A Saturday afternoon hike

Yesterday was the perfect day here in Niamey. Paul even ventured to say it was –weather wise- one of the best days ever here! There was a cool breeze blowing all day long and a light cloud cover in the sky. Usually when it is cloudy it is also very windy and usually brings rain, but this day there was no rain, mild low 30s temperatures and a nice wind to cool us. Woohoo! So we had been planning to go check out a geocache that someone had planted outside Niamey for a while and do a little hiking on the volcanic rock mountains outside town. Mountains for here, but nothing compared to the Rocky Mountains we just left! So we headed out and followed the clues to lead us to the spot the geocache should have been . Sadly it had been hidden within a cleft of rock in this mountain. These deep clefts are formed by water being funnelled down them during rainy season and washing away the mix of mud and rock that makes up their surface. So…since we are at the end of rainy season, we discovered these had all of course been washed out often during rainy season and the cache container was gone. However, we fully enjoyed a few hours at this location! We had snacks and climbed all over the rocks. Bennett proved himself to be very agile and climbed like a little mountain goat. Arielle stuck to the path but enjoyed watching us and yelling at us. Then we all enjoyed some old fashioned rock throwing. Today is cloudy as well and it looks like we might get that rain, but we are thankful for such cool days!!

And one other update- OUR LUGGAGE ARRIVED!!  We don’t know where it went or why, but it arrived here all in one piece and for that we rejoice!! Thank you for praying!!

Enjoy the photos of our day outside Niamey!

The path up

The green valley below us. Amazing to see so many crops growing- but I guess it is the rainy season! This is usually mostly brown all year.

Bennett climbing around looking for the geocache.

The start of another “mountain” across from us. There are three is a row year in the midst of flat plateau as far as the eye can see.

Let the rock throwing begin!

Mark, Teresa and Jael

 

This summer I was especially blessed to be able to overlap with my best friend Teresa, who normally lives in China. She was home with her husband and new baby girl. How awesome to be able to hang out, catch up and just be together. Here are a few pictures from the shoot I took for them. You can check out more in my Photography blog by clicking on the link in the right hand column!

 

Leanne & Colin plus a bun in the oven!

I am going to be an Auntie again soon! I did a whole bunch of pictures with Leanne and Colin while we were home this summer. Their baby is due the middle of September and sadly we won’t see him/her for quite a while. At least we could be a part of this though! Here is a few pictures, and click on the link to my photography blog in the right hand column to see more.  More summer pics to come!