We have had a busy Christmas season, although it hasn’t felt much like Christmas here.  The 100 degree days, lack of snow and Christmas decorations made it difficult to really get into the Christmas spirit.  We did our best by listening to Christmas music, hanging stockings and putting up a tree.  Most of our Christmas vacation was spent in South Africa.  We were actually talking to a friend from home this week and decided that our holiday season seemed more like a vacation than a holiday season, so it was different.  But I think we all enjoyed ourselves despite missing family and friends.  The sisters were wonderful and took us under their wings to celebrate with us.

On Thursday of last week we slept in and then headed to Komatipoort, South Africa right on the Mozambique border.  We spent the evening driving around and swimming.  We woke up early on Friday morning and headed to Kruger National Park.  It is one of the biggest game reserves in Southern Africa and is the best known.  We saw some incredible animals.  Whole herds of elephants, lions, giraffes, impala, rhinos, hippos.  You name it and we probably saw it.  We saw four of the Big Five within the first few hours.  The only animals we didn’t see that we really wanted to were cheetahs and leopards.  Although at one point we were pulled off with several other vehicles, including a tour guide, where there was supposedly a leopard in the tree.  We never saw it, but like to pretend that we did!  I am not going to include all of our animal shots, but you can check them out on Ben’s Facebook page if you are curious.  Here are just a couple of snapshots. 

First elephant we saw for the day and probably the largest!

Warthog family.  First time I have actually seen a baby warthog.

Nothing like eating on the go!

Drinking giraffe. 

Don’t you just love Mikayla’s hair in this picture!  I swear we brush it every once in awhile.

I wanted to take this giraffe skull home but Ben said it would be illegal.

One of our last sightings of the day was this monstrous rhino.  He kept trying to get away, but we finally captured a few good shots.

After a full day of driving around the park (we covered over 300km) we headed towards Nelspruit, South Africa where we spent the rest of our Christmas.  Nelspruit was incredibly western, with almost any type shop you can imagine.  If you didn’t know better you wouldn’t have thought you were in Africa.  On Christmas Eve we drove around the city and checked out some of the shops and malls.  It was amazing how much like the States it felt.  We were lucky enough to find some really special finds.  There were tons of clothing stores, two good outdoors shops, a couple of great liquor stores with good wine and familiar spirits, and a huge Toys R Us (although we didn’t go in this store for obvious reasons).  We even found a candy store that sold Willy Wonka candy!!  Then at the grocery stores we were able to pick up a few things we don’t really see in Swaziland too often – Funfetti cake mix (no Rainbow chip icing though), tortilla chips, salsa in a jar, taco seasoning, corn syrup (stocked up for rolls next year), tahini paste (for hummus), pretzels and few other odds and ends.  That evening we headed to visit with the sisters for pizza and a few games of Boggle.  We also attended the midnight mass before heading back to the hotel. 

We woke up on Christmas morning not really feeling like Christmas at all, but we still tried to get in the spirit of things.  Mikayla opened her stockings and couple of small packages from us.  It took her a good half hour to open her stocking because she would only pull out one thing at a time.  Then she would ask questions about it or play with it for a second before moving on.  We ended up giving her the big gifts before we left so we wouldn’t have to pack them and worry with customs at the border.  All in all I would say she racked up this year with gifts.  She got a table and chairs, her rocking giraffe swing (check out Facebook for the video), a tea set, blocks, a mop and broom cleaning set, tons of books, a new dress, some Signing time DVDs and a few other odds and ends.  And she still has a couple of other packages on their way that haven’t arrived yet.  She was excited about each of them and jumps from one thing to the next now that we are back home.

Waking up Christmas morning.

Playing around in the hotel.

Stockings and small packages on Christmas morning.

After showering and opening packages we headed back to spend some time with sisters for a Christmas brunch and then back again for a fabulous Christmas braai.  Mikayla and Ben were even able to do a little swimming!  We crashed early Christmas evening and then headed home the next day. 

Cheesy girl enjoying swimming outside in December!

Swimming with daddy!

We spent yesterday relaxing at home (I started reading Harry Potter and can’t put it down), cleaning and organizing.  Sometime today we will be picking up the twins for a months stay at our house.  The kids from the hostel are on holiday right now (summer vacation) and the twins have been back at their homesteads for about three weeks.  This will be a much different stay for them because they are both relatively healthy now and extremely mobile.  Both are walking/running all over the place!  I think this time it will feel more like we have triplets than just three kids. 

We had a pretty uneventful week, but a wonderful weekend.  This week we put up and decorated our Christmas tree.  It was a little weird decorating for Christmas in shorts and a t-shirt, but oh well!  The only thing missing now is a star or something on the top.  I think Mikayla and I will make it this week.   We also introduced Mikayla to the advent season by making a wreath and talking about it.

