The End

You may be wondering why I would close out this blog of our South African experience with a picture of our clothesline. It's because it reminds me of our life there ... the warm climate, the gentle breezes, the almost ever-present sunshine ... and the slightly slower pace of life. Although it was sometimes inconvenient, I grew to love hanging our clothes on the line -- especially when I knew Sindi would be there to iron them!

When people ask me what I miss most about South Africa, I give a cop out answer and say "the lifestyle". That of course includes our lovely home and our household help (especially Sindi), our dear friends, the boy's fantastic school, and simply living and traveling in such a uniquely beautiful and diverse country.

We are so thankful to have had this opportunity, and I think we all feel that we have left a piece of ourselves there forever!

Poor James!

Poor James fractured his wrist while playing on the play ground at Camps Bay. Fortunately it was just a green stick fracture which healed quickly. Ahhh ... guess it's time to come home!

Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens

This is another beautiful spot to spend a few hours. Andrew is giving that guinea fowl also known as "fat chicken" a run for his money!

Boulders Beach

This is another one of our all time favorite places. Boulders Beach is a short drive from Cape Town ... and well ... I think the photos speak for the beauty of it. White sand, blue water, big white boulders, blue sky ... and to top it off ... real live penguins! It was a lovely spot for a picnic and swim. The beaver-like animal is called a Dassie. They like to hang out in rocky, mountainous areas close to the sea.

Table Mountain

We spent one morning at Table Mountain. Fortunately the cloud cover wasn't too bad, so the views from the top were spectacular. The cable car ride to the top was a big thrill for all -- especially James and Andrew.

Holiday in Cape Town -- Camps Bay

On our way back to the States, we stopped off for a few days in Cape Town ... for one more look at this stunning city and surrounds. These photos are from Camps Bay -- our favorite beach area.

Last Day in Durbs

On our last day in Durban, we were able to hear James' class at Crawford perform a special end of the year concert. And we said our final goodbyes to some dear friends ... like James and Andrew's special friend from school, S'bu.

Farewell South Africa

This will be my last Blog posting from South Africa. We are in preparations to return back to North America, and will be leaving our house tomorrow, leaving Durban for Cape Town on Nov. 27, and leaving Cape Town for Toronto and our holiday travels on Dec. 1. We will post more photos of South Africa though before we're finished with this site ... particularly of Cape Town. We have had the most amazing experience here ... there is so much to say about it, but I'm too tired at the moment from packing all day to even try to put anything sensible into words.

On Saturday, our friends threw us an amazing farewell party (at our house), which included all sorts of festivities ... swimming, rugby watching (go Springboks!), and a Christmas gift exchange. As you can see from the photos above, we all had such a great time, especially the kids. We are really going to miss these friends, but we're hoping to have lots of visits from them in the future!

Mitchell Park

We had a lovely outing this morning with our friends the Elsners (Martin, Lisa, Hannah, Olivia and Christian) at Mitchell park. It's an old, established local park featuring a small zoo, beautiful gardens, a tea garden and a playground.

Safari Day Two

Most of these photos were taken during the morning guided drive I (Judy) took. It was well worth it to start out at 5 am ... especially to see the lions! We observed the male and female lion during their mating ritual -- very interesting!

Safari Day One

The boys were such troopers as we drove around the Hluhluwe-uMfolozi game reserve all day looking for animals. James has discovered a new talent ... taking photographs. He wanted to do it all weekend long!

Hilltop Camp

We just had to see animals one more time before returning to North America, so we spent the weekend at Hilltop Camp in the Hluhluwe-uMfolozi Game Park. These are a few scenes from the camp.

Halloween in South Africa?

Although they don't officially celebrate Halloween in South Africa, we got together for a little Halloween party with some superhero friends from school. We made cupcakes and pizzas and carved pumpkins ... okay so it isn't exactly pumpkin season right now which would explain the greem pumpkins!