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!