Our stuff arrives, Babyccinos, and Aging is apparently unavoidable

Our stuff

"Hanukkah in April!" (as no one says).  At long last, our things arrived from the States.  Four shipping containers sailed across the ocean blue and finally ended up at our door step. 

When the truck first pulled up, I had to wonder what was all this stuff and why did we bring it.  But, I must say, it's been nice to have some familiar things. (Did Adam need to bring three bikes?  You can ask him about that.  But given that we're living on one car and he bike commutes to work everyday, I let it slide.)

 Like immigrants arriving at Ellis Island, our stuff was given a new name. 
(A Zulu one would have been more interesting.)

Someone pretends to help while he checks his Blackberry.

Babyccinos

One Sunday we drove down to Johannesburg (~30 min) to visit my friend, Ilan Guest , who I met in grad school at GA Tech. 

 Ilan just bought a house in Joburg.  It was built in the 1930s and has some nice craftsman touches. 
He's combining the maid's quarters and other space into an office for his GIS-based company, SatPlan - plug, plug!

 Noah needed caffeine, so we headed off to brunch.  Babyccinos are all the rage here. (Trademark it before Starbucks does!)  It's whole-milk foam, plus cocoa on top, minus the espresso shot.  (Imagine if the barista forgets that last part... No nap for Noah!)

 Noah's not sure what this is all about.  

 He's a convert.

Aging is Apparently Unavoidable

(Oops. Going back a week in time...) On March 28th, I turned a year older.  Pretoria celebrated on our back patio.

I'm five!

 Lucy is always happy to celebrate someone's birthday. ("What's the problem, Dad?! Eat your cupcake.")

 Noah and Dorothy are happy for me, too.

 Another round for everyone, says Noah!

Five is the new 40.  The safari [r]ages on.

xo,
Glenn

Lucy's Swim Gala

Lucy's school (the American International School of Johannesburg, Pretoria Campus, see Feb'11 post) has a pool and for "PE" twice a week, she and her pre-K cronies have swim lessons.  It all culminated in early April (yes, I'm behind!) in a swim meet of sorts called the "Swim Gala."  All the kids got to show off their stuff.

All dressed up and ready to go.  (To her left is her friend Asha [from Canada], to her right is Adom [Ghana].)

 Some final instructions from her swim/gym teacher.  

And she's off!

 You go, girl.  (She's at right, in yellow cap.)  She's still learning free style, but did a bang up job.  

A quick video clip of L doing the backstroke. (They used noodle's for that.)

Click here to view video in YouTube.

 She told the crowd that Michael Phelps inspired her technique,
but her heart will always be with Gertrude Ederle.

Proud swimmer with her AISJ Swim Gala 2010 Medal.

She wore the medal for the rest of the day and into dinner (just as her dad would have done.)

Alas, fall has come and swimming is over. The safari continues, chlorine-free.

xo,

Glenn

P.S. Gertrude Ederle was the first woman to swim across the English Channel (1926). Apparently she had measles as a kid and became completely deaf in her mid 30s. She went on to teach swimming to deaf children for the remainder of her life. More...

Rumble in the Jungle

The neighborhoods around us have some small, pocket parks, but most don't have play equipment.  The ones that do require getting in the car and driving to them.  (Miss you, Candler Park!)  The upside of driving to Groenkloof Nature Reserve (see Hike around the 'Kloof), about 10 min. away, is that not only are there play structures, but sometimes you spot zebra and giraffe, or at least a few springbok.  (Gets me every time.)

After noticing that Lucy was getting antsy when she came home from school, we decided to bite the bullet and buy a jungle gym for the backyard.   With much anticipation, the delivery day arrived! 

The challenge was getting it into the yard.  The jungle gyms here are steel and come in one piece.  Our first attempt, carrying it over the gate, didn't quite work as planned.

 Try #2. 
They carried it around the side of the house. 

Ta da! 

Lucy decided to celebrate with a tea party up in the "Club House".  Everyone was invited (except me and Noah).

Noah was afraid of the swing at first, but quickly got the hang of it. 
(When they say "comes with a tire swing," they weren't kidding.)

Noah tries to explain the centripetal force involved in the swing motion.

Big Sis likes pushing her lil'brother, though sometimes we have to chat about taking it slow and "the swing is a not a rocket launcher."

It's a hit. 

Update: Noah gets very zen in the tire.  He'll happily sit in it for a half hour. But when he's ready, it's low enough to the ground that he can extricate himself (with some kind of Baby Pilates move he picked up on the Net) without hurting himself.

The safari gets into full swing! (Groan.) Of course we're moving into winter here, but so far the days have been sunny and not too cool. Let's hope the kidz don't get bored of this too quickly.  It may be tricky to sell on eBay.  xo,

Glenn

Roadtrip! (Part 4 - The End)

Hi all,

It's South Africa's National Election Day and Adam has off from work so he can vote (which he can't).   Let me finally wrap up our road trip to St. Lucia.  By now you're likely bored and it's taken longer to write about it than perhaps it took to go there and come back.

