Belle visits....so FUN!

So Annabelle came to visit me and her family here. I was so excited to see her and have a friend in town. We got Belle her fix of California Pizza Kitchen, and some drinks, and then breakfast and cookie sandwich treats! I am aware that all of our pictures are with food....but I mean she's on vacation so by defect I am on vacation too...yeah! We had a great time and before she left I got to meet her brother and his family for dinner at their house, and her brother's good friend. It was a really nice visit and thank you belle for coming to visit!!! I can't wait to visit you next which will be at your WEDDING! that's crazy!

YEAH friends!

So Amy (from school), Brian (from school), and Brian's sister and I did a little afternoon of shopping and then Amy and Brian and I went to Amy's house to cook and eat our faces off. Amy and I cooked, okay Amy cooked, this amazing white chicken lasagna and made sugar free brownies and we ate it all up....it was some yummy food. Then we looked at each other's pics because Amy went to study abroad in Peru like I went to Africa. Then Brian hooked us up so we could watch a run of Dexter episodes.....that show is AMAZING! Thanks Brian for the hook up on the show and Amy for the hook up on the foodness. The picture is in Amy's houses back yard....so nice!

Dinner at sunset

This was us at the dinner and we got oysters that were amazing! The dinner was GREAT seafood and then they usually wrap up your to go food in these tin foil sea animal creations, but of course we had no food to go but asked if they could make a whale. So he made a whale with a mermaid sitting on the water coming out of the blow hole. It was so big and crazy creative! I now have it on my shelf. We had a great dinner, and I thank my parents for helping me out and my mom for our visit after.

Dinner at sunset

Mom and I went to the restaurant we went to for my birthday in the past because mom had a craving to go there. It is so beautiful there at sunset, it is near Malibu. These are some shots of the views.

Mom's visit

When I was away my parents really helped me out and came and stayed at my place to take care of my cats, especially after my terrible cat sitting experience. So my mom stayed a few days after I got back so this is us eating crab in Pasadena after looking at pictures, and we went to the Grove to eat and shop, and we stopped at sprinkles because one of mom's friends children supposedly worked here but she actually worked at the call center. So we just got cupcakes out of it....yummmmmmy!

Yummy and beautiful treats!

These were the nice flowers that Jason had at his house and they really made it cheerful, i loved all the colors and freshness. Then I mean who can leave when you have AMAZING looking food on the grill or ready to eat....I love Jason's cooking!

BISMARCK and JASON...YEAH!

After many flights and a few days I finally made it to see jason before heading back to LA. It was so nice to get to spend time together. We had drinks at a new place and then dinner, and then the next day a beautiful bike ride around this lake. It was a relaxing and great but quick trip!

Last morning...

I was so sad to wake up because I was going to have to leave but of course I was excited for the rest of my trip before heading back to LA. So Katunga, the baby elephant, was showing me his new tusks (which apparently he now LOVES showing off) plus he was being bad, and then smelling with his trunk. He is TOOOO cute! Then a goodbye house pic and sun rising blue sky at Imire, and a pretty flower pic. It was super nice of Reilly to drive me to the airport on his way into Harare. He had to go run some errands first so I went with him and it was actually really fun because we got pies and grape fanta (he got milk in a bag, which i told him and still think is weird) for breakfast on the way to Harare, which was SOOOO YUMMY. Then we went to some vet place, radio place, embassy and some other places. It was cool to see Harare and drive around. Then he dropped me off for my first flight of many on my way to Jason's. It was sad but I am so glad I went and got to see everyone and take in the beauty that our world can offer. I did miss the people that I didn't get to see or didn't get to see much, but so glad I visited.

Last night in Zim

Mamma and baby. The sunset and full moon on the last night in Zimbabwe....so sad!

Net ball.....in the heat of the sun!

So the afternoon was spent playing sports with the kids at school. So when we get there the kids look like they are ready for some serious business and we were a little scared to be honest. I liked the kids in the last picture with their feet in the air stretching...I wanted to be a part of that because I thought i could handle stretching. Bright told me I couldn't because those were the boys playing soccer. Let me tell you, they had the girls play net ball because apparently that is a "girl sport" but there is no fooling around there...it is frightening how intense and good they are! I was really trying....I am not putting videos up because they are a bit embarrassing. I learned about net ball from Victoria in the beginning of the trip in Zambia so I put my knowledge to the field...I am pretty sure they were laughing at Amy and I the whole time but we all had a fun time, laughing and playing.

more long necks!

The giraffe standing in the background in the first picture was a TINY baby when I was there last, now she's pregnant so it is crazy. The third picture shows a great difference between the male and female giraffe. The taller one is the male and you can tell because he has thicker horns, straight horns, and no hairy tufts on the top of the horns. The shorter female has more bowed in, thinner horns with tufts on the top. The giraffes are very shy and scared so we just watched them and enjoyed their silent presence.

Hello Tatinda and Shawnu

So we ran into the black rhino walking while driving to see giraffes so we gave them a quick snack. I am pretty sure in the first picture Tatinda is smiling. The second to last picture is when they saw us and thought...."YEAH SNACKS!" The last picture is my favorite bird due to its colors and sounds but I can't remember the name.

Knobby the giraffe!

Introducing....Knobby the giraffe...he is an old guy and is hanging out by himself. A couple things, one the knobs on his head (how he got his name) are because as giraffes get older the skull bone start calcifying and making bone lumps, second I will tell you in the other giraffe pictures how to tell the difference between the girls and boys. Third, the darker the giraffe the older the giraffe. Lastly, I learned this time that the trees that the giraffes eat (akasha) has some type of chemical that if one tree has it is will spread it to the other trees so that the giraffes taste bad taste and don't eat it...but the chemical fades and then giraffes do come back and eat the mess out of the trees! Also giraffes can't keep their heads down too long to eat because when they stand up they can't get the blood back up their neck to their head and they can die so they have to eat fast!