A "Tumblr" Christmas by the Sea

We have a beautiful fake Christmas tree that Katie won at the Christmas Stroll in Wakefield, MA before we left for Africa.  We had put it up in Pretoria and one day the kids did find a surprise under it...a scorpion...we haven't seen those in Pretoria, but there had been a great deal of rain so we think it came in to get to the dry spot.

We left our tree in Pretoria for the scorpions to enjoy and Charlie was a bit worried about what we would do for a tree in Cape Town.

Katie's tree

Luckily for us we stopped in this cute breakfast place outside Mossel Bay and he found some wooden Christmas trees that he declared would work for Santa.

So we loaded up on decorations,  I even found a little Merry Christmas bunting that looked nice so Katie declared it a "Tumblr" Christmas.  So Tumblr & Pinterest-eat your heart out!

Kelly's feet in the reflection look like Santa is coming down the chimney in sandals!

We had fun exploring the area on different day trips,  we met our Australian friends in wine country (Stellenbosch) and did some tastings, we even found a place that does picnics on the lawn, you choose your shady spot and they bring you bean bags and wonderful food!

 At the end they even come and clean everything up for you...you really can be spoiled here in SA!

We even got to see some of the wine cellars...

We also visited a cool penguin sanctuary, where they rescue orphaned penguin chicks.  Our favorite was the Ambassador Penguin called "Rocky", as he is a rockhopper penguin.   He visits with school groups, etc, and he was super cute to watch in action.

Rocky on his surf board...

We also explored Simonstown, the former British naval base, now a SA Navy town.  There is a cool story of a dog during WWII that was sworn in to the Navy, he was loved by the sailors and there is even a statue in the harbor that honors him.  His name was "Just Nuisance".  At the Navy Museum they have a big exhibit on him and they also have a cool shipwreck room with all treasures from old ships. Charlie loved the old jail in the basement of the museum.

Navy ships in Simonstown Harbor

We also found another lighthouse to climb, at Kommetjie, tallest lighthouse in SA.  It had real stairs instead of ladders, and an amazing view at the top.

Charlie on the stairs, I wouldn't let him go outside at the top...he was mad at me, but I didn't want him to blow off the side!  Was windy up there!

Charlie had us up at the crack of dawn to open all of his surprises from Santa, see the bright sun in the picture!

After opening all our presents we headed down to eat breakfast in the little town, what a treat to eat under the palm tree!

We did miss all of our family and friends that we have spent past Christmases with and we hope that all of you had a great Christmas too!

On the Road Again...

To spend Christmas in Cape Town we drove from Pretoria which takes about 15 hours and takes you through much of South Africa.  Including the Big and Little Karoo Deserts.  We took the more scenic route toward the coast so we could see Cape Agulhas, where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet.

All loaded up, we brought a few bikes...

 Our first night we were the only guests at a very pretty  place that hosts weddings.  Kelly loved taking pictures.

 Charlie was happy to pose at the hanging picture frame.

 We ate at the "New York" restaurant in Bloemfontein, the menu was supposed to be American, but none of it was.  What cracked us up was the menu item called "Hudson River Kingklip".  Kingklip is a tasty South African fish, however what New Yorker would eat anything out of the Hudson?

We passed through Oudtshoorn, the ostrich capital of the world, we took a quick break to stop at one of the ostrich farms.  We bought some giant painted ostrich eggs, which the kids have admired since we came to South Africa.  There were ostrich farms everywhere you looked.

Our next stop for the night was near Mossel Bay, here is the view from Pinnacle Point, where we stayed in a big golf estate by the sea.

Before dinner we hiked to a cave.

The sunset near the club house.

Back from the cave.

We had really nice fish for dinner...

The sunrise view from our place.  Now on the road so we can see the two oceans.

Greg wanted to represent the Atlantic side...so I got the Indian...

We climbed the ladders all the way to the top of the lighthouse...top ladder was wobbly and super steep, there were a few people that made it to the top one but didn't go all the way, all of us went up though!

Agulhas Lighthouse!

We then headed for Cape Town and went through a really neat mountain pass on the way, then the view opened up and Charlie was back to his favorite place, the last time we left Cape Town he cried the entire way back to Pretoria!

A Christmas visit with the kids

We rounded up some awesome American families and lots of fun playground toys and headed to see the kids at Leamogetswe Safety Home to share some pre-Christmas cheer.

One of the families even brought a loved Rudolph toy which the boy I was carrying around claimed as his own.  Whenever he would drop it he would point until I handed it to him again.

We made a quick stop at KFC to bring them a lunch they would love. (KFC is hugely popular all over South Africa)

Charlie and Kyle were awesome ketchup squirters, they made sure every kid had PLENTY of ketchup!
 

 All the little helpers, including Mo Mo the dog, who was super popular with the kids.

Kelly did some slow motion videos with the kids skipping rope and hula hooping, they LOVED seeing themselves in action!  I love seeing their smiles.

It was so wonderful to have tons of new toys (hula hoops, soccer balls, bubbles, etc)  to share and lots of families to play with all the kids and give them some attention.  

Noah is a rock star with the kids, he plays soccer with them and lifts them up and spins them around-they love it!

 I loved looking out on their field and seeing balls and toys and happy kids everywhere.

The kids were asking when we would be back and they were also asking us to bring back our friends big dogs who came on the last visit.  We promised to come see them in January.