Sorry to all the people that we didn't get a chance tell in person, but we are expecting a Baby Q!
Des is right now just over 3 months pregnant, so we will be expecting to deliver in July sometime. She is doing very fine, lots of morning / afternoon / evening sickness - but we hope that will stop some time soon. She will likely be back in Canada around the end of May to settle in and I'll be back to help her out for about a month.
We just got the first ultrasound done - so all the Grandparents to be can see the new baby!
We celebrated the New Year in the Republic of Benin. This time we travelled by boat, so crossing the border was much much nicer. We started off the trip with an early morning boat ride. It was actually cold, because of the fog and harmattan. Something most of us are not used to here.
The boat ride was a very nice way of travelling, here are some of the sites on the way.
tug towing small boats loaded with sand collected from the creek - used to make concrete
We had to stop in Porto Novo rather than Cotonou as the water level was too low and we risked getting stuck in a sand bar. When we approached the boat jetty, there were two big boats full of people. They were all singing, clapping and beating drums. It sounded so cool. A woman on the shore told me that they've just come from mass and were still celebrating.
We hired a couple of cars to take us to Grand Popo and were on our way! Along the way we saw so many goats either for sale to be slaughtered, just slaughtered or on there way to be slaughtered. I guess in West Africa you eat goat to celebrate the New Year. We ate seafood. This goat was still alive, we think he was on his way to a New Year's dinner.
We also saw a huge Boa Constrictor for sale on the side of the road, but sorry folks, didn't get my camera out on time.
We brought in the New Year with games, booze, a plate full of sea food, an african drumming band and of course friends.
The hotel manager planned this big party for New Year's that none of us were expecting. New Year's eve they anounced that that evening we would ALL participate in different games. Each team of five were to compete for prizes. The first game was a slip and slide set up on a ramp. Each team had to run up the ramp, fill a bucket, slide down the ramp and try and fill a bigger bucket, then pass off to the next team member.
Ryan trying to beat a little girl!
Little girl beating Ryan up the ramp!
The second game was the ol' spin around the bat and run to the pole .
The third game was a little harder. It involved getting wet. One team member had to swim to one side of the pool and pick up the raft, swim with the raft and pick up the remaining team members. One team member had to be standing on the raft while swimming back. We did really well at this one and I still believe that we were cheated in our times.
Here are the festivities that took place pool side that night!
No this dog is not dead just had too much eggnog and harp.
This year we spent Christmas day on the beach with this dog and many other friends, who hopefully had as good of a time as this little guy. Thanks to all those who joined us on for Christmas day. We had a nice day, relaxing, swimming and of course eating. Merry Christmas everyone.
Folks, my apologies for taking soooo long to post these photos. It is crazy how time flys when you are a procrastinator. Regardless, here are some photos of our most recent trip to Austria and Germany. We were fortunate to meet up with our friend Josh in Germany, and tour some of the sites in Munich. The photo above is the Glacier in Hintertux, Austria. We skied a few days there, unfortunatley it was more like skating. The euros loved it and carved the heck out of the hill. Our big fats skis didn't make for as fun of a day. Ryan took a hard fall on his hip so we hit the pub for some more wieners and beer. While in Hintertux we learned you can eat sausage, sauerkraut and beer for every meal of the day, techno music and very bright neon one piece ski suits are still very alive in Austria....yah!
The alps (if you squink really hard you can see Italy).
Spectacular views at the top!
Enjoying the view. You can see a fence build probably century ago to separate two valleys used for pasture. Hiking up the mountain, you could hear cow bells echoing through the valley.
See the face carved into the tree stump? These troughs were a common site on the hike and on the hillsides. Nice spot to take a drink for a thristy cow, don't you think?
The start of the hike, very steep switch backs.
This patio is where we stopped for a few beers and some really really good sauerkraut, nothing like having a spot like this to rest your tired legs on the way down.
I wanted to share some surfing photos with you all... yup, that's right - surfing in Nigeria. I won't lie, there is some trash, pollution, shipwrecks hidden below the surf and the waves are not quite the North Shore of Hawaii, but hey, it's better than rollerblading.
So there are two main areas where we typically go - both are by boat.
Tarquay bay is the closest to Lagos and there is a cool local beach there, so when the waves aren't good you can sit and eat fresh fruit and drink beers.
Maybe if you are lucky, at Tarquay you'll get to see a snake charmer...
Yup - that's a cobra. I guess they take the fangs out, 'cause that guy got bit like 5 times.
The other cool spot is Shipwrecks - named after the obvious tanker which ran a ground here and has created a cool break when the conditions are right. So to get to Shipwrecks requires a 45min boat ride followed by a cool hike to the beach - you wander through he jungle along this dirt path for 10mins - you pass through a couple villages before arriving at the beach. It really feels like you are searching for the most elusive surf spot ever. Here are some shots of the walk in...
So here you can see the old shipwreck - or what's left of it. I guess guys came and salvaged a lot of the steel from the ship so not too much left -but it is still kinda eerie to be paddling out next to that wreck! Note George is sitting away from the rubbish.
Here is my pal Francois at Shipwrecks - not too shabby, worth the hike!
