Goodbyes and hellos

We said goodbye to Congo- flew out Monday morning. We had a really good last week overall. We moved out of our house a bit early and so we were packed ahead of schedule. That left us to have plenty of time for goodbyes. We had meals with our friends, took a trip to a river beach spot, and took Mama Elize and her kids out for ice cream. I had taken some great pictures, but due to the chaos of moving, it may be awhile before I find the ones taken before Saturday. Oh well. I do have these pics of our beach trip- it was such a fun way to say goodbye to Congo. We drove about an hour north of the city and then took a dugout canoe (pirogue) to an island in the middle of the Congo river. There are shaded picnic tables and a nice beach with shallow enough water for the kids to play in. We really enjoyed the trip so much and our company which included some of our favorite people in Brazzaville.
In the front here, is our famed friend Ina (who so graciously let us shower at her place the last few weeks)
Swimming in the Congo
Hanging out on a sandbank


Enjoying our lunch of chicken, fish, rice, and fried plantains.

Hellos:
We've spent the past few days with my parents. Sam was thrilled to see them (me too of course). The airport police guy let Sam go through to wait with my parents while we were still waiting to have our luggage checked and Sam went straight through by himself and gave them big hugs. They are so real to him from all their webcamming (plus he saw them at Christmas and remembers stuff from that visit).

Here's a pick from our walk in the forest here yesterday- Sam watched my dad feed the horse grass.
I'm feeling a bit shell-shocked from all the sorting/selling/packing/moving/traveling, but am really glad to be here with them and to be starting our next adventure. We're flying from Fez to London tomorrow!

One more important hello to share...
I had an ultrasound today and we're having a boy! We're thrilled though not about the having to choose another boy's name part. Somehow boys names are so much harder for us to agree on. Anyway, we are excited about our boys. Seeing our little guy on ultrasound was such a strange experience- I think it's like snorkeling- because you know there's something going on under the surface (fish/baby) but you don't see it without the aid of your mask/machine :-)