We left the beach about noon and headed into town for lunch.  St. Lucia is in a beautiful area, but it won't win awards for its food.  Multiple people recommended we eat at Ocean Basket, a South African fish chain.  When I asked what was fresh, the waitress said the king clip. When I asked how fresh, she said it came in last Wednesday.  Today was Tuesday.  Regardless, apparently freezing fish works because it was pretty tasty (and we were famished).

Slightly greasy -- both eaters and those being eaten.

Noah thought it was great, though in retrospect, he wished he had ordered the sauce on the side.

Hippo Time!
The highlight of the day was taking a boat trip through the estuary which meets up with the ocean. 

It's filled with hippos.  

 Noah cracked a joke the hippo apparently didn't like.

 Lucy, future orthodontist, checked out the teeth of the hippo skull.  

 Speaking of teeth, nothing makes a hippo tour like a lollipop one convinces one's dad to buy at the boat snack bar.

Back on a land, we seek out a bite to eat.

(Noah, "Lucy, why are you bothering me when I'm trying to rip the pages of your book?!")

On the Road Again

The next morning, we loaded up Alice (the Jazz) and set out for home.  The N2 (N for National Highway) has been under construction for years now and we were stopped frequently where the highway was down to one lane in one direction.  (If you didn't happen to hit it right - traffic flowing in your direction - you had to wait between 5 and 20 minutes for your turn to go.  Not horrible but on the 5th one, with miles to go before you sleep, it gets old.)

At one point, we got behind this truck:

Loaf of bread. Stick of butter. Quart of beer.

Around lunch, we found ourselves very close to the Swaziland border (and what a fun country name to say!).  After eating at some pretty lousy places on the trip down (see Russians), we decided not to skip past the signs for a lodge offering food and mountain views.  Noah approved.

 Lucy saddles up to the bar for a drink

(and some coloring, while we wait for our food).

 Noah climbs everything in sight.

 

Then he takes the show on the road and walks right out of the lodge.

7th Inning Stretch 

Many hours later, we were all going a bit stir crazy.  We stopped at a fast-food chain along the road for dinner and some (surely organic, trans-fat free) soft serve ice cream.  (How I miss Zesto's and Anderson's!)

The restaurant had a walled patio and the kids started running around like crazed zombies.  

 

Impromptu Playground... VIDEO of kids and Adam happy to be out of the car 

(Click to watch larger version of Video in YouTube)

We finally got home after midnight.  Luckily Lucy didn't have school the next day, and somehow Adam managed to get up for work.  (Three cheers for Pops!)

The Safari returns to land-locked Pretoria, happy to be home, with a car littered with sand and the smell of travel.  xo,

Glenn

Roadtrip! (Part 3)

After too many hours in the car, we finally made it to the coast, the warm waters of the Indian Ocean.  Quick Recap: Over Lucy's fall break we traveled to St. Lucia, which is in the northern part of the South African coast in the fun-to-say province of "KwaZulu Natal." The small town sits just below a large protected area with the Apple-inspired name, "iSimangaliso Wetland Park" (some cool pics), which we learned is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (which means it would be a great place for a Starbucks, I mean for protecting.)


The first day we drove to Cape Vidal, inside the Wetland Park.  The beach has a natural rock wall that calms the tide and makes it perfect for the kiddos.

Bring Your Dad to the Beach Day.

(I'm sure Judy's going to love Ad's hanging binky!  What if we said we had Purell in our beach bag?)

Trump Vidal, now under construction. 
(Please see a sales associate for condo opportunities.  Birth certificate required.)

Construction delay. Noah dumps the water all over himself. 

Godzilla attacks the project.  Back to square one.

We leave the beach to head home for a nap and then dinner.  (Another hard day at the office.)

On the drive back to St Lucia we spot some interesting antelope-like animals (something-"bok") grazing by the road.

Dusk shot at the Ski Boat Club, where we had dinner.  It sits on the estuary-side (fresh water), looking over at the beach (with salt water beyond).

 Noah wonders what all these guys are drinking.  He hopes it comes after the whole milk stage.

Noah likes the slide at the restaurant. 

(Again, SA is big into jungle gyms attached to restaurants.  It's a great idea.)

Up and Adam.  (Our Sally Mann shot of the trip.)

 After breakfast, we headed into the office.  (Shorter commute... a beach right in St Lucia.) 

We played with another family whom we had met at dinner two nights earlier.  (Small town.)
They're also down from Pretoria -- from Germany, husband works for Mercedes SA.

Noah had originally been quite scared of the sand (in  a way Lucy never was).  He came around quickly.

 Fun in the sun.

 I'm gonna get you.

A chase ensues.

Lucy wrote the entire alphabet in the sand.  (Stanford, here we come!)
Yes, she was lathered in sun screen, but we did leave the beach around noon to avoid the strongest rays.

We headed back into town for lunch. The safari crew was famished.  (I promise to wrap the trip up tomorrow.)

xo,

Glenn