Ethiopia is now on Google Maps!

Check it out! Google just added Ethiopia to Google Maps.

Here is Ethiopia from space! You can see that it's so-near-and-yet-so-far-from-the-ocean. Even though it is close to the Indian Ocean, the country is still land-locked. This is one of the reasons commerce is so difficult for Ethiopia.

This is the capitol city, Addis Ababa, from space! We spent all of our time in Addis Ababa.

Finally, this is our hotel, The Ghion, FROM SPACE! You can even see the bungalow where we stayed: it's the little row of ten squares just south and west of the big swimming pool (Ethiopia's only Olympic-size pool, I think. Of course, the fact that the pool is filled with "warm water from the bowels of the earth" gives one pause...)

Seeing these up-close pictures makes it hard to believe Ethiopia is a world away. It looks so close, and we long to be there again.

Is there anyone else out there who wants to go, too?

SNAKE!!!!

Being the Bible follower that I am (see Genesis 3:14-16), I HATE SNAKES!

With the weather getting warmer here in Colorado, I have begun my many-times-a-day surveying of the flower beds, yard-around-the-deck and the garden. I am ever-so-vigilant in my searches for snakes. Which doesn't actually make much sense, because when I see one, I am filled with misery and heeby-jeebies, I can hardly stand it. But I don't like to be surprised by a snake, so I always strive to find them first. The good news is, there haven't been any snakes in our yard yet this spring.

(Side story: I had Dave build me a really cool "water feature" near the back door a few years ago. It involved digging and shoveling and leveling and watering and all kinds of effort and carrying on. It was a big job! Unfortunately, given that Boulder County is considered high desert, snakes from near and far flocked to our darn water feature. I couldn't go outside without seeing a snake. Suffice it to say that the water feature was GONE before the last frost the following spring. It's like it was never even there!)

OK, back to today's drama:

As I was driving home this afternoon, Allison called to tell me that Tillie our Wonder Schnauzer had been barking and growling in the back yard. Allison went outside to check the situation, and a BIG goldenish SNAKE that was coiled up in the yard near Tillie our Wonder Schnauzer LUNGED out and BIT TILLIE OUR WONDER SCHNAUZER on the nose!!!!!!


Allison (who has always been a fan of people like Jeff Corwin and other reptile-loving types) calmly took Tillie in the house, then got a bucket and covered the snake with it.

Ryan, who is a neighborhood charmer, I mean a neighborhood snake charmer, came over, and they put the snake into the bucket and called me.

So as I drove home, my mind slithered everywhere: Is Tillie the Wonder Schnauzer breathing? Is she even alive? Is it a golden rattler? (Since we know there are golden eagles in the world, I'm pretty sure there are golden rattlers, too.) How many of its kind are still in the yard? What if Amelia had been the one to find it?

When I got home, Allison the Fearless and Ryan the Valiant unveiled the snake for my viewing displeasure. Since I was expecting to see a snake, and I wasn't surprised to see the snake, I didn't scream at all. (The lack of a scream, actually, brought a couple of neighbors over....they had been bracing themselves for the scream.)

Here are some action shots of the Snake Charmers and the hideousness heinousness that is the snake. (Note: the snake in the following shots is actually FAR BIGGER than it appears in the pictures!)

Yuck!!!

So sick!!!!

I'm gonna barf!!!!

The nightmares are already comin' on!!!

Why oh why, Eve, did you do it?

As I type, Allison and Ryan are fearlessly and valiantly delivering the snake to the nearby lake. Ewwwwww!!!!

I saw some "snake repellant" at Home Depot the other day. I think I'll be picking some up tomorrow.

YOURS

Check out this video of the fourth graders at Abby's school--Rocky Mountain Christian Academy. I'm crying a bit just watching it. So beautiful! It's definitely worth the watch. (And our friend/daughter/sister Morgan is one of the hands!)

She's walkin'! (action shots included)

As of today, Amelia is an official WALKER! She has toyed and flirted with the idea off and on for some time, but she has definitely made the move to the bi-ped mode.

These pictures are just so action-packed, and I'm such an amateur photographer, I know there are some occasional blurs. Just think of it as MOTION!

Now that Amelia is walking, life around here will never be the same, that's for sure!

(And yes, I was moving furniture today...hence the strange lack of stuff in places one would expect to see stuff.)

Hair Excitement

Amelia's hair is getting longer, and the curls are so darling! I know it doesn't look so long in pictures--that's because it's curled up. But you should see her in the bath tub (or, the bath sink, to be more exact). It's pretty long these days!

Meelsie's hair is so cute. But as a curly-haired gal myself, I know the day will come when she and I will commiserate together about the hazards and pitfalls of curly locks. Like mother, like daughter, right? :-)

In anticipation of more hair and summer fun, I ordered the product line-up from Carol's Daughter. It should arrive this week. I can't wait to "do hair" with my baby girl!

