Two Cars, Two Kids, Two Cats driving 2800 miles - part 1

This is at the top of the St. Louis Arch. Our one site seeing adventure so far.

Yup that is right we are half way through our road trip across the country. We have both the car and the van, the two cats and of course the sweet boys. I was dreading this trip a bit but it has actually been an good. There have been only two downer moments and the rest has been laid back and fun. The boys have risen to the challenge and really seem to not mind the driving. They do get to watch a lot of movies but there is still plenty of down time and they play, talk, read and keep me entertained with silly comments. Ben and I have a radio to chatter to each other with and I have books on CD that I listen to when the boys are watching a movie or when I drive the car.

The cats are doing well also. They hated each other for a long time and they haven't ever really enjoyed the kids but all that has changed. The cats snuggle with each other and sit on the boys laps while we drive along. The kids love it although Yared has taken to calling them his dogs as he walks them on the leashes. I like my cats but I ALWAYS feel like the biggest idiot in the world walking around with a cat on a leash. So I don't mind handing that joy over to the boys. One of our downer moments was when Nati needed to pee for the 100th time. We are super glad he is telling us and extra glad he is a boy as we just pull off at the side of the road. On one such adventure Yared was "walking his dog". We were really in the middle of nowhere. Nati was peeing into some berry bushes and on the other side of them was a thick overgrown forrest. Yared let go of the leash and his dog, I mean cat took off. Ben and I were sure we had lost her. Yared proceeded to do what any six year old would do, he howled at the top of his lungs about losing the cat. His screeching wasn't about to attract said cat back to us so he was quickly put in the van. I truly was saying goodbye to the cat in my mind as I was not going to spend hours looking for her. We just didn't have the time. Then we heard her terrified little cry from in the bushes. We captured the cat and Yared now walks his dog with a serious death grip on the leash and squeezes the life out of them as he holds them. Nati loves to carry them but it is often around the neck which has me in hysterical laughter every time.

Here is a brief overview of the trip by days

Day one - Norfolk VA to Lexington KY about 600 miles - best memory from this day was the incredible scenery of West Virginia and Kentucky. It was breath taking. Worst memory of this day was the traffic we hit in the first hour. That is not how you want to start your long road trip.

Day two - Lexington KY to St Louis MO about 400 miles - best memory from this day was meeting up with good friends. Yared and his friend Nathaniel were at the same orphanage together in Ethiopia. I made contact with his mom and we have stayed in touch. She has become a good friend and now all four kiddos have a blast together. Her daughter is Nati's future wife if I have my say:). Worst memory - using our Denny's coupons that I got when I wrote a letter of complaint about our last trip. It took 25 minutes for our food to come out and we were then almost late to meet our friends. Combine this with a tired Nati and a grumpy stressed out set of parents and it was a bomb that almost exploded. We had to have a family apology and hug before we met our friends:).

Day three St. Louis MO to Salina KS about 400 miles - best memory of this day was eating in this little local diner for dinner. The sign said "Home cooked food since 1963" It felt like we stepped back into 1963 when we walked inside. I got the pot roast and it came out with a scoop of mashed potatoes and dark gravy all over it. The boys saw my food arrive and Yared said, "You get chocolate ice cream for dinner?" The food wasn't great but it had atmosphere. Worst memory was poor Yared's face when he almost lost the cat.

Day four - Salina KS to Denver CO about 420 miles. - best memory was finding some old carousel that had been fulling restored and getting a ride for $.25 each. It didn't go up and down but it did go fast enough that I got motion sick. Still it is a summer memory etched in my mind of laughing boys, warm dry heat, hot wind blowing over a small country town. I also really thought it was funny when Nati tried to pee in the bushes and found out about about strong winds and why Daddy was yelling "Pee down wind". He came back wet and glared at us saying, "Me peed down wind and it went all over me." He doesn't even know what down wind is so this whole scene made me laugh. Worst memory.. I don't really have one from today other than the scenery was dull. It was a good day.

Here are a few of the pictures of our trip. We have been using the small camera as it is way easier.

