Weekly Update

Well we have been here another week and things are going well. We have unpacked all the boxes and are getting organized. We went to a fundraiser for the aquarium here... it is a great location, but it really run down and small. But as you sit in the stands to the large pool for the dolphin show you can look right out onto the beach and ocean... amazing. If this was in the states it would be a gold mind. But I guess it hasn't been supported well and is still kicking but needs some work. So they had a fundraiser show and silent auction. We went with another US couple and had fun. The boys enjoyed the show with penguins, seals and dolphins. Then on Sat we went to the local air show.. which you can see pics of in the next post. It was fun.

Tonight (sunday) another US family is headed into town and I am going to go meet them at the airport. When we came in Diane and Debbie were there to meet us and it was such a blessing to get off the long flight and see a couple smiling faces and have help with the massive amount of luggage! So I am spreading the love...

I am also hosting a Halloween party for the kids here next Friday afternoon so I will update the blog next weekend with those pics. Only a few celebrate the holiday here so when I found a large pumpkin at the fruit and veg market I was excited!! And then someone in the check out line asked how I was going to cook it.... haha. I gave them the options but didn't have the heart to tell them I wasn't going to cook it..I was just going to waste it by cutting a design into it and putting a candle in it!! But we have actually been invited to an adult only halloween party by some south africans! So if we can get a babysitter we are going to go see how they celebrate!

Well I guess that is really all we have been up to this week. I hope everyone is doing well! Keep in touch and talk to you soon!!

PE Air Show

Well this weekend we checked out the PE Airshow. We went with two other US families and the kids had a blast! We saw lots of aircraft of different types. The boys as you see all got an airplane or helicopter toy and played with them non-stop. Very cool. The show was very slow and small compared to ones I have seen in the US. And it was at the airport so the action would have to stop to let a commericial flight either land or take off.... very funny! But the boys loved it anyway!

Contact Us....

Hello there everyone... I just wanted to let everyone know that our vonage phone is up and running... so you can call us at 270-906-9199 and reach us here. I know ...it is amazing. You can call a KY phone number and reach me in SA!! Just remember the time difference! Eastern time 6 hour diff. Central time 7 hour diff. So give us a call!!

Boys New Bed

As messy as it is... the boys got a new bed and are very excited about it! They both promised they would share and take turns sleeping up top! (haha we will see how that goes) But for now Aiden is up top and Evan is in the bat cave, as he calls it! Their room is still a work in progress.. we are working on putting the foam tiles down and organizing their room but I thought I would share their new beds with you...

Moving Day......

Moving day finally came on Oct 15! It was funny to be so excited about your sofa. I am not usually that attached to my furniture and things but I was very happy to see my stuff arrive. Now it actually feels like a home and things seem normal. We have been unpacking boxes for two days and have the majority done, but there is still lots of little things to do. The boys were really excited to open the boxes of toys they hadn't seen in months! And they are actually playing with things they didn't play with before. Overall things are good. This weekend we will probably do more of the unpacking and getting things organized. Our vonage should be hooked up and working later tonight. Ok - gotta go unpack some more boxes while the boys are in school!

Oct 13th Update

Ok -- some of you are wondering what has happened to us... well we got our air shipment last week and were able to move into the new house with our blow up mattresses and few kitchen essentials YEAH!! But it has taken us a week to get the internet working here at the house..but it is up and running now! It has been great living in the house! much more room and we love the neighborhood! The pool is finished and filled ( as you can see in photos I posted earlier) The grass is growing up... here they lay the sod and cover it with top soil. We just have to keep it watered and it is starting to pop thru.

The boys finished their first week of school and I am told by the teachers they both did really well! Aiden already went to his first birthday party for the other Aiden in his class...and the funniest part is the other Aiden's last name is Nell (not sure of the exact spelling but too funny!!) That was on Friday afternoon and I was able to meet a few of the other moms in the class which was nice.

On Saturday we went to Sardinia Bay Beach with the Demuynck family! The boys had a blast. The weater was great.. sunny and had to be in the low 80's. Great day... check out the photos of the beach below.. it is absolutely gorgeous!

The weater is still spring like... unpredictable. Sunny, chilly, WINDY, rainy.. but I am told that will all be over soon!

Well we got good news! Our sea container was a week early and arrived in port this weekend.. and will be delivered tomorrow!! YEAH!! So we will actually have furniture to sit on! Other than that .. this week I am getting the rest of the curtains for the house hung, getting rugs for all the hard tile floors (and we are hoping both of these help with the echoing that goes on in the house!!) I think we are going to get the boys new beds.. some type of bunk bed .. so they have more room to play in their room.

Well I guess that is all for now! Since we just got our internet up and working this morning... we should have our vonage working by this weekend! (we wanted to make sure everything was working with this before we added something else to the mix)

Ok - I hope everyone is doing well! Let us know what you are up to either by email or leave a comment on the blog ... I check them often!

Sardinia Beach

We went to Sardinia Bay Beach on Saturday with the Demuynck family! The weather was great! And the boys had a blast climbing the huge 50 foot sand dunes and running down them. The water is so blue! There were some great waves as you can see there were surfers out and about. Aiden and his friend Austin had a great time running in and out of the waves. He was wet from head to toe! Evan of course enjoyed playing in the sand and watching all the dogs! Lots of people take their dogs to the beach. This beach is beautiful with great sand, the blue water, the rocks along one piece of the shore.... it is sort of secluded and never feels like it is full of people. Great day!!

Pool.....

Well here is our pool... finally completed. The grass is coming through and should be full of green soon! We have purchased outdoor furniture for the back porch ... which we are currently using as a dining table since we have no furniture yet!!

