The kiddos have been on "spring" break this week, and we have tried very hard to keep busy! We headed up the West Coast of South Africa to do some more exploring....
Our first stop was Cango Caves in Oudtshoorn, South Africa. The tour of the caves began with a brief history of when and who discovered the caves, they demonstrated by turning all lights off and showing the caves with just one small light-much like a small fire light. It resembled what it would have been like to be among the first explorers of the caves, pretty cool! We went through the first five chambers of the cave, each one getting smaller and hotter!



After viewing the caves we went to an ostrich farm! Oudtshoorn is famous for the number of ostrich farms here, ostrich is a very yummy lean meat! We thought we would check one out- We got to pet, hold, hug, kiss, sit and ride on an ostrich! Never thought I would do that in my lifetime, but now I can say we did! You will notice in the pictures of the kids riding and sitting on the birds, they are hooded, this is to keep them calm and not freak them out.

Claire with female ostrich...

Claire with baby ostrich...

Taylor getting a "hug" from the ostrich...

Hunter getting ready to take a ride...

Taylor riding...

Claire sitting on the ostrich, covered in feathers...

Getting ready for the big kiss, note food in mouth....

After shock of a big peck on the mouth...
After a very long first day, all in all we drove almost eight hours, we headed to a gorgeous hotel on the beach in Mossel Bay! We all got a good night sleep and woke up to another day filled with adventure. On our way up the West Coast we came across the cutest "Farm Stall"; had a little lunch, let the kiddos play, and oohed and awed at the views! We again loaded up and made our way to Cape Town, we first stopped at a winery outside of town. Needed to refuel our cars and the parents!

View from hotel room...

View while eating at a local Farm Stall...

Claire getting a push from dad...

This is my view when I turned around in the car, Claire was being mean-what's new :)!


We finally make it to our hotel in Cape Town, only to check in and have a hospital visit! The friends we were traveling with, their oldest, fell and needed stitches! Never a dull moment when traveling with kids!

Will post the rest of our visit in future post!

Practice Makes Perfect....

Claire and Taylor eager to see the play!

What a week! After lots and lots of practicing, Hunter was in the production "Alice"! The play was based on Alice in Wonderland and set to 70's music, precious! To say this is not Hunter's thing, would be a huge understatement, Hunter is much more the sports loving boy! He seemed to really enjoy being a part of this, and devoted a lot of time into it, rarely complained and may do it again! I also spent a ton of time with the play, I loved watching the practices, and then when they moved to the Opera House I worked the backstage. He played a chess piece in one scene, and was part of two other chorus and dance scenes! There were four shows, and we saw three! We all loved it, but especially Claire-she did not move a muscle and has been singing some of the songs ever since!
The chess piece...

Chess piece with red shirt on, second from left on second row...

Final scene, next to Alice in blue...

This is the other thing that we have been working hard on for the last few months, rugby! Both boys love it, it reminds them of football and they are awesome at it! The only huge and unfortunate difference is there are no pads or helmets! I have been holding my breath for awhile now! The boys had their big rugby match this weekend! Taylor who has NO fear when it comes to sports, tackled like a demon and did beyond good! Now this is where Hunter excels... He made the first "try"(similar to a touch down) and also made some great tackles!
Taylor aka Mad Man in the green tackling...

Some kind of huddle, not sure what the rugby term is. Taylor is third from the left...

Team setting up, Taylor is the one in green on far right of pic...

Hunter getting ready, first on left!

The little free time we had this weekend we enjoyed the outside, went to church, and we are finishing the weekend with some EXTREMELY tired kiddos!

Happy!

That pretty much sums up our weekend! Happy! The sun was out, the doors and windows open, and smiles were had by all. We began our weekend with Hunter's party, had a buddy spend the night, rented movies, and ordered take-away(SA's word for carry out); then we woke up to a gorgeous day on Saturday. Boys had Rugby practice, Pat had a cycling event, and then Taylor had his hair cut while I got my toes done! The kids and I headed to a great tea garden for lunch and play, after a trip to Toys R Us for Hunter to spend some of his birthday money. Finished lunch, met up with Pat, dropped Hunter at play practice, and headed to the store for Braii(barbecue) fixings! Finished the day with a great family meal and movies! Sunday was also gorgeous; headed to church and then back home for a great day outside, again finished up our day with a Braii! Looking forward to a crazy week, Hunter has play practice every night-play begins on Friday, and I am taking a CPR class.

Finally, We Celebrate!

Hunter, finally, had his party(we waited a month because of the weather here!)! We had Hunter's eighth birthday party this weekend at a local venue, it was a soccer party. We supplied food, drink, and children; they provided field, coaches, and fun! We had 20 kids, and luckily not a single one got bored for the 2 1/2 hours of the party. We invited his whole class, so for the girls I set up a table where we beaded and made bracelets and necklaces; we never saw the boys except for the breaks. I made the cake, and yes it was good-even had requests for the recipe! An awesome day had by all! Pictures are not the greatest-left camera in the car until the VERY last minute!

A friend sent this to me.....my life has taken me to "Holland"!

WELCOME TO HOLLAND
byEmily Perl Kingsley.
c1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley. All rights reserved
I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......
When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.
After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."
"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."
But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.
The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.
So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.
It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.
But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."
And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.
But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.

For My Mom...

My Mom just had a birthday, and I was far, far away. I hate being so far away for these events! My Mom is a pretty amazing person; she has been such a good mom, the reason all I ever wanted to be was a mom! Mom know that you are loved, appreciated, and the best thing that has ever happened to me! I miss you more than words can say, but you are always in my heart! I hope this year is full of joy, health, and happiness!

It breaks my heart not to be there with you, but I am only a flight away if you ever need me!

I love you! My babies love you too!

We're Back...

We are finally beginning to feel like ourselves again! The boys and I had Swine Flu, and it kicked our butts! Hunter was the first to get sick, and he was really bad! Taylor and I followed, the worst for all of us were the secondary infections; the bronchitis and respiratory stuff! I have been coughing for two weeks now, and am finally able to speak without coughing! Some how Pat and Claire have survived not getting sick, thank goodness because I am not sure how Claire's tiny body could have handled that nasty bug! Our lives have revolved around drugs and movies-We have been taking a medicine cabinet full of meds and we have rented a ton of movies!
To top it off, our four legged friends have all had surgery-both got fixed this week!
We're back in action, and ready to get back into the groove of life!