The girls are now in Europe. In German Leah has shown how much her German has improved in the last half year, which is great. Hannah's reading has come on nicely since they started learning almost a year ago and both are doing well at School according to their teacher.
Last month there was a father's day event at the Kindergarten where the kids performed a show for the dads; an open day for the school where we could get a tour of what different kids had done in different classes (and see some of the interesting art in Hannah's class that was related to nature). There was also an art exhibition for those in the school so we could see all the various paintings, collages and other things the kids have been up to, and the elder kids performed a fashion show.
Hannah did her swimming badge (200m in under 7 minutes 5 seconds as well as some other tasks) and is one of the best swimmers in her class, and her tennis is coming on slowly. Leah also joins in with tennis now on Sundays and hopefully can start to swim alone before the end of the year. The German School has installed solar-powered heating in the pool now so even when they come back in August (which is the coldest month in Kenya), they may still be able to use it.
We've found a new Chinese teacher which is working out quite well, it is near my office which was convenient when Andrea was away in part of May and June. There is also a lego place next to the office which I can leave the kids at to play too if we can't get a nanny for a couple hours after school (the bus drops them at the gate conveniently). Though it's not much fun having to get up at 5.45 and rush through making the kids some snacks and getting them both up and on the school bus by 6.20, after a while its not too bad. It is certainly easier when Andrea is here and only has to leave at 6.50 to drive them to school!
At the end of June, as is sort of a tradition we all went up to Northern Kenya for the annual Lewa Marathon (or this year, just the half marathon for me) staying at our friend Trinnie's farm. The kids enjoy being on the farm (there is even a pool there now), and spotting some animals in Lewa conservancy whilst I and friends and colleagues are running. On the way back to Nairobi we stopped at the Mount Kenya Wildlife Conservancy (formerly known as an animal orphanage which I highly recommend. They even let the kids "ride" the lamas and tortoises that roam around freely.
Whilst they have gone for their holidays I've been able to catch up work, pop by Rwanda again, and come to terms with how quiet it is without them (and also watch some excellent netflix series, some very exciting cycling and even the odd interesting cricket match)!
