Another month passes, another opportunity for a vacation at the beach, this time with less ambition, and less rain! Just a few days in the same hotel (Pride Inn Paradise) which has a small waterpark along with the two pools and beach, and a half-hearted kids club that is just a few hours a day (it might be better during High Season if there are more kids).
This time the only time we left the hotel was to get lunch once somewhere else (all the other meals were at the hotel) and when i went for a run at the Haller Park Forest Trails. A former quarry that was returned to nature several decades ago and is now a lush forest makes a great shady place for a run. They have some excellent children's (and with parcour, even adult's) playgrounds along with a few different marked routes from a few km up to 10km. Generally the routes are well marked though you need to keep your eyes out for the colored wooden arrows nailed to trees, as sometimes they are covered up.
I highly recommend it as a place for running or even cycling. Not too many hills, not too many puddles/muddy patches (even when it has rained a lot), and almost no other people! It is entirely walled/fenced in, though there is a public footpath running through the middle allowing residents to cross through (and there seems to be the odd security guard at either entrances to that footpath or nearby it so it is quite safe). Nearby is an animal park/zoo though we didn't go there.
When it rained the kids were inside, occasionally watching a few minutes of youtube (if they also did some maths or reading first), sometimes playing monopoly and otherwise Hannah would knit (her new favourite pastime) and Leah would play with her toy horses (her favourite pastime for at least the last 4 years). When it was overcast or occasionally sunny we would all be in the pool, and at least no-one got sunburnt. Hannah really enjoys practising her underwater handstands, and occasionally racing me (she is really fast at breaststroke, easily beats me at backstroke and tends to be slower at front crawl - though unfortunately when she had a swimming competition two weeks ago the best she could do was around fifth). She was allowed some fantas or lemonades from the pool bar sometimes.
One of Leah's friends came over for half a day and they all played nicely in the pool and in the waterpark, whilst Andrea and I learned about the family's planned move to Uzbekistan.
Apart from the short vacation, we had a delayed birthday meal at Inti, one of the most expensive restaurants in Nairobi that is Peruvian Japanese and at the top of a 35 storey building with wonderful views. It's not very kid friendly but the food is very good (though not sure it is worth the price). A lot of adults go there for the drinks as much as anything else.
We also saw the school play, Matilda (I think the kids have seen Matilda three times in the last year or so), performed by the 13-16 year olds with several of the actors and actresses really impressive. The school has a wonderful auditorium. There has been and continues to be lots of kids playdates, and there was a half-marathon on the new Nairobi Expressway which goes (mostly) above the city with nice views. And of course there was the end of the football season that was quite thrilling, not only for Tottenham getting into top 4, but also trying to watch 4 games at once to see the championship and relegation places decided. If every week was like that it really would be exciting!
