So Long....

We are outta here! We are leaving today to drive to Knysna to stay the night, and then on to Cape Town to pick up my parents!!!! Yeah!!!! We have booked a house in Simon's Town overlooking Boulder's Beach where there is a whole colony of penguins living! We can see the ocean, the penguins and possibly whales from our back porch! We are going to see the sights in Cape Town, visit some wineries, and go to Hermanus and see the whales(where they come in and breed)! It should be an amazing week, but the best part will be seeing family! We will head back to PE to spend the rest of their visit doing stuff around here, going on an awesome safari and lots, lots more!
Oh, and to those of you who are use to famous people moving in next to you in Shreveport and Bossier, the new Hollywood, we have just found out that we will have a new neighbor! John Travolta has bought a house one street from us here in Port Elizabeth, oh yeah we will be hanging out with the Travolta's-Ha! The safari that we are taking my parents on is at the place where John Travolta and Tiger Woods frequent! (Hate to name drop, but it is what it is :) )

Happy Father's Day!

The greatest gift I ever had
Came from God; I call him Dad!
~Author Unknown


"I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father's protection." ~ Sigmund Freud
We will always need you to protect us, even from elephants...


Thank you for doing all that you do for this family; you are a great provider and a great father! I thank God everyday for giving you to me! I love you!

Happy Father's Day Dad!

I love and miss you very much! Thanks for being a great dad and a great Poppa!

Only 5 more days, we can not wait!

Happy Father's Day Poppy!

We miss and love you!
Pat, Megan, Taylor, Hunter, and Claire

How Will We Ever Leave.....

This gorgeous place! Sunday after church we took the kids and the dog to the beach. I still have a hard time believing that I live so close to the beach, and not a beach in the USA but a beach in South Africa! We changed out of our church clothes and into our play clothes, boys in suits, and off we went! I brought a chair and a book, Claire brought a bucket and a shovel, while the boys brought their soccer ball! Pat came with a magazine and the leash with the dog. A day to remember(we will try to forget the time the boys got into a fist fight), a day I hope to repeat a hundred and one times before we have to leave this gorgeous place!

This is really what it looks like, the beauty is breathtaking...

These are huge sand dunes on the right of the pic...

Today...

We missed the sun! We were very lazy today and did not get out of the house or our PJ's until 12! It looked beautiful out from our windows, so we got dressed and went to Claire's favorite "playground", but the clouds and the rain came within 20 minutes of being there! I was able to snap a few pictures; can you see why this is a kid's dream, even the boys had a blast! After we loaded our wet children into the car, Pat had a grand and great idea to go to the mall-I think he forgot that we were towing with us two boys who hate shopping and a three year old! After roaming a very crowded mall and buying the ugliest WWE PJ's, we left to go out to lunch! We ate a very good lunch, went to the grocery to get stuff to Braii tonight, and we are back home to put PJ's(boys are already in their WWE gear) back on and call it a day! Watch out couch, here I come!
We brushed our teeth and got ready for our day...

The "playground"...
Taylor and Hunter

Claire looking out of the house...

The ship wreck

Castle

Airplane

Lunch out....
Claire and Taylor

Hunter drinking hot chocolate

The cutest three I know...

Happy Saturday!

Our Week...

The weather has been awesome this week, and has allowed for a lot of outdoor activities! Taylor and Hunter had soccer matches this week, they both did awesome! I have been playing a lot of tennis lately, this week I played three hours on Wednesday and two today - Wimbledon, here I come! One day Claire and I went to a local play place(she calls it the playground), an outside coffee/lunch spot with all of these AWESOME jungle gyms and play forts. They have ship wrecks, castles, hospitals, laundry rooms, play kitchens-a little one's dream place!
Tonight we ended our week eating at our all time favorite place, The Pink Fig. This place is a small cottage that is surrounded by all kinds of wooden play sets,huge swings, trampolines, forts and playhouses. The actual cottage is decorated very shabby chic, and at night trees have twinkle lights in them. There are bon fires going, an outside movie room for when the kids get tired(mine NEVER do), all of this while the parents get to visit over a glass of wine or a really good cup of coffee. To top it all off-the food is AWESOME! We now have a standing reservation on Friday nights, there is another American family that also goes on Friday!

