This is the one token photo from Judah's school Christmas program. I might upload some video footage if i have the time some time.

We just got back today from Ile aux Nattes, where we were from last friday until wednesday. It was HOT, especially at night when the wind stopped blowing and the air just hung heavy inside our little grass huts on the beach... hung heavy with mosquitoes. We're waiting now to see who might present with malaria in the next 10 days: "Happy Christmas!" Apart from that nightly discomfort and malarial minded anxiety the time at the coast was superb! Except for poor Asher who started teething again the 2nd night and thus schlemmed the rest of the time. Alas. The sand was soft, the sea warm, the air HOT, the food lovely, etc. etc. etc.

On the nights that we slept well the mornings after were so heavenly. Unbelievably so. The air was so clean, the water so soft and warm... <sigh>

Our bungalows (which would be to the left of this photo) looked out over this beach to the ocean towards the east, which means we saw the sun rise from our bed. <sigh>

 Judah continued his fast-track swimming lessons and was snorkeling out in the deep water by the second day. He LOVED it! When i asked periodically if he was having a good time on the vacation and what his favourite part was he always was quick to mention the snorkeling!

Although the place we stayed at is run by a South African, they unfortunately still stay true to the french custom of eating after 7pm, which is nice if you're out and about doing sun and surf things until the sun goes down, but for kids it's a bit of a challenge. Here we are waiting for our dinner.

Uncle Geoff and his nephews.

grampa.

Lara and Eric reading.

this is "the point" where we did most of our swimming and the staging point for most of the snorkeling. if you think it looks amazing in the photo, you should see it in real life. <sigh> it's pure heaven. the point was a 3 minute walk from the place we stayed at.
 

Pirogues moored on the route to 'the point' where we swam every day.

Brielle (above) and Dad (below) getting ready to snorkel.

You may remember that Judah got a new fishing rod for his birthday. He was SO stoked to try it out when we got to the island. In fact, i think he was asking to go fishing the minute our pirogue hit the sand on ile aux nattes. ha.

 

 
when we had crab for supper one night we got cool 'cracker' tools and aprons that exactly matched the table cloth. what fun!

there were lemurs at the place we stayed, a new addition since the last time we were there.

...
I still have photos to upload, but Josh says it's time for bed (9:30) and we are all quite knackered and looking forward to sleeping in not-stifling heat and not with mossie nets worrying about getting bitten.

I'll leave you with this lovely family snorkel pic.
see more tomorrow.

Phew! It's been a full few days last. Geoff and Brielle came (late, thanks to Air Mad, like he mentioned), and we left immediately the next morning for Andasibe/the rainforest.

The day of their (late night) arrival the rest of us spent a while at the souvenir market looking for gifts for friends and then lunched at the Combava. So nice.

Judah took to the no-kiddie-only-deep-water-pool at Vakona Lodge like a fish. He put on his arm bands and decided then and there that he was no longer afraid of the deep end - and voila! - there he went. From then on he enjoyed the pool like never before.

There was a lot of reading and lounging by the pool while we were there. Of course we did the hike through the forest looking for lemurs (more on that later) and the lemur island, but apart from that and eating we were at the pool because it was just that hot out. i think i was the only one who complained about the temperature though.

here's part of the hike - spiders!

unfortunately for most of us, Asher was exactly due for his morning nap when we were hiking quietly through the forest looking for birds and lemurs, which means he started shrieking and schleming and crying... <sigh> i think he was also a bit disconcerted with the whole forest environment while he felt he should really be in a quiet room with his teddy and a milk bottle. in the end, after a lot of shushing and bouncing and whatnotall Josh took him back to the parking lot and we hiked on and saw... not much else. alas.

Josh with the (finally) sleeping Asher.

A drink in the pool on a hot day. can life get any better than that?

Asher's new-to-him pool tube-shirt.

We have 5+ cameras to pool photos from on this trip, so there may be more in the day to come. Just to warn you though, we leave for the tropical island gettaway from this tropical island on friday morning until the 22nd, so until then you wont hear from us again.

this is my one! token lemur shot (taken by josh).

asher liked to pull the lemur's hair.

i tried so hard to pose a brothers photo with the lemurs, but by the time we started the staging the lemurs were so full of bananas that they didnt want to come anymore. bah!

this is about as good as i got.

