The Elephant March...

We took the kids back to Addo Elephant Park this weekend, hoping to have better luck with the animals! We set out mid morning, Addo is an hour away, and ordered a picnic basket for our trip in Addo! There is a restaurant right before the entrance that makes up baskets for people going into Addo, the basket was R140 ($14) and contained 5 different sandwiches, chips, muffins , fruit, cookies, waters, juices, coffee-all packed in a precious basket which you return on your way out of Addo! So we begin, I am talking it up the whole way-"We will see so much", "Aren't we glad we are all together", "What an awesome day"-In my mind I am hoping for the best! Little did I know we would all get goosebumps by the end of the day! Addo is a national park which does have lodging accommodations, self guided tours, and game drives guided by game rangers-we opted to drive through in our own car. We start off by seeing some Kudos and Zebra....




























We continue driving and we come across one elephant, we have learned that if the elephant is alone it is a male, because males will venture off on their own (HMMMM, sound familiar?!)

In the distance we see a ton of elephants-we race to where we think they are-OMG! There are elephants in every direction! So we drive to get a good spot to watch, and I look to the left and there is a herd coming from the distance to our exact location!

The babies hide underneath their mamas legs, much like my tribe!

We were so stunned, they were literally coming straight for us, they crossed! There was one car in front of us, and they were in their path but the elephants went all around the car as they walked!

Here is a video clip of the moment (please excuse the audio-the sound of pure southern excitement):

As you can see the day was filled with much excitement-there is something about seeing these animals in their natural surroundings that is absolutely incredible! I hope for you that at some point in your life you are able to experience something like this! Hunter said a prayer aloud in the car "God, thank you for your animals!", you truly feel God's presence in a place like this-you take out all materialistic things, and you are one with nature-An experience of a lifetime, for the young and old!

More of our favorites from the day...

Notice the brand new baby...

Watering Hole...

Life...

Whew... I am so glad to be done with the "book" on Cape Town , now I feel free to say whatever! Life here can be so different, and can be so very much the same as life was in the US! I have met some wonderful people on our journey here, the moms in Taylor's class resemble (in a small way) the moms that I use to see at all of the school functions at Stockwell! We still go early to get good seats if our children are in a program or school function, we hang out at the practices gabbing away, and they have the same fears and worries as I do! Taylor's class is going on a camping trip, needless to say I am a bit hesitant! For one thing I am in a foreign, third world country without a huge support base, and another my baby's never left me except to go to grandparents! Well, I was keeping quiet about this until one of the moms said how scared and worried she was-Thank God they feel the same, did I think they would not, I do not know-what is normal to them may not be what is normal to me! In the end we are all Moms! I will get back to you all on this camping thing-He leaves on Tuesday, and does not get home until Thursday! On a side note, the cost was R300($30) for the camp, they said we could make payments if needed-We decided to pay upfront :)!
Claire is doing good, still trying to talk more! She has started with her individual Occupational Therapist, and will soon begin with her individual Physical Therapist. She is really weak with fine motor, and still really leans forward! The therapist said this is because her body overcompensates for itself, and is using her shoulder strength to help with hand control! The minute I think we are making strides in one area, we discover another area to work on! Claire is a tough cookie, and really works hard at school with all of her therapy! She has fallen in love with "Cupcake" the horse! Here she is on one of her riding sessions....

Claire touching Cupcake's mane...















Claire, loving horse therapy...














Claire, my sweet SKINNY girl!














A day at the McCarty's; a little swimming, tennis, basketball and anything else these kiddos can dream up!














Hunter with his "American" friend Andrew. Yes, he still towers over everyone in his grade.















Had to take it, she will probably kill me for it one day!

By the way, the reason Claire has her pool float on is because we still do not trust her when the pool does not have it's security nets on!

Taylor at some of his recent track meets....

I hope you enjoy some of these recent pics, have a great day! We miss all of our family and friends back home, the time is flying by and unfortunately the sadness does not go by as fast! Lots of Love!

Whirlwind!

I feel like I have been in a whirlwind lately...traveling, kids, and life! The past few weeks have been very crazy, but great! Let me begin, Cape Town! Cape Town is on the Eastern coast of South Africa, and is an 8 hour drive from Port Elizabeth. The first 5 hours of the drive is along the coast and the drive is amazing, and then the rest is all land! Cape Town is like the New York of South Africa, there is a wealth of history, sites and shopping(SA shopping)! We were only there for a few days, the main reason we went was that Pat was riding in the Cape Argus Cycling Race. It is one of the largest races around, and can be quite difficult. Pat did well, and said the scenery was gorgeous! We did lots of site seeing, as much as we could squeeze in! Our hotel was in Bantry's Bay, which is on the water and very close to the Waterfront District. The first day in Cape Town we walked around on the Waterfront , and took a boat ride around the harbour and water surrounding the Cape. It was a gorgeous day, we did not see much marine life only a few seals(whale season begins in June) although for us it is still pretty cool to see a seal, and of course a boat ride any day is awesome!
This is the view from the Waterfront, you can see the famous Table Mountain in the background!

