see ya later...

After about four hours of straightening and packing, I'm finally kicking up my feet and taking a second to type. It's after midnight here. We're getting ready to sleep our last night in Cape Town and I'm really sad about it. And, it's strange...if you'd asked me three months ago how I'd feel on the last night...I feel sure I wouldn't have described it this way. I considered a few different titles for this post..."the end", "the last days", etc...just didn't work. I think most of us that have been here together agree that this just can't be it...the end. So, for now, it's a "see ya later". In face, I've already got a couple of future trips in mind ;-) So...to you, my Cape Town friends, it's been a pleasure to share in this journey with you. I'm taking home so many priceless memories that I have you to thank for. I'm praying for safe travels for each of you and that the days between now and the time that I'll see you again will be few
:-) Much love to you all!

Now...to those of you back home...we're coming whether you like it or not. And, the fact that I'm sad about leaving absolutely does not mean that I haven't missed you like crazy, because I absolutely have. And, you know what this means, don't you? The fact that I haven't seen you in three months means that we've got a lot of making up to do ;-) Please pray for us as we travel so far again...Love to you all, too!

oh dear...

I've fallen a bit behind on my blogging and am completely overwhelmed with the thought of squeezing the events of the last two weeks into one meezly little blog post. I feel sure that most of you reading this are not so broken-hearted that I'll have to spare some details, but it stresses me. My goal is to have the posts from our trip bound so that I can save them...and I have simply stunk at making sure I document everything lately. Oh well...life will go on, I guess :-)
So...life in Cape Town lately...hmmm...full of emotion. Anxiety, excitement, sadness, and so much more. Last week was an incredibly stressful week for Jesse and his colleagues as they finished up their projects...and when they're stressed...we're stressed. It meant lots of long hours and them being away from us for one last weekend. But, guess what? We survived and we packed as much fun as we possibly could into those couple of days! Excitement [as mentioned above]...I'm feeling because we're coming home in only a week and will have tons of special people to see and catch up with! And, sadness...because we're leaving behind lots of people who have become very special to us here.
The last two weeks, with the exception of the four days that Eli was sick with a yucky cold, have been really nice. In a nutshell...we've visited the West Coast, where we saw tons of animals and beautiful flowers...we've visited some beautiful gardens, a new park, and a new farm...spent more time at the market and on the beach with friends...enjoyed a slumber party with my friend Neha and her daughter V...took Eli and V ice skating for the first time...spent some time at the Cape Town science center...enjoyed a date with E on Tommy the Tugboat...ate at some more really yummy restaurants...and I just enjoyed another great ladies' night out last night. Whew...no wonder I'm typing from bed tonight at only 9:00!
I mentioned before that Jesse had his last retreat this weekend. It was held in Stellenbosch at the Spier Hotel and Conference Center. The hotel is part of the Spier wine farm so you can imagine it's surroundings are just beautiful. On Sunday, several of us headed up to have lunch with the guys and enjoy the afternoon in the area. Jesse had also made a reservation for us to stay with him there on Sunday night so I was really excited about that. It was a chilly and rainy afternoon/night so it was perfect for sitting by the fire and having a fun dinner at Moyo with my friend Jessica and her family. We had already eaten at two different Moyos during our trip, but it's hard to pass up. The decor and set up of the restaurants is amazing. You'll notice lots of details from the restaurant in my collages. My favorite is the big tree with the colorful couches and lanterns underneath. We ate in a huge tent and there were little what I called "tree houses" all around with tables for guests. So...you can eat in the trees if you want...how cool is that? I could go on and on about the place...really, on and on and on...it was incredible. Anyways...after dinner came the best part... drifting off to sleep by the fire in our room...it was such a nice break from our apartment!
The next several days before we leave are already filled with plans for a few more new adventures and many returns to our favorite spots one last time. They will be bittersweet ones, that's for sure :-)
Hope all of you at home are still doing well...can't wait to see you!

nine days with nanny nancy...

one thing's for sure...I said a while back that I thought the rest of the weeks here would fly...and they are doing just that. The past nine days have been some of the fastest but were packed with lots of fun with Nanny. My mama came into town last Sunday and left today. We had so much fun with her and are praying for her safe travels back to GA now.
Our week with Nanny was the most beautiful one yet. We had lots of sunny days which made for more good times on the beach and touring around. Lots of the places that we visited were places that E and I had already been but are must-sees here. On Saturday, we started out at one of my favorite spots, the Old Biscuit Mill and Neighborhood Goods Mkt, where we got our bellies full of yummy breakfast quiches and omelets. Then, we headed to Stellenbosch, a mountain town about 45 minutes outside of Cape Town. It's also wine country so it's full of beautiful vineyards. We spent some time at the Treasury Market there, where the sidewalks are lined with amazing foods, flowers and handmade goods. We found ourselves loitering around the cheese and olive tables...oh, and the bread and fudge tables (and maybe a few more :-) The markets have definitely been one of my most favorite things about this place and I was glad that Mama really enjoyed it too.
Another new destination for us this week was Charly's Bakery in town. Apparently, the bakery has been spotlighted in lots of well-known magazines and enjoyed by lots of famous peeps. We stopped by late this morning to enjoy some coffee and sweet treats before Mama left...Mama and I had the most massive blueberry muffins ever and E had a chocolate cupcake with cherries on top in honor of the ole' hometown, Cville. It was the perfect ending to a special week. Thanks, Nanny, for coming all this way to spend time with us...we had a lot of fun and miss you already. XOXO

just call us the bravehearts...