This morning we were at Judah's kindergarten Christmas program. It was entertaining as always. I'll post some vids tomorrow.

Here we are eating our last lunch at Vakona before the long drive back home. I gotta say, in the (only) 3 times i've been to Andasibe, this was by far my favorite time because of the weather and the time we could spend at the pool. So nice.

...of mozambique brings me and my new bride to madagascar for not 12, but 28 days of Malagasy Christmas with family--me being geoff, youngest brother of joc, with new bride, brielle (formally beaudin).
My wife and i are spending 7 months volunteering in South Africa, and are 'vacationing' to another amazing African country, just over the mozambique channel, for a month. What makes this particular skip and a jump over to Mada so awesome is that my entire immediate family will also be there for Christmas!

Brielle and i are on day four in Madagascar, we arrived last of the 3 family couples at midnight on the 11th (AirMad delayed and re-routed our flight. merci airmad). After finally arriving, sharing a few stories of the last few months, we had a short night before we were off the the rain forest. Deeep in the forest, a 4 hour drive east from Tana, we found ourselves in a pristine location to spend our first 2 days with our long lost family. Pool swimming, lemurs, good food, cheap beers (cheaper even than S.A.), and the highest tree climb ive ever done high above the rain forest canopy (ca.60-80feet up) were some of the highlights of the trip. Not to mention it was all with family that we havnt seen in 2 (mom, dad, eric, lara)and 11 months(josh, joc, judah, asher).
With those activities behind us already, im looking forward to ile saint marie this week end; snorkeling, fishing, relaxing, then exploring tana, tennis, markets, taking my wife out for a 5 star day on her bday on the 31st. And then, for all the extra fun stuff we have planned for after the rest of the family goes back Canada'ward a week and a half before Brielle and i leave. heh heh. we'll see.

geoff.

Greetings,
My name is Lara.  For those of you who don't know me I am Eric's wife...Joc & Josh's sister-in-law.  Joc has asked me to write a few words about my experience in Madagascar so far and I most willingly agreed. 
Eric and I decided to join the Reimer/Plett Christmas celebration in Madagascar this year.  We have been here for five full days and I am already feeling more at ease with the different cultural surroundings.  Before we left Canada I was aware that there would be a certain level of culture shock when we arrived.  My father is a pilot so I have had the privileged of seeing and experiencing different cultures my entire life.  However, I will say that I found the first couple days in Madagascar to be a bit overwhelming.  Perhaps I wasn't prepared for the level of poverty that exists here or my in ability to communicate with the local people.  The wee-bit of broken French I know is just not sufficient.
So far I am finding myself inspired and touched by what I have seen here.  The people are very friendly and appreciate the things they have.
One observation that has stuck with me is the abundance of stray animals, particularly dogs, on the streets of Madagascar.  I am very passionate about animal rights advocacy and I donate time and resources to this cause in Canada.  It hurts my heart to see them scrounge for food and listen to them bark as I fall asleep at night.  However, I realize there are not enough resources available to feed the people never mind the stray animals.  It's not for lack of compassion and caring it's for lack of resources and knowledge.  I was extremely pleased to see an animal SOS down the road from where Joc & Josh live.  Eric and I plan to visit next week.  It just goes to show you that God touches us all and encourages us to make the world a better place in different ways.
I have a great deal of respect for what Joc & Josh do here.  I look forward to what the next couple weeks will bring.
Cheers,
Lara

ok i think this might be a repeat. sorry

Here are Eric and Lara making their stellar supper this evening - it was their duty day - dont they appear to be looking endearingly at each other in domestic bliss?

My dad helped to colour the fondant for the cake. What a trouper.

Here we are sucking in our guts for the benefit of the photo. Can you tell? haha

Grandma and the birthday boy

doesnt that look like pure fun? running in the sprinkler during the birthday party.

 

today we had Judah's birthday party that was postponed from last week Friday.

I've always loved the fact that my boy had a high-summer birthday in December! Pool parties and water are generally on our party itinerary... except when we're in Canada on furlough that is. ha. If you remember, we gave Judah 2 double barrel water guns for his birthday last Friday, they were to have matched with the take-home treats we gave the invitees at the party - mini water pistols. We had 2 buckets of water balloons prepared for the party, so everyone was heavily armed for an afternoon of wet fun.

