TheWelcome Back Coconut Challenge

Ok so we made it back to Congo save and sound. I cannot tell you how funny it feels to call a little apartment in Congo home. I have been giddy the past couple of days to be here. I missed working out everyday and being able to walk to the swimming pool or tennis courts. However, life presented me with my first challenge here. Notice the below tree.

I noticed the coconuts in the top of the tree and that some of them were ready to be picked. However, how was I to do this. Well being the discovery channel watching fiend I am, I knew that the natives just sorda grab the tree with hands on either side and climb.
I tried and realized that I was no native.
So, being the pirate I am, I tried to throw things at the cocont and knock it out of the tree.
I was very quickly reminded of the old adtage that what goes up must come down, and in this case what went up was a four foot long stick that weighed about 15 pounds and when it came down it was coming down at my face. No, I did not get hit in the face but I realized I should not stand directly underneath the coconut in case it were to fall on my head.
I had to change tactics and in the end I found a ladder and climbed the tree to get the coconuts and then began the challenge of getting into the coconut.

I used our meat cleaver like a machete and was into the thing in no time. The coconut water was so good and so was the coconut itself. I told ya'll life was rough here in Kinshasa.

Shark fishing in SC

Oh Yeah! The Pirate takes to the water. Look at that sunrise. It is time to go a shark fishing. We went and caught mostly small ones that were none keepers but fun to reel in and then release.
Here is a 15" shark and look at those teeth. They are razor sharp and he has about three rows of them.
Here is a bonnet head. They are pretty cool. I caught a much bigger one the next day but still tossed them back. We are looking for bigger.
I hooked on to this stingray and it fought for about five or six minutes. They can fight a lot longer but this guy mad the mistake of surfacing quickly so I did not have to much trouble bringing him in.
He weighed about 50 lbs. He was extremely menacing. That tail was dangerous and the barb was about 7 inches long. What a lovely day.

Uncle Todd and Aunt Shannon meet Baby Jessie

There she is little Miss Jessie. Doesn't she have the cutest little smile? Yeah she is adorable. Here she is a day before her actual due date. She was born two months premature at 2lbs 4 oz and today she is 6 lbs 4 oz.
Aunt Shannon holds her for the first time and tries to coax some smiles. Jessie smiled bunches for Aunt Shannon and she has the cutest little baby goat sound when she moves around.
Here is Uncle Todd trying to hold her. Notice I am not very good with little ones. I was so scared I would drop her or hurt her. However, I did it and I was amazed at so little a creature. She is sooo small. The fingers and ears are the most amazing part of little babies to me. I can't believe that as small as they are they have all of their joints and everything. If I had been around when she was born there is no way I would have even thought of holding her. She was so small. Here's to many a happy year for our little niece.

We're Back!!!

We arrived back in the states. I LOVE AMERICA! I love the sight of our flag and this was the flag that I saw at the beach.
This is Christopher my oldest nephew. He is one of four boys that my sister has. They are all a blast.
Say hello to the twins. Jonathan is on the left and David is on the right. My sister has four musical boys so we did our part by bringing them all instruments from Africa. May the noise ... I mean music never cease.
This is Steven and he is so cute you just want to pinch his cheeks every time. He loves to tell jokes and give you the loser L on his forehead. (I love this guy) We had a blast with all the boys and they are on their way to being great little pirates as they are into fighting their uncle Todd. Arrrr! I will post plenty in a few days but this is a start for now.

More from South Africa

Here we are in South Africa. There is my lovely wife Shannon. Not bad for a stinking pirate, eh?

This is the view from an overlook into a bay near Cape Town. It was so beautiful that we all took pictures from here. They were gorgeaous. Look at the color of the water and the sheer clifs. it was like looking into paradise.

Here are some of the ladies of the trip. Don't they just look smashing sports fans?

I loved being at the coast and around all that water. I guess the pirate in me loves the waer and needs to have his fun.

South Africa

I will put in a few blogs about South Africa because it was such an amazing place. I loved every minute of it. We were blessed to be able to stay with Monte Christo ministries at their farm. This picture shows the valley that we looked across. This is taken about a quarter of the way up the gorge behind the farm. The farm is 600 hectares. It is located in the town of Porterville. It is a small farming town with good ol country folk. My kind of place.

In the town of Porterville was this great little restaurant. We ate there several times. We were well received. It was run by a guy named Booty. O.K. so he had a more Africanse name but everyone called him booty. He was a trip. The food was great and the staff was really neat. The gal you see waiting this table was studying to be a teacher. The South Africans grill out like we do and they take extreme pride in their abilities. However, they call it a braai. They start a fire on the ground and use a metal rack you can close over both sides of your meat and then they flip the rack when it is time. They laugh at our primitive methods of using a grill. I told them the night before I was to leave that if I were staying a little longer that I would challenge them to a braai/grill cookoff. They were all over it. The owner said he would shut down the restaurant any time we wanted and he would bring in tasters from all over the county to see who is the best. O for another day in South Africa.

So South Africa does not do Thanksgiving. So we decided we would do it for them right. We got several turkies and hams and everything. We had six pies brought in. And Daniel who is a most excellent chief helped us out. This is one of his creations. We had about forty people at the farm for Thanksgiving Dinner. We told our traditions and then had a talent show afterwards. They never looked at us quite the same.






