Moose Mountain Wanna Be & The Top of Africa

Happy New Year!  We hope all of you had a great night, we had a very mellow night busting out our pasta maker and having dinner with our sponsor family from here.  We watched a few movies but it was strange to not be flipping over to see what was going on in Times Square. Lots of fireworks were all around us, we had to go up on Kelly's balcony on the second floor so we could see over the walls to see them all.  Mother nature was in competition with the amateurs, there was cool lightning and thunder in the distance making it tough to know if the sounds were fireworks or thunder!

As the kids are on vacation we have had some good adventures, although its tricky because this country shuts down over the holidays, we tried to go to one mining place and when we got there, the sign on the gate said they were closed until Jan 6!  They even stop publishing the major newspapers!  (if you want to get Greg riled up ask him about "the shutdown")

We found a fake mountain (at a mall) where kids can ski & snow tube on bristles (like those on a really hard scrub brush that you have in your cleaning cupboard).  The kids loved it as it reminded them of home.

 Can't beat shorts, better than hats & mittens!

It did have a rope tow, that was tough to hang on to, so they walked up & got some good exercise.

In typical South African fashion the parents were thought of as well, here is a photo of the fully stocked bar complete with TV showing the ski run, so you can have your favorite drink and watch your kid come down the run.  We thought Greg & Jim Parece would have enjoyed that feature at Moose Mountain in NH! 

We also took the big red bus around Johannesburg one day.  We learned that Johannesburg is really not that pretty of a city (unlike Cape Town).  It's really rather dirty and run down, all the money & fancy businesses moved to Sandton, which is about 15 minutes south.  Jo-Burg only exists because of the gold rush from long ago, so its located in a crazy place, high altitude, no major port or waterway, no good drinking water supply either.  

We went to the Carlton Hotel which boasts it is the "Top of Africa", as you take the elevator to the 50th floor and can see 360 degrees.  Here are Kelly & Katie doing Ferris Bueller...

There is an amusement park/casino along the route, called "Gold Reef City" we stopped there for lunch and the kids can't wait to go back and do the amusement park.

Here is our crew in front of the fountain at the casino.  As we walked around the perimeter inside the casino, Kelly said, "I can't believe that's all a casino is, it looks so cool in movies like Ocean's 11".  I agree, casinos hold no magic for me...but its a different story for her father!  (he was working that day so he wasn't tempted)

Here is the bus we were waiting for to pick us up after lunch...its broken down by the side of the road...so we spent a long time waiting for the next bus & keeping all the boys entertained and not in the fountain! I was glad to NOT be on the broken down one, it felt like it was 1000 degrees in the afternoon sun!

Had to share one more fashion debacle, this kid (who was on our bus) was wearing basically a black trash bag shirt (if you look closely you can see the shine), I really would have melted if I were wearing his sweet outfit!

Here is a little political propaganda, the ANC is the African National Congress and they are the ruling party in SA and they have been since its been democratic.  They actually lost a few provinces in the most recent election, as people are growing disenchanted with their ability to deliver water, electricity and other basic services.  There also have been lots of corruption charges against many of their leaders, including President Jacob Zuma who is in the midst of a scandal for doing all sorts of work to his family housing compound on the taxpayers dime.  In yesterdays Pretoria News, the editor's New Years wish was for the citizens of SA to work as one to create the society they want and deserve where crime and corruption are eliminated and government and state owned enterprises are held accountable for doing what they are supposed to.  I could not agree with his wish more!