Montagu Tractor Ride

We drove for 3 hours to get to Montagu which is a really pretty fruit growing area. Here we ate potjiekos (dutch oven) and went on a tractor ride up the mountain. It was really fun. They have fresh fruit from the farm on the tractor so you can munch the whole way up, and at the top they give you a little liquor to warm the cockles. Hmmmm.

Pretty Penguins

There is a penguin colony on boulders beach in Cape Town. You used to be able to just walk up to the penguins and hang out with them, but some smart @$* decided that they could make money off the penguins and so they've cornered them off and now you have to pay too walk down to the beach and see them. I was really annoyed, cause the whole time I had been telling Mack's mom about how she could walk right up to the penguins, but lo and behold she couldn't. Anyway, knowing that they are wild animals and that they most probably wouldn't stay in their pay per view area (which was ocean on one side) I went over to the next beach and found penguins that you could still walk up to and get your picture taken with, without paying - yay me. (oh and Jeremy had also told me to do this).





Well this species of Penguins was originally named the Jackass penguin because of the donkeyish braying sound it makes, but they have found other penguins that make the same sound now, and have since renamed these poor little tykes - the African penguin.

Great White Shark Cage Diving

Yes I actually did this and here are the pictures to prove it. And yes I do recommend it to anyone and everyone. (the shark actually bit the cage twice while I was in it - fascinating)


The divers


The Cage


The bait


The beast

Gordon's Bay

This is the view from my brother's house in Gordon's Bay. We were so close to the beach that you could walk, except that the walk back home was gruelingly up hill. So, I used to pop Lucy (the most gorgeous pooch you've ever seen) into the back of the little Corsa lite rental car and nip down to the beach in the mornings for a quick 30 min run/walk, instead of feeling the burn walking back up the hill.

The Escarpment

Now I had read about escarpments and been taught about them in geography classes, but I had never actually perceived how truly phenomenal an escarpment really is till we reached this one. One moment you're driving on top of the world, and the next moment there is a sheer drop that stretches as far as the eye can see. I don't think these pictures do it justice, but at least it can give you a little taste of what we saw.


This is at the top of the escarpment.


This is at the bottom of the escarpment.


And this was about a third of the way down, when Ethan had to stop and pee.

Weaver Bird Nests

These are the communal nests the weaver birds build. They can get really huge, especially when the nests are built in trees. We saw a few where the bottom of the nest had gotten too heavy and fallen down, but the little birdies just kept on building.

From Augrabies to Cape Town

Augrabies is right on the border of South Africa and Namibia, which means its also the very edge of the Namib desert with its red sands. Its very dry and arid (being a desert) but still has a pretty unique beauty. This drive (although very, very long) is interesting, cause the landscape changes perceptibly the nearer you get to the coast. As we were driving we started to notice little wild flowers growing alongside the road. They were beautiful and very bright pinks, purples oranges and yellows. Then I remembered that we were driving through during the Namaqualand Daisy season. We never got very close to one of the huge daisy fields, but could see the masses of colour off in the distance.

Johannesburg - Augrabies Falls

After an incredibly long flight, we finally arrived in Jo'burg. We rented a car and started to drive down towards Cape Town. This drive was for the benefit of Mack's parents who were with us. We had all done the drive before, but it really is pretty so we didn't mind doing it again.









This is a Dassie (duss-see). Pretty much its a rock rabbit, but the coolest thing about it is, that its closest living relative is the elephant.



As we were leaving the park, we saw this klipspringer (rock springer) with a bird on its back silhouetted on top of this rock. It was really cool, which is why I'm posting this picture.

Finally Home

I'm Back!

Yes its true. I feel like I've been away forever, and coming home has been kind of surreal. Its also been a little scary - I've gotten so used to driving on the left hand side of the road again that now I flinch everytime Mack turns too the right hand side. I know I'll get used to it again, but for now I'm trying not to have to drive anywhere.

Well there is so much to tell that I think I'll just start at the beginning...

No More Sleeps

So this is it. Tonight is the last sleep till we leave. My mom has called about twelve times today asking me what I was packing and if everything fit in my suitcase, etc. etc. Needless to say the excitement is altitudinous. (thanks I like that word too). We will be flying Delta, and I just hope that its better than the last time I flew Delta. Well who cares - I'M GOING HOME!!!! I'll try and post while I'm in Cape Town, but I think my posting will be sketchy. I'll be home at the end of October. Till then - ta ta for now.

