Keeping Busy...

The kids have finished the first term (of three) and now they get a break for a few weeks, we are heading to the beaches south of Durban.  We look forward to burying Charlie in the sand and if the weather cooperates the girls will try a surfing lesson.

Our last few weeks were busy, with lots of school activities, Katie had a school play, they had an outdoor movie night, it was Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, if they dressed up they could win a prize, so Violet Bouregard and an Oompa Lumpa were spotted, they both won a candy prize!

They also had literacy day at school and Katie dressed as Miss Viola Swamp (from Miss Nelson is Missing) She carried the book around too because they didn't really know the story here.  Her friend is Hermoine from Harry Potter.

Our other fun event was a trip to the Rand Show, which was this giant expo at the Johannesburg Expo Center.  The kids LOVED this one booth where it taught them how to make a healthy lunch, they had real food and containers for every kid, they got to go around and pick their items, come back and make a sandwich and pack everything.  At every children's museum we have ever gone to they always loved the play food and shopping for it, so this trumped all of that because it was real food and they got to take it with them!  I think there is a business opportunity for a kids restaurant if any of you are ready for a new career!

We also saw the "Naked Scientists" Show which is a group out of England that came down to perform at the Rand Show, they did some cool experiments, here is the ending one where they mixed Liquid Nitrogen, Bubbles and hot water...you see Katie & Charlie run up after the explosion!

The kids also liked this turtle that collected donations in the animal area.

On our ride to school Charlie got to see a "real life Matchbox car", a Lamborghini pulled out in front of us and we followed it for few blocks.  I'm not sure how a guy drives that past the people on the side of the street that ask for money or food?

The avocado trees are blooming around town, they are spectacular, here is Katie near the one at school.  I had never seen an avocado tree before...they didn't have those in the Midwest or New England!  This is a tiny one, some are huge.

Our final activity of note...a failed attempt at trivia...they had a trivia night at the community center, we entered a team and they gave us an exemption for having 7 on our team rather than the max of six.  Charlie had some funny answers to some of the questions!  Without Paul to anchor our team we didn't do very well, but we did have a good time trying!  

We are excited to go see more of South Africa this coming week!