Said goodbye to Randy this morning as he left for Cape Town to ride in the Cape Argus. The race will of course be televised so look for him this Sunday. I do think it is a little unfair that Lance Armstrong gets a headstart at 6am and Randy will be behind him by a few hours. How exciting for him though to be riding in the same race. Dad I wish you could be here too!

Although there are several from early morning riding group going, Randy is traveling with Pat McCarty, a fellow American (pictured above after another recent race here in Port Elizabeth). Moms and kids all stayed behind to carry on with school etc. We are with them in spirit and hope they do well!

Wishing you a day filled with hugs and kisses and chocolate! We heart YOU!

This past month has been a whirlwind of fun. Although we did take some time to just hang out as my mom requested I still couldn’t resist taking my parents, otherwise known as “Grammie Gayle and Papa Dave” for the “Stout South African Tour”. We started by burning a little energy with dad by entering him in a 85K bike race the day after his 30+ hour journey here…he is a trooper and we are proud to say he did indeed finish the ride!
We gave them their first taste of true African wildlife with a trip to Kragga Kamma Game Park just a short drive from our home. There we had a very exciting adventure with an upset water buffalo and Andrew summed it up best when we tried to get past him as he was saying “I’m too young to die!”

For Emily’s 17th birthday we loaded all of us up including her best friend Rachel and boyfriend Jono for a 2 night stay at Kariega Game Reserve. We saw most everything we hoped for except the lioness and her cubs. After a night at home to repack we headed off to Cape Town. We arrived in time to go to the top of Table Mountain to view the sunset. It was stunning as were the city lights on the way down. We spent the next few days touring the area seeing the penguins at Boulders Beach, Simonstown, hiking up to Cape Point and Cape of Good Hope and by taking the Robben Island tour to see where Nelson Mendela was imprisoned. If you haven’t taken the time to see “Invictus” yet, go, it was filmed here and is well done. We headed back home stopping to show them the world’s tallest bungee jump and those brave enough to try it.

On Christmas Eve morning we assisted friends of ours, Dan and Kristi in delivering food to their soup clubs. This is always an experience that never fails to show us how truly blessed we are for all we have been given.

Christmas was extra special in that we were all together. We spent the following week just being together mostly. Lots of games were played and swimming too. We went to the beach a few times and to Addo Elephant National Park where we saw over 100+ elephants interacting together at a waterhole. It was the largest group we have seen to date and it was amazing to watch. I never tire of the elephants.

For News Year’s Eve, Emily decided that every hour another time zone was ringing in the New Year we would too. They started by jumping in the pool every hour but added to it with other creative ways to celebrate…FUN!

We thank our parents, all of them, for taking the time to visit us this year. Our time together was very special. If we are lucky maybe they won’t be the last to visit before we leave.

We have made a new friendship with Daniel. Our kids love him because he has fun (but sometimes crazy) ideas – like that it might be okay to go without a shower for a week and keep a tortoise as a pet! He can cook too, in fact his chocolate chip cookies might be better than mine…maybe(!). He and his wife Kristi have added so much to our life here, not only because of what they do but because they have opened their hearts to our family. In many ways I feel like we have always been friends. He and his wife give of themselves everyday to make this world a better place by feeding children and loving others. You can catch a glimpse of their daily life by visiting their blog at kristiapplesauce.typepad.com – they are proof that we can make a difference one day at a time.

So “Happy Birthday” Jill and Daniel! I am so lucky to call you friends!

For my birthday we went with dad to Katberg and we had lots of fun. Emmie’s friend Rachel came with us and we jumped on the trampoline and did really cool tricks on it. We didn’t get to ride them but we got to pet horses too. I fed one too. I had an oreo tower cake – I was in heaven!

I’ve lost 4 teeth quickly and gained lots of money for my birthday and teeth.

Then there’s the story the girls told about the fire alarm going off at school.  We have commented several times that safety is definitely not of the level we are used to. What was funny was that when the fire alarm sounded Erin and Emily started to get up as they had been trained and when they noticed no one was moving they asked “Isn’t that the fire alarm?” When their friends answered yes, they questioned why they weren’t leaving the building. “Oh we don’t do that!” They continued right on with their schoolwork and laughed instead.

