The One Where Mosby Gets A New Bone

Mosby loves bones more than life itself; however, he hates the nubs left over after he chews the center out and he leaves them littered all over the house.  Luckily, Santa was good to him this Christmas and he has a restocked bone supply.


Here are a couple of shots of him enjoying a new one:

The One Where We Celebrate Christmas (Andy)

Merry Christmas from Africa! 

This holiday season found us reflecting on the fact that we are in our early thirties, married, living in Africa, pet owners, and expecting our first baby. Most of the aforementioned has occurred within the past year (six months actually). Added to this was the fact that this was really one of the first Christmases we have spent away from home, away from our immediate families and our cherished traditions (even if we don't always cherish them at the time). Long story short: we had a lot of reflecting to do. I was extremely busy with work the first half of the month so, like my gift buying, I managed to push my reflecting off to the end of the month:).

Kerry and I brought all of our Christmas decorations with us from the States, banking on the fact the we would have space in the house to hang all of our decorations and that we would be able to find a Christmas tree in Kenya. We instead found that, while we had space for our decorations, our walls and mantle are made of concrete, making it very difficult for hang stockings and wreaths on a whim (luckily, we forgot to bring a wreath with us). There also is no place in Kenya to buy a live Christmas tree. We resorted to a (tasteful) fake purchased at the Noukumatt grocery store. 

We didn't have stockings, either, but luckily my parents came through and sent us and Mosby new stockings to hang above our fireplace. Only, as I mentioned a second ago, we couldn't hang them because the mantle is concrete and offers no natural place to hang them, so we put in another rush order to parents for some hangers. Worked out perfectly. The mantle was, however, able to accommodate our African creche set where--and I can't be certain on this--all the members, oddly enough, might be Muslims. Well played Balthazar.

We attended church on Christmas eve and a friends party down the street from us. Lacking access to TBS, we were forced to rent Christmas Story from iTunes, but it was a welcome taste of home. We breached Cook tradition slightly by waiting to open the majority of our gifts Christmas day. We both received great presents from our parents and each other; I was particularly happy with a book Kerry had made of photos that I had taken since we have been in Africa.  

A couple of months ago we decided that we wanted to host a party at our house for a few friends and include some colleagues here on temporary duty who didn't have a home to go to for the holidays. It also was an excuse to use Kerry's family china that she inherited and has been sitting in a box in our storage space for years. She planned an excellent meal and in partnership with another couple that cooked a turkey and a ham, we had the makes of a great Christmas dinner. Even Mosby got to have his best friend Emmie over for the weekend. 

But, that meant that we spent the majority of Christmas Day cleaning and cooking and setting up.

Kerry cooked some truly amazing dishes. She also gave me a recipe for bacon infused bourbon, which I infused with my stomach shortly after this photo was taken in what I call "Mosby's Cocktail." (2 parts bacon-infused bourbon, 1/4 part maple syrup, splash of bitters, orange slice for flavor). Delicious.

The party was a success and Christmas day ended like so many Christmases past: to much food, to many dishes, not enough time. 

We wish everyone back home and posted abroad a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

The one where the Varanos come to visit (Kerry)

My parents have just returned to Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania after a two week visit here to see us and their granddog Mosby of course.  They were our first visitors here and therefore our guinea pigs to see how much activity, altitude, and general African idiosyncrasies a couple of spry baby boomers can take.  They did very well and we feel confident we can handle anyone, so come and visit us!


After a few barks and some excited peeing on the floor, Mosby took right to them and loved all of the extra walks and attention and dog biscuits he received during their stay.

(note the permanent dirt stain on his nose from constantly burying his bones in our muddy backyard:)

We took my parents on two different safaris so we could compare experiences.  This was my first real safari in Kenya and Andy's first safari anywhere so we were very excited.  

We started up in Samburu, Kenya which is a desert and while it is not the primary location for safaris in Kenya, we chose to go there because it is less crowded and you have to work to see the animals.  We stayed in a wonderful tented camp with excellent hosts and we managed to see all five of the animals that are only located in Samburu--the gerenuk, the reticulated giraffe, the grevy zebra, the somali ostrich, and the beisa oryx--so we felt very fortunate.  Here are some photos:

Next we went to the Masai Mara where, as someone told us, it is like God took a suitcase of all the animals and dumped them there.  We saw everything (except a rhino) there and had a wonderful time. We stayed in another great tented camp and had delicious food too.  Here are some of our photos:

After the safaris we spent some time seeing the sights of Nairobi including the elephant orphanage, the giraffe center, a tea farm, and a flower farm.  Hopefully it wasn't too exhausting!

I should probably end here since this has become quite a long post.  We had a fantastic time with my parents and we miss them already.  Lord-willing we will see them in PA this spring for the birth of our baby!