Tanzania

Last week, Chet was able to get away from the base a take a trip (a safari, actually) to Tanzania! He left Djibouti last Friday and returned Wednesday (the day before Thanksgiving), and had a great time. In addition to seeing Africa's beautiful animals in the Serengeti, he visited a traditional Maasai village. There the villagers performed a welcome dance, gave them tours of their homes, and let them visit a kindergarten class.

Chet leaves again today for another trip. He will be in Naples, Italy for the whole week to attend a regional Civil Engineer Corps conference. Just 23 days, 9 hours, 42 minutes, and 51 seconds until he gets home!

1 Month!

One month from today...CHET WILL BE HOME! (My countdown clock reads 29 days, 4 hours, 18 minutes, 46 seconds, to be exact.) His travel plans were confirmed last week, and Sydney and I CAN'T WAIT!

The last five months really have passed by quickly for Chet and me both. Chet has had such a good experience working in Djibouti; we both believe it has and will do wonders for his career. And, as you all know, I've been quite busy, so time has flown by. The stress of the move and the responsibility of taking care of Sydney alone is what made the last few months bearable and strangely manageable. Hmm.

Anyway, I'm excited, to say the least. I'm glad the holidays are upon us, because I will be busy buying gifts, decorating the house, and introducing Sydney to the magic of Christmas. If I didn't have such things to focus on, I'd be too impatient to wait an entire month for him to get home...

9-Month Pictures

My first attempt at Sydney's 9-month pictures didn't go so well. She was feeling under the weather, but she looked so darn cute I thought I'd give it a try. I was in such a hurry I forgot to put down the "backdrop", and Sydney definitely wasn't in the mood for a photo session, so the pictures didn't turn out very well. My second attempt was better...but not much. I remembered the backdrop and Sydney was in a good mood, but (and I may have mentioned this before) Sydney will no longer tolerate bows in her hair. Not even the teeny tiny ones that I'm sure she can't even feel but that her little hands find anyway. Oh, well. So here is her 8-month picture for comparison, both 9-month pictures, and some outtakes. Enjoy!

8 months

9 months, attempt 1

9 months, attempt 2

this was the very 1st picture i took, and she's already reaching for the bow...

and the bow is going...

...going...

...going...

gone!

bow is back on (look at all those teeth!)

turkey bottom

the shoe is off too!

of course, the shoe is in the mouth

Snazzy Outfits

Sydney wore some snazzy outfits last weekend.

Halloween

Sydney's first Halloween was interesting. I decided not to take her trick-or-treating, because she's not going to remember it anyway, Chet wasn't here to enjoy it with us, and everyone would know that I would be the one eating the candy rather than Sydney. Instead, we bought candy, dressed up (just Sydney), and handed out candy to all of the little trick-or-treaters. I say "little", but the majority of the children trick-or-treating were much older, and seemed unable to utter "trick or treat". They simple thrust out their candy bags and expected me to fill them to the brim. And that annoyed me, because, in my opinion, if you're too old to say "trick or treat", you're too old to be trick-or-treating! Okay, that's my rant for the day. Anyway, I way underestimated the amount of candy I needed to buy, and quickly ran out (and got dirty looks from all of the children when I only gave them one piece in order to conserve it as long as possible). So Sydney an I abandoned the house and sat on the porch with our across-the-street neighbors (who bought plenty of candy) and helped them. I took several pictures of Sydney in her Naval Academy cheerleading costume, but she was so BUSY it was hard to capture a good picture of her. Also, it was tough taking pictures in between answering the ringing doorbell. Sydney loved putting the wrapped candy in her mouth (don't worry, I didn't hand those pieces out to the kids).