Tractor Ride

The day finally arrived: the day of the tractor ride for Asa's birthday!  It was a much anticipated event in our house, and our boys were stoked.  We arranged for the driver, some hay bales, and all the MKs who wanted a ride.  It was loads of fun, and a way to remind ourselves that it's autumn in the States.  Hayrides are such a quintessential fall activity, so although it usually feels like spring year-round around here, we were able to bring a bit of fall into the day with this tractor ride.

But before the ride could commence, I had to bake a cake.  Oh, and the boys needed to have a balloon battle.  Because birthday celebrations are always better when they've begun with a balloon battle :)

A short-term visitor recently gave me a box of food coloring - something I never considered bringing with us from the States.  I was so excited to see the bright colors because it meant I could get creative with the cake!  I am not a cake decorator in the slightest, but Asa could tell there were two tractors on it, which is all I cared about.

And then it was time for the ride!  Asa took a brief 30-minute nap beforehand (because he was starting to melt and nobody wants a cranky birthday boy at a birthday party), so he was refreshed and ready to go!  He was super excited to see the tractor pulled up right next to our building and his Daddy getting the hay spread out for everyone.  On a sidenote, this is the tractor/trailer that picks up all the trash around Tenwek everyday.  After his daily rounds today, the driver cleaned out the whole trailer just for us, which was critical lest we all come away with a special smell afterwards :)

This boy just melts my heart!  He was in heaven.

And here's the whole crew that joined us for the ride.  We are so blessed to live in this community of missionaries!

Bubba sat on my lap the entire time and took the whole thing in.  We live in such a beautiful part of Kenya and it was truly a scenic ride.

And naturally there were cows in the road.  There are so many cows in the roads in this country!

We went around Tenwek and then out to the main road before looping back to the hospital.  It was about a half-hour ride.

We also passed through the town of Silibwet on the way back to Tenwek.  We were quite the sight!  Many people were waving and smiling (if not laughing and pulling out their phones to take pictures of all the white kids going for a tractor ride!).

And back home to Tenwek...

This man drives the tractor around Tenwek every single day and we see him drive behind our house every day to pick up the trash in our end of the compound.  We have a routine of running outside to see the tractor and to wave to the driver as he heads out again.  He is faithful to wave and smile to our kids every single time.  And I have never known his name until today!  But apparently there are few people who know his real name because everyone just calls him "Babu" which is the Swahili word for "Grandpa" and that seems quite fitting to me.  So we will call him Babu too!

Oh, sweet tractor-lovin' boy!

And then it was time to eat the cake!  Asa was not happy with everyone singing Happy Birthday because it delayed getting to the cake.  While everyone sang he cried and shouted, "Cake!  Cake!"  He had three pieces before we had to take it away and force him to stop :)

I'm sooooo thankful it worked to have a tractor ride for Asa's birthday!  When we moved here we had no idea how we might get to celebrate our boys' birthdays.  We've been flexible and content with whatever is possible, but this was something particularly special.  Who knew that tractors were a common thing here in Kenya, and that right here at Tenwek we have a guy who's part of the community and drives a tractor every day and could make this birthday party possible?  We feel so blessed.  How spoiled we are to have a tractor ride on the mission field!

Happy Birthday, Asa!