These brilliant photos are courtesy of Josh's new toy: a telephoto lens for our Nikon. He's pretty stoked about it.

My parents were also in the thick of things. My dad was in charge of refilling ammo.

"Hang on a moment..."

"Ok, now i'm ready!"

Judah's band of brothers: Fanilo (Malagasy/German), Seth and Cole (American), Judah (Canadian), Josiah (American).

We had birthday cake (wacky cake and lemon pound cake alternating in a 4 layer with butter cream icing and fondant - which took me all day - literally - to make. I got the decorating idea from this blog entry. We had flags - a la Eric and Lara - on the cake to continue the flag/banner theme. Dad and Josh helped with the red balls, mom made the cakes and i put it all together. Phew! exhausting!!), and popcorn in painted brown paper bags.

These photos are all JOsh's picks from the big camera. Stay tuned for my picks and those from my red camera. Sorry for the overload.

Eric and Asher

look how the flags match the cake colours. haha

day three....or whatever day it is. We've had a few more activities, some of them...
- gone downtown to have lunch at the Cookie Shoppe; this is the place that jocelyn raves about constantly and it's actually pretty good. You really need to want to go there though...traffic in the downtown area is brutal. Imagine going up hill on a street barely wide enough for the vehicle, a one way thankfully, when the flow stops...it's hot, likely about 35C inside the car, A/C switched off because the engine is getting closer to the red zone, although it's not exactly adequate anyway, electric operated windows don't all function...you get the picture, eh?
- downtown is also where the big market is located; because I didn't bring a hat from home, and because i REALLY need a hat when it's sunny in Tana in summertime. We venture into the vast labyrinth of kiosks and vendors to buy a hat, wandering deeper into the market searching for a hat vendor. We walked quite far into the vast depths of that place with thoughts of Deb becoming separated from the rest of us and not being able to find her way back to the car...scary!!! Even scarier when you consider that she could be carrying Asher (she wasn't...i was). Bought a hat for 7000Ar ($3.50) and am planning to buy a few more before i leave 'cause that's such a bargain.
- played tennis with josh 3 times (seriously thinking about taking lessons from one of pros who also speaks some english). I'm not sure if josh is 'playing with me' but i managed to win at least a few games.
- grandma has spent some time in the pool with judah who has become quite confident in the water; i may even go into the pool yet myself.
- went to the Raphia for dinner last night. Jumped on the trampoline with judah and asher in the dark, enjoyed some fine Indian cuisine, washed down, of course, with some THB.
- visited judah's school, met his teacher and all his classmates. Judah's french skills are apparently getting quite good, although maintains he can't speak all that well.

Isnt that annoying when you know lots is going on but there's no new blog entries or photos about it? haha.

This is the picture to go with my dad's entry below: the boys meeting grampa for the first time since Asher was 2 months old.

The boys opening some of a seemingly endless parade of presents. Judah got a sweet new lunchbox - Spiderman! and some stickers, tattoos, cards, a Spiderman figurine, etc. Asher got... nothing. haha.

once Asher got used to grampa

lunch on the deck.

the AJRs (Allan John Reimer; Asher John R.) eating litchis on the deck.

We spend a lot of time on the deck just now. It's such lovely weather (although a bit too warm during the midday if you ask me, but the Manitobans are definteily not complaining).

Eric and Lara arrived late last night - we havent any photos of them yet because they slept until 11! despite my best efforts of banging on their door at 9:30, 10, 10:30... gah. They're all now at the club pool with Judah. My dad went along to pick up Judah from school this morning and brought gifts for Judah's classmates from a coworker. I'm sure there'll be photos posted soon of that.

Mostly there's just a lot of playing and hanging out, wrapping presents. Tonight we're off to the Raphia for dinner and maybe a tree trimming evening... i'm hoping to make a few Christmas goodies to eat while we do that... hm, or i suppose we could wait until Geoff and Brielle get here to do that - we'll see. Geoff texted me Monday night to instruct us not to have too much fun before they got here on Saturday. Haha. I'm very glad they're coming in during the afternoon though, because these two midnight arrivals - with the inevitable chatting and settling in until 1:30am have made me feel like I'm having jet lag! yuck. Anyway, that's done now, so it's relaxing and playing from now on in. Woot, woot!