My Tribute to my Ouma

So one of the reasons the whole family is going to South Africa, is because its my Ouma's (grandmother) 80th birthday. My talented cousin Brenna has put together a little tribute booklet for her with photos and letters from the whole family declaring our undying love and devotion for my Ouma. Well My mother wrote a poem as her tribute, Jeremy (my younger brother) composed a song, and so I decided that the only logical tribute for me to do, was to write and illustrate a childrens book.

You see as I sat down and thought about my Ouma and the time I used to spend with her, my memories seemed really childlike. Then I realized that they would be childlike - umm, cause I was a child when the memories were made. It only seemed logical if my memories were that of a child, I should express them like a child, so hence the book. Also, considering I still draw like a child it just made sense. The book isn't amazing or even very good, but its from the heart and thats what counts right?

I call it "The Little Ouma".

Only 4 more Sleeps

Well the time is drawing near and I get more and more excited everyday. By this time next week I will be in the mother land, getting fat off the foods I have not had in so long. Smile.

A Hard Day at Work

Here is my husband working hard. Its a good thing he loves his job.

Peaches and Pruned Fingers

Mack's parents built their house on an old orchard. Which means, that they have a variety of fruit trees in their back yard. They called over the weekend to let us know that the peaches were finally ripe and that we needed to pick a few before they fell off the tree. Now the peaches on this tree are the hugest peaches I have ever seen. They are so big in fact that the branches sag and often break under the load of these ginormouse peaches. I picked as many as I could carry, and then this morning I cleaned them and sliced them and froze them for future use. My fingers are now thoroughly pruned which always feels odd, and my house smells - well - Peachy.

What The!

I was just reading my friend Sarah Allers blog and came across the following. I am seriously just going to quote her blog verbatim:

God Bless America.....we need it.

Well, that does it - America is going down the tubes. No thanks to you Mario Lopez.

Miss Teen South Carolina

I bet she can't find South Africa on a map!

Thanks Sarah for that highly entertaining bit of info.

Countdown

In only two weeks we will be winging our way to South Africa. I am so excited I nearly pee myself daily.

Organizational Skills

Just look at the divineness I like to call my organizational skills. Before this bookshelf was an eyesore, littered with anything and everything I didn't feel like finding a spot for. It totally bugged me until - tada - I fixed it. Okay so the bookshelf Mack made in our first few months of marriage. I didn't know where to put in in the new place, so it ended up in the passage(hall). The books were his grandmothers and the titles range from Hippocrates, Tolstoy, Darwin, Freud to Shakespeare, Gallileo, Chaucer and the American State Papers. Heavy reading I know. The little chatchkies on the shelf are old cameras and african curios. And it all comes together to create - Voila!

All Gone

Mack walked out of the Library (this is what we like to call our study, our main bedroom is the East wing), with this look on his face that only meant one thing - something very not good just happened. And...he was right. Our darling little Mac computer had bootcamp running on it, meaning it could run both as a Mac and as a PC. Well Mack (my husband this time) switched over to the PC side of the computer and when he tried to get back to the Mac (the computer) side, it wasn't registering anymore. Mack (husband) tried (valiantly I might add) to get back to the Mac (computer), but to no avail. It was gone. I cried large tears (the kind that makes the thick snot with it) and had to blow my nose a couple of times. A years worth of family photos had just been deleted. I still have this lump in the bottom of my stomach. I just can't think about it.

Just the Cutest Husband Ever

I arrived home in the early hours of Sunday morning to find a trail of socks leading into the kitchen. I followed them and, well just look...









Isn't he just about the most adorable husband? He professes his love with food. sigh!

Night Out

Saturday night was the bridal shower of one of my close friends from BYU. She actually knew Mack before I did and he had a huge crush on her (then I came along and you know the rest). We went to a Lebanese restaurant for dinner that features a belly dancer on the weekends. Sacey the bachelorette was pulled up to do a bit of dancing of her own - hilarious. But, the music proved too much for some of the other girls who felt the need to join in. I tried to capture the moment but my poor little point and shoot was having a few issues - too bad.