we've had a really great second week of my Daddy being here. Several of the days were gorgeous weather-wise so we hung out on three different beaches and spent a good amount of time outside. We've also found ourselves being quite brave this week...very brave :-)
Here's a countdown of our top 5 risky adventures for the week...
#5- we went tobogganing! The park is called Cool Runnings and includes a tobogganing track that's 1.25 km long, which allowed us to be quite speedy. In fact, I got called out for going too fast :-)

#4- we aboarded the Jolly Roger Pirate ship! It was an hour-long cruise around the bay on an absolutely beautiful day. We were able to see the city from a different point of view and a huge whale swimming around near the ship. Eli enjoyed some face painting and I was captured by a pirate and tied up with rope (for the pirate show) before I knew what was happening...it was pretty embarassing but a kiss from Blackbeard made it a tish better ;-)

#3- we went ziplining! It's probably bad that this was my first ziplining experience because now I'm hooked and I'm afraid this trip will be hard to beat! The sliding itself was super fun, but watching Eli's face and hearing him cackle on the way down was priceless.

#2- I visited a hair salon here! I know, I know...it's kind of silly that this one is so close to the top of the list, but when it comes to a girl's hair, it's serious business ;-) Honestly, I was really nervous about it, but decided to take the plunge rather than live with inch-long black roots the rest of the trip. The salon turned out to be such a cozy and quaint place and the stylist was amazing. I was even treated to a homemade red velvet cupcake and a french-press coffee while I was there. It was so nice to get pampered for a couple of hours~ thanks to my sweet Daddy for letting me enjoy!

and...drum roll, please...#1- we took Eli to the movies for the first time! Yes...we did...and yes, I guess we're crazy. I told you we were being very brave, didn't I? On Saturday we got a good bit of rain and decided to try out the theatre for Ice Age 4. We were only able to make it through an hour before I feared that we'd get popcorn-bombed by our neighbors, but we had to try it at some point, right? And for those of you considering the movie, what I saw of it was really cute.

Today was our last day with Daddy, "Pop", here. E and I dropped him off at the airport just a couple of hours ago. I know it's only about 5 weeks until we see him again, but it was really hard saying goodbye and coming back to our place without him. It felt so good to have him here with us...I hope he enjoyed it as much as we did! Please pray for his safety in traveling home and remember my Mama as she'll be traveling to us this weekend! Can't wait to see her and share a week with her!

gerry the giraffe & my muddy birthday boy...

I shouldn't be surprised I guess. Eli's always been a child who seems to get the most excited over the freedom to run wild, get super dirty and have access to anything remotely dangerous. Instead of a new toy, he'd jump for joy at the opportunity to operate a tractor, play with a string of Christmas lights, or run through a mud puddle deeper than he is tall. And, although it wasn't nearly that deep, that's exactly what he did first at his birthday party this week. We spent the morning at the Giraffe House with some of our SA friends feeding animals, checking out Gerry the giraffe, and letting the kids bounce around in the bounce-house for a while. Later, we enjoyed some cupcakes and silly masks in honor of E turning three. Our friends brought some fun new toys for him as gifts which was really nice. Because we've had a good bit of rain lately, the place was an absolute mess with mud. After his first jump in the puddle, I surrendered and let E run around bare-footed the rest of the time. It was the best gift I could have given my little southern bumpkin by far :-)

Jesse was off on Friday of last week so we planned to travel outside of Cape Town and follow the Garden Route~ it's a really popular and beautiful route along the southeastern coast of SA. We headed out on Thursday afternoon for a pretty long drive to an area called Mossel Bay where we stayed the first night. While our place had a lot of charm, it was very, very cold and required us to bundle up in layers for the night. Somewhere in that cold night came the rain. And the next day, more rain. And the next day, a monsoon :-) You think I'm kidding, but the owner of the second place that we stayed said that he had only seen this type of rain one other time in his lifetime of umm...probably 80 years...it got quite comical really. While we were able to visit some pretty neat limestone caverns called the Cango Caverns on Friday, we weren't able to do the other things that we had considered for the trip because of the weather. So...we returned on Saturday and Jesse and I went out for a date night to the movies which was nice.

