Family in photo, part four--with additional family

Our times with family feel like thick slices of chocolate cake: unspeakably sweet, even melting in our mouths. And then, of course, gone. With simply an indulgent taste lingering on our tongues; a wide, lazy smile; a delicious memory with appetite for more.

Chris and Jenn flew down for two weeks from their home in the UK, where Chris is a doctor and Jenn teaches art. My kids reacted as if Chuck E. Cheese had suddenly docked in our home. (You know, without the sleep-robbing overstimulation, unsettling life-sized mechanical figures, and generally bad pizza.)

Chris and Jenn have an admirable ability to truly savor and explore a culture, especially its art. So it was that much more fun introducing them so many of the beauties we've come to appreciate, and some new ones for the first time, like Sipi Falls up near Mbale. And a little Twister, Guess Who?, and Dominion with a selection of crossword puzzles thrown in certainly didn't hurt, either. Add some face paint, sorting candy by color with chopsticks, a visit to a local babies' home, and a little Kampala traffic, and who wouldn't be having fun? (Well. Leave the traffic.)

If I really had the time and energy, maybe I could get these photos in the right order. Instead, I am relying upon your common sense, and quite possibly your imagination, to decide what goes with what. My hope is that rather than some kind of exhausting travelogue, you'll get a forkful of life here.

The lovely Oliver tagged along for the ride on some of our crazy outings.



They brought over Guess Who? which they'd dug up at some thrift store. This meant a week of peering at little illustrations to judge their amount of facial hair, etcetera.



Jenn, C., and I loved killing a couple of hours at a local beading shop full of African beads--many of them handmade.

Chris and John went abseiling (rapelling) 100 meters down the length of a double waterfall in Sipi. Can you see John on the left?

One of my husband's great ideas, after a full week of family time with the kids, was to get away for three days with just the two of us and Chris and Jenn. I don't think we'd realized how tired we were until we got away...and the Ugandan scenery as we stayed in a hut below the waterfall was even more stunning than usual.

John returning from abseiling in the mist of the falls at Sipi.

The Ndere dance troupe was an incredible evening exploring the tribal dance of major regions of Uganda. The music and movement were nothing short of captivating. I love how God displays Himself through culture!

Part of the troupe's feat: dancing with ceramic vases stacked up to nine high.

We picked up our spirits on the sad journey to the airport with a few stops, like Entebbe's botanical gardens--where Tarzan was filmed. They capture what much of Uganda had been like before colonization.

The botanical gardens were literally crawling with vervet monkeys. They occasionally got a bit close for my kids' comfort, but overall, it was amazing.

Can you see the sleeping baby she's cradling?



Someone at eMi mused that they rarely see my kids without weapons (of the Nerf variety). Well...yeah. That's pretty true.

At the local reptile village, where my kids were postively ecstatic to meet some of the creatures they'd been poring over in their local wildlife guides. You know it's a great joint when the bathroom is "just past the forest cobra".

This lizard quickly turned, well, blonde.