Portuguese Bridge Outing

The family packed up the car and headed out the Saturday after Christmas. We drove about 2 hours outside of Addis Ababa in the country. The road was nice and the view was beautiful. It was farmland, cattle grazing and rolling hills with a few green, alfalfa patches. It reminded us of Idaho in the summer. We visited a tourist spot called Portuguese Bridge. The Bridge was built in the 16the century out of limestone and ostrich eggs. No Joke!! The kids and Mitch hiked down to the bridge and saw the cave where the baboons sleep at night. They didn't see any and that was okay. Marti and Sophi stayed up on the hill, so when you look at the pictures I am way at the top with some guides. It was our first time out of the city and it was a pleasant trip. Enjoy the pictures!

Is it baggage or a goat?

We took this picture on the way home from our portuguese bridge trip. The picture is not clear, but if you look closely ........that is not baggage on the top of that bus/van, it is a goat with its legs tied together. Yep , that is common here. Anything goes!

Christmas Fun!

Christmas morning we woke up to Marti's mom calling. It was a wonderful surprise and we should have been up, but we were trying to sleep as long as the kids would allow. hee, hee, hee Eli was so excited to see his stocking filled and commented........yippee, Santa found our house! He made it too Addis. Eli says he liked opening his presents and seeing what was inside. He is officially a lego man. He was in the lego club at school this past semester and had a great time. I cant figure out the pieces, but he has a complicated jet plane made in 45 minutes. Glori is now into polly pockets. I had no idea how cute all the little pieces were. Luckily, Mom and Dad bought her a polly pocket suitcase to put all the little pieces into. Mitch says I am a sucker for anything that organizes. I agreed and explained he is a sucker for anything that has an REI label on it. hee, hee, hee Sophi had her first Christmas with Santa bringing her some small hand toys for when she gets a little older. You keep her fed and keep her pants clean and she is pretty happy. Her Christmas present to us was sleeping in the night. oh, I feel like a new person.
After family time we headed to our friend's house. We had a very nice Christmas dinner with friends and the missionaries from our small, church branch. It was such a nice day. I will add some pictures when I can.

House pictures during the Holidays!!

Here are some pictures of the house during the holidays. I love this picture of Glori Sue by the tree.......she is so excited about Christmas. Although, after I looked at the picture again she looks OLDER than 3. Well she will be 4 in March, but still. Where has my baby girl gone? They grow so fast.

It was fun putting together the Christmas Eve dinner table and making dinner with Mitch. We had turkey, mashed potatoes, veggies, rolls and a different version of the Miles broccoli bake. Sometimes (most of the time) you have to improvise with recipes, because you can't get all the ingredients. We had a great time though and enjoyed having some young men that Mitch works with at church over for our traditional family home evening Christmas program. We sang Christmas songs, watched the Joy to the World dvd and read the birth of Jesus in Luke. We made our first Christmas in Addis memorable, however we did miss our family and friends. We hope you enjoyed the Holidays too!

Eli's Birthday!

Eli's birthday was a fun afternoon. In our family the birthday boy gets to pick out his birthday dinner and he picked out hot dogs and shells & cheese. Ofcourse not any hot dogs.......we had to cut the hot dogs in such a way that when they are boiled they look like octopuses with three curled legs. We are used to it because this is one of his favorite dishes. We invited our friend's over to celebrate, but we had to warn them what was being served. Not gourmet that is for sure. I tried making homemade hot dog buns too. Let's just say by the third attempt they were pretty good. It was a fun day and can't believe how time flies.

My 2nd Post!

It only took me about another month to make my 2nd post on our blog. The Miles family is doing great now that we are all back together again. We have been busy unpacking and organizing the house. We also found a fake Christmas tree at the local store and decorated it this week. It it cute. Eli's birthday is tomorrow so I need to make a cake and get ready for that. He also gets to pick his birthday dinner. He wants hot dogs and mac n cheese. Well, we bought hot dogs at the commisary and now I need to make homemade hot dog buns because you cannot buy them here. Well, at least I haven't found them.

Christmas is only a few days away. I need to get crackin on baking some goodies. Hope everyone is enjoying the Christmas spirit! We miss our family and friends. I will post more when I get a chance. Merry Christmas!!