This is just as we were leaving Norfolk. Yared was having a hard time saying goodbye to our good friends Ann and Paul. These friends let us stay with them our last week in Norfolk and it made the move so much better. THANKS Millers!!

We bought the boys their own little cameras and it is so funny to see what they want to take pictures of.
Nati on cat duty.
Our good buddies in St. Louis. The kids had a blast. It made our first long day of driving worth it to get the time with friends.
This is proof that the cats now like the kids.

Moving Time

I know some hear those words and shiver in horror and others are more like me and tingle with excitement. I actually really like the adventure of moving. I think my Dad blessed, or cursed depending on your point of view, me with his nomadic heart. He loves to explore, travel, move, wander. The best way to describe him is with the quote, "Not all who wander are lost." That is my dad in a nutshell. He was born to be free and explore the world. I really think he should have been born 100 years before his time so he could have really explored. In fact he has his PhD in Nomadic Peoples. Because of my parents missionary nomadic lifestyle, I have lived a very restless life. I don't regret it at all.

Yet, as I sit here in our home for the last weekend and just rest in the peace of HOME, I have for the first time a sense of sadness of leaving my own home. We have been in this home four years and that is the longest continuous amount of time I have ever lived in one house. This made me do some quick calculations of my moving history. I lived on three continents, in six countries, and in 7 states. The longest I have ever lived anywhere is my boarding school in Kenya- a total of 8 years. While there you were required to pack up your room at the end of every three month term so I am a pro at packing and also moving.

There are some great things about moving, it is like traveling. However instead of being a tourist you get to be a temporary local. You get so see so many new things, people and places. It really broadens your horizons. You get to be immersed in a whole new culture. I love the adventures I have had, the places I have seen and the friends I have made. It is always so mind boggling for me to meet people who have never moved, or worse yet never traveled. In college I worked at McDonalds with a 20 year old who had never been outside of the city limits. He used to brag about spending all his off time doing drugs. He seemed like a nice, intelligent guy when sober, so I one day suggested to him that he should go on some real trips instead of drug induced ones. He laughed me off but I do think it might have cured some of his drug addiction to see something outside his own town. Moving can be a wonderful adventure. It is like getting a present from a secret admirer. You never know what you will get. It might be amazing or it might be awful but it is something new and therefor exciting in my humble opinion.

There are some hard things about moving, the packing, the goodbyes, the uncertainty of a new area. As a child it was the new schools. Arrggghh. I went to a total of 7 different schools but as we were moving back and forth I had to switch between these schools a total of 11 times. I HATED going to a new school. I was always lost and felt like I had a giant sign on me stating that I was the new kid and therefor the looser. Some schools were worse than others and it definitely got worse as I got older. My sophomore year of high school I was home-schooled for about 6 weeks, went to a massive California public school for about three months and finished up the year in a very SNOBBY private school. (I was there on scholarship.) But being the new kid taught be to look out for the other new kids. It taught me to be compassionate. It taught me that one school was not the be all and end of your life.

This July Ben and I will celebrate 8 years of marriage. In those 8 years, we have moved 5 times. This move is an exciting one for us. It gets us back to the West Coast where 90% of our family lives. Of course we just found out that my sister and her family will be moving to North Africa one month after we arrive but.... at least 80% of our family will still be in California:). For the first time we will be living in base housing. I am really excited to try living on base. I went to college close to where we will be living and I loved this part of California so I am thrilled about that. Both sets of Grandparents are with in one days driving distance. My brother and Ben's sister are within a three hours drive. Oh JOY to be near family again. But this move is overshadowed with Ben's deployment so as much as I love the adventure of moving, I dread the arrival in CA as we only have about 10 days together after we get there.

I guess what I am trying to say is that while I am VERY aware of the challenges of moving, I really love it. I know that when it comes down to the time for us to settle permanently I will struggle. I also know this move has unique challenges with two small boys to comfort and encourage and a deployment looming. Also I love my home here in VA so it is hard to say goodbye to that and the friends we have made here. However, I am genuinely excited to move and to learn all about a new area, to make new friends, to find a new church, to experience a new everything. Yeah life is good and this nomadic girl finds her heart beating faster at the thought of being on the road again.