Boys First Day of School is SA

Here they are... All ready for their first day of school here is SA!! They were both really excited! If some don't know .. here they are on a year round schedule starting in Jan. They have 4 terms and today was the first day of the fourth term for this school year and they will be done at the beginning of Dec. Aiden, of course, was very excited! And I was told did a great job today playing with the other kids and with the work they did today. Evan said he was excited but did cry when I dropped him off. His teacher told me that he did a great job and had fun once he calmed down! Aiden will go everyday and Evan is going Mon/Wed/Fri for this term. Starting in mid Jan they start the new school year and will both be going everyday. I think they had a great time getting to know other kids ...Aiden is already talking about a new friend but can't remember his name and Evan wants to paint some more! The school I chose teaches an American ciriculum which hopefully will keep them on track for when we return!

Update.....

Well since the last time I updated the blog we are doing good. We are still in TEMP housing!! Our air shipment has landed.. but is in customs and hopefully will be out by the end of the week (or so we are told). We have the keys to our new home!! YEAH! We have gotten the appliances delivered, the TV's are hooked up, Curtains are being made and hung... now all we need is our stuff! Our sea container is scheduled to arrive on Oct 16th and then will have to clear customs ..so we should have ALL of our stuff by the end of the month. The pool is almost complete they wanted to get the landscaping taken care of before the did the final clean and fill of the pool so more sand/dirt does not get into the pool and filter. Plus it is still a little too chilly to get into a pool! The boys started school today and I will post photos, etc after this!

Ok - I bet some of you thought my comments about the keys were an exaggeration.. so I wanted to prove it.... Right now we have keys for both houses. So on this key chain photo you see below.. there is 3 keys and 2 remotes (1 for the gate and 1 for the garage)for the current townhouse we are in (that doesn't even cover 1/2 the keys that you would need to have if you carried the keys for all the outside doors! The other half is for the new house... there are 3 keys and 3 remotes ( 1 for the gate, 1 for the garage and 1 for the alarm system) Again the number of keys would at least double to have one of each of the outside door keys! It is crazy! Now I have not gotten my permanent vehicle yet (they sent the wrong one.. long story) so Scott and I go back and forth.. but once I get that I will leave some of the remotes in the car but for now it is the easiest way not to forget a key to carry them all!!

Ok - that is all for now.. I will post more as it happens!!

The View .....

These are the views from the Seaview Lion Park.... hence the seaview part!! It is gorgeous! The drive there is amazing the ocean waves and the blue water!!

LIONS

These lions were amazing!! The one sleeping to the right walked right up next to the car and laid down!!

Seaview Lion Park

Well over the weekend we went to a place called Seaview Lion Park. It is about 30 minutes from PE and has a lots of lions!! They breed white lions which are really cool. Some of the large male lions are segrated into smaller fenced areas. And some of the females are in a large fenced area that you drive thru.... they were amazing!!! Right next to the car! There are other animals as well (zebras, giraffes, buck, etc) but the big draw is the lions. They breed and rescue lions. The other big draw is that they hand raise alot of the lion cubs and so they are tame enough for you to pet them (supervised of course!) So we were all looking forward to being up close to the cubs.... but the cubs they have right now are too big to allow Aiden and Evan in with them! So we were told to come back in late November when they will have some new cubs!! :( We were very disappointed!! But now have something to look forward to in November! Here are some photos of the lions...

Mailing Address Information

Well most of you received an email regarding our mailing address but I wanted to post it in case I forgot someone in the email or if someone deletes the email you can get the info here....

It is very important that the C/O line is in the address if you send us anything to the PO Box! That is the only box for all ISP's and there is another Bell in Korea that has received a few pieces of our mail because it was not on there. So here is the address

C/O Port Elizabeth
PO Box 9022
Warren, MI 48090

Thanks Everyone!!

Evan's 3rd Birthday in SA

Week 2

Well another week has gone by and we are doing well! I have mastered driving and my way around. The boys are doing good... and start school on Monday! YEAH!

This week hasn't been as exciting. We have checked out the outdoor play places that have great areas for the kids to play. We have already started a weekly meeting of all the other US GM families at one of the outdoor places that also has food. So we go for Sunday brunch. Right now there are 5 families and Randy who is waiting for his family to arrive in Dec. There is one family that is still on their way (mid Oct) and there is one that is on their way home in Dec.

The weather here is still sunny one day and chilly and windy the next but I am told that Oct is the rainy season and then starting in Nov it will be in the 70's and sunny everyday!

We also checked out our new house... we met the owner and our relocation rep and went through the house and checked out the progress on the pool. Then we looked at appliances.. when a house is unfurnished here it also means no appliances (except for the oven) So we need to get a fridge, dishwasher, washer/dryer and microwave. But our landlady has said she will get us her best price from the store she buys from alot.

Also we checked out Sardinia Bay... It is a Beach area about 20 minutes from us and it is gorgeous! There are huge sand dunes and once over them the beach is small and secluded but gorgeous. We didn't take our camera since it was a spur of the moment thing but will go back soon and take lots of pics. The boys actually played in the ice cold water..with their rolled up pants and eventually both fell down in the water and sand and were covered! But they had a great time.

Yesterday was Evan's birthday!! We made cupcakes and Evan got to pick his dinner and it was pizza! We had pizza and cupcakes.

I guess that is all the excitement for this week... We are going to get the keys to our house later this week and should have our air shipment the beginning of next week now.. This weekend we plan to go to Seaview Lion Park. It is a game reserve close by that has lots of animals and as the name implies lions! They even have an area where you can pet a lion cub!! We will take lots of pics and post them this weekend!

Ok I better run! I will post some photos later!!