The Weather is Cooling...

The boys were enjoying the cooler AZ afternoon today with Abby. They had so much fun wrapping her like a burrito!

Abigail is 2 Months Old!

En-route home from Africa, we got these pictures of Abigail! What a little cutie pie! I can't believe she is already 2 months old! Crazy! We love her so much!!!

Zambia-- Livingstone Day 10

This was our last day in Zambia and it was a full one! We went to a tribal village this morning called the Muloki Village. We saw their homes (very primitive-- made with sticks and mortar from abandoned termite hills and thatched roofs!), a kindergarten class-- the kids were so cute and couldn't stop giving me high 5's and they all just kept coming over to join the others. I wish I'd gotten a picture with them--they were such cute little kids. Then we saw the group of teenagers who performed their traditional dances. There are ALWAYS drums involved in African tribal dances and it is always loud! We saw them working with wood to make all their sculptures and handicrafts, which is where we ended up on the tour-- their little market... where ALL of the vendors were trying to get us to buy their stuff, which all looked the same! There wasn't a whole lot we loved, but we ended up buying a lot more than we planned to because they were REALLY good salesmen! Very persistent!! When we got back from that tour we headed over to Livingstone Island to do the Devil's Pool. I was low key scared until I saw what the people before us were doing and I got kinda panicky and stressed! The water in that pool is relatively calm, but it literally drops off RIGHT THERE to the tune of 325 feet down! The current was strong even waiting in that pool! Plus, there were little 4" fish that kept biting and it was hard enough to make me even more panicky! Even when it was my turn to take the pictures on the edge of destruction, the fish were still biting but the guide is literally only holding your feet, so if you kick too hard, and he loses his grip-- SIYONARA baby!! I kept kicking and trying to get the fish off, and the other guide kept trying to get me to go farther so my hands were over the edge, but I just couldn't do it! Every ounce of my body and mind were telling me that it wasn't safe! It really was pure torture taking all those shots at the edge-- and they kept wanting me to do all these different poses and I just wanted to be DONE and the fish never stopped biting! The water was really refreshing though... it was a hot day! Afterward, we had a really nice lunch in the shade on the island as well. The people with us were Edward Jones, as well and another group joined us and they were all from London! It was fun to talk to them--they were super friendly!! We took a boat ride back to the hotel and got a quick rest before our 90 minute massages! We went to these little cabanas at the edge of the Zambezi river and the atmosphere was so relaxing! That was the perfect way to end the day as the Devil's Pond experience was a bit stressful! (Nothing like that would ever be allowed in the US!) Our massages were the perfect ending to this whole trip which has been absolutely amazing in so many different ways! It took us 2 days to get here and will take us 2 days to get home, so we will have been gone for 14 days! I think that's a record for me!!! It has been wonderful, but I am ready to go home!

Zambia-- Livingstone Day 9

This morning we went on a walking tour of Victoria Falls! It was quite the process to get over the border into Zimbabwe because the other side of the Falls is located in that country-- the Zambezi river is the border. It was a very inefficient border crossing process and you can tell that both countries are poor and the buildings, etc were very run down and there weren't enough lanes for the amount of traffic and everything was just congested into one area. Our bus made it through without any problems, it just took them a while to ok us to go! (We even had to wait going the other direction after the tour!) It was worth it though because the Falls were BEAUTIFUL! It was a warm and muggy morning, but as soon as we got close we had a really nice cool mist that instantly cooled us off! We hiked around to all the look out spots-- it is amazing how big these Falls are! It is 2 miles long I think they said and at high season in May they are fully running so that the entire 2 miles has lots of water going over it. Right now, there are sparse spots with no water running over the edge-- but still so massive and impressive! We saw the tour group on the other side doing the "Devil's Pool" and thought they were crazy until we realized that's what we will be doing tomorrow! Yikes! It probably would've been better to do that tour first and be ignorant as to how big a drop it is and how much water is actually going over the edge, which you really don't get a sense of unless you are viewing it from the other side! It was a fun morning! This afternoon, we took a jet boat ride over to the Elephant Cafe-- an elephant rescue and orphanage. This was truly AMAZING! I love elephants, but to be so close and able to touch them and interact with them was awesome! They are huge animals! We got to feed each one of them and get pictures-- as I turned my back to this huge male-- a predator-- I realized that his tusks could impale me if he wanted to!!! We took lots of pictures because it was just so crazy to be so close to such a large, wild animal! Their trunks moved so skillfully in taking the food from our hands back and forth from side to side. They definitely know the drill. 1. Stand there and look cute and 2. Get lots of food! You could give the command "Trunk Up" and they would open their mouth to throw the food directly in! So CUTE!! Their skin was really rough and they had hairs on their trunks that were very pokey! We learned that ellies go through 6 sets of teeth and when that last set wears out they leave the herd to go off on their own to starve and then die because they can't eat! SO SAD!!! I really enjoyed being able to interact with these gentle giants! They are truly amazing! I asked what the largest male weighed and they said 6 TONS!!! That's a lot of food! Hahaha! They served us a really nice gourmet 4 course meal afterward and it was soooooo good! I think this has definitely been my favorite activity we've done here in Zambia!!! There were a lot of other animals roaming around the grounds because it was safer here than being out in the bush-- so all the smart animals were hanging out here at the elephant refuge! Such a fun night!