Sunday, November 27, 2011

Oh the Places WE Go

 Hey everybody. How's it going? Just thought I'd share some pics of what we've been up to lately.
 We have been eating a lot of Ghanaian food like banku and okra soup. It's pretty good. I must say that Josie cooks it better than I do.
 We have all learned how to wrap Naia. We have decided to call Nadia Naia just because Nadi is confusing when you are trying to tell a two year old not to be naughty and that is her name. So Naia it its and she loves it. Jacob Nic and Randy have all learned to wrap Naia although she isn't asking to be wrapped as much as she did the first few days she was home.
 Here is our first snow of the season. Interesting that the season is fall. We have enjoyed the early winters that come with living here in Utah but will be glad when we move back to less snow.
 We made our traditional huge snowman and forts for a big snowball fight.
 Josie was soooooo cold. She still is. She is always wearing a jacket or sweater. I guess I am too with the cold weather we've been having.
 This picture just proves I was there.
 We got Josie's hair done. I love it!!!!! It's called a crochet for all the other white people out there. It's called that because they cornrow all of her real hair and then take fake braids and use a crochet hook to tie them into her rows. The things I never knew before. I'm just really excited we don't have to do anything but grease it for three months! Yeah!! I want to do it to my hair. I don't think it would be the same.
 We went to the Layton Surf'n'swim. I love going there. During the cold months they cover the pool with a big dome. It is a wave pool and it gets really shallow just like the beach.
 Here is my sweet hubby. So CUTE!
It's a great place and it's cheap!
Another of our favorite places is the treehouse museum. We bought a season pass because for all of us it is only $100 for the whole year.
 Everybody loves going. I love that they can make a mess and it isn't at home. Ha!
 They have so many different themed places on two floors with a huge tree in the middle that you climb through.
 My kids love the dress as heroes station and the western area.
 Yee ha!
 Howdy.
 Naia loves the hospital station because there are baby dolls. Josie and Jacob love the art room.
This music room is great but really loud!!!! We will be spending lots of time there until we move. Well we will keep doing fun things and taking pictures.
By the way our Thanksgiving was awesome! Although it was just our family we still had nine and it was loud and great. I made everything that we traditionally do. I was fun to make all our favorites like layered jello salad and candied yams. I miss my family lots though and we are looking forward to Christmas when we will get to see most of them.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Ghana getting the girls

Just warning you there are lots of pictures... sorry if it takes a long time to load.

Here we are at the airport on our way. I think this is the JFK Airport. Ricky thought all the "Duty Free" signs were really funny.
Here he is on the first flight notice he is still smiling.

This is what you see when you enter the airport in Ghana after 14 hours on the plane... Akwaaba!
First things first we had to go shopping. We go to this shop everytime we go to Ghana. It is at the Shangri-la Hotel. The shop owner is very nice and always gives us a good price. 
This is in the Airside hotel with Josephine's Aunt Victoria and Nadia's mother Mary.


We had some more show up to have some fun. We were going through the donations that I brought and they had a great time trying some of the dresses on.
Here we are the next day on the way to the wedding! I am in the back.
Here are the other two "new moms" they both have other kids too.
 
Having fun with crayons while we wait.
Nadi lost a shoe.
This is Kofi's sister she helped to translate during the wedding. We are taking gifts to the bride's home.
 She accepted the gifts and they were married. It was a beautiful ceremony and a great party afterwards. We all danced and drank lots of soda.
Here we all are before we left.

 Here is our awesome driver Eric. He drove us all around Cape Coast for the weekend and took us back to Accra when we were done there. And now for the Biriwa Hotel....
Isn't it the most beautiful place ever? It is only $50 per night. This is the view from our room.
This is our room.
 We went to the restaurant in the hotel. This was on the ceiling. There were probably about 6 scattered accross the ceiling.
Nadia didn't last long. She was so tired.
 Josephine loved their fried rice and fried chicken.
 
The next day we decided to hit the beach!
 So much FUN!!!!
Then we went to Cape Coast Castle.
It is the youngest Slave trade fort in Ghana. There are three. I thought it was important for the kids to see. Randy and I went there on our first trip to Ghana and it is really something to see. We are taught all about slavery in school but it is different to be there and stand in the places where it happened.
 
It was funny this lady stopped me and said she had never seen a white lady carry a baby on her back. I still hadn't gotten the hang of it yet. I can do it the right way now. It's actually really comfortable and convenient.
Here is the beach at Cape Coast Castle. There were so many people swimming and there were so many piles of nets like this one.
After we toured the castle we went to dinner at the Beach Castle restaurant. It was really good and this guy sang the whole time. He was actually really good.
The next day we went to the Canopy Walk at Kakum National Forest. It was really cool but lots of hiking.
Then we went back to Accra and to my favorite restaurant there.
 I of course had fried chicken and french fries. Yummy!!!
This is after our long flight home. Can you tell? The girls were so tired.
Nadia was glad to be outside looking for the car.
The boys love their new sisters.
Jacob loves playing soccer with Josephine. 
Nadia loves the swing.
This was our first Sunday together. The girls loved church.
We managed to get our pumpkin carving done right before Halloween. The girls loved dressing up as princesses and getting lots of candy. The boys all were something different than I planned.
 Jacob: Harry Potter, Nicholas: Knight, Caleb: Ninja, Hunter: Jack Sparrow, Matthew: Bee.
We were so busy having fun I forgot to take pictures. My good friend Eva took some that I will have to swipe.
All in all we are having fun and everyone is adjusting well. I'm not sleeping much because Nadia wakes up at night for a little while but it's just like having a new baby in lots of ways and I have lots of experience with that.
Hope all is well with all of you. I will try harder to post more often and more pictures.