Or how about the first time I was paying for something by credit card and the cashier asked, “straight?” I thought that was an odd question to ask me and stood dumbfounded for a moment until she asked again, “straight or budget?” Apparently you can budget nearly every purchase with your credit card here.

So, a friend of mine recently asked me to write a list of things that are different for us here. Although many things are the same there are a lot of things that are indeed different. A word we often use among ourselves to explain these moments is “random”.

Here goes:

We drive on the other side of the road here and it is illegal to not give the right away to a mule cart.

All “learners”/students wear a uniform to school.

All the eggs are brown and they aren’t refridgerated when you buy them.

You can buy milk in a plastic bag instead of a carton.

Graham crackers aren’t sold here.

You can find ostrich meat right next to the mince (burger).

You are expected to bring your own bags for groceries unless you want to pay for them.

Most stores close by 5pm – there is no 24 hr. shopping!

Kids go barefoot everywhere here – even to the store.

Kids grow up getting piggy-back rides from “mommas” or their nanny from the time they are infants.

I have been stopped in the middle of the road by a cow, goat, monkey and baboon since living here.

All gas (petrol) stations are full service.

Wherever you park your car you will find a “car guard” to watch it for you and they expect a small tip.

The only American fast food restaurants here are McD’s and KFC.

We have to buy our electricity at a grocery store and then input a number into a box to receive it. When you want to use it you need to turn it on at the outlet. The current is much stronger – 220V vs. 120V.

There isn’t any central heat or airconditioning in our home.

The seasons are opposite from North America so our summer has just started.

Holidays are not celebrated with the same enthusiasm here.

There are really only a few radio stations.

Our house has a gate with electric fence and security system and security guards at the entrance to our complex.

I see kids begging on the streets everyday for food and money.

South Africa plays cricket and rugby instead of baseball and football, but we both have soccer.

Books are VERY expensive here.

If you own a t.v. and want to use it you must pay a t.v. tax for each t.v.

You are also commonly asked to come have tea or coffee at someone’s house for a chat, which can last a while. Where as in North America people will invite you in their house when stopping by, but not by asking if you would like some tea or coffee.

Going out to eat is not fast. Here people sit down, eat slowly and take their time to enjoy the meal. They won’t bring you a bill until you ask for it.

There is miles and miles (or km and km) of beautiful unspoiled coastline.

You can see lion, elephant, giraffe, zebra, rhino, hippo, leopard, cheetah, hyena, wild dog, warthog, bushpig, springhare, kudu, springbok and many other buck, along with lots of different kinds of birds like the “secretary bird”, etc. without visiting a zoo. There are many national parks and game reserves which have these animals roaming free in their natural habitat and anyone can see them. This is one of our favorite things about being here.

Andrew’s performance in Alice was awesome. He was in the chorus but in one scene, he got to be a chess piece with a dance solo. It was so cute and everyone loved him (:

Shamwari was pretty cool too, our guide Yani (I really don’t know how you spell it, that’s just how it sounds when you say it) was very helpful and told us all kinds of information about the bush. My favorite was when he demonstrated how to make a toothbrush out of a tree branch off of the tree giraffes like to feed. He let me keep the toothbrush, which was a bonus. We saw the usual animals: elephants, lions, giraffes, zebras, monkeys, rhinos, ostrich, and all kinds of buck. We also saw some new animals: hippos and a hyena. The second day, was devoted to finding the leopard. We searched the northern end of the reserve where the leopard was supposedly hiding. Sadly, we didn’t find it but we did see a hyena finishing up a buck the male leopard had killed the previous night. That was really cool. On our way home, in the pitch black, we got a flat tire. We all had to get out of the truck and stand in the middle of the bush while they put the spare on. It was scary, because we couldn’t see anything around us and the night time is when all the predators come out to hunt.

