Zoe's head.

Zoe had a bit of a stack on her face the other morning just before going to school. She was running round with Zoya who is another girl from here that goes to school with her on the cement. Anyway, she slipped & fell & grazed her face. She was concerned that she might have scraped her knees however it was her face that wasn't too good.

However if true Zoe spirit of her being pretty tough, we cleaned up her head & then she put a surgical bandage on herself!

She let me take a photo of her that night so that you can see the bandage & the scrapes on her nose, under her eye & between her eyes.

She would not let the bandage be taken off for 2 days but I eventually got it off her & she let me take another photo of the injury.

She is doing okay now, she just has a big scab on her forehead which is bruised & now fading to a yellow colour. It hasn't stopped her doing anything like running around on cement or the road etc!

Busy few weeks...

The last few weeks have been very busy...

Firstly Zoe started school & does half days every day during the week. So we have started a new routine with all the goings on. She is loving school. She has ballet on Tuesday, swimming on Wednesdays, sports on Thursdays & Friday is free dress (she doesn't have to wear her uniform that day) & it is also bring your bike to school day too!

Last Thursday when she got home from school she went into the backyard & helped our gardener Steven to water some of the plants. Here she is in her sports uniform helping out...

So, Zoe does ballet on Tuesdays at school but doesn't have ballet gear. We took her last weekend to Zara's ballet school so that she could get kitted out. And we took some photos of her while she was being fitted & then on the barre.

I had also noticed these really cute knitted bolero jackets at the ballet school which they were selling from a brand called Toto Knits. And I found out that these were designed by one of the ballet mums & that they are then knitted locally by a group of single mothers as a way of income. Which is actually really exciting to think that these are a way of women learning new skills, working in a family-friendly, flexible job & gain financial independence. Anyway, they are made to order & I bought one for Zara & they are wonderful, really fantastic. If anyone is interested then have a look at http://totoknitsshop.com They have plenty of different designs for boys & girls, they are all made to order & they ship internationally too. Here is Zara modelling her new jacket!

So right next door to Zara's ballet school is a shop called Sandstorm Kenya which sells locally made beautiful leather or canvas bags & accessories for men & women. Anyway, I have been eyeing off for the last few weeks some of their hair-on leather bags... They have been selling fast & basically aren't planning on making anymore at the present time, so I decided to buy one. I am thinking of it as helping the local economy by helping myself. And I really love the bag, it's pretty unique.

And one thing that has amazed me about Kenya has been the flowers that I have seen everywhere. They are sold by the side of the road & you see the most gorgeous roses here, really stunning ones. And I also found out that roses make up 74% of Kenya's flower exports. Something like 2/3 of the flowers from Kenya go directly to the Netherlands. In the Netherlands is where there are massive flower markets that flowers are bought & sold & from there they are re-exported all over the world. And I just can't believe how beautiful & cheap roses are here. A bunch easily lasts over a week. I bought a bouquet of 18 roses which smelt divine & they cost KES200 which is about $2.50! Amazing...

The big kids had a cultural day at school this week where all the different nationalities brought in food & items from their home countries. I decided to make the kids lamingtons & vegemite sandwiches. The lamingtons were all eaten, however some vegemite sandwiches came home...

Zoe's first day of school!

Today Zoe started school.

Her class year is called "Foundation".

Her teacher is called Miss Jessica.

Zoe has been so excited about going to school since we visited last week.

She has a uniform which she wears & attends 5 half days per week. When she turns 4 they will add 2 afternoons per week.

There were no tears when leaving her today, she was very happy & excited!

The "real" Zen Gardens

Just in case your weren't aware there is zen garden in plants vs zombies (a game on the iPad), however we went out to breakfast to Zen Garden's which is close by to where we live.

As Zoe calls it - the Real Zen Gardens!

It has a fantastic outlook & the gardens are beautiful. We were lucky that we came early as there was hardly anyone there, but by the time we were leaving there was a lot of people turning up.

There was a small pool with rose petals & shiny silver flowers in it just behind our table which amused the kids while we waited for our food.

Outside the gardens were wonderful!

Or you can lounge around outside. We were going to sit out here for breakfast but it was quite sunny on one side, so we ventured inside near the pool.

The bathroom was as tranquil at the outside garden. And we made a few trips there as the kids kept wanting to pick the petals & flowers out of the pool. And Zane managed to make sure that he had both sleeves of his Sponge Bob top completely saturated. I had to take his shirt off & wring the sleeves out!

I had a delicious breakfast of spanish omelette on potato rosti!

You might not be able to see from the photo, but the scrambled eggs that the kids had was made from the eggs of chickens who have been fed white maize. We had heard from a number of people about this, but never seen it. The eggs from these chickens have very pale yolks. So the resulting scrambled eggs were an off white colour, not yellow!

Masai Market purchases

Today I went to the Masai markets, well I went to the shops to look at washing machines, and found out the Masai markets were there, so I went to them...

Bought some house hold items...

#1 will be used as a fruit bowl. And I think I got it for a pretty good price too! The trick seems to be to offer half of what they originally say... And then if they shake their heads & seem kind of offended then start walking away. They call you back to start bargaining...

Top view so you can see the fantastic pattern!

Side view...

And the most exciting is the laundry basket as I have been hanging out to buy one of these guys. They are pretty big. I didn't get the biggest one, but you could stuff one of the kids in there. And they are pretty strong, you can even sit on the lid & it stays upright!

I like the pattern & the fact that it has handles too.

This is the lid, so you can see how nicely woven it is!

You also get to see the wrought iron door which is at the top of our steps... Can be used to lock the kids upstairs...

On the weekend...

We had a busy weekend just doing the usual...

Things like ballet, shopping for groceries & attending yet another party.

After grocery shopping on Saturday the kids wanted to do Star Jump again, everyone except Zoe. Instead she got to drive round an inflatable duck in the car park of the shopping centre.

She didn't have as much fun as I thought she would as she kept the wheel turned so that she went round & round in circles...

On the way home the 2 little ones fell asleep in the back of the car...

Also on our shopping trip we bought a TV & arrange to have it delivered later in the day. So at 7pm that night it was finally delivered.

The kids were super, super excited...

And we were too... We had this really old crappy TV here & reception was really bad.  And we only got 2 channels!

However, our excitement was short lived as there was a problem with it, so it had to go back on Sunday. And returning it was a whole big drama...

Sunday afternoon there was a party here which we were all invited too.

There was a jumping castle & face painting.

This is Zara's face:

She also got the same theme painted on her arm:

Zane became a zombie!

And Zoe was a cat:

She also got her arms painted...

And this has to be one of my favourite photos from the party. Zoe explained it to us that she is "swinging like a cat"! She has such an imagination.