I never got around to posting last week’s happenings because we took a long weekend trip to Nelspruit, South Africa.  I was too busy enjoying some family time, relaxing and seeing some really cool things (more about that in a bit).  The good news is that you will get two weeks worth of Kickert living in one!  Get excited!

After work on Friday we packed up the car and headed to Nelspruit, South Africa.  We visited here at Christmas time and it is a great place to go to get away and enjoy some "western" time.  On Saturday we did some shopping and picked up some goodies.  We of course stocked up on tortilla chips and salsa!  I also found a small craft store inside a store called Mica.  It was beautiful.  It was like going in a miniature Hobby Lobby.  I didn’t get much (besides a few supplies for Mikayla’s Mickey Mouse Birthday Party coming up in a few weeks), but it is nice to know that it is there.  Now I can start thinking crafts again and actually have somewhere to pick up the supplies.

On Sunday we loaded up the car and headed to Blyde River Canyon, which is about an hour away.  We experienced some of the most beautiful scenery we had ever seen.  The pictures don’t do it justice (you can see Ben’s full album here), but if you ever find yourself in South Africa, you should check it out.  We basically drove around and stopped at different viewpoints.  Some of the viewpoints you had to walk to (although not very far) and others were right beside the car.  Amazing!

Obligatory tree pictures!  I am always on the lookout for good trees to snap some pictures in.  I LOVE this picture of Mikayla!  She is such a ham sometimes!

We saw several waterfalls on this trip, but this one was my favorite! 

Skipping rocks with daddy!

And of course, what would a Kickert family trip be without Ben being a little goofy!

Another Adkins Family Tree shot. 

We want to go camping down by this lake.

Another amazing waterfall!

On Monday we laid low and did a bit more shopping.  We had planned to take Mikayla swimming, but it was windy which made it a little too cool for swimming.  She did go "swimming" in the bathtub that evening though!  On Tuesday Ben got up and did a little repair work on the vehicle, then we packed the car and headed back to Kruger National Park.  At first we didn’t see much of anything besides impala and a couple of elephants way off in the distance.  We were getting a little discouraged and then out of the corner of my eyes I saw these guys.

That’s right folks, we have two cheetahs.  Beautiful creatures and we were so close to them.  When we saw them, we immediately turned around and "stalked" them for a bit.  There were times when we were less than ten feet from them.  One of the best animal sightings we have seen to date.  Here are some more shots of the cheetahs (forgive us we took a lot) and some other animals we spotted.  (More pictures can be found here).

Some more impala, these guys are seriously everywhere in the park!

We saw lots of these guys flying around too.

These are the first hippos we have seen out of water.  Of course it was from a distance, so it is hard to tell what they are.

I think this guys lashes were beautiful.  We watched him eating for a bit and Mikayla kept calling him Horton!

The weather is starting to cool off a little at night time so we decided that we should build a fire pit in the back yard this week.  The other night we got out our new camp chairs (even Mikayla has one) and sat around the new fire pit enjoying some chili.  Felt a little like a fall evening!

Doesn’t Mikayla look so grown up in her "Junior" Camp chair?  Please ignore Ben’s combination of shorts, dress socks and hiking boots.

This stubborn goat ended up on our porch one afternoon and we couldn’t get rid of him.  He fell on the porch at one time and because of the wax couldn’t get up and was stuck on his side for several minutes.  He was scared of the dogs, so he just froze.  Ben tried to chase him off with a broom, but we eventually had to pull him by the horns.  Unfortunately, I think the dogs got the better of him because we found him dead outside the fence in the morning.

I also managed to do a little baking and cooking in the last few weeks.  I made some pretty tasty chocolate chip cookie bars one day.  I really wanted cookies, but didn’t want to invest the time in making them, so I made bars instead.  The next best thing!  While in Nelspruit I found some recipes I want to try in the next few weeks.

This is the Piña Colada Cake I mentioned making for Easter dinner.  It was good, but not my favorite dessert.  If I make it again I will make a lot of changes and alterations to enhance the flavor.

For part of my birthday Rita made me this fabulous bowl.  She mentioned she uses one similar to it for making bread, so I gave it a go.  Look how pretty it is!  I would love to try it as a Deep Dish Chicken Pot Pie.