Slow Blog Month

So it has been a pretty slow month for blogging. Suzanne is in the States so I'm here alone. I don't tend to do a whole lot when I'm here by myself. When I get home I'm usually too tired to blog, and I like to sit in front of the TV and not have to think very much.

I guess I could put up a few more random photos from our trip.

This was the first night in Nairobi. We ate some good traditional African food, I'm not really sure why we have been in Africa for over a year now. I guess things just taste better while on vacation.

Sunset on the Mara. I like to watch the sun set and now I have a camera that can take pretty good pictures of it. It's crazy there is actually a setting on the camera called sunset, what a novel idea.

Another sunset, this time on the Nile river.

The Citadel in Cairo. We went to see many religious establishments while in Egypt and this was by far the largest and most celebrated.

Happy Birthday Reza

Today is Reza's birthday. We like birthdays, it gives us an excuse to go out and have a good time.



We had dinner at one of our favorite places here.



A drink or two is always nice.



She is always so cute.



Having a good time sharing a drink.



I think he had a good time on his birthday. I know we did.

More about SPAN

My older ballet girls. There were a few missing because of Spring Break.


Learning pas de chat. Look at Emma in the background trying to be like her older sister. Emma is in my younger class.

Working on 3rd position and tunr-out.

Changement! Point your feet in the air!

Releve

Creative Dance class

Leap Frog!

Every class we have the same routine. I am obsessed with structure! After our waterbreak half way through the hour, the girls line up for across the floor. I took this picture because they lined up on their own without me or my assistants reminding them where to go. Pretty good for 3, 4, and 5 year olds!

Monkey Dance from the Wiggles!

Circle stretches and "Surprise"!

Plies in first position.

I have had so much fun with these classes and hopefully some of the strategies I have used will be passed on for next year in SPAN. The tuition paid from these classes benefit the public school kids and several orpanages around Lagos, giving kids the opportunity to dance who would not ordinarily get to.

Post 100

After Just over a year of posting we have reached the 100 mark! This milestone deserves some of the most beautiful creatures on earth.

In my opinion lions are really cool. I'm just glad we were in the car and not on foot.

Another shot of the little cubs.

You can see already blending in with the grass.

It is quite amazing how much they really blend in. Can you spot all three in this picture?

How about this guy? He's pretty hidden.

A couple of young males staring down the buffalo.

A nice silhouette as the sun is starting to go down. They like to hunt the most in the dawn just as the sun is coming up or in the dusk just as it's going down because that is when they blend in the best. You can almost walk right up next to them and not even know they were there.

These two were resting after their meal.

A couple of female checking us out seeing if we are ok to hang out next to their cubs.

Babies

Who doesn't like looking a baby animals?



The cutest one had to be the baby elephant. Our guide said that this one was about 4 days old. How cute is that.



Can you see the baby hippo hiding behind his mama?



A couple of baby gazelles learning where to go and what to stay away from.



The antelopes called Topi.



A family of warthogs. These guys are very skittish. They did not like anyone getting close.



Another baby zebra. This guy is such a cute little zebra.



A family of mongooses. These guys were fast, and hard to catch on the camera.



These were not exactly babies but they were a couple of young cubs learning how to hunt.



This was a tiny hyena that hasn't gotten his spots yet along with another baby that was a little older and has started changing colors.



Little baby lions, they are so cute. They didn't really care much for us hanging around so they decided to walk on down the way. The mama wasn't far behind so you didn't want to get too close, but they were just too cute not to stop and take a look.

Maasai

The Maasai people are nomadic people that live in the Mara of Kenya and the Serengeti of Tanzania. Their native language is called Maa and sai means speaker or one who speaks, so Maasai means the speaker of the Maa language.



This guy was a chief in training, he told us all about their culture and heritage.



A group of Maasai warriors performing one of their tribal dances.



The guys will jump to impress the ladies. The one who can jump the highest impresses the most. (Guys are all the same everywhere, it's all about impressing the ladies)



A nice group photo, the Maasai colors are red, they really like red.



The stick I'm holding is the chief stick. (Me big chief!)

The Red Sea

Near the end of our trip we took a couple of days to relax on the beach. I never really thought of the red sea as a beach destination but take a look at some of the photos, The place was beautiful.

This was the entrance of the resort

Here is the view out our window of the room we stayed in for two nights.

This one shows the different colors that you can see of the water.

Relaxing on the beach. We thought Suzanne's dad would be proud of the straw hat with the big brim to keep the sun out.

Between the resort and the little town we found some nice flowers to take a picture beside.

We got the opportunity to go para sailing while we were there. This was a really neat experience.

We got the person reeling out the rope to take some pictures while we were in the air.

This rope was 100 meters long. For those who don't think in meters that's about 300 feet high. That is really high. It was quite amazing looking at the sea and the beach from high up.

Touching the water. If the boat driver times it right you can touch the water and then get back up.



After our flight, hanging out in the boat in all our gear.