Secondly, I apologize for not having a blog last week, but we were down at a holiday house in the Southern Cape and my computer did not have any internet access!
Much has happened in the past 14 days, with lots of exciting adventures freshly stored under our belts, so this week's blog may be a bit longer than usual. Since I last blogged, we enjoyed a fantastic Christmas at Liesel's parents house in Botswana. As in German tradition, we opened the gifts on Christmas eve, and Nathan had a ball! He loved handing out the gifts, as well as making quick work of obliterating the wrapping paper on his gifts! At one point, he put on a shirt that I got as a gift and walked around telling us that he was a shepherd!
On Christmas morning he also sang happy birthday to Jesus for us at the breakfast table! This was a rushed breakfast since we had to be at the church for the 8am Christmas morning Worship Service. After the service, we went back home to Liesel's parents' house and partook in a wonderful Christmas meal!The day after Christmas, we started our journeys to the town of George on the Southern Cape coast of South Africa. Nathan and I were fortunate, in that we were only driving south for 4 hours to Johannesburg, and spent the night with my mom, before flying down to the George Airport. Liesel and her parent's climbed into their SUV and drove 7 hours, slept over at a Bed & Breakfast, and then traveled a further 7 hours to their house in George! God blessed us with many beautiful days in George so we were able to go to the beach at least twice a day. Nathan absolutely loved the beach! In the beginning we would run up to the water's edge and jump in the small waves that bubbled around his ankles. But a few days later, he plucked up enough courage to go with me to deeper water and bigger waves. He actually loved it when the occasional wave would splash up and wet his head! On one of the days, we also rented some canoes and went canoeing down a river. Nathan sat right in front between Liesel's legs and I sat at the back to guide the canoe. That was a wonderful way to burn off some calories, especially since I was given so many many chocolates!!
The rain did set in on our last two days in George, but we had already made plans to travel on the area's renowned steam train, called the Outeniqua Choo-Tjoe. It traveled from Mossel Bay back to George along the Southern Cape coastline for most of the way. Nathan again, was absolutely thrilled on this 2.5 hour train ride! He loved looking out of the window, until he realized that his face is pelted with small particles of soot! Even today, there are some stubborn specks of soot in his hair :P
While we were down in George, my father had arranged a trip there so that he could see me whilst we were south of the equator. We had a delicious breakfast at his hotel, and spent a fun morning with him, as he got to know Nathan a bit better, and I could share some quality time with him.
Finally our time at the coast drew to a close, and we reluctantly headed to the airport for our flight back to Johannesburg. We have one last week left in the country to say farewell to family and friends before heading home to our winter landscapes!
Today, my mom arranged a special "Christmas" lunch for us, as we did not yet get to celebrate Christmas with my side of the family. The 3 cousins (Nathan, Caleb and Micah) were so excited that they had more presents to open today! It was a good day!
These cousins seem to love being together, whether its jumping on a trampoline, chasing each other on their "motorbikes" in the basement, dancing, watching DVD's or just bathing together!
Next week, if all goes according to plan, we should be back on the cold side of the earth, as we fly out as a family on Friday, landing back home on Saturday!
For some more photos of our vacation, check out:
At the beach
Christmas in Botswana
Botswana vacation
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