Addis Ababa

Ethiopia was amazing and beautiful and I had a heck of a time while there. I've been catching up on life since returning. I did some stuff with my friend Maureen then on days when she was busy with her new little one I went on solo (with a hired translator and driver) trips. My first post here will include sites from the Addis Ababa. This is the capitol city and frankly it's my least favorite part of Ethiopia. There are things within the capitol city that are worth seeing and doing but the traffic is enough to drive a person crazy!

Here are some of the sites of Addis....

Shoe shinning/polish anyone?
Since my last trip to Ethiopia the traffic has gotten a lot busier in Addis, I was stuck in traffic 3 times while in Addis, once because the Prime Minister was either coming or going and they stop all traffic.
This is one of the churches I visited on Entoto Mountain.
I learned a bit about how things are represented within the churches (the main theme being "the Father, Son and Holy Spirit) I also got the chance to tour some rock/in-ground churches.
Lastly, this picture is from Hosanna (a town down south), I just wanted to include it because of the kid doing the splits. Once you get out of the city kids are much more curious and will do things to get your attention. If you could have seen how fast the kid dropped into the splits position you would have been amazed.

Busy Boys

Our neighbor Chris stopped by for a "hey my wife is gone, would you like to cut down a tree?" party. It was a great male bonding experience... we spent some time with the neighbor, the boys used a chainsaw for the first time, and no one needed to see a doctor.

Geremu began by giving rides to anyone willing to hop on.

Then Cullen took the wheel.

Geremu, Cullen, and I went swimming and then camping after our yard work was done.Geremu loved his treat.The boys couldn't wait to camp... and I was curious to see if we all fit in my two man tent. A half man + a half man + a man = 2 men. Who knew...After getting up with the sun we did a little raspberry picking.This is Cullen showing off our loot.

It's been a great summer so far, and it's only the 4th. We're loving our freedom and missing our beautiful mom. Can't wait to hear about her travels.

While Mom is away...

the boys will play.


Hello Blogging world I am Nick. This is my first official blog post, although I like to think I'm AnnMarie's favorite editor.


I thought I would post a few photos to show what the boys and I have been up to.

We had a visit from Pop. He was in town coaching an all-star game.

We also had a visit from my side of the family... yes that is our deck furnature around the fire... it just seemed comfortable. And this handsom young man is my father (sorry ladies he's already taken). With him is Jayce, the latest edition to our family.

I'll post more later tonight.

P.S. AnnMarie has landed safely in Addis.

Oh NO!

Guess who is still signed into my computer and now is in AFRICA!

JACK POT! (:

Last Full Day in NC

Today was a day of running around for Katie. She was in a bit of a bad mood... I'll explain more about that in about a year, possibly 6th months, if drinks are involved. Trust me people this will be worth the wait.

Here are a few pictures of our day.Katie just informed us that, "Jefferson (Curtis' new school) is a great school."

Eric responded with, "Kate is teaching at Jefferson in your future?"

In which Katie informed Eric that, "The only thing in my future is sitting my a$$ at the pool."

Well tomorrow was suppose to be the day I would fly home, there has been a change in plans... I'm now headed over the Ethiopia with a friend, Maureen, who is picking up her new child. I couldn't be more thrilled and honored to be along on her journey.

It will be hard to be away from the boys (this is the longest I've ever been away from them) but they are in GREAT hands. Nick has helped to pull this whole trip together for me at the last minute. Love that man!

Swimming, Shopping and Dear Mom...

We did a little swimming in the morning...

before the girl's headed out to check out the shopping in the area. I think we would all agree that the frozen yogurt place (Yoforia) was the BEST stop!

We had a successful shopping day and had a little fun in the process. At one point we were in a learning/toy shop. We found a book called The Tickle Monster and it came with some Monster gloves. Here Megan is preparing to go in for the kill...

Here Katie is being taken completely off guard by The Tickle Monster...

We will end with something we like to do when we reminisce about the past. We call this Dear Mom...

Dear Mom,
Thank you for giving the orthodontist the A-OK to put a lip bumper in my mouth. I no longer just drooled at night, I could do it all day! What doesn't kill us only makes us stronger... Right?
Love,
AnnMarie

Dear Mom,
Thank you for only allowing Katie to wear Multipules, tight-rolled pants and curling her bangs out (some might say feathering). You were right, the rest of us were too young for that stuff anyways.
Love,
AnnMarie and Megan

Dear Mom,
Thank you for making me wear AnnMarie's hand-me-down jeans. Clearly, they were too small. The red indent line is almost off my stomach. I owe you.
Love,
Megan

Dear Mom,
Thank you for never making us wear elastic jeans.
Love,
Katie, AnnMarie and Megan

Dear Mom,
Thanks for making me ask to eat junk food when I was little and hiding the Little Debbie's in the basement forcing me to go on a scavenger hung for a snack. Because of that I binge eat.
Love,
Katie

Dear Mom,
Thanks for never making me have a bowl cut.
Love,
Megan

Dear Mom,
Thank you for making me run up the stairs in fear of having my butt pinched.
Love,
Katie, AnnMarie and Megan

The House...

Upon family request I am posting some pictures of Katie's new house, I will try to get shots of the inside tomorrow. This picture doesn't look quite right, her house is up on a bit of a hill.

As you can see from the above pictures a little trimming of the trees and hedges was necessary. Fortunately Katie knows this really HOT landscaper that has "started" trimming the worst of the mess.

Unfortunately it's hard to get much done in the heat, so only 3 of the over 40 shrubs/trees got trimmed.

While the personal landscaper was busy, Katie was at the hospital with Curtis. He has been pretty sick and was really dehydrated from the heat and illness combined.

So someone needed to entertain the kids, I was more than happy to do this. Here Andrew is right after coming up from diving for rings.

Every time I get in the water Johnny asks me to "get the camera" so we can take video and pictures of him. It's really quite entertaining.

While Charlie was busy sleeping again...

I was busy making sure the water slide was safe.

It was so much fun, I was able to talk Megan into taking a few trips down as well!

Thanks to Charlie, Megan didn't need a flotation device (if ya know what I mean.)

One last story, tonight we were on a walk, in the woods there was a lot of noise. We all look back and Katie takes off running faster than I have seen her move in the last few years into the street (opposite direction of the woods). Megan and I both look at her and smile while she explains that she is sure "it was Edward". I told her next time she is being attacked to make sure she saves herself (Charlie was with us). After she caught her breath she decided it was not Edward after all because, "it was Jacob".