Taylor playing some awesome soccer... (yes, that is Claire swinging from my South African friend,Gherda!)

Notice how much sweatier Taylor is than the rest of the boys-Who's the Man?!

Claire hanging out at the soccer game...

This is The Pink Fig, pictures can not do it justice! This is what it looks like when you walk in...

This is one of the jungle gyms at night...

Picture from our table outside looking into the cottage and the movie room...

Change...

Change can be good and it can be bad, for a mom I think that change is bittersweet! My kiddos are changing all of the time, simple changes from what they like to eat or a HUGE change like putting our pet squirrel on a shelf! Background, Hunter has had a stuffed squirrel since he was 2 which he affectionately and innocently named "Nuts"! Nuts has been all over the world with us, his first trip was to Cincinnati for Pat's grandmother's funeral. Hunter was only 2 or 3 at the time but would carry him in the front of his pants, and he would nicely ask people if they would like to see his Nuts, while putting his hand into his pants! We have laughed about this forever-oh the looks on people's faces! Hunter is now almost 8, and I noticed the other day that he put Nuts on the shelf with all of his other special stuff! This change is very sad for me, because I know it is a sign of Hunter growing up! Hunter has carried Nuts everywhere with him, and has been a source of great comfort for him; we have lost him on several occasions, but have always been able to find him! Every time I go into his room and see him on the shelf, it makes me very sad-how I will miss the days when my babies where babies!

This is Nuts...

This is one time that Hunter was playing outside and positioned Nuts on the chair so he could watch him...

Change can also be very irritating, Taylor is now 11 and sometimes wants to think and act as if he is a teenager! Ahhhhhh! This change I will put a stop to, I do think it is very age appropriate but will try to hold it off as long as possible! He has a few years left before he can turn into a teenager. I am thankful for being here (South Africa) for several reasons, one is that Taylor would have just graduated from 5Th grade and would be going into middle school this coming Fall-here he is still in 5Th grade, and life seems to roll on at a much slower pace than it does in the states. I feel kids get to be kids a little longer, and there seem to be not as many pressures for kids! Thank Goodness, time to mature for a little boy who would not have been ready for middle school!
Change for Claire is GOOD! She seems to be making a lot of progress, and really is talking up a storm, although hard to understand at times, we do seem to get most of it! I have changed her school schedule, she has been going to her therapy school five days a week, I have moved it to three days. For several reasons, one Claire is progressing nicely where others in her class are not and unfortunately may not, and I wanted to get her out to have a little more "normalcy". She will transition into a playschool with therapies, but the new year does not begin until January! I also think she needs to be a little kid still and have time at home, and not be rushed into being gone five days a week. She will get all of her therapies three days a week and will be home with me two!
Oh how change always happens; one day sad, next day happy! I am sitting back and watching my kids grow, anxious and excited for what is to come, but oh so sad about what I am loosing! There is a line in a song by Mark Harris that I love that goes..."I'll have tears as you take off, but I'll cheer as you fly" This could not be more true!

Recent Photos...

Hunter at a recent soccer match, notice the view behind the field, yes that is the ocean. The view from the other side of the field is the new World Cup stadium, pretty cool. I will post some of Taylor playing soon, forgot my camera at the last match!

Hunter is the third from the right!

The boys finished up their golf lessons that they were taking, both passed and are moving up to the Young Master's program! Taylor loves it, and Hunter loves it some days and hates it others!

These were taken one early morning before golf, they were thrilled!


And of course here is Claire!
This is how she prefers getting around most days, her trike! She is very fast!

She has started to pretend a lot, and this is one morning before school-she found a snake and it was biting her, momma, and Lilly!