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| our team |
The title is not a joke. There are a bunch of pictures in this post! :) This past week we went to a town called Man which is north west of us in Abidjan. We went with our team for a few days of a get away to process our year together, do some debriefing, spend time together, and pray for one another. We had never been to this place before but we are so incredibly thankful that we explored and set out. The town is in the mountains and much quieter than Abidjan. And it smelled way better too. :) We first stopped in Yamoussoukro and stayed with some new friends for a couple of nights to break up the trip a bit and relax. There we went swimming and slept and had a moment to breathe in their beautiful home.
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| Our team with Larry and Leann, our amazing hosts |
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| Swim time!!! |
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| I love how Elliot looks terrified while everyone else is excited! |
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| The boys with Liz |
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| After a long day of swimming and some later bed times, the kids crashed at dinner. And yes, they both wanted to snuggle mama, so this is what they ended up with |
We then packed up and headed another 4-5 hours to Man!
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| Our hotel in Man |
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| Waiting for some dinner on our first night there. |
Our first full day in Man was full! We visited a couple of waterfalls, went to a look out point to see the city, fed monkeys, and squeezed in some swimming at the hotel before dinner and meeting together to go over some debriefing.
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| Little princess catching a ride on our way exploring |
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| Outside the entrance to the first waterfall |
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| There was a huge fallen tree right beside the waterfall |
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| Our team swimmin' |
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| It was so beautiful!! |
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| There was a pastor from Abidjan who was also visiting the fall that day and he was in so many of our pictures just awkwardly standing off to the side. We had a good laugh going back through them all!! |
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| Big guy was so so happy! |
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| Liz and Elliot splashin around |
After the first waterfall, we were off to see the sacred monkeys of the village and feed them. It was so cool because as soon as we got there with our bananas they came on out and were happy to eat! They would come right over and grab a piece of banana out of your hand and then scurry away to a tree to munch on the treasure. They were friendly and not agressive at all which was great for the kids as well. Although, Elliot was terrified no matter how friendly they were. Silly kid's afraid of anything that moves!
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| A mama and her baby |
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| snuggles |
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| This took a lot of prompting and encouragement! But he did feed them a couple of times before declaring that he was for sure done |
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| Lucy needed help at first, but then she was on a roll and had some new best friends. |
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| Me |
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| Got it! |
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| Keenan boy. His favorite part was that the monkeys would actually catch the banana if you tossed it to them even when hanging from the branches of the tree, so as soon as he found that out he had a blast tossing them into the trees to see who was going to grab it out of the air. |
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| This little guy was double fisting! |
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| They were so cool looking! |
After the monkeys were full, they headed back into the forrest and we had a bunch of left over bananas. Thats where my monkeys took over!
Then we hiked a ways to the second waterfall which was not quite as impressive as the first and was super slippery to walk around on the rocks, so Lucy and I just parked and stayed put watching all the kids from the village do slip and slide on the rocks and cannon balls into the shallow pools at the bottom.
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| our trooper man! |
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| Our team hiking around |
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| Lucy and me hanging out |
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| Crazy man hiding in some bushes |
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| Chrissy, Kelsey and I at the look out point |
Day two was a bit more intense but so incredibly fun as well! We wanted to do some hiking and there were a couple of huge rocks at the top of one of the mountains called the two teeth of Man, so we asked our guide if it would be possible for us to go up. The path left from his village and wound around to the top and he said we could do it in about 4 hours. Weellll, three small children and one pregnant lady slowed us a bit and 7 hours later we were back in the car. But the hike was beautiful and peaceful and insanely intense at times. None of us could walk well when we got back and we were all very thankful for the pool waiting for us at the hotel. Kelsey, Chrissy and Bobby ended up staying back this day just to have a day to relax and sit, so we missed them for sure.
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| As we hiked around the first half of the journey there were crops planted EVERYWHERE and new plots of land that had just been burned and ready to be cultivated and planted |
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| We practiced marching for a bit. :) Elliot was such a trooper and I was surprised at his dedication in walking! He walked until we hit the super steep part, and then hiked the whole super steep part down. Well, half hiked, half slid on his butt, but he giggled through the whole journey and didnt complain. I figured we would have to pass him around more than we had to, but he did great. By the end of the hike his legs were visibly wobbly and shakey, but I could not be more proud of this guy and his perseverance. |
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| About half way through we met these sweet people who were preparing food. They greeted us like we were lost friends and we chatted with them for a bit, resting and having some water. When we made it back down, they cheered and welcomed us again. They were so very sweet! |
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| Elliot and some farm land around him |
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| A field ready |
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| A view of the rocks a little bit before we rounded a corner and things got super rough and steep |
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| Jungle woman Nikki! So often we could not even see our path because of the vegetation |
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| Keenan was the most excited to go because he said that he wanted to find out what was between the two teeth! :) Here's Keenan and Lucy hanging out on the rock in the middle. We decided that the teeth need some floss because there is a lot growing in there! |
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| We are insane people! This part was the trickiest for the kids for sure. We had to shimmy up this branch in the middle of some rocks to make it to the top of the bigger tooth. I didnt get a picture of them doing it, but our guide sat at the very top, Craig wedged himself in the middle somehow and Nathanael stayed at the bottom and passed the kids up. I just kept thinking how crazy we are for doing that with the littles!! But it was worth it :) |
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| The final climb and passing of the kids |
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| Finally at the top!! |
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| Wooohoooo!!!!! |
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| Our fam with the town in the back |
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| So proud of these kids! |
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| The view from the top towards the village |
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| All of us |
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| Pregnant lady conquers mountain |
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| Super dad carries children the whole way |
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| The only sad thing once we got up there was there were swarms and swarms of gnats. Not so fun! We just stayed at the top long enough to get some pictures, grab something to eat and drink, and then we were out of there! |
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| The view from the back |
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| The aftermath of Elliot sliding on the slippery leaves to get down the steep part :) |
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| That little tiny pointy rock sticking out was where we hiked to. This was taken when we still had about 20 minutes or so left to the car. |
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| My ridiculously strong guy. He lead us with the guide the WHOLE time and was giddy about it all the way through the 7 hours. Mountain man! |
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| This is the gorge Craig had to drive over to get to the village. There was not enough space on either side because the villagers had rice drying on either side and there were telephone poles on the edge as well. Our trusty guide steered Craig right over it. |
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| Us back at the hotel TIRED! :) |
We packed up and headed back the next morning with loads of pictures and sweet memories! We are so grateful that the Lord blessed this time so richly and we were safe the whole time. Now back to real life. Only 23 more days and the summer project will be here!!! Time to get some things ready and some work done!!