One of the great things about South Africa is how cheap the food is. This was a wonderful dinner at a place called Beltazhazzer. it was right on the waterfront. We were outside and this was a sampler plater someone ordered for one. It probably could have fed three. The food was soooo good. It was a four star dinning experience and we ate for about thirty US dollars for the two of us. We just hung around and ate and talked for about three hours. The idea of eating out here and in Congo is very European. If you eat in under an hour it is considered fast food. We got to watch the sunset and then eat in the dark. We had some sweet deserts. I love this place.

Wacky Tacky Day

Here we have the lovely fashion of wacky tacky day African style. Our ladies worked on their outfits for hours and I heard them say they could not be happier. I loved the PJ outlandish act I had to get in on it myself.








Is anyone out there scared yet? Don't be this Spartan is harmless. He really knows how to put on the spirit.





You just have to love the dedication of the "Dirt Bag Army."

Cookie Monsters

All you pirates out there vote for your favorite cookie monster!!

Contestant number one comes all the way from Wisconsin. Heres Nora Triller! She is sporting the single handed stuffing manuver, always, a classic. She is sure to be a crowd pleaser.
Next up we have Morgan Taylor all the way from China via Savannah Georgia. Morgan says she prefers the double handed stuff when plowing through Christmas cookies. Those eyes are sure to win hearts and convert enemies.
Our third finalist hails from Kentucky. He is the one and only Aidan. He says the only way for a man to stuff em down is with the one handed slam-a-jam-a!!! He has the other hand free for additional balance in case one of the other competitors trys to knock him over in their jealousy. He is the only male to find his way into the final round. He is a real crowd pleaser. This is not his first performance and he is a pro.
"If we all work together, than messy we'll be"

Be sure and vote!!!!

cave

This was the village we went to to do the caving and meet the chief. Sorry no pictures of the Chief as I did not get his permission.
this is the jungle woods we were bsuhwhacking into to see the cave.

Caving in Congo

I Your fearless leader decided to go caving in Congo. It was a classic, baby!! We took a four hour ride to a town called Kimpesi. Then we went on a two hour four-wheel drive road to the village to meet a chief and go to the caves with three of his men.

This is were we finally decided to put it in four wheel drive.

This is one of the little ponds we had to drive through!!!Give a pirate yell!

Welcome to pirate treause in the cave. Nothing like cave booty to bring out the camera lover in you.

Uncle John pausing for some P.R.

This was the view out of one of the three entrances. Across the valley all those hills are covered with Limestone and I think with a couple of weeks to poke around and push leads we could connect some of these bad boys. We left two leads unpushed as we ran out of time. It was a cute little cave ... or so it seems. This entrance was half way up the hill so we are looking over the valley.

transport

I tought you would love to see some of the public transport options here in Congo. I love this ride!
Here is a more lofty approach to the taxi situation. You can ride for about six hours to the port if you would like.

Trip to Kimpesi

Hey everyone. Long time no see. Sorry. I have got a new internet connection and it works much better. I just got back from a trip into Congo to a town called Kimpesi. It is beautiful there and we went caving. The sunsets were amazing and the moon was bright and full. We went caving and saw some of the most amazing rock formations I have ever seen.

This is what we saw coming up the road to the village. This was a two hour four wheel drive road from Kimpesi.










O what a beautiful moon rise. O what a beautiful town.

The hardships of Kinshasa

This is the pool here at the school. It is beautiful. However, lest you think all we do is take in rays sipping Pina Coladas and other drinks with little umbrellas in them consider the following. Twice a week I meet with some of the students that are trying to get in shape for the swim team. Mrs. Triller is notoriously tough on them and so they want to get ready for her arrival this December. She has been out enjoying her new baby. Congrats, Mrs. Triller.

We are now officially in the wet season which means there is a lot of rain and there are a lot of frogs. We arrived at the pool one day this week only to be serenaded by amphibians. They were out in epic proportions. The males croaking out their love songs and the females on there quest to string the pool to welcome us with their infantile pods. We were so overwhelmedwith gratitude. Any sane person would have turned and come again another day when the festivites had died down. But us little pirates are not sane individuals are we? I proceeded to scoop the amorous pairs out to make room for the girls who wanted to swim. I scooped 15 pairs of lovers out of the brothel, known locally amongst all frogs as the Ceaser's Palace. (where all hoppers stand a chance to beat the odds) I finally had to give up my struggles as there were still no less than 14 more couples having quality time.

I say all of that to simply reassure you that a picture does not always tell the whole story. Sometimes it only tells us what we wish to remember. And so, to all and myself I leave this wonderful picture of a pool that looks as if we were at a resort enjoying the good life because for all its, "attractions," it is still a wonerful place to be. (afternoons the pool is frog free)

On a lighter note here is a beautiful flower just outside our porch. We can sit on our porch and enjoy the tropical bushes and flowers to our little hearts content. We also love to sit out there during the rains and watch the storms roll by. When it rains it usually starts out as a gusher. Think Hurricane style downpours and heavy winds. Then it will slack and produce a nice steady rain that jsut soaks into everything. I love the rainy days because the temperature drops. The day before the rain the heat is like Charleston in August, Hot and Mugy. All in all it can be a beautiful place if you know where to look. I am pretty sure there is a life lesson ther but I am not sure exactly what it is so I leave that to you who are life lesson inclined. As for me I am off for another day of adventure.

Au revoir!