2/3 April 2010 - Mutare Zimbabwe, The White Horse Inn

For the first night of our adventure to Mozambique we opted to stay overnight in Mutare, 3 hours east of Harare, at the White Horse Inn. A tired place that had obviously seen better days, but it was clean and available. What the rooms lacked in just about everything, the gardens and surround more than made up for it. Dinner was excellent, we all had the wildebeest and were not disappointed. The Vumba area of Zimbabwe is just beautiful, soft mountains, misty hills and lush lush greenery. We will have to come back to the area for more in depth exploration.

April 2, 2010 Orange Belt Test with the Grandmaster

Today Lucas was evaluated for his orange belt by the visiting 10th degree black belt Grandmaster, Santanu Srinivasan. Check out more about his visit at http://allafrica.com/stories/201004010478.html. Lucas spent two sessions with the Grandmaster along with other Karate students here in Harare. Day one was a two hour training session that left all the kids wonderfully spent. The next day was the belt evaluation. Lucas nailed his requirements and the Grandmaster told him he had been awarded his orange belt. Quite an experience for such a young Karate student.

March 27, 2010 Embassy Easter Egg Hunt

Today was the Embassy Easter Egg hunt. The weather was glorious, sunny and warm, such a change from previous posts when we hunted eggs in the snow. The CLO did a wonderful job organizing everything, the Marines prepared all the food and even had a bake sale so there were plenty of treats to be had. The Easter bunny, who was in attendance, staged three hunts, one for the under 3 crowd, another for the 4-6 crowd and a free for all for the older kids. There were hundreds and hundreds of eggs to be found and the kids all had great fun finding the candy filled eggs and the more elusive golden eggs that provided a special prize. The highlight of the day had to be when the teenage girls, Charlotte included, beat the Marines at tug-of-war. Best 2 out of 3 and the Marines could not beat the girls! What fun...

March 13, 2010 Getting ready for Mozambique

We are going to Vilanculos, Mozambique for spring break. In anticipation of some great snorkeling in the Indian Ocean, I bought everyone masks, snorkels and fins. Here we are trying them out in the pool before hand. Looks like we will be ready!