.

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And inevitably escalated to water bucket games.

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Meanwhile, things are a bit calmer (and safer!) in the craft shack as they decorate T-Shirts

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or just enjoy coloring

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or even apply tattoos

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Quick break for a family photo

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One morning during game time, I ran down to the pond to snap a photo of a large flock of egrets.

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Walking out to the field for afternoon team-building games. That load of bricks will be put towards the new staff housing.

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Once again, the kids battle it out on the mud pole

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and try to make it across the ropes

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Ever wonder what your face looks like just as you realize that you are going in the drink?! Thanks to Taniya, now you know. ;-)

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A quick photo with Anastacia.

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Taniya and Arbby catch a rare moment of peace and quiet.

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Mostly the red team on our last evening.

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Finally, the red team after they just received all of their crafts from the week, including "Uncle Theo" who did most of the translating for us this week.

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I'm still amazed at these piles of huge boulders scattered around the country side.

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Our new friend, Nyasha. (I thought it meant "mercy" but she said "grace" - she prolly knows better than I ;-) She sold us five T-Shirts at the local market in Avondale, a more upscale part of town. Just doin' our part for the local economy!

Travel Home / Dubai

We left Zimbabwe Friday evening, and arrived in Dubai on Saturday morning. We had scheduled a 24+ hour layover, so we were able to get some sleep, and then tour a bit of the area via taxi hops.

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Entering the Gold Souk ("market")

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Strange, many of the vendors seemed to know we were tourists! I lost count of how many wanted to show us their watches and handbags. If you ask for directions, they will just lead you to their shop. :)

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It was 99 degrees that day, and quite humid. The vendors are clever and keep their shops very cool, so at some point, you have to visit one or more of them. They don't seem to mind if you just come in and sit in their chairs for a while!

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After the gold and spice markets, we took a quick tour of the old fort / museum, and then took a taxi back to the Burj Khalifa, where we rode the zippy elevator (9 m/sec) and enjoyed the awesome view At The Top.

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It is mind-boggling to look down on very tall buildings. We are on the 148th floor here, out of about 163 total.

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We stayed through sunset, until it got dark outside.

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Speaking of the sunset...

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we watched it sink over "The World"...

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a group of man-made islands just off the coast.

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I just couldn't narrow this bunch of pics down to one!

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After dinner, we went outside and caught the fountain / light show.

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It is at least (if not more) impressive than the fountains at The Bellagio in Las Vegas.

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How do you get from Dubai to San Francisco? Head North, of course! Unfortunately, it was a cloudy day, so we weren't able to spot Santa's workshop.


April

We've been framed! thumbnail

After Easter service at Valley Church, instant photo framing!


March


February


January