It was late and I was in Africa; I stand corrected

I had a very nice birthday. We celebrated by climbing the mountain, and saw about 15 baboons hanging out at the top. As we were getting closer to the top, one of them decided he wanted to come down, and fast, in my general direction, all the while squawking about something. (Perhaps he wasn’t too thrilled that we were interrupting his morning laziness on top of the rocks.) I’m thankful for a God that even hears prayers about baboons remaining happy and unaware of my close proximity. We did nearly experience calamity when a large rock Kendall was standing on came out from under her and began careening down the mountain towards Todd, Erin, and me. Erin was in the immediate path, but thanks be to God and a husband who both protected her! I jumped to my right and avoided collision. After descending we had to walk the river to get back to the road. I sank into the river mud up past my knee and got stuck. Severely STUCK. Todd had to pull me out, and it wasn’t easy! Refer to visual aids below:

Exhibit A:



Exhibit B:



Exhibit C:



Exhibit D:



(Yes, Buddy documented the whole episode) We were all very tired and we stopped in town at Café Spitz for lunch. Then there was a big rainstorm, we all got soaked and frozen. One we made it home, I got a shower and took a nap. After that we all went over to Todd and Erin’s house and made homemade pizzas. Erin also baked a cake and they sang happy birthday. I blew out imaginary candles, b/c we didn’t have any candles. I also got a small battery powered lantern from Jenny and Kendall, and Sammy had Jenny give me a banana (Team A might possibly understand the significance). Also, Buddy bought me lunch at Café Spitz after our mountain climbing excursion. Suffice it to say that when I play “2 Truths and a Lie”I have good ammunition. Who else can say, “On my 29th birthday I climbed a mountain in Africa, narrowly avoided an angry baboon, was nearly smashed by a tumbling boulder, got stuck in thigh-deep river mud and lived to tell about it.” Eat your heart out, Mike McSwegin. It starts with this.