Paul parents come for an early Christmas!

This post is a few weeks late due to the holidays and life in general, but I didn't want to lose the opportunity to post a little commentary and some pictures from the visit we had with Paul's parents. They live in Dubai and came to visit us for 10 days early Dececmber. While Niger may not be the tourist destination of choice for many people, we have such unique opportunities to share the people we know, villages, culture, food and experiences with the people who visit us. A wonderful early Christmas gift to us and the kids to have Roger and Bev come visit.


Sharing an early Christmas together



Paul and his Dad


Arielle looking beautiful in her Christmas ribbon




They arrived just days before Tabaski, a Muslim celebration where every household will sacrific sheeps. It was almost surreal to drive around and see dead sheep everywhere, heads, guts, kids playing with lungs, etc. Yuck. The smell hung around for days, and we got fresh leg of lamb, which we slow roasted with marinade and it was yummy!! But here are the common sights from that day




We also went out of town and visited friends and also went to two Tamasheq villages, The whole family really enjoyed our time there. Here is Mom enjoying some of the local children.



We enjoyed a picnic overlooking the plains and volcanic rock and scrub below us. A great photo op for mom and dad!



Mom and I had a project while she was here- to recover our big stuffed chair we brought to keep the dust from wrecking it. Here is the final product. Thanks for the help mom!



We had many adventures in markets, here is Mom looking at fabric in this crazy shop with tons of different colors and patterns.



Bennett playing around and climbing trees


One of our last days we went out of town to one of the world's last large natural giraffe reserves. They have 205 giraffes in the wild that are protected and you can go visit. You hire a guide who rides on your roof and takes you to the last place they were seen and you drive around looking for them. We saw over 40 giraffes that day, in multiple family units, even twins! An amazing experience!!

Bennett on the roof truck (dont worry we were stopped!) looking for the giraffes)









For more giraffe photos, you can see them at this link on my photography blog:

http://photographybychantelle.blogspot.com/2008/12/giraffes.html