Big Productions!

Katie had a special Valedictory ceremony for finishing 7th Grade, next year she moves on to the Senior School with Kelly.  They had a special mass for the girls then a very fancy dinner where it was only the girls and their parents.  South African Mothers are all about a beautiful party...so the dinner setup was impressive.

Here is Katie with her candle at mass which symbolizes them going out into the world.

The theme was Breakfast at Tiffanys, so everything was Tiffany Blue.

They did a massive sweet table, our contribution was Blue Hershey Kisses, Blue Laffy Taffy and Blue Jelly Bellys.  Kids thought the American candy was pretty cool.

Charlie's Nativity play was the next night and it was an adorable show!  The boys were amazing little actors we couldn't believe the amount of lines they memorized and how well they all did on stage.   Charlie was Drummer Boy #5...he was nervous before the show but then said once the show started he didn't want it to end!
We ordered a video that we will bring with us when we come home...

We are all counting down the days until we return to the US for a Christmas visit!

The End of School Year Frenzy Begins

When you travel here you have the option to get your suitcase wrapped so no one gets into your luggage.  Greg returned from yet another trip and Charlie was thrilled to unwrap the suitcase and turn himself into a mummy.

As the end of the school year approaches the kids have lots of end of year activities.  Charlie had a swim gala where he insisted on wearing his googles...the speedo is mandatory..

He survived the gala and afterward said it was fun, but he was worried about it ahead of time.

He also had a Dads & Lads golf tournament, we went to do a little practice before the big event...We sneak in as much golf as we can, the weather is beautiful and the golf is really reasonable compared to US prices.  The kids came along and drive the cart.  They jump out for a hole or two. Kelly is a maniac driver, trying to do doughnuts whenever possible.

We saw this field of clover on the course and Charlie said it was like Olaf the snowman (in Frozen) so he posed for an Olaf photo.


Greg & Charlie loved their golf tournament, Charlie was thrilled to get his participants medal at the end.








Sat morning was the end of season Dads vs Lads cricket game and I took a few photos.  The kids and Dads and a few Moms had a ball!

Here is Greg working on his pitching (bowling). Charlie is squatting down like a catcher.

Here are the two cricket stars after the match, they are standing in front of the new fountain at the entrance to the school, Charlie's school really is a beautiful place!

Charlie is wearing the cricket hat...which is the old style one like Fivel the little mouse wears!

This weekend we attended our second Marine Corp Birthday Ball, it was a great night out and the Marines always do a nice job.  We had lots of friends come along to the event, and they enjoyed the ceremony.  We stayed over in the casino hotel, kids were happy for binge TV watching!

Greg in his new tux...thanks Scott!

This week will be crazy...Katie has a big ceremony tonight for finishing the Junior School (ends in Grade 7 here) and tomorrow night Charlie will do his Christmas Nativity Play.

Halloween After Action Report

We did a great job of celebrating Halloween in a country that doesn't understand it!  We had a Halloween party and did a spooky haunted house a few weeks before, did trick or treating at my office, then we set up our own trick or treating loop in our neighborhood that the kids did on Halloween night. Here we are getting started on Halloween night.

Charlie is a shadow.he had a hood that covered his entire head..Katie is a mime!

The two teenage witches!

Candy trading time!

We also went to our friends medieval festival again this year and Mike & Molly came along too...the highlight was seeing the Swiss Choir and the guy play the instrument from the Riccola commercial!!

RICCOLA!

 Kelly gets the credit for this photo...the guy in front of us in the cake line was wearing these!

We dropped Mike & Molly off at their hotel to start their amazing motorcycle adventure, here is Charlie standing next to their bike.. .the rest of the bikes are for the other people on the tour.  (Charlie would have gladly taken any of them)

The kids gave Halloween a bigger thumbs up than last year, but they still think nothing is better than trick or treating on Stark Ave!!!

Ready for Trick or Treaters!

My office hosts the trick or treating for the kids tomorrow...Katie did some internet research to see what we could do, Kelly, Charlie & I helped implement her vision...the office entrance above is what we started with...

We finished with the Castle of Doom!!!  

It's been very crazy & busy for us..Greg and the girls went to Botswana at the end of last week.  The girls got to take the Number One Ladies Detective Agency Literary Tour, where the guide showed them the parts of Gabarone where the scenes from the book happened.  No photos to share..sorry!

Mike & Molly arrived and brought some good animal viewing luck.. On our first trip to the reserve right by our house we found two rhino sleeping under a shady tree right next to the road!!!

Then we headed to Adventures with Elephants...where they got to see a 16 day old baby elephant!! Nothing cuter!  Charlie, Katie and I bailed out at a waterpark on the way, we had a fabulous time swimming but Katie was sad to miss the baby!  Kelly took this photo...probably good Katie wasn't there or she'd be asking for one for her birthday!

