This week covers the last few weeks of school here in Accra followed by our trip back to the US!
Projects for the Trip
This month I was very busy finishing up all my different games for the girls to use during our long trip back to my mom’s house for the summer. First, I finished up both of their little checkers/snakes and ladder pouches, complete with the actual snakes and ladders!
Next, I finished up some masks I had been working on for Varun. He usually just wears the disposable ones, but for the all the flights that we’d be taking, I just felt more comfortable with him having the triple-layer cloth masks on hand.
Once I finished the sewing projects, I moved on to something I hadn’t actually used myself: a hot glue gun! There were a few ideas I had gotten that required a hot glue gun, so I was able to find an affordable one here and I gave it a try! The first project was card holders for the girls. Now, Sara Gail has been enjoying playing Uno with us from time to time. Abigail has tried too, but she’s a little too young to follow the rules and understand the game. Still, I didn’t want to leave her out. The only problem is, their hands are too small to hold all the cards they get well without us seeing them. So, I made these little holders for them out of cardboard and a foam-type paper, that way they can play without showing us all the cards they have.
Finally, since Sara Gail’s imagination is so active these days, I wanted to make a backdrop for her games with her dolls. So, I took a couple three ring binders and glued on some of the foam paper to create a scene for her and Abigail to use with her dolls. I thought it would come in hand on the flight, just propping it up on the tray and creating an imaginative game with the dolls that were tucked inside to go with the scene.
After finishing all these little projects, I finally felt ready for our trip!
Last Day of School
This month was the end of school for the girls for the year. Before school ended, both girls found out which classes they would be attending in the fall. Sara Gail moves into the Cheetah Room (elsewhere known as Kindergarten!) Abigail is still in the preschool classes, but she actually got to skip a room and head straight to the room with the 3 and 4-year-olds. We’re all very excited to say the least! On their last day, the school allows them to dress up in whatever they want to have a fun party-type day with all their friends. Some of Sara Gail’s friends will be moving on to different schools in the fall, so she made the most out of her last day.
Waiting for Varun
This month, as has become all too common during our time in Accra, Varun had to travel again, so the girls and I tried to pass the time until he came home as best we could. Originally, his trip was supposed to end the day before our flight was scheduled to go back to the US. That would have meant that he would have flown across to Eastern Africa in Ethiopia, stayed one night, flew back across Africa to Ghana, and then turn around and get on a plane set for Washington, D.C. a few hours after landing in Accra. Thankfully, he was able to arrange to get back a week before our trip; it would have been too crazy for him to travel that much!
While we waited for our anticipated trip to begin, the girls spent the time just playing around the house together. Either playing with puzzles, blocks, or simply sitting together and chatting.
Sara Gail has really started to enjoy writing, so she was starting to write messages to all the family members she misses, especially those she was about to see in a matter of days!
We also continued our regular activities that are ongoing every month: gymnastics, cooking, and playing with/putting up hair. Sara Gail just loves her gymnastics class, and absolutely loves that her best friend is in her class every Saturday too. It’s so wonderful to see her develop a strong bond with a friend again, especially after having her two first best friends leave Ghana suddenly and without returning.
As for hair and food this month, there wasn’t anything too exciting, just typical routine dinners, and my poor attempts at trying to put up the girls’ silky, smooth hair in different fashions.
Swimming
Between school ending and our trip back to the US the girls had a last few swimming lessons before taking a brief break for the summer. Once we get back to Accra, I’m going to let Sara Gail have a couple more lessons at her current place with her current coach, and then I’ll be looking into a local swim team for kids to see if Sara Gail is ready to join. Abigail is doing really well and will have the option to have swimming lessons at school, so she won’t be doing any extra swimming lessons here either. This recreation center has been perfect for the past year to get the girls to improve their swimming, but it is time to move on. Both girls need more of a group setting in the pool to continue to excel in their swimming skills.
Trip to the USA!!
Finally, the day arrived: we would be going back to my mom’s house in NH to spend the first month of summer! All of us had been waiting for this day for a long time, me especially! Ever since the COVID-19 epidemic had reached Ghana, I had stayed put in country, so I couldn’t wait to get back home for a bit! The flight for Washington, D.C. was a really late one, leaving Accra at 11:45 pm, so we decided to try and keep the girls up until we got settled on the flight, that way it would help them adjust to the time difference and jet lag once we arrived. We spent the day trying to keep the girls entertained so that it went by fast. In the morning we went to a friend’s apartment for a swimming play date and the girls had a lot of fun in the water!
