Day 8- Mark travels to Kisii/ Bee sting, Redstone Park, Babysitting and Dinner at the Archers

Mark and the team have traveled from the city in Nairobi to a more rural part of Kenya where they will help with an orphanage for a few days. Their safari yesterday/ this morning was quite the adventure. They did an evening safari and it got rained out. They got stuck in some mud several times on the way back to the resort and ended up piling into 2 vehicles to get back. They spent the night and the next day went out on a morning safari. They did get to see some animals that time:) We are at the half way mark tonight!!! Super exciting! I'm really starting to miss him A LOT:) Elijah saw a picture in the kitchen of Mark this morning and said, "Look mom, now we can remember what dad looks like!" The kids miss him too! Today the team is building houses in the town of Kisii.

Our day was low key and was nice. I have been having bad headaches yesterday and today and I'm thinking it may be all the smoke in the air. Its so sad about the fires in CO Springs and its amazing that the smoke can be seen here and it smells very strong! We are praying for the safety/homes of those in the area who have been evacuated and for the firefighters. Ella woke up several times last night and was so worried that the fire would come to our house. It was a rough night of sleep. I reassured her over and over that we were safe but she kept waking me up saying she was afraid.

I babysat Tytan all day and he got along really well with the kids and Elijah loved having another boy around for the day. We played in the sprinklers and I was able to finally plant my tomato plants. Elijah did, however, receive his first bee sting. It was quite traumatic. Thankfully his little foot didn't swell much at all.

 We did get to go to Redstone Park this afternoon. Its a great little park and wasn't busy at all! 

I love it when we have the whole park to ourselves:) 

They have a great sand area with running water and its under a big shade canopy. 

It's where the kids spent most of their time.

 And of course, this super cool shaved ice truck drove by blaring its tropical music and I caved and got them all one! It was SO hot and my mouth was watering so I flagged the guy down and it was worth it! They were delicious! And the kids could add the flavors by themselves. So cool (literally)

 My beautiful girlies! 

The Archers invited us over for dinner tonight and it was delicious and the company was even better.

 I am so blessed to have such a supportive and caring church body at Sola! 

And Amy sent me home with the new Coffeemate Samoa Creamer- it's AMAZING!!! 

Day 2- Mark Travels all day and Arrives in Kenya / Library reading programs and Cherry Knolls Park

This morning we hit up 3 libraries and registered for their reading programs. 

Sophia is already on her 7th chapter book and summer just started. They all love reading so much. 

We chilled at home this afternoon and then hit up the pizza place for dinner and then went to Cherry Knolls Park to do some after dinner wading in the creek. 

The weather was gorgeous today! 

 The kids really enjoy exploring at Cherry Knolls Park. 

Its pretty sandy over all and it does not get very deep at all. 

There are a bunch of little waterfalls that the kids LOVE to climb all over. 

Elijah did cut his toe a bit on the rock but other then that, we were injury free. 

 The park area has a tire swing, big kid and baby kid swings and 2 different play structures. 

It is a pretty busy park seeing as there are fields all around it where lots of kids sports take place. 

 My goal this summer is to try to visit a different park all summer long and blog about them. I absolutely LOVE Denver because of the variety of very cool and fun parks- many with water features! 

Our sink started leaking and Mark's kind mom brought over one of her friends tonight to look at it. 

He found a little rubber ring that needed replacing and it is now fixed!

 So thankful because dishes were taking me forever with the leak. 

And it was fun to see Grandma tonight, even just for a short time:) 

 I just got off the phone (Google hangout) with Mark- it is morning in Kenya. 10 pm here. 7am there (tomorrow) weird how time zones are:) He got a good night sleep and while we are sleeping in Denver they will be in an orientation meeting and then doing some shopping in the market. I am glad they have a low key day planned. It will help them ease into the business that will follow. You can follow their team blog here http://valordiscovery.net/index.php/africa if you wish. Hopefully they will get to upload pics on it- that is my favorite part:)

Sterne Park

 I love finding new parks and a friend from church told us about Sterne Park in Littleton- its tucked away on some side streets and it is AWESOME! It has a huge lake, a little river and lots of minnows and ducks! There is a playground and a pavilion and lots of shade which is a plus.

 My kids played for hours trying to catch minnows in their test tubes and they amazingly succeeded! 

 Love the little trail along the river bed.. fun exploration!