Into 2010 with sun, surf, safari and smiles...

The last few weeks have been amazing. Blair's family arrived in Cape Town and we celebrated Christmas with them, complete with skypeing other cousins as seen in the first pic, kite flying on Strand Beach on Christmas Day and my nephews throwing baseballs with a professional baseball player that I met in a backpackers lodge who was nice enough to give some of his time and arm to three VERY eager young and talented ball players! Talk about the spirit of the season! A few days later, the Daveys arrived and they hit the ground running - it was as if they have always lived in a time zone 7 hrs ahead!

In short, our week went as follows: Upon their arrival, we went straight for the penguin colony and toasted a week in South Africa with cheese, crackers, Appletiser (kid-friendly bubbly) and milk chocolate. Could it get better? The next day we surfed at Muizenberg and didn't realize the magnitude of the sunburn until the next day.Whoops! We celebrated Lyle's 11th birthday with a big Braai (BBQ) and pool party at our house. Her cake had a beaded penguin on top - it was just perfect!

These surfing pics are a mix of pre-holiday at Bloubergstrand (girls and me- Atlantic Beach) and then when the Daveys came we went to Muizenberg (Indian Ocean beach). It will surprise NOONE that knows her that Kirsta was a natural, looks almost like she can hang ten and do tricks. Next stop - the big breakers! Kirsta is pictured above with the sleeveless wetsuit. It should be noted that Chris, Margaret AND Sara all got up on surfboards on their first day! I had a few falls (see below) and one good ride (see above) in Bloubergstrand and managed to hold my own in Muizenberg. I THINK Kirsta has footage of that, but somehow our camera doesn't. Dave is to be credited as the sports photographer in Bloubergstrand. He tried to get me on the board but the camera delay caught me in the dead beetle position. I ran out of wave....Don'tcha hate when that happens? 

Tuesday we "DID" the Cape of Good Hope, Cape Point and hiked a bunch and ran up and down many great dunes. We even came within feet of this BIG Ostrich. Dave did NO zooming on this pic. We were THAT close!

Wednesday we headed to Aquila Private Game Reserve. Getting there was a 2 hr drive thru, NOT KIDDING, vineyards after vineyards after vineyards. It was spectacular. Aquila Private Game Reserve was nothing short of amazing. Our camera is good but we didnt even need it to be that good as we were sooooo close to so many animals.Our accomodations were first class and we had a splendid dinner after a hard (hardly) search for animals. We were nearly tripping over them. Two exciting moments - one was when Dave  put his camera outside of our vehicle to photograph the lions. Well, young male pictured here saw Dave's hands and decided he might like a closer look. He circled the vehicle and we were all a bit scared when our driver calmly but firmly commanded us to "HOLD ON" as he sped away. Lion aren't apt to leap into a moving vehicle but any moves while we were right there could have been really ugly. Phew! A close call averted. Next morning, we awoke at 5:15 for our morning drive and saw 4 buffalo right outside our room. We were instructed not to leave our room until the area was vacated by these buffalo - the most dangerous of animals as they are the most unpredictable. (We were also charged a few times by buffalo while on our 2 drives, but that felt like nothing compared to waking up next to one or FOUR!) Anyway, Aquila gets 5 stars from all of us. In addition to the animals pictured, we saw hippo and rhino, many springboks and wildebeasts and offspring of many of these. The baby hippo stole my heart.

On Thursday, New Years Eve, we returned from Aquila and hiked the famed Lion's Head hike that gives tremendous views of Table Mountain and the Twelve Apostles. (Some of the apostles are hidden behind temporary clouds in this picture.) We had a HOT but glorious afternoon to hike it - and we all made it! ( I have just read in today's Cape Argus paper that there was a mugging on Lion's Head the day before we were there. In addition, there was an armed robbery at the entrance to Cape Point at the Cape of Good Hope for 1 million rand. This happened the day after were were there "Babooning." Crime is here and we are being very vigilant about ourselves and our possessions. )

Onto happier things - Friday we did the trip to Robben Island to see Mandela's prison cell. Robben Island is the prison Mandela and other black political prisoners were taken during apartheid. There is also a penguin colony there! Saturday we attempted the cable car on Table Mountain as it was a still, steamy and glorious day but the idea was not new to thousands of others - it was also a holiday in SA, so after a false start there, we ended up spending the day at the Penguin Colony Beach and swimming with these amazing swimmer birds...Saturday afternoon, after many, many pengiuns, we went "Babooning"...driving our car through Cape Point Nature Reserve in the search of the ever famous and often dangerous Chacma Baboons. We had been at their popular hangout earlier in the week and seen NONE so I knew the Daveys wouldn't believe my baboon car climbing stories unless they actually experienced it. Did we ever get a Baboon troop? The answer is affirmative!

At the parking lot at the Cape Point lighthouse, we saw over 20 Baboons. It was fun and games watching them open car doors, jump on the roofs, etc...and then it was less fun for poor Walker as the granddaddy baboon came up to Walker from behind and scared the pants nearly off him. Fortunately his shreiks sent the baboon far away but it was quite an encounter. All is well. Walker managed to laugh about it but not until the next day!

Sunday we visited a beach on the Atlantic Coast called Noordhoek and it was icy cold but perhaps the biggest beach any of us have even been on. It was HUGE. The water was a brilliant blue. And like every beach we went to, we threw the rugby ball, kicked a soccer ball, sunbathed and snacked on ciabatta with cheese, chocolate, chips and appletisers. We took the Daveys to the airport Sunday eve and then took Blair's family to the airport Monday morning. Monday we just regrouped - laundry, groceries, email, etc...Molly went off to a  playdate with a classmate and Dave, Lyle and I went to do some surfing at Muizenberg.  I have spent much more time ON TOP OF  the board this time. It feels better and I didn't even need a wetsuit it is so warm on these False Bay (Indian Ocean) beaches. The Atlantic is frigid. Period. Great views though.

School starts next Wednesday for the girls so we are trying to get some playdates with classmates as they come back to town after long holidays. It has been amazing to share some great experiences with family and friends and we can't wait to photo share as I know the Chandlers and Daveys have some amazing pictures. We are gearing up for a whole new chapter when school starts. It really has been a very happy new year so far in SA! And we hope all is well wherever this finds you...

I am really hoping to figure out the blog settings and be able to insert photos into text, etc.. as it has made me nearly crazy that this entry looks so botched up. All the info is there, but it doesn't feel well organized or look that pretty. There is always next time....

Will blog again soon! - Cheers! Hope