Guess who's birthday?

July 7th
Guess who's birthday? Happy birthday Joy and me.

I had a fine night since I'm now taking benedryl so I can sleep with all the noise outside the tent. Apparently there was quite a commotion last night with snorting and then galloping. Turns out there was a wildebeest killed by a lion right outside camp. As any of my kids can tell you I have no sense of direction. I asked David if that was near our tent and he assured me it was in a galaxy far far away so I calmed down. Then I was talking to the staff about it and they said it was really near our tent. oy vay!

thanks for all the birthday greetings. Internet in the western Serengeti is spotty to say the least. David delivered a wonderful card from his folks and managed to keep hidden till today a Great birthday card from Josh and Laura and a beautiful finger painting from Gabby plus a great bday video from the Bleisenbergs. Later on I got to talk to all the boys and their kids and Rachel Noah and Eva. Sorry Debra Skype isn't working to Sweden for some reason. Missed talking to Sarah too but we spoke to her a few days ago. So many of the staff ask how many children we have and I say 6. I don't feel I have to go into details, they all said wasn't that difficult and I say no. Then when they leave David says that's because they were brought up in 2 different houses with other spouses to help. (no he doesn't-he doesnt even open his mouth on the subject)

Now that I am putting in my two cents you should know that beside being called Melon, the staff is calling her "Mama". As in "where is Mama?" or "we wait for "mama!"

The iPad was a big hit with the staff. It is the first they have ever seen or heard of it. Watching Melanie FaceTime and Skype drew lots of interest.


Saw2 leopards. A mom and 2 cubs just sitting under a tree. Didn't like us there so left and we followed them. Got some great pix.

Then we came upon lions bunches of them eating a zebra. We were able to park right next to them. We could hear the crunching of the zebra bones. Yum. One guy had his head completely in the zebra. They apparently start at the back end and eat it all except the ribs, even the head. You could tell they were eating the intestines, just pulling out this long rope. Then the lion with his head in the zebra pulled out an intact liver. That ad the heart are apparently the prize parts.

So I think of myself as a big picture person and certainly not a details person. When we were with the lions and they were literally next to the car John kept saying close the window. I was so intent on the lions I didn't close the window. David closed it. It wasn't until we were back in the hotel that I said to david was I supposed to close the window because of a danger factor. He looked astounded and said yes they could jump in. Oh. Josh we can argue when I get back if that's a detail or bog picture

We had a very special birthday Dinner. First they brought a bottle of champagne to our tent courtesy of the boys. We drank a glass and brought the rest of the bottle to the lobby. They took it to put it on ice after taking another glass. When we got to dinner they misplaced the bottle so they gave us a second bottle. For once I was a bit prudent but the guy I'm with finished the rest. We did look happy. Of course when I say I was prudent at some point I tried to say Hakuna Matata and it just wasn't coming out correctly. After dinner the entire staff came out with a birthday cake and sang a number of African birthday songs and throughly embarrassed me. Thanks again Blumkin boys! In fact when we got to this hotel today (July 8) a guest from yesterday was here and came to us and said how was your birthday?

So David and I were talking and I should say I'm not in the least scared and am really into the animals. I can just look at them for hours as evidenced by my watching the lions for 45 minutes.


- Posted from the ipad

Location:Western Serengeti