Warthog -- It's What's for Dinner

Now that's it's about time to leave, the Fox network has arrived! Although the television programming is a little behind here, we actually get some cinema movies early. 'Iron Man 3' was here a few days before the states, and we rented 'Dino Time' this weekend which is now Jackson's favorite movie, but I found out it's not available back home. We had a friend bring us some new Nexus 4 phones since they don't exist here yet. Blackberry is pretty popular. I'm excited to get back and have unlimited phone calls, texts, and internet without needing to stop in somewhere and buy airtime.

The weather has been absolutely gorgeous! It is now the dry season which means it's sunny every day. It's cool at night, maybe between 45-50F, with the highs getting up to 70F or so most days. We did have a little cold spell so I had to turn on my floor heaters for a bit. Unfortunately dry weather means it's time for everyone to start burning the land, so there's an awful brown haze over the city which is irritating, and we've been dealing with runny noses and coughing.

Our geyser (water heater) in the garage decided to break one night so we had a lovely waterfall over the freezer and a thick frozen one inside of it. Could have been worse, one of them is also located upstairs above Miranda's closet (we have 3 total). One day it will break, I just hope it waits until we're gone. We also had water issues in the house where there were 2 days where it just didn't work for several hours. I can live without electricity for a day, but no water is very challenging. They had the same challenge at Miranda's school last week when they didn't have water for almost 3 days. They brought in bottled water and fancy portable toilets that flushed and had working sinks. School was canceled on Wednesday so they could resolve the issue, and it just happened to be a holiday (Worker's Day) so it all worked out. Rusty and I spent the morning at the China Mall which is full of fun & cheap junk. I spent most of my money on new 'pashmina' scarves and some costume jewelry. My 'new experience' of the day was when I went to use the restroom, the toilet paper dispenser was on the outside of the stall. I had to take what I predicted would be enough before I went in. Maybe this is practiced all over the world, but it was new to me! This weekend we took Miranda to see 'The Croods' at Montecasino. As we were waiting in line to pay to park in the parking garage, there was a security truck with a guy standing next to it with his machine gun, and another guy on the other side of the entrance/exit with a gun as well. Then they both rand into the truck and sped off up the ramp into the garage. We asked the lady taking our money if we should be here, and she said it was OK. Hmm, didn't appear to be OK to me! Then after we parked and we were walking to the entrance, two security trucks raced down one of the lanes. We chose to go inside anyways. Interesting.

Miranda has been going to a lot of birthday parties and play dates lately, it's sad that we most likely will never see any of her kindergarten classmates ever again. But what a great experience she's had, and she is old enough to remember it. Unlike Jackson, who will probably only have memories from the pictures we've taken and the scars he's acquired. My lovely daughter decided to disobey me once again and turn on the treadmill in the upstairs loft. Just as I was calling them down for dinner, I hear crying and “it's OK, it's OK!” It wasn't. Jackson got his finger stuck under the tread and the band ripped off a thick layer of skin on his arm and hand. Yes, it was very gross. It's been over a week and he is healing nicely, but it's going to leave a mark.

For the 'Worker's Day' holiday, several of Rusty's co-workers & family members got together for a braii. We enjoyed the warthog that had been hunted by one of the guys. Tasted like ham, and I like ham. Cinco de Mayo was celebrated a day early on Saturday with our '2^nd Annual' event with most of the B&V families in the office here. Most people have really missed Mexican food, and there have only been a couple of restaurants found that are acceptable. But since I don't like Mexican food, I haven't had a problem. That's right, I said it, I don't like Mexican food! And considering there's one on every corner in KC, it's a problem. But there's an Italian restaurant on every corner here, so apparently this is where I belong!