We found a great restaurant to eat at on our way home, they had all the South African favorites, even Vetkoek with mince...we know what our friend Eric would have ordered!  (Greg ordered it in his honor-its  like a sloppy joe but in a piece of fried bread).

Mike was brave enough to sample another South African dish called Bunny Chow!

Charlie was so distracted by the motorcycle that he hardly ate...he tried on all Mike's motorcycle gear when we got home, he is already written his Christmas list for Santa (and tucked it in his travel bag)..top of the list is the motorcycle helmet!  He wants a dirt bike or motorcycle but I told him Santa doesn't bring that kind of thing!

He asked the guy if the motorcycle was for sale...luckily the man said no!  (saved lots of whining!)

After School Detours

White & Purple Jacarandas

We are in the middle of the blooming jacaranda trees, the sides of the streets are lined with purple!  I even learned that there are white jacaranda trees and tortured Charlie after school one day driving around looking at the white trees.

Streets lined with blooming jacaranda trees

Today on the way home we detoured down Lawley Street, which is the famous street by us because at Christmas time they actually hang up a few Christmas lights.  Currently it is famous because it is the street Oscar Pistorius's uncle lives on and Oscar returned there last night after his short stay in jail.  In my sister Julie's honor we had to drive down, the scene was quite funny, there were a ton of news vans & a bunch of cameras trained on the house (I guess in the hopes that Oscar will go out of the gates at some point).  The best part was the guy who set up a grill and was cooking food, I'm guessing for all the reporters to purchase from him!

Grilling out on Lawley!

Cameras are ready, some of the reporters look quite bored!

Kids have a mid-term break with four days off, they are looking forward to it & some visitors...

Where were you on this day 20 years ago?

Many of you might have found yourselves in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin on Oct 14, 1995.  Today is our 20 year wedding anniversary!  Hard to believe huh?  We fondly remember all of you that made the trip to celebrate with us then and we will have a toast to you tonight.  For those of you that we met later in our adventures these past 20 years, we will toast to you as well!  We have plans to take a trip to celebrate this big occasion, but we have to find some time and convince Charlie that he would be ok with out us for a few days, the girls would enjoy it and would send us away now if they could!

We did do one recent trip that I haven't written about yet, back on Heritage Day we went to a town called Dullstroom  (where we have been before).  Greg says that it is incorrectly named, it should be called Funstroom!

Katie got to dress up for Heritage Day at school here is her salute to the USA!

We had a four day weekend in Dullstroom, it feels like it  could be a little mountain town in Vermont with all of its shops, restaurants and outdoor attitude!

We went with another family and the kids had a great time having friends, they went to an art studio and made some amazing pictures over the time we were there, we also went to a birds of prey sanctuary and got to see the flight demonstration-very amazing!

The kids while we waited for the bird show!

Kelly holding the owl, she said it was very soft.

This is a secretary bird that put on a display of stomping the plastic snake the kid is holding-over & over it was very funny!

We also brought our bikes and the most determined bike rider (Charlie) rode hours every day  in the long driveway and whenever he could find one of us to take him for a ride.  The best was one ride where we shared the road with a whole pack of goats that were just grazing.  Surely something you don't see every day!

Note goat in background on hind legs eating a bush!

Goat crossing?

The driveway of the place we stayed, felt a bit like our NH house with the big tall trees- happy bike rider!

Cool indoor fireplace, our friend Chris kept the fire burning and we had nice chats sitting around it!

Outside Braii area that was super cool, we cooked in it a few times and one night even got to watch rugby while we were sitting out there!  Holly picked the house and found a great one...she can plan our vacations anytime!

Other highlights of our weekend included whisky tasting at Greg's favorite place, but instead of a ride back to Pretoria afterward (like we did with the Bodenhoffers) we just got to walk up the hill to our place.  The Dads also got in a round of golf at the most beautiful course in the Highlands.   Everyone had a lovely weekend, no one wanted to go back to work & school!

USA! USA! Rugby World Cup Fever!

We have been caught up in the Rugby World Cup, something we have never paid much attention to before! The boys at Charlie's school wear their Springbok rugby jerseys on Fridays and its a sea of green. (called Bok Fridays on the radio, etc)
Tomorrow night is when Team USA plays South Africa. We will watch the game at Charlie's friend's house.

They don't really celebrate the big game with buffalo chicken & nachos...in fact they really don't know what real nachos are (there are no Tostitoes in South Africa)!

Here is an ad for Rugby party supplies in the paper...

It is for Biltong-dried meat that is everywhere here!  Also Castle beer.  Charlie went to school the other day eating biltong for breakfast, thankfully no Castle!

Here he is in his Springbok shirt, although tomorrow he will cheer on Team USA!

May the best team win!