Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Update

Things are going well here. Scott & I went out to dinner on Friday night for our anniversary! 6 Whole Years!! It was fun to go out without the kids for the first time. Then on Saturday the US Crew had Thanksgiving dinner together. It was fun. Turkey, all the fixin's and pumpkin pie! I made a pecan pie and had to make the pie crust and corn syrup myself because they don't have it here... I enjoyed it. So this week has gone by fast so far. Evan has started wearing big boy underwear during the day!!! He started the other day telling me he had to go... and his pull up stayed dry all day!!! YEAH! It helps with bribes of M&M's. So that is going smoother than I expected. Next Friday is the boys last day of school until mid Jan....so I am going to be busy this weekend working on the gifts for teachers. Scott will be off from the 12th thru the 2nd of Jan also so we are going to do some local traveling... So keep watching because there will be lots of pics to check out! We are going to have our own Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow... I will post some pics! And then I will need to start Christmas shopping for a few more things. But it is hard to get into the spirit when it is in the upper 70's lower 80's and sunny. (I know I am bragging now!) The other day Scott & I noticed that we were up so early...(because the boys insist on getting up at the crack of dawn which is at 5 am here).. that some of you may be awake still because of the time difference! Kinda funny!!

Well I will post some photos of our Thanksgiving bash and post more updates later. I gotta get the kids off to school.

HAPPY TURKEY DAY EVERYONE!!

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

The Boys motorcycles

Here they have these cheap plastic motorcycles that all the kids ride and alot of the outdoor playplaces have them as well. The boys begged for them for awhile. They are too big for them but love them!! Our driveway has a little slope to it.. so they go to the top of the driveway and just go as fast as they can down into the garage... Here are some photos. Enjoy!



Christening the Pool

Hello all - Well the past weekend has been pretty uneventful. Just doing some things around the house. Over the weekend Scott was cleaning the pool and then just had to get in!! So that is the first that anyone has been in and it is cold! We had some rain over the last week (days of rain) and so it cooled the pool quite a bit! But Scott jumped in anyway! And then of course Aiden had to get in! So he stripped down to his underwear. I still can't believe that on Christmas day we will probably be sitting by the pool and swimming! CRAZY! Well check out the pool photos below.......

Pool Photos


Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Our South African Braai








As I said in my previous post... we were invited to have a traditional South African Braai in Jeffreys Bay over the weekend... It was lovely! Here are the photos of that. You can see in the background of the first few photos the amazing view of the ocean. The boys even made a friend in Skippy the dog! The views were amazing... the Braai was actually held at our landlord's(Margaret) cousins home that she also has rooms she rents... beautiful!! Margarent and her husband Phillip are extremely nice people and have been to 40 states in the US (more than me!!) and have lived in Austrailia and Greece. Their daughters are very nice as well! One is going to the local university to be a lawyer and the other is a school teacher but is well known in the poetry world and has won awards from the states, etc. Fascinating people!! It was a great afternoon! It makes me hungry just thinking about it!

Outside our window......






I just wanted to share these photos.. these are the springbok that inhabit our neighborhood. They are fed under the big tree you see and that is right across the street from our house. So every morning they are out there. There is also a photo of two of them in our front yard. I know that here they are like deer and commom so not everyone is impressed... but I still think it is cool!

Weekly Update

Well this week was fairly uneventful...we are getting into a routine. It is getting warmer here! It is almost time to use the pool! Actually some of our neighbors have already been in their pools. Scott is doing well at work. There is alot to do and not enough time in the day as usual. But things are good. The people here are very nice and friendly. And luckily we have some great fun with the US Crew as well!

The economy here is not doing well just like at home. And we are learning more about the political system here and what people really think! There also seems to be alot of progress here constantly.. they are gearing up for the 2010 world cup for soccer.. there will be some games played here in Port Elizabeth so they are trying to make things "world class" So you still see progress. There is also a grocery store here that I go to alot that constantly gets more and more US products.. it is fun to go there and see what is new each time! And then all of us US girls text each other with the new things we have found! Oh yeah -- texting is big here among everyone old, young, businesses because you don't have any unlimited plans here.. they are mostly pay as you go and you pay for each minute etc.. So texting is the cheapest to use. I am getting better at it all the time!

This weekend we were invited to our landlords home in Jeffreys Bay for a South African Braai. Jeffreys Bay is about an hour away and is right on the water. It is really pretty! It is a big vacation spot for people as well. A Braai is just what they call a barbecue here. She served tradional dishes and they were wonderful! The food and the company were great! We had lamb chops, beef with a curry marinade, borwors which is a sausage and lots of sides that were great! I took some of my american style cookies (peanut butter and oatmeal chocolate chip) They were a hit. Here they call cookies.. biscuits and they are usually hard crunchy cookies. So ours are very different.

Well I guess that is it for now... I have to get the boys ready for school so I better go! I will post more later!

Nov 2 Sunday Brunch









Hello there -- I know I am a little behind but I am trying to catch up...We went to our normal Sunday brunch with the rest of the US crew on Nov 2nd. The place we go is alot of fun for the kids.. it is a farm area with huge tree swings, tree houses to climb, slides, even donkeys and horses are around the fence etc... So I thought I would attach some photos so you can see what it is like. They have a great menu and on Sundays have a buffet.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Update Nov 1st

Hello All!! I hope things have been going well for everyone! I can't believe it is already Nov! Especially here since the weather hasn't changed to fall... I think Christmas will be hard to get in the mood! But we have had a great week! We had a Halloween party for all of the American families here at our house! Everyone had a great time! I posted a separate entry with a photo scrapbook.. It has three pages so click on it and it should take you thru the pages! Aiden dressed up like Tony Stewart -- his favorite driver (and I know he is driving for Toyota now buy next year he is going back to Chevy!) Evan was Lightning McQueen and only put on the costume so I could take a photo. All the kids looked so cute! And we even had a few trick or treaters from the neighborhood!! I had to whip out my lollipops quickly because I didn't buy any candy for trick or treaters! OOPS! Any way it was fun but we missed our Halloween traditions from home. Scott did carve a pumpkin! Pumpkins are hard to find here.. I happened to find one at a fruit and veg market one day and was very excited! Someone actually stopped me to ask how you cook it... I hated to tell them that I wasn't going to cook it ...just waste it by cutting a design in it and throwing the insides away! Seems so wasteful now that I really think about it.. but it is fun!! Now that it over and I am going to work on organizing my house. Everything is unpacked but not organized the way I want so I will be working on that.

Oh -- BIG NEWS... Evan did not cry when I dropped him off at school on Friday! YEAH!! Hopefully that continues. They both are doing great!

Just on a side note.. from the packages we have received so far.. it takes about 1-2 weeks on average to get a package. letters seem to come thru faster.. so I know that there are some of you that may want to send cards, small packages for the upcoming holidays.. so just keep that in mind.

Ok well we are going to head off to brunch and meet up with some friends so the kids can play! Hope everyone has a great week! Talk to you soon

Halloween 2008