Spring adventures that got lost in the craziness

We did so much this spring that many of our adventures got lost in the shuffle. Here is a quick overview of our fun.

Boston

When we were up in RI we spent a day in Boston. It was so cool. This was one of my to-see cities on the East Coast. I wish we had longer to explore but as the day was FREEZING, we were more than ready to leave. We meant to just stop and take a picture here but Nati went into full blown hunger temper tantrum so we ate lunch here too. It was fun but no one new my name.

Making poor Yared try to appreciate American history. He is always a good sport but I had to laugh at my Ethiopian son sitting next to his American Dad while his British(Red Coat) mother took a picture of Paul Revere's grave.
I just liked this angle. He said looking up made him dizzy.


Goofing off.

Free tour of the Boston Fire House. They even let the boys wind up the old siren.

We went and visited the USS CONSTITUTION.

The best part of Boston was meeting up with my friend from elementary school, Norma and her husband Tim. Norma and I went to school together from 5th-12th grade. After high school we lost touch. If she is reading this she will be the first to admit she is lousy at staying in touch. It was so amazing to see her again. It felt like we were never apart. I truly value her friendship in my life. Boarding school can be a blast and it can be rough. Norma was one friend I could ALWAYS, and I mean ALWAYS count on to be kind, to make me laugh and to have fun with. I cannot recall her ever being unkind. While other girls could get moody and turn on you, she was always Norma, my friend and fellow laughter enthusiast. It was great to meet Tim as well and let them meet Ben and the boys. I do wish we lived closer and I certainly hope it isn't 20 years again before we see each other. Hint Hint Norma!!:)

Savannah

This city was also on my to-see list and it was beautiful. Again I wish we had longer but the boys were more than ready to go to Disney World and skip more site seeing.

Site seeing from the trolley. He looks mad but he actually loved the first hour and then fell asleep.
I love these little hands
What a three year old does once he is bored of site seeing on a trolley.

We loved the WWII memorial.
These stairs were like mountain climbing for the boys.

Home School

We read Stone Soap so of course we had to make a big pot of it. It was delicious.

I love this picture. Who is the student and who is the class clown.

Virginia Air and Space Museum

We had been meaning to go here for awhile and when we heard they had a Military Appreciation Month we took a day to go see it.

Something I never get tired of. Little hands holding mine.
or seeing little hands holding Daddy's hand.
Yogurt mustache.
They had awesome flight simulators for the kiddos to play with. This kid took them very seriously.


He liked the pretend baggage carousel the best. He got to throw suitcases on it and watch them get pulled around.

Go NAVY!!
After touring the Museum, we went a little crazy. I am not sure what we were thinking but we took them to a 3D movie . It was their FIRST movie experience. They did the surround sound blast at the beginning and both boys started wailing in fear. After awhile Yared liked it and kept trying to grab objects that got close to him. Nati hated the whole thing and would have left if he could have gotten all of us to go with him. He didn't want to be there but he also didn't want to miss out on something Yared was getting to do. He survived but he still tells me, "Me not like Mars Needs Moms."
That is a few of our spring adventures that got overlooked. But as I dragged my HUGE camera around all these places I thought I would share!! Less than 10 days and we will be hitting the road for California so stay tuned for more crazy adventures from the Leppard Clan.

Learning to Cook Ethiopian Food

A number of people have asked me for my recipes for Ethiopian food. The problem is this; as with any great dish it is more an aquired skill then something I can write down. I can point you in the right direction and if you have a taste for Ethiopian food you should be able to adjust it to make it taste right. I am still a beginner for sure but every time I make it, it seems to get better.

Here are the two basic rules and one side note that I learned from my friend Seba

1) - always use more onions and fresh ginger root than the recipe calls for. When I am making Tebs or Doro wat I use about six onions. I cook them dry until they mush down and then I add the ginger and garlic. Seba chops these two up and then blends them together in the blender. This seems to work well. I use a LOT of ginger.

