Latkes, Hippos, Crabs and Hikes... Goodbye 2011

Hi all,

Wondering where his parents were, Adam's brother (aka Uncle Josh) tracked them down over here in South Africa during the last few days of 2011.  We had a great visit with Josh and his boyfriend Raj, who were here with Judy and Stan to ring in the new year.  

 The day after Josh and Raj arrived, we got them up at 4 am to go on a safari. 
(They were too jet lagged to resist.)  Lucy and Josh search for hippos at a viewing station.

Mud baths are all the rage this year.

Hippos put Lucy to sleep.

 A baboon greeted us by the side of the road.

 The whole gang... (Dorothy is holding Noah, and Michael, our compound's guard, is next to me.  I'll have to write about crime and safety in South Africa sometime. It's a complicated topic.)

It wouldn't be a proper Cohen gathering in December if Stan didn't make latkes. (We were going to have a belated Hanukkah party but after a long safari and given our jetlagged guests, we decided to just eat the latkes ourselves.)

 Josh pretends to help.

A fine Hanukkah(ish) meal.

Happy to have family in town*.
* Glenn, less happy to realize he'll have to start cooking again once Grandude Stan leaves.

 Raj and Josh and South Africa's favorite sweet chili sauce

Our last day with Judy and Stan (they flew home that night)... Grandude and Lucy play a mean Uno game in the backyard.  (Notice our crazy shrubs. I swear I had one as a house plant in Seattle.)

Knowing the Cohens wouldn't want us to mope around after their departure, we drove down to the Drakensburg Mountains to show Josh and Raj a bit of South Africa.  Here's a shot Josh took of Royal Natal National Park (in the KwaZulu-Natal province), about 5 hours from Pretoria.

We rented a cabin that was flanked by a pen with several miniature horses. The kids were entranced. (Noah was also in a "no pants" phase. "Loosen up, Dad! Pants confine the soul.")

 As the sun went down, Noah could still not get enough of the horses.  (Lucy was sure he was going to climb the barbed wire fence to try and ride one. Luckily he didn't.)

Making dinner out on the porch.

 Back to the horses he went.

(Yes, apparently I should have changed his diaper instead of snapping pictures. But I was entranced by the miniature horses too.)

  With Noah chasing after the local dog, Lucy had time to ask the mini horses some questions.

Adam and Raj prep for dinner

 Noah communes with nature as darkness descends. ("Must say good night to the horses!")

Earlier that day, Jungle Jane climbs the jungle gym.

Noah practices his new yoga pose.
(Downward Facing Diaper)

Before we went to bed and much to our surprise, we found a crab (!) in our kitchen.  How it made its way here from Baltimore I have no idea. (Who knew there were African crabs and that they didn't really need much water.  There was a small pond a few hundred meters from our cabin, but still.)

The next day we took a hike in Royal Natal.

 Hiking buddies

 I'm not sure what was so funny, but maybe it had to do with that small crab and the miniature horses. (What were we going to find tonight? A baby panda?) 

 Mountain Man

Watch your step!
We decided it was time for Noah to pull his weight around here and walk a bit on his own. 
(He was game for about 10 minutes. It's a start.)

Lucy explores a watering hole along the trail. (She changed into her bathing suit and was in before I finished unlacing my boots. To be fair, it was really, really hot.)

The local lifeguard

Noah was happy to walk when it involved walking through water.

That evening we were graced with an amazing sunset.  (Photo credit: Josh)

 The next day we hiked up part of Cathedral Peak.  We came upon a soft sandstone cave-like area where Lucy decided she wanted to be a mountain climber when she grows up.

Noah liked it too

She comes back down for a snack.

Papa at rest

Dad at rest

We all needed some personal space, apparently.

While we stopped to fill up the cars to drive home, the kids kept on riding.

Back in Pretoria, we took Josh and Raj over to our local nature reserve, Groenkloof.  As we walked the trails we met up with some local ostriches, also out on a short constitutional.

We were really lucky to happen upon one of the local giraffe in the reserve. (There are seven and you don't always see them.) 

The kids get out some energy before bed.

The last few climbs with Uncle Josh before he and Raj say their goodbyes and head back to New York. 

That wraps up 2011, the Safari's first full year over here.  Thanks for reading.  I'm going to try "speed blogging" a bit to catch up to the present, otherwise, I fear I'll be writing about Romney's latest attack ads, as interpreted by South Africa's talk radio station, well after the election.  (GobamaSA.)

xo,
Glenn