Note: Photos in this post were taken by Mikayla.

To give you a taste of life in Papua New Guinea from Mikayla’s perspective, I thought I’d share some of the photos she has taken recently.

As I sit here on the porch swing taking pictures of my toes you can see in the background Mommy is hanging laundry up on the clothesline on the verandah. She and Daddy rescued these clothes from a sudden downpour during lunch earlier today. I love to listen for the rain and remind Mommy that her laundry is getting rained on…it’s exciting when we all rush outside to get the clothes down. Sometimes I can’t help but jump around excitedly and squeal while Mommy tries to beat the rain to the clothes.

This is George taking a nap on Timothy’s crib mattress in Mommy and Daddy’s room (now the crib is set up in Laurel’s and my room). Anyway, the lego on the windowsill is actually a phone which I left there for George to use to give me a call if he needs anything during naptime. He should be fine though; I sang Jesus Loves Me and prayed with him before I left him to take his nap.

This is Timothy taking his nap on Mommy’s bed. I’m always very careful to be quiet when I go in Mommy’s room while Timothy is napping. He never wakes up unless Laurel comes in too because then I have to tell Laurel to be quiet and he hears me and wakes up.

Oops, sorry about the finger covering part of the picture. This is one of my earlier pictures before I developed my technique. But this shows Timothy and Laurel hanging out with Mommy. They do that a lot, but I’m usually too busy finding fun things to do.

Laurel and I like to read books. Mommy organized our books into three sets that she rotates because she thought it took too much time to put them all back on the shelf after we finished reading every single book we own. I can put them back on the shelf myself because I am a big girl, but sometimes I forget. In that way I’m a lot like curious George… “a good little monkey who’s always very curious… and sometimes forgetful”.

Lunchtime! I like lunchtime because Daddy comes home from work to eat with us. When I hear the bell that means its lunchtime I know Daddy will be home soon. Sometimes I watch for him out the window, but usually I go out on the porch to wait for him. Oh, and see that coke bottle on the left? (No, the other left!) That is MY water bottle – to drink from and to play with. I love to play with water. Mommy wants me to play with water outside on the verandah because she says it won’t make as much of a mess. But, then the other day when I mixed water with dirt and made her a mud birthday cake with stick candles I was so messy I got to wash my hands/feet/legs/arms in the bathroom sink and then change my clothes (Oh, and lets not forget that I also scrubbed the bathroom mirror with my bare hands until it was all covered in soap bubbles so I could play peek-a-boo with myself – fun! And I did tell Laurel not to watch because I was making a mess).

This is our friends’ house across the street. I took this picture from our living room window. I LOVE to go to our friends’ house. I also like to watch birds out this window. I can see them from my place at the table…there are often several birds out at breakfast time. I’ve seen black ones and blue ones and green ones and yellow ones; Mommy doesn’t know the names of any of them though.

I often tell Timothy, “You’re cute!” I love to play with him and help him. Currently, I am helping him learn to sit up all by himself. He needs my help because he is still little, but I am BIG!

Laurel likes to play with Timothy too. She loves to tickle him and hear him laugh. He really likes it when she puts her head on his belly and tickles him that way. Mommy says Timothy does a “belly laugh” when Laurel tickles him with her head.

Laurel and I made dinner together in our bedroom and then we invited Mommy and Timothy to come have a picnic with us. We had “pas-getty” (small pieces of yarn pulled from the pom-pom on Timothy’s hat) and play fruits and vegetables that we cut up.

This is my favorite (or maybe second favorite) feature in our yard. It is a gooseberry bush. See those little green “chinese lanterns” hanging from it? Inside each of those is a delicious gooseberry. They aren’t ripe until they are yellow, but Laurel picks the green ones sometimes. They are about the size of a cherry tomato and when they are ripe they are sweet and yummy! My other favorite thing in the yard is the guava tree that I like to climb, but I haven’t taken a picture of it yet.

This last picture is actually taken by Daddy and it’s a picture of me! I’m wearing Timothy’s Trike Ride Champ shirt and his pants with my skirt overtop. I’m borrowing Mommy’s flipflops and wearing my ladybug hat. I’ve got my backpack on with all my important stuff in it and I’m singing and dancing on the porch, as it is starting to get dark, just before dinner. Mommy says I have my own style…that’s right! And I like to have a good time!!

Hope you enjoyed my pictures – I always have fun taking them!!