A view from our boat, looking up at Bantry's Bay...

Coming back into the Harbour...

The harbour view from the water...

The second day of our trip was the Cape Argus, Pat left early and rode to the starting line. The news started reporting early about the horrible Gail force winds that were blowing the heck out of the bikers(we have become very familiar with the wind here, living close to the ocean can be a little breezy!). Pat said he saw people's bikes blowing sideways! The course was 109 km, and had some extremely huge hills-the race took Pat 5 hours and he did well for his age-BTW, Matt Damon also participated in this race, he rode tandem with his brother! We were able to watch some of the race(we did not see Daddy, which made the boys sad), our hotel was along the course.
After a long day (Pat rode, we swam)we went back to the waterfront and ate at a great Italian restaurant on the water!
Pat after a long bike ride, notice the sexy outfit! LOL!

Looking up at part of the course...

View coming down from one of the hills....

View from our spot on the course route!

Our third day in Cape Town was awesome, we took a Double Decker bus tour, the ones where you can get off and on and that take you to all of the sites(just like in NY). We took the bus to Table Mountain which is a flat mountain and is one of Cape Town's biggest sites. You take a cable car to the top and tour the mountain, those of you afraid of heights- beware! While we were on the mountain, we saw a lot of cameras and crews filming a group of guys, could it be Matt Damon, should I raise my USA flag, or is it just a rugby player that looks like him-you tell me!
After touring the mountain we got back on the bus and went to Camp's Bay for lunch! Breathtaking, is all I have to say! We sat on the water and ate, and you could feel the cool mist of the ocean!
View of Table Top Mountain from the Double Decker Bus...

View from on top of mountain, looking down....

Kids on top of mountain...

Pic of the camera action on the mountain, I think this looks like Matt Damon....

Another view down onto Cape Town...

One of our favorite things that we did was sit on the Waterfront and have dinner, one night an African Men's Chorus came to sing!
Kiddos, I try so hard to get a group pic..too bad I never do! I even fight tooth and nail to have them wear matching clothes!

Claire and Taylor...

African band, Waterfront in background...

After a great stay in Cape Town, we headed home via The Wine Route! Amazingly beautiful, for miles and miles you see vineyards! Yes, in South Africa there are wineries, tons of them! On our route there must have been close to 50, we picked two. We went inside them and toured their facilities, did a little tasting-very cool! We felt very refined and quite snobbish, until one of our kiddos spoke up and reminded us of who we really are-PARENTS!

Our trip was fast and furious, but we will be back in June with my mom and dad! Some things we are going to fit in next time are the Nelson Mandela prison, tour given by actual people who were political prisoners, penguins and whale watching, and of course take in tons of other sites....Just wait Mimi and Poppa!

Inside one of the vineyards...

Entering main door of Winery...

The beauty of the vineyards...

I promise it will be a trip of a lifetime, words will never be able to express what we have seen! Oh, one last thing-I got a picture of one of the Baboons on the side of the road, we saw so many in one spot-I thought we were at a zoo!

My Apologies....

I am sorry that it has been so long since I last posted, but life has been a little busy! I am sure that you all know that with three kids, free time seems to be hard to find. I am going to work this weekend and get our Cape Town trip up, along with all of our latest adventures! Here's a little taste of what's to come:
Cape Town Waterfront

My attempt at a group pic-It is impossible to get the three of them to smile and look at me at the same time!

Seriously....How Fast Does Time Fly?