We also had the staff Christmas party this week.  It was more of a service and then cake and refreshments afterwards, but fun.  Part of the service was each of the staff got up to put a star ornament on the tree.  After putting on their ornament they were supposed to say what they were thankful for from the past year.  Mikayla of course had to put an ornament on the tree.  The thing she said she was thankful for was presents!  Classic two year old moment.

Sr. Diane and Thandiwe (pronounced Tan-dee-way) at the Christmas party

We discovered this week that we probably tell Mikayla she is cute too much.  Our friend Joey was over for dinner and Mikayla was up walking around playing by herself.  All the sudden she looks at Joey and says, "I’m cute, people tell me that all the time"!  Hilarious.

On Saturday we packed up and headed into town for the weekend.  We started the day by doing some quick Christmas shopping and I am excited to say that we are almost completely finished!  Just a couple of small things and we will be done.  That evening we had some very gracious hosts – Peter, Callista and Aviva.  Peter works with the Embassy and does some work with Cabrini and Callista works for the World Bank.  Aviva is their one year old daughter.  On Saturday night we had a wonderful braai, watched the children play and just hung out.  It was great family time. 

On Sunday morning we woke up and headed to Malolotja Nature Reserve.  It was completely different than any scenery we see in St. Phillips.  Mountains, valleys, trees, rocks…absolutely beautiful…even if it was overcast and cold!  Of course we were not prepared for the cold weather and forgot to bring jackets, Ben even forgot pants.  Aviva was nice enough to loan Mikayla a sweatshirt and I used her blanket as mine.  Ben just toughed it out!  Our car took a little bit of a beating, we did a little mudding, but I think everyone enjoyed themselves.   We hope to go back when it is clearer (and we are better prepared) and do some hiking.  They also have a zip line canopy tour we would like to do at some point.

Random flower we saw while walking around

The most exciting thing to happen this week was we finally purchased a vehicle.  It is the Suzuki I mentioned in a previous post.  Ben went into town on Wednesday and brought it home.  The windows still do no operate so we will have to take it back in when the parts arrive.  But for now we at least have our own transportation!  Of course we haven’t driven anywhere yet, but it is there if we need it!

We also made plans to host a mini Thanksgiving dinner next Saturday.  The sisters will be coming and possibly our friend Joey from the Peace Corps.  We haven’t found a turkey or ham yet, but are hoping to find something this week.  If all else fails there is a farm on the way into town that sells live turkeys and Ben said he would slaughter one for us.  So we shall see!  It will be memorable either way.  Mikayla  is enjoying studying about turkeys and Thanksgiving in school (which will be updated next week when we finish our Letter T study).

We were also approached by Sister Barbara this week asking if we would keep the twins again for a bit over the children’s summer break (December and January).  It would be off and on for the seven weeks the kids are not in school and back at their homesteads.  Of course we said yes.  There are also two other opportunities for us to keep high-risk children, but the details are still up in the air.  I guess you could say we are becoming the "foster parents" for Cabrini, which we are totally okay with!  There are a whole lot of orphans and vulnerable children in our area that have some support from extended family, but need special attention for a short period of time.  At Cabrini we call this respite care and it seems to be a good combination of needs, skills, and availability.

Power outages have been ridiculous this week.  On Friday and Saturday we only had power for about four hours combined.  Crazy!  Things could be worse, but it is getting a little annoying.  Especially when humidity levels are 80% and it is 90 degrees outside like it was one night this week.  Needless to say we have had a couple nights in the last week where it was just too hot/humid to sleep!  We actually lost some food in the fridge because the outages were so long and it also means we will have to cook up most of the meat from our freezer today.  I foresee a braii (BBQ in our future).  That is the first time that has happened to us. Not much fun, but like I said things could be worse. 

On Friday night we discovered we had a bat in the house.  Mikayla and I hunkered down in her room while Ben tried to capture and release it.  He never did catch it but since we didn’t see it anymore we decided that it had flown out on its own.  About an hour later the power went out (again) and we decided to make some popcorn and watch a Friends episode or two before calling it a night.  While Ben was making the popcorn I noticed Mikayla’s artwork moving on the wall, which was weird because there was no wind or fans going.  Then all of a sudden out flew the bat again.  And let me just say that this bat was fast!  He was swooping back and forth it was hard to even track him with our eyes.  Eventually Ben was able to knock him down with our comforter (and yes it did get a good washing the next day and we slept with just sheets that night) and then grab him and release him outside.  It made for an exciting and interesting few minutes. 

Creepy bat!

I was commissioned this week to make some biscuits (cookies) for one of the child care staff.  Instead of her paying me I offered her a trade of making Mikayla a dress for a bag of cookies.  So excited to see it when she is finished.  I am sure it won’t be a Dacia original, but it is great to know someone here who can sew!

World’s cutest baker helping mommy make cookies and banana bread!

