The 274th good thing about Lagos: long summer breaks

I've been on a long blog-cation and I've been telling myself for a while that it's time to get back to posting, as the post backlog is growing.  I've been back into Lagos for just over a month now and have been keeping busy and having fun, and I'll get to posting about that soon.  But first, a summer review:  I'm really spoiled here, as because my husband is the one tied down to work, but I am free to take a longer break in the summer.  Brent made it to the States for a couple of weeks, but I took a full 3 months of life in the States.  It was great!  I got acquainted with Mason, my newest grandchild, who was born in May. He is a cutie with a great disposition, a wonderful smile and even a dimple!

 We went to Colorado for a reunion with my family.  Here the two newest grandchildren met for the first time.

And their older brothers and sisters, the cousins, had a fun time together. 

Brent really enjoyed being with his grandkids!

 Here's us with children and grandchildren

 And the big group -- my parents, their 5 children and most of their grandchildren.  We had a wonderful time together and we are all so grateful to my parents for making this happen every other summer.

 Then some of us were able to go directly to Utah for my niece's wedding.  Ally was a beautiful bride -- best wishes to Al and Jack for a joyful life together!  It was wonderful to be here for this special event.

 Of course, before and after these events, there was time in Houston -- for fun in the pool and park with grandkids who live nearby.  And always lots of jobs around the house to take care of.  And some not so fun stuff this summer -- my first ever ambulance ride after I tore my calf muscle on the tennis court, which injury triggered a case of shingles, and then yard work got me an exposure to poison oak.  I felt like I had aged 20 years with all these physical complaints.  But going home is still very worth it!

I extended my summer vacation a bit so I could take an end of summer trip to Boston to help our youngest son, Jordan, get settled into a new life.  He left his job in California, drove cross country and started law school at Harvard.  We're very excited for him and proud of him.

I made great use of Craig's List, which is great in Boston, especially at the end of August when so many students are at the end of their housing contract and there's a lot of furniture free for the taking.  While Jordan was involved in orientation, I went around collecting furniture.  I spent a total of $5 on their furniture for this room -- everything was free except for one table.  The bedroom furniture was only slightly more.  The leather chair and ottoman in the corner was like new -- it was the best find!

 And the extra bonus of going to Boston was spending time with our daughter, Lindsay, and her family.  Austin sharing his popsicle at our picnic and concert in the park.

 We visited a farm and the boys got into sorting the eggs in the chicken house.

Beautiful baby Natalie!

Summer was great!

The 273rd good thing about Lagos: A special Museum event for children

A week after the last "Museum Day" event, I stopped in at the Museum to take a look at "Children's Museum Day."  I knew there would be a lot of cute kids all dressed up, and the event didn't disappoint.

There were two "Miss Museums" there.

And lots of children....

 And all the children seemed to want their pictures "snapped."

 There were dance performances, kind of a fashion show, where costumed contestants pranced in front of the judges (and it was clear that many girls had watched models go down the runway, because they had the "walk").

I don't know if this was Barney, or some other TV cartoon figure, but he got into the dancing with the kids.

 It's kind of hard to tell in this picture, but there are a couple of girls facing the seated judges.

There was a fun head-tie wrapping contest, where girls were judged by the speed and skill of execution of their head ties.

Here are the contestants facing the judge.

The kids all seemed to enjoy the food provided for them and all the festivities.  (And I did too)



The 272nd good thing about Lagos: Museums have a beauty queen, and she doesn't have the patina of old age.

I'm now enjoying summer in the States, where I've been for just over a week.  I'm enjoying a much faster internet connection than I had before I left Lagos, so I'm finally going to catch up posting some pictures of things I enjoyed in Lagos before I made my exit.

 I was one of only two oyibos in attendance at the National Museum for Museum day.

There were school groups in the audience, some with hats at a jaunty angle,

 and all with neat uniforms.

 My favorite part of the event was seeing the importance the museum staff placed in the occasion.  Nigerians are very fashionable dressers and they made the most of the event to dress up, which means great head ties for the women.

The woman standing in this photo had just wrapped the head tie for the seated woman.

 The men dressed up too.

 I had plenty of time to take pictures before the event, because it started about an hour after the posted start time, which is typical "Africa time."  The organizers tried several times to move me and the other white woman up to the head table with the dignitaries, but I declined their request.  There was no reason we should be honored, and I really don't like this habit of putting us in a place of honor just because we are white (plus I thought that I might want to slip out early and wanted to do that discreetly).  I was glad that we stayed under the tent with the museum staff because we had an interesting time visiting with them.  They had a good time at this event.

There were performances by school children who presented dances from different Nigerian cultures.

 These kids just loved getting "snapped."  As soon as I took the picture of one, they all called out with requests to "snap me!"

I was glad we were seated under tents, because just as the speaker began his speech, the skies opened and there was a huge downpour.  Even without the rain, it had been difficult to hear and understand him, but with the rain it was impossible.  I felt sorry for him because he totally lost his audience as people were more concerned with getting away from the rain and making sure the tents didn't burst under the weight of the torrent.

 "Miss Museum" had a lovely smile and presided over the festivities.  She was not an antiquity.

 After the program, the children posed for pictures with "Miss Museum."