Did I really just move to another country, was it just 4 months ago that I thought my perfect little world was falling apart? Halloween- Did it really go that fast, will my princess ever wear her Snow White costume (that I spent a fortune on)again? Will my boys still want to be football players (we like the Tim Tebow types, not the Mike Vick types!)or are they going to think they are too cool to dress up? Thanksgiving, where did that go? Sadly, Christmas also rushed by me! This is the one that saddens me the most. what a magical time in little one's eyes. Will it always be magic, how many more times will my babies hear Santa's bells-as far as I am concerned forever!
2009 already, Seriously where did 2008 go? Glad there were somethings that rushed by me, but that's a whole year of being a mom-gone! Did I ever think I would make it to March, here I am in South Africa(still have to grasp that one)a place I thought I would never travel to, much less live in!
What sparked this immediate attention to time, I do not know. Maybe because now when I look in the mirror I do not see the girl who was just getting carded at restaurants a few years ago, or I do not see the young mom toting a baby and chasing a toddler around (I still chase!). Now I am the mom that worries about my children's college education(will I be able to afford three)or the mom that worries what the US is going to be like in two years when we go back. Will they welcome us or will it be so different that we do not welcome the change?
Where is the pause button? I would push it right now! Taylor pretending to be Survivor Man in the back yard, Claire running and playing with a huge smile, and the sweet sound of Hunter's laugh! This is what I want- to stop-to listen-to relish- to feel so fulfilled!
Unfortunately there is no pause button, life will go on and start again tomorrow!
Had these last few months been different if my prayers had been answered so many months ago-Lord, please let this all be a dream and keep me home!
The answer comes to me from the verse of this song (I do not know artist or song title):
"I was sure by now, God, you would have reached down and wiped our tears away: stepped in and saved the day. Once again, I say Amen, that its still raining!"
Had God stepped in and wiped my tears and stopped the rain, I would not have discovered another part of the world, I would not have discovered how strong I am, how strong my family is! So I will resolve the fact that there is no pause button, but know that God has a plan for me, for my kids, for this world. Bring it On!

Africans are the happiest....

After visiting close to 5-10 churches, we went back to our favorite today. Harvest Christian is the closest church that we can find that resembles what we need. Living in "The Bible Belt" for so many years you become spoiled with the amount of choices you have for churches. We had found a church that we loved in the states and actually looked forward to our Sunday mornings! Going to church is a very important part of my life, and I feel like it is extremely important for my children-It gives you a fresh start every week and what a wonderful family thing to do! Harvest Christian meets a lot of my needs right now and I hope that it will also become one of our favorite churches. Today, the pastor was talking about the global recession(as I am sure most are) and how it effects each and every one of us to some degree. He was talking about support groups for people that have lost their jobs, and how sometimes wealth does not bring happiness! How true, He stated that in Germany the statistics show that they have the most unhappy people, but are among the wealthiest in the world. And then Africa, statistics show that Africa has some of the happiest people, but is one of the poorest countries! I thought about this for awhile today, and I find this part of the world to be the friendliest and one of the best places to live. Port Elizabeth is a very family friendly place to live, and family is a very strong part of everything. Today as I was praying, I remembered to be thankful for the job we have and the family that I have. I am very blessed to have Pat and my children, but I am also very blessed to have my mom and dad,sister and brother. I am also very grateful to have Pat's parents. My children will always know that they are loved by many!
I wonder if the beauty and awe of this country is what makes these people so happy! Today after church we ate lunch at a local restaurant and once again we were welcomed with warm smiles! After we left the owner wished us well with our stay and told us to come back! We left with full stomachs, fresh baked bread and homemade jam and hit the road.
Today we went to Seaview Lion Park. Seaview is about 20 minutes from our house, and the ride is to die for. OMG-the view! We stopped several times to take pictures, and to see the true gifts of God! http://www.seaviewgamepark.co.za/ Once at the park we saw some giraffe and other animals as we were making our way to the lions! They have 5 of the most beautiful white lions, Taylor says there are only 100 in the world. The lions were beautiful and looked like large(HUGE) stuffed animals-they are fenced off from the other animals and are fed from the park rangers and not free roaming, their grounds are huge though! We also got to drive through a lion cage, a little scary, I will say that they had all just been fed so most were sleeping! After this we drove to another area were we could hold the lion cubs and go into their pen. They are the cutest things but can be aggressive-One scratched Hunter twice, he was trying to play with it like it was our dog! Claire loved them, and also wanted to hold them but we tried to keep her with us and not let her go after them.
I still stop and have to pinch myself sometimes that I am actually here, What a gift we have been given. I find my children to be in awe of the animals and have more respect for them. Taylor is very knowledgeable of factual information and will talk your ear off about each one! Of course, after watching Survivor Man tonight he thinks that he could now survive in the wild-he forgets that he is scared shitless of the animals when they are so close he could touch them!
Enjoy our pics from today, we do look a little disheveled after a day of church, food and lions!
This is the view on the way to Seaview! Can you believe the beauty...




Drum roll please, the lions...





The Cubs...




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On our way home, notice the view-Breathtaking!