On Saturday Ben drove 6+ hours (one way) to pick up Bongani from the hospital in Pretoria.  He is one of our health care staff members who was recently diagnosed with cancer.  Since no where in Swaziland offers any kind of cancer treatments he has to travel to Pretoria, South Africa.  When he first went to the hospital about a week ago he was in really rough condition, but Ben said he looked much better yesterday and did great on the ride home.  He will return in a couple weeks for another round of chemotherapy.  We are hopeful that this treatment will help.  So far it looks like he is responding well.

Today we travel to Manzini to Mr. Ceuhlo’s house for his wife’s birthday.  He is a contract worker and friend of the organization.  He is actually the one who got all the food donated and cooked for the Feast of Mother Cabrini and also the man who had all the bananas donated a few weeks ago when I made all the banana bread!  He is a great chef so we are looking forward to some yummy eats.

I forgot to mention this in last week’s post, but Mikayla has truly embraced the African way of life.  If we are out on a home visit and she has to use the restroom we go in the bush.  We have had to do this several times and she doesn’t seem to mind.  The other day I was at the hostel helping out with the after school programming and Mikayla came up to me asking to go to the bathroom.  There was only five minutes left so I told her I would take her in just a minute.  Next thing I know I look over and she is standing in the middle of the play yard, pulling down her pants and popping a squat.  When I rushed over to her to take her to the bathroom (they tend to frown on peeing outside at the hostel) she said, "What mom, I was just peeing in the bush!".  I then had to explain that the hostel was not the bush and thoroughly confuse her I think!  I can laugh about it now, but at the time it was slightly embarrassing. 

On Tuesday and Wednesday Ben had an overnight meeting in Ezulwini.  Mikayla and I thought it would be fun to tag along and do some touristy things while he was in meetings.  The rain slightly changed some of those plans, but we still had a lot of fun.  The hotel room had a bath tub so we took full advantage of it!  On Tuesday Mikayla had three baths (one being a "pool" with daddy) and I had one too.  On Wednesday she had another bath.  Needless to say she was a very clean and very happy girl!  She misses baths in a big bathtub.  On Tuesday it was really too rainy to do anything outside so we walked around one of the shopping centers, grabbed lunch and hung out at the hotel.  On Wednesday it was wet, but not raining.  So after we packed up the room we headed to one of the game parks and bought a Wild Card.  A Wild Card will allow us to get into a lot of game parks for free or discounted prices.  It was about $100 for the whole family and it will last us a year.  I say money well spent.  While in the park Mikayla and I drove around for a bit, almost got stuck in the mud several times and saw lots of animals.  Since it is a smaller park they were mostly in the antelope family.  Afterwards we hit up a little café for lunch and then headed to pick Ben up.  It was a relaxing two days and I think we all had fun.

Mikayla enjoying her bath time!  Shot is blurry, but you get the picture!

We saw lots of beautiful birds, but had our old camera with us so didn’t get any great shots. 

We saw a lot of these guys, but they are so fast it was hard to get a decent shot.

By far the coolest thing we saw at the game park.  When we got back to Ben he asked us what we did and Mikayla promptly responded, "We saw a baby zebra eating from its mommy."  Clearly it made an impression on her too.

Doesn’t he just look relaxed?

Afterwards we went to pick up our car.  Unfortunately, a couple things weren’t fixed on it yet so we are still waiting.  The mechanic had to order some parts so who knows when it will be finished.

In the last few weeks the power outages have been ridiculous!  We have lost power about 20-25% of the time.  Most of the time it hasn’t been a big deal because it is at night.  It just makes things a little stuffy and hotter.  Yesterday the power was off and on for most of the afternoon.  It would be off for 30 minutes and come back on for 2 and then go off again.  I am not sure how much more of these outages our poor fridge/freezer food can handle! 

On Wednesday both of the Sisters returned from the US. Sister Barbara had been gone for six weeks and Sister Diane for two.  It was great to see them both and I think Mikayla was even excited.  They came back and got right to work on Thursday.  While in the states they got to visit with Katie who was a volunteer here when we arrived.  She sent some fun stuff for us back with the sisters (thanks Katie)!  Mikayla was really excited about some new stickers, and of course all the candy is pretty much gone.

Mikayla opening her stickers from Katie!

Sunset over the river on our return trip home Wednesday.

On Saturday morning we took another walk in the bush.  If you didn’t read Ben’s post on it, you should.  It looked much different than it did two months ago when we went.  Mikayla has grown so much since the last bush walk that we were able to go further without her tiring down.  This time we made it all the way to the river and got to see some wonderful views of cattle egrets. 

And for all of you Toddler School followers, I just wanted to let you know that due to interruptions we will continue on with the Letter F next week so I will not be making a post this week.  We only had two days of school, so I will combine those two days with next week for our Letter F week!