Aru Falls

Lady has quickly become part of the family, she shares her bed with Snuggle Bug...And this weekend she went with us on our first day trip. We were told about a waterfall that is about an hour and 15 min drive from our city and is a beautiful place to go for an afternoon excursion. We are planning to go camping in a week, and we thought it would be a great practice run before we left.The directions that went something like this: "Take Kitgume road till you reach the big bridge, shortly after the bridge you will turn right, just before the the trade center. Follow the small road for about 20 min. Then you will turn right again, you will know it is the correct turn because the road dips down." We only had to call once to confirm the location of the turn for the small road. They said we would be straddling the grass ... .and we were! This place is really out in the African bush! in the middle of nowhere. It is rough, and untourist-ized. It was beautiful!The last time we went camping, it rained and we discovered that the van leaked! IT was not a pleasant night.... and before I was going to sleep in the van for a week .... during rainy season... we had to get it fixed!! I thought of putting a tarp over the top of the van. That would help keep the water out, maybe even allow us to keep the windows open if it rains (it gets stuffy with the windows closed.) And this is what Kent came up with.... it worked really well. Daddy, you would be proud!Here is our camping stove.... we heated up leftover soup for lunch and added yummy pineapple to finish off our meal. I actually had to cook several meals on this stove, when our cooker (stove) ran out of propane and the gas station was out as well.

Before we headed down to the falls we met Bosco, who came out of nowhere! He was a true God send!! There was NO WAY we could have made it down the mountain with out his help. The descent down was treacherous, there were times that my life flashed before my eyes as I thought Lady was going to pull me head first down into the rocks! There were several rivers that we had to ford (isn't that the fancy word for cross??) That would have been impossible with just us: 2 adults, 4 girls, 2 chairs, and umbrella and a puppy! But is was all worth it, wouldn't you say.... just look at the view! There he is.... the silent watcher, sent to help us maneuver down a mountain so we could enjoy one of God's MANY wonders!

Please observe that the chairs we hauled down the mountain, were NOT fold able, easy to carry camping chairs..... they were these, hard plastic lawn chairs. And the Umbrella, was NOT the small compact type that fit into your purse or backpack.

Here are the girls playing in the only shallow place we could find. They had so much fun, once they recovered from the journey down. For the trip back up we made a few changes. Kent carried, Curly Sue on his back, I passed Lady to Baby Girl and took Snuggle Bug on my back. Sweat Pea, wielded the umbrella and Bosco took the chairs! It wasn't as scary going back up, except for the time I fell in to the river... but I didn't drop Snuggle bug! Of course I was the only one who WASN'T dressed for a swim ... oh well!

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!!!!