On Sunday, we visited Hillsong again for possibly the best two worship services I've ever attended in my lifetime. Robert Madu from Texas spoke for both services and let me tell you...if you haven't heard him...you should. I looked briefly on Youtube and I think some of his sermons are available. Check him out if you get a chance!

My Dad is still here with us and will be here until next Monday. We're supposed to have some really pretty days this week so I'm hoping we can hit the beach again at some point. I have been so glad to have him here and am so thankful that he came all this way for us.

For those of you who were praying for Maw-maw's foot surgery, thank you. Everything went well and last I heard she's already on the move a little again...I can't imagine ;-)

life in the fast lane...

Yes...I've finally hit the fast lane here a couple of times now and despite one episode of being scolded for driving too slow, it's been quite fun. And, once some of the other PWC peeps saw our jewel of a car, they just had to have one...as you can imagine. Several of them have rented the same model in different colors...it's pretty funny to see them parked together. Naturally, as we've gotten more comfortable with getting out and about, our weeks have gotten busier. This past week was the busiest for us yet and went by so fast. I have a feeling it's been a taste of what's to come for the remaining weeks here. This week was pretty full with a few more birthday celebrations (more to come on this later), a relaxing day at the beach, and a fourth of July celebration complete with a trip to the nearby amusement park and a barbecue with the PWC peeps. While it was a nice day, it was very different to celebrate the fourth scarved and without any fireworks. I definitely missed all of my favorite Americans and our family's yearly march of the flag ;-)
On Friday, Eli's third birthday!, Daddy arrived a little after noon. You can't tell very well in the pic, but we made E a very small sign to hold up for "Pop" at the airport. We were very happy to see him! On Friday night, we dined at an authentic African restaurant named the Africa Cafe. The decor consisted of lots of cool artwork and light fixtures made from recycled materials, like plastic bottles and metal scraps, etc. Our server washed our hands in rosemary water before the meal and painted our faces later. The menu was family style, so we passed around our little bowls full of mystery, I mean, interesting new foods. I'm not the adventurous type when it comes to food...in fact, this trip has made me realize that I'm just downright boring in this area. Needless to say, I didn't exactly get my belly full that night, but it was a neat experience and I enjoyed a yummy no-risk pasta dish the next night :-)
On Saturday, Jesse's birthday!, we toured Daddy around a few hotspots since the weather was nice. We spent the greatest part of our day at Cape Point, which Jesse, E and I had not visited before. It's the point at which the Indian and Atlantic oceans meet and is incredibly beautiful. There were some baboons and ostriches hanging out in the area, so they were neat to see too.
Today has been the most dreary and rainy day that we've had so far. We headed to church this morning and enjoyed a great video sermon by Louie Giglio and then had a yummy lunch in town. We spent the afternoon strolling around the mall and doing some grocery shopping. Daddy's with us for the next couple of weeks so I'm really looking forward to showing him around more, spending more time together, and having an extra set of hands during the week.
To all of our prayer warrior friends, would you please remember my Maw-maw on Wednesday of this week? She'll be having surgery on her foot and it feels so weird to not be home for it. She's been in much debate over whether to go through with the procedure or not, so please pray that it will be worth it for her. Those of you who know her know that she's still very much on the go and full of life. She needs those feet to keep her going! Thanks, everybody ;-)

the weekends...

they have definitely been the best part of our time here and this one was no exception. It’s always nice to hit the roads for some longer drives and have more people around. Friday, E and I met up with all of the fams for a lunch/playdate and then we all spent the evening at an authentic African restaurant named Mama Africa. Dinners are generally quite lengthy here. We did have a large group, so that may have added a bit more time, but it turned into a three hour dinner marathon. E was with us and hung in there like a champ. The highlight of the night for me was the great band called Marimba Vibrations. E’s always had a thing for drums so he absolutely loved it…so much so that he ended up using his chair as a drum. The band members noticed and eventually pulled him on stage and let him play the xylophone with them…it made his night and mine too :-)
Saturday was kind of a dreary day but we headed to the park for a train ride along the shore and hung out on the playground for a bit. Afterward, we had lunch at a cozy little restaurant in town called Arnold’s. It’s definitely one we’ll go back to before leaving. Saturday evening, everyone headed to the rugby game. We hired a sitter for the first time since we’ve been here and she was amazing! E had such a good time with her and it was nice for Jesse and I to get out a bit on our own with everyone. The Cape Town team, the Stormers, won the game, so it was really cool to see all of their excited fans celebrating.
Today has been absolutely beautiful! This morning we enjoyed another incredible service at Hillsong and then made our way back to the Camp Bay area for brunch. Although I had been through the area twice before, it still left me in awe today…the views are breathtaking. We spent the afternoon there with friends and E made sure he got his church clothes as wet and sandy as possible. We’ve got a good week coming up here including some birthday celebrations and the arrival of my Dad who is having a great time in Ireland right now. I’m really looking forward to the next several days!