Ben had a three day meeting in town this week. We were sad for him to leave since I was gone so much last week. But then on his first night he called and said he ended up with a suite and that we should find a ride into town to come stay with him (our car is in the shop). So on Thursday we got up early and hitched a ride with one of the Cabrini vehicles heading that way to enjoy some time with Ben (although he was in meetings for most of the time). We got to enjoy some AC, excellent Internet and some rain! I am starting to get spoiled with all the getaways!
Speaking of getaways, we finalized our holiday plans this week. We will spend some time in Kruger (one of the largest game reserves) and Nelspruit – both in South Africa. We will also be spending some time with the sisters. We will surely miss our families and friends a lot this week, but are hoping to have some decent Internet so we can make some video calls. We will keep you posted on that. When we get back we will pick up the twins we kept earlier in the year. They will have a months stay at the Kickert’s abode during the "summer" break!
We have been thinking for awhile that we wanted to get Mikayla a pool to play it. It is just so hot! Well, we finally purchased one this week and I think she is in love. Originally we planned on getting one of those wide shallow pools, but I think this is going to be even better because she can submerge herself and we can use it as big bath tub if we need to. It will actually come in really handy when we are keeping the twins. We have also been having some problems with our shower so it will be nice to bathe ourselves as well. It is amazing how small things can make such a big difference here.
Just hanging out in her new pool/tub!
On Saturday I did some baking for the sisters. They wanted to give some homemade goodies to the priests and sister here. They had given me a couple of box mixes they picked up in SA last week, but I had some butternut squash that needed to be used. So I decided to throw some "pumpkin" (aka butternut squash) muffins into the mix. When I had some leftover puree I decided it was a great chance to try out some Pumpkin Monkey Bread I have had on my radar for a bit. I am so glad I did because it was delicious. Maybe even better than traditional monkey bread. I found the recipe here. I didn’t take any pictures because our pan was actually too small and it fell out as it rose so high during the baking process, but trust me it was amazing! Try it, definitely worth the wait time. If you do try, be sure to read the recipe all the way through before starting because it requires two rise times.
For all you Clark folks – we will be thinking of you this week as we make the annual cinnamon rolls! It’s just too bad we will have to eat them all ourselves!
Tags: Africa, swimming, weeks happenings
will miss you all this christmas, plan on taking the computer with us with the broadband so =should be able to get in touch there or on the phone, love you all.