The birthdays were fun, of course, but I’ll let them tell you about it when they do their post. (It’ll just sound better coming from them and my hands are kind of tired of typing.. haha)

When we went to the Transkei, we had planned to stay a couple nights at this little lodge, The Spotted Grunter. It was kind of like Wandawood, in that there were cabins, but that’s about as far as the similarities go sadly. The warm water NEVER worked when I went to take a shower, so taking cold showers for like three days straight obviously put me in a bad mood. Also, there was a big group of motorcyclists that came to take over the camp site the second night. No offense to motorcyclists, everybody’s different, but these guys were.. exceptionally.. rowdy? I’m probably not the best person to retell this story because I’m the only one who slept through the whole deal but I’ve heard it told over and over again that I can probably get the gist of it on here. Long story short, The guys staying next door to us decided it would be a marvelous idea to turn up their music to maximum volume at midnight. Erin said the entire room was vibrating and swears that this painting on the wall was shaking. So, my mom got a little bit flustered about the situation and decided to calmly go ask them to turn it down because some people were trying to get some sleep. The guy “in charge” was cheeky and rude and didn’t turn his music down. A few minutes later, they started shouting and swearing because somehow this bright man locked himself inside his cabin and couldn’t get out. You’ve got to be really talented to achieve that. Eventually someone with authority came down and firmly told them to keep quiet. We left the next morning. On a lighter note, we got to ride in a boat out in the ocean and we saw a huge amount of dolphins and a decent amount of humpback whales up close! I think that experience was one of my favorites of all time. Kareiga was nice too, we stayed for two nights.

Tomorrow we go back to school and start fourth term. In a few months I’m going to be a senior ! I’m really excited but kind of sad that our time here has flown by so quickly. I can’t think of much else to update you on, except that we’re all happy and finally getting over our winter allergies because it’s spring time. (:

Leaving Riley behind, we took off for a road trip on the “Garden Route” heading toward Cape Town last Sunday (I miss the comfort of our old minivan when traveling!).  It was a beautiful drive – the ocean to our left and mountains to our right. As we got closer to our destination though, the sky opened and down came the rain. It carried on and off for four days unfortunately. However the last 2 days for us were picture perfect.

Andrew was asked recently what his favorite thing about living in Africa was. His answer, “seeing the animals in their natural habitat”.  One of those animals we had yet to see was the African penguins. We rented a house on Boulder’s Beach in Simonstown (about one hour’s drive frome Cape Town)  where we had African penguins right outside our door – so cool! We even took a walk with them on the beach as you can see. Get ready Grammie and Papa – in December we plan to swim with the penguins!

 Each morning and night we would visit the nest of a new baby penguin and a few times the dad let us take a peek at the baby. Emily is also quite proud of her penguin injury. She tried to pet one waddling along the wall beside us and it bit her when she went to pet it a second time. You should have heard her scream – even the penguin was so frightened he fell off the wall! The next morning there was a penguin in our driveway and we joked with Emily that it was the penguin police that had come for her!

We spent time eating a lot of great food, going to the aquarium, wine country- where the kids had the opportunity to hold an eagle and an owl, and finally going to the top of  Table Mountain and seeing Cape Point and Cape of Good Hope. We spent 3 hours hiking the distance of  Table Mountain. As usual, Emily who was engrossed in a book on the trip over while we were discussing our plans says, “what, we’re hiking – I thought we were just coming to the top to sit and enjoy the view and then going back down!”  If you ask her now she would tell you it was the best way to see the mountain.   It is absolutely stunning and you feel as if you are on top of the world when you are up there. There were times during our hike when we held on to each other to be sure we wouldn’t fall off the side – there are no guardrails on the top of this mountain. Randy was the most nervous I’ve ever seen him over our safety. 

I will post a collection of our trip photos soon…

We are all in our red, white, and blue today – proud to be an American!

So, while the girls were taking their last dive today, the boys and I loaded Riley into the car and headed to Sardinia Bay. It is my favorite spot to go in Port Elizabeth. We shared the beach with one kite surfer and one other dog owner. The sand dunes have spilled onto the road  from all of the wind we’ve had I imagine so we couldn’t park in our usual place. We needed to walk in via a short hike up the dunes. This place is heaven for Riley. He can run at top speed,  swim and sometimes meet a friend or two. The boys have a  secret place among the rocks with a small tide pool that they like to call their own. They could spend all day searching for shells while I could just sit and listen to the sound of the ocean here. Some of the best things in life are indeed free…