It was a bit stressful getting through the airport with the check-in, security, paperwork and new COVID protocols, but we were able to manage, get on the plane, and get the girls ready for sleep.
It was a long flight, and Abigail’s first flight in her own seat, since she was now almost 3-years-old. Neither Varun nor I slept much, not having as much space, wearing masks, and I was constantly pulling Abigail’s legs back into her seat and out of the aisle. Our girls are just so tall! At the very end of the flight, right before we were going to land, Sara Gail got motion sickness and threw up all over herself. I tried to get her to have some ginger ale to settle her stomach, but she does not like carbonated drinks! Luckily, I had packed several back-up outfits, so once we got into the airport, we were all able to change and get comfortable again. It was quite a lot of walking through the airport; Abigail didn’t mind because she was still small enough to ride on the little Trunkie-type suitcase that we have. But Sara Gail, being a big girl now, had to walk all on her own and she did not like it one bit. It’s hard to blame her, after a long flight, jet lag, and a lot of walking, anyone would get tired. Thankfully we didn’t have a long wait before our next flight into Manchester, NH. After landing there we rented a car, went out to eat, and bought a few essentials, including sweatshirts for Sara Gail because the crisp New England air was “cold” for our African-raised girl. We then settled in for the night at a local hotel, rather than finishing the drive up to my mom’s that day. With such a long trip, and exposure to so many people, we didn’t want to immediately get in a tight space for 2.5 hours with my mom and brother. So, we spent the night together in a hotel room and got cleaned up the next day. The girls got to share a bed together, which was all just part of the adventure for them!
The next day we finally finished the final leg of our trip and did the long drive up to my mom’s house in West Milan, New Hampshire. I just couldn’t be happier to be home, taking in all the mountain air and beautiful scenery. I never truly appreciated the beauty of the landscape while I was growing up there, but every trip back just has me smiling ear to ear, gazing at those gorgeous mountains! It always just feels so good to be home!
Strawberry Picking
The first activity we got to do with the girls was go to a local farm where they were offering strawberry picking to the public. Once you arrive, they give you a big cardboard basket for you to fill with as many strawberries as you would like, and then they charge you by the pound once you’ve finished your picking. The girls absolutely loved it! My mom was really impressed with how well they picked, the entire time we were there picking. They picked ripe strawberries, and they picked the whole time without complaint! My mother has high standards when it comes to how many berries she wants to walk away with, and we definitely got our money’s worth! Our hands did get a little red, but it was more than worth it. It was such a great outing just us four girls, picking fresh strawberries in the mountains of northern New Hampshire!
Walks Down Spruceville Road
The last few days of the month I spent trying to keep the girls entertained because Varun had just a few final projects to finish before his vacation could start, and my mother was finishing up her last few days of work for the summer. The girls and I had the most fun these days just taking walks up and down the road. This was a pastime that I remember from my own youth, just taking walks, taking in the beautiful nature all around, chatting with neighbors as we walked by, and seeing all the farm animals out and about! The first day we went up the road, to see if the horses and cows were out in the pastures.
On the way back we took a pit stop to sit by the creek and throw rocks into the water!
The next we went the other direction, down the road. The road actually dead-ends into a hiking trail into the mountains. So, we took another path that leads to the end of the creek which becomes a bigger river. The area looks very different from when I grew up. A lot of the beach has eroded from when I was growing up there, but the girls still had fun throwing rocks into the river on this end.
These walks with the girls were simply blissful for me, I was over the moon that I was sharing my childhood home with them. I loved growing up there and I loved even more sharing it with my girls. Although, Sara Gail did end up with a tick between her toes after the second walk (it hadn’t bitten down thankfully), so we did need to be vigilant and careful. But it was wonderful to finally get back into nature, and to bring the girls and Varun along with me!
Well, we ended June 2021 settled in comfy, cozy with my mom and brother in the mountains of NH. Come back next week to read more about our summer spent back in the US!
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