Tuesday, August 13, 2013

mini Thanksgiving

Since we moved to Kenya, we have been trying to get Rodgers' mom to come visit us. Because of farming, there are certain times of the year that she really can't get away. She needs to be planting or harvesting or something else. She usually has a few grandkids living with her, too. She hasn't traveled far in a long time. Going to Mombasa would be a long trip for her.

Our move to Kilifi made the visit more possible for her. She was supposed to come in July, but one of Rodgers' sisters had a baby (when there are 8 sisters, someone is always having a baby...), so Esther had to go there instead. A month later, though, she made it here, with one of Rodgers' sisters (Alice, the second-born) and two of Alice's kids (Gladys and Esther). Grandma Esther told us that she had not been to Kilifi since Rodgers was a baby, and he was born in 1976.

Ben getting a cuddle after he got in trouble with Daddy.

They stayed 2 nights. The girls loved playing with Nate's and Ben's Legos and all of their musical/light up toys (like Baby Einstein Take Along Tunes).

Nate is on school break, so he got to spend all day with his cousins.
Ben is not used to sharing so. much.

Grandma Esther enjoyed watching Nate and Ben play. They took it upon themselves to introduce her to Lightning McQueen and Buzz Lightyear.

They were probably watching Toy Story

Alice tried to talk to me a lot. I didn't understand her most of the time (between her broken English and my broken Swahili). But she did help me in the kitchen a bit, and that was nice.

Alice making ugali in my kitchen

The first night, I made them American food. I had found some turkey legs, so I roasted them and made dressing and stovetop green bean casserole to go with them. Unfortunately, by the time our guests were ready to eat, the power had gone out, and it had been a couple of hours since supper was ready for the boys. We couldn't reheat the food for them, so they ate cold turkey in the dark. They seemed to like it, though! After that, we stuck with more Kenyan-style food.

Hopefully this is just the first of many visits.

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