2) - use the real butter they ask for. It isn't hard to make and you can make a big batch and keep it in the fridge and then just break chunks off to add to your dish. It is a small thing that makes a big difference to your dishes.

3) - side note most wat dishes are done when you see the oil separate on the top and move to the sides.

here is the recipe I follow for the butter

Niter Kibbeh (Ethiopian spiced clarified butter)

Servings: about 2 cups
1 lb Butter, unsalted
2 cloves Garlic, crushed
2 Gingerroot, ¼" slices
3 Cardamom Pods
1 Cinnamon stick
3 Cloves
½ t Turmeric
½ t Fenugreek Seeds

Add butter to a small saucepan and melt over low heat.

Add all other ingredients and simmer on lowest possible heat for about 1 hour.

Pour the clear golden liquid off the top leaving all solids in the bottom of the pan. Strain through cheesecloth if necessary. Discard solids.

Store in the refrigerator or freezer and use as needed.

The spices and amounts are not set in stone, so don't get upset if you don't have all of them

Shiro

I don't follow one for Shiro, but this link is the most similar to what I make.

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cookbook:Shiro_Wat

Seba adds chopped tomatoes or sautéed meat to her Shiro. I use the Niter Kibbeh to add some more flavor. I also have at least three different Shiro powers, some with berere, some without. I personally like at least a little spice in my Shiro. Many of the shiro recipes I tried before Seba helped me out had you using cups of shiro powder. She was horrified when I told her that. Spoonfuls is MUCH more practical and works!!

Doro Wat

this is the original recipe I started with. I use about 4 cups of onions and 2 Tablespoons of ginger. I also go heavy on the Berbere.

Ingredients:

2 lbs Chicken Pieces
2 Tbs Lemon Juice
1 tsp Salt
4 Tbs Vegetable Oil
2 cups Onion, finely chopped
1 Tbs Minced Garlic
1/2 tsp Ginger (ground)
1/4 tsp Fenugreek, (crushed)
1/2 tsp Cardamom (ground)
1/8 tsp Nutmeg (ground)
2 Tbs Berbere
4 Tbs Paprika
(for a spicier Wat, use 4 Tbs Berbere and 2 Tbs Paprika)
2 Tbs Tomato Paste
1 cup Water (or more, as needed)
2 Tbs Butter

Steps:
1) Traditionally, a whole Chicken is cut into 8 pieces.
2) Sprinkle chicken with Lemon Juice and Salt
3) Let Chicken stand while preparing other ingredients
4) Heat Vegetable Oil
5) To Oil, add Onions, Minced Garlic, and Ginger.
6) Cover and cook on low heat until Onions are just browned
7) Add Fenugreek, Cardamom, and Nutmeg and stir well
8) Add Berbere, Paprika, Tomato Paste, and Water
9) Bring to a boil and cook slowly, stirring often for about 45 minutes (should be the consistency of heavy cream) - add a small amount of water if necessary
10) Add Chicken pieces to the sauce, turning to coat
11) Add Butter
12) Lower heat and cook chicken for about 1 hour, turning often to prevent sticking and to cook evenly
13) Serve with injera and enjoy

Injera

I don't make it:). For the last two years, I have been blessed by Seba and her connections here in VA. I must confess to peeking at other people's blogs as they attempt to make injera and giggling at their results. Most do not look very tasty at all. One thing I know bad injera is NOT worth it to me. Born in Ethiopia and being raised in Africa let me grow up eating the real deal. This set high standards for all my family. We have searched out restaurants based solely on their injera:). Thus saying, I will not attempt to make it. I have ordered online here and I will probably have to order from here again next year. This stuff is pretty good. Also you can freeze the extra and reheat it in the microwave.

Have fun and enjoy the food. If you happen to be blessed with wee ones from Ethiopia like us, remember all the hard work to make the food right is worth it. It is priceless to see them sitting with Ethi food all over their little faces smiling at you and holding their full bellies. If you happen to be an Ethi food junkie yourself, you can smile back at them with food all over your face holding your own belly:).