Sunday we leave for Andasibe/the Rainforest until Tuesday. Until then you may (hopefully) hear/read from some other guest bloggers. Eric's usually amiable for that kind of thing. My mom was quite overwhelmed yesterday with our trip downtown, so perhaps i can persuade her to tell us about it.

hey!!!! we're here. after a 2 1/2 day journey, which included a pretty nice layover in Paris, we have already:
 - spent our first hour (or so) in a sweltering airport getting through the efficient Malagasy customs - ALL our luggage made it!!!! and the meat was apparently still mostly frozen/cold
 - been greeted at the airport by Josh who whisked us through the barely lit parking lot filled with many porters eager to help load the bags for a couple of euros, or as many you'll give them.
 - been welcomed by Jocelyn at her wonderful home (they really have done a fabulous job creating their home since the last time we were here) at nearly 1:00a.m., which is, of course, way past her bed time; we sipped some wine, and chatted a bit until we forced ourselves to go to bed.
 - been awakened at 4:00am by the first cockcrow of the morning; and after donning the AF issue ear plugs and mask went back to sleep till 7:00 or so; not a bad first night's sleep, particularly given the fact that i had slept a total of about 6 hours including our last night in Canada.
 - given our grandsons the first of many hugs; deb actually awoke when asher got up (i think she did) so she had already made initial contact; deb, judah and asher came to wake me at 7:00 and it was a super thrill to see asher dashing to come and greet me while i was still in bed, and then realizing what he was doing halfway there and veering off to the side while running at full speed....'OOoops - who is that guy in the bed? and why i am running at him with such reckless abandon?'; after a few smarties he became a lot more confident. judah, of course, was bouncing up and down and we reconnected with him in a hurry. Meeting the boys this morning is the dream realized.
 - had a fantastic breakfast with our hosts; ate some litchis; drank a few cups of coffee; continued to gain more of asher's confidence; met irene, first of house help to come to work, etc, etc.
josh just said - 'you don't have to write a book', so i'm booking off.

It's 11:32pm. We've already slept almost 3 hours tonight, but now i'm up again blogging while Josh is waiting at the airport.

Friday was Judah's 5th birthday. He felt fine despite fears the day before that he was still going to be feverish and pukey. It was somewhat anti-climactic therefore to have only one gift to open and a normal school day for his big day instead of a party with jacked-up little boys. Alas.

It seems that 'guns' are on the preferred present wish list these years. Judah got 2 large 'double barrel' water guns for his birthday gift from Josh and i. I also made gingerbread men people snowflakes for his school class.

Yesterday and today Josh and i both scored some early windfalls with regards to Christmas treats: litchis from Manakara (?) brought in by Patrick, the other pilot. Apparently they were 2,000Ar for a huge basket full (very approximately 5kg?) We've got more litchis than i'm sure we can eat in the amount of time it'll take before they go bad, but the sight of litchis in the wooden bowl and the heady scent of them as i work in the kitchen is enough to make me think of Christmas... funny. I must be turning into a 'southerner'. haha. I also received half of a 10kg bag of cashews. There is a place near to our house that processes and sells spices and cashew nuts for exporting. We can buy them there in 10kg bags for 50,000Ar/ $25! We tagged along with someone in the know of how to get there and now we're hooked up with nuts for Christmas at 2.50$/kg. Can you imagine!! 5kg gave me 35cups of cashews. Anybody have some tasty recipes we could try out with cashews in it?

So, with the litchis and nuts put up, i also bought armloads of flowers today, my mother's 50th birthday present yesterday at the Christmas Bazaar (i'm really quite jealous of it!), i put up 6 cups of pureed pumpkin so that i could make, among other things, pumpkin pie in the next few weeks and pumpkin bread oatmeal for breakfast tomorrow. I found a delicious recipe on a hostess blog this past week for a chocolate and pumpkin cheesecake! ACK!

Have i mentioned recently how uncomfortably hot it's been in the last few days! gah! I heard today that Jirama (the grossly mismanaged equivalent of MB Hydro) is sponsoring rain cloud seeding to force rain because the water levels are so low and the rice fields are desperately dry. I suppose i was mistaken in thinking that December was supposed to be this rain-free.

Perhaps tomorrow, if you're lucky, i'll cajole a parent into blogging some first impressions.