We interrupt this travelogue...

....to tell you that Meelsie is legal in her front-facing car seat.

At her 15 month check-up this week, we learned she finally weighs twenty pounds (10th percentile) and she's thirty inches long (25th percentile).

She breezed through every other part of the exam...except the three shots in her little thighs. Poor baby!

Actually, our doctor was pretty thrilled at how much growing progress she has made in the last few months. (Shhhhh! Let's not tell him it was all those chicken nuggets in France!)

Part Trois: Monaco

Trivia: In the movie "Princess Diaries" (AKA "Princess Diarrheas" before the girls could read), the fictional country of Genovia is based on the real country of Monaco. So, of course, we had to go to Monaco.

Trivia: Monaco has the best, freshest-smelling, cleanest and most beautiful public restrooms in all of Europe....or at least in all of the Europe restrooms I have visited.

I'm not saying these two points of trivia are in any way related. But when you're traveling with a family of little girls, they are both pretty important.

But I digress. (Dave would say, "What's new?") Without further ado, here are some pics:

The harbor in Monaco.

We had fun imagining who owned all of the huge yachts!
Two of our own princesses.
Princess #3...she had a great time,

but found herself a bit more stroller-bound than the big girls.
Abs....10 years old, but looking older, don't ya think?

(Don't remind her daddy.)
Al, with eyes the color of the sea!
The whole fam on the roof of the national aquarium.
It looks like a postcard!

Overlooking the sea...

Monaco's army is smaller than its national symphony! :-)

And finally, the famous casino. Which, of course, I have already

seen...in various James Bond and Jason Bourne-esque movies!

France part deux

We loved the village of Cassis (rhymes with "tree")! We ended up there because we couldn't work our first choice (whose name I have already forgotten) into our schedule. I think Cassis ended up being among our favorites, so we're glad our "best plan" didn't work out.

The drive to Cassis goes through some mountains and through lots of vineyards. Apparently Cassis is considered the "poor man's Riviera" and a big off the beaten path, but we thought it was beautiful and so special. We loved exploring (read: eating and shopping) in Cassis.

This is what we saw as we walked into the village.

Just a typical day, wading in the Mediterranean Sea!

This is the beautiful lunch I blogged about a few posts ago...

fresh fish RIGHT from the sea!

The cafe where we lunched is in the middle with the brown awning.

And here are a couple of jeunes filles americaines on the pier!

Finally, Allison is the one in the family who has an artistic eye.

Here are a couple of her photos:

A tree grows in Cassis...
Can you tell what this is?

Honeys, we're home!

Ok, so we've been home for awhile now. To quote a blogging/Ethiopia baby mama friend, I have been a negligent blogger.

In my defense, I have tried to blog, but couldn't get the pictures to upload. True to my nature, when the situation involved wading into the weeds of details, I found something else to do instead. But today, I am determined! Plus, it's rainy, so what else do I have to do?

So, here are some pictures and some narrative, too.

We spent the first week in Aix en Provence. We picked Aix because it is a fairly central town in the region of Provence. Also, it was big enough to provide plenty of exploring for us (read: eat and shop and go to the markets), and everywhere else we wanted to visit was fairly close by.

Here are Dave and the girls right outside our apartment in Aix.
The living room in our apartment....

the building is about three hundred years old,
but the apartment had been fabulously renovated in 2007.
(Too bad I didn't think to snap pictures

before it assumed that "lived in" look!)

The old tower on our way to our market...

...and this is the daily market less than a block from the apartment.
We picked up fresh strawberries, cheese and bread each day!

Finally, here's a shout out to a special friend...

you know who you are!!

This is just what our rental car looked like.

There were actually three rows of seats, and it was just right for our family. The best and most important feature was the GPS. I think we would still be wandering the hill towns of the Luberon Valley if we hadn't had it!

We explored Provence every day. It really is just like I hoped and imagined it would be. Well, maybe it was even a bit better!

On our way to Arles, we drove under this Roman aquaduct.

Arles is where Vincent Van Gogh lived

and painted for several years.

There was an ancient Roman colliseum there, too.

After Arles, we drove over to Les Baux de Provence. This was one of our favorite villages. Les Baux is way up in Les Alpilles, a range of stoney mountains in the south of France. Because of its incredible position, it was a defensive stronghold in the Middle Ages, complete with ramparts and a serious castle. All we could think about was how much WORK it would have taken to build this village on the side of a rocky mountain. And it was so beautiful.

We explored the village (read: shopped and ate), and Dave and the big girls climbed up to the castle ruins.

Look at all the stone someone hewed and

hauled and used to build with!
Can you imagine?
A linen shop (where I picked up some kitchen towels).
The view up to the castle from the village.

Just blogging about the trip makes me long to go back.

Next installment: Cassis and Monaco!