Home Sweet Home

After driving for a week (we did spend a day in the capital) our family pulled into Luwingu...home sweet home. On our drive back through the southern province of Zambia we were able to see some friends who have just returned to Zambia to start an orphanage. The Tidwells served as 2 year missionaries almost 5 years ago. Darbi and I were pregnant togther and had our babies in Johannesburg days apart. We haven't seen them since just after the births of Anna and Caedmon so we enjoyed having lunch at their house. Of course my camera was burried in the truck but you can go to her blog to check out a picture of the 2 newborns almost 5 years later and to read about their work! Click on our sidebar under their name.
We took a few pictures of our favorite warning signs along our trip, some were pretty obvious...like why would you bother with putting it up others we were thankful for!
So here is a look at some African road signs...


As if the picture wasn't enough...


Yes, that means rocks can fall on your car!


Ok, last vacation story. As we were driving into the neighborhood to find the house we would be staying in while visiting Cape Town, we saw this sign...

Then in the note left by the owner she warned us of the baboons that frequent the neighborhoods. I thought, "yeah, right" when I read it but when I went
to the laundry room just 10 steps from the front door I saw this and about freaked out

So we tended to take heed of the warning signs the rest of the trip! Hope you enjoyed the vacation as much as we did :) Now back to real life!

Meteorite?!?

We borrowed our friend's GPS so we would know how to get home! And also be able to find the campsites and sites of interest in the different cities on our trip home. So in the small town of Grootfontein it showed us this was the place of the largest known meteorite that was discovered in the early 1900s. The kids thought it was neat to sit on a huge rock from space and we did laugh at the sign posted just before you see it...

Etosha National Park

Last night we arrived at one end of a huge game park in northern Namibia. Today we drove through the park and then onto another city to get us closer to our destination--Zambia! We were packing up our dishes from dinner last night and a pack of jackals started coming around the trashcans of the campsites. Josh and I had just laid down in the tent and we heard some banging outside. The jackals had opened our cooler and taken our Tupperware container of lunch meat! So we ate PB&J for lunch today!
We saw so many amazing animals on our drive. We have seen some in Zambia before and even in Botswana but never in this amount. National Geographic must come here for their photographs! There were some great waterholes throughout the park and it is amazing to see these animals in their natural habitat. The zebra became as common to us as squirrels! Let's just say our kids won't be too impressed with the zoo. OK, here are some pics of the animals we saw and I'll name the few less common.

Roadrunner

the waterhole


Wildebeest

Springbok


Hyena

Abby spotted these giraffe bones


Gemsbok (Caleb's new favorite animal)

Isn't this bird beautiful?!
The hunt was on to find the elephants. The park guides had said they had probably moved north and would be difficult to find this time of year. We took the challenge and God amazed us as we spotted at first just 2 taking a mud bath but then on the way out of the park we saw a whole herd with their babies!!! WOW is all we could say as we watched these powerful animals.

Lazy Beach Days

The last few afternoon and evenings we have enjoyed the beach. It has been so nice to see the coast and let the children play in the sand of the Indian Ocean. The sun doesn't set until 8:30pm so we can stay at the beach until after 5 at night! The kids are also enjoying a later bedtime... but that is what vacation is all about, right?! We start the long drive back tomorrow. What a blessing it has been to be on vacation and enjoy this beautiful part of God's world. The Glory of God surely does fill the earth!

Seals

Yesterday we had a lazy day around town since it was overcast. We did some shopping and went to a small toy museum. We ate authentic crepes from a small French restaurant behind a cute antique store. Of course we ate ice cream again and thoroughly enjoyed it!
Today we went to see the seals. Technically we didn't go to the official "seal island" because the rates were way out of our price range. Thankfully, the tour office told us about a much closer and smaller island that had hundreds of seals (as opposed to thousands, can you imagine?!) with the cost considerably less. So we hopped aboard this boat

The boat ride was in and of itself entertaining for our kids. They were also had a mini photoshoot from some Chinese tourists who were also on board and wanted to practice English with the children.



Here are the seals!!! It was so fun to watch as then sunbathed and then slid into the water for a swim and snack.



Being on the boat also gave us another wonderful view of the coast! Everywhere we looked testified to the glory of God, our Great Creator!

Swimming with the...

PENGUINS!! Yes, these little fish-like birds are just hanging out at the beaches here. They are as common to the locals as seagulls are to Floridians! It was so great to watch them and then swim in the same water.

The kids had a great time swimming in the ocean and the spot was perfect for little ones to splash and play in the sand. We have realized how much we miss Florida and the beach! We are planning for a few more afternoons at the beach before we head back to a land-locked country!

Table Mountain

We said goodbye to the Schaefer family this morning as we dropped them off at the airport so they could begin their furlough time throughout South Africa. We have been so thankful for all their help and really enabling us to be able to have such an awesome vacation.
This truly is a beautiful city with breathtaking views and definitely a mark of the fingerprint of God. What a gift from Him this vacation has been to our family.
After saying goodbye to our friends we headed to Table Mountain. I still need to get a picture from far away so you can see what I mean. It is in the running for one of the new 7 natural wonders of the world. It definitely is a wonder to behold. The mountain literally looks like a table! We rode a cable car up to the top where we are able to walk and spend some time at all the lookout points. It was a little scary at first to be that high up!! This is a view on our way up...

You can see Caleb was a bit nervous at first...

Enjoy some of our favorite pictures!







This tip is called Lion's Head...

Off the coast you can see the famous Robben Island where Nelson Mandela was held in prison.

We were so high up that we could look down on the clouds below. The kids said that they wanted to reach out and touch the clouds...so we tried :)


I'll have to post pictures of our afternoon at the beach swimming with the penguins next!!

Cape Point

The weekend was spent on some needed shopping and we attended the home church of our friends who we came down with. In the afternoon, Josh and I were able to go out alone with just Luke while the other kids played with their friends at the beach and searched for fun rocks at the scratch patch. It was great to spend time together!!
Monday morning we headed to Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point...the place where the 2 oceans meet and the southwestern most spot on the continent. It was an overcast day and windy on top of the mountain but definitely worth it! We hiked up to the lighthouse and look out points.
In the picture below from your view the Atlantic Ocean is on the left just behind the mountain and the Indian Ocean is on the right...

At the lookout point their is a direction sign post that tells which direction the major cities of the world are found and how many kilometers.

The coast and the tip was so beautiful to look at from above!


Luke and I all bundled up!


On the drive down the mountain we saw ostriches sitting on their eggs! Can you spot them in the picture?

The Atlantic side has freezing water so Josh took the dare to go and put his foot in it. The rest of the adults watched from the truck but the kids had to follow him down to make sure he did it!

We ate lunch at McDonalds!!! The kids enjoyed their Happy meals and play place!

What a fun day!

Chapman's Peak and Two Oceans Aquarium

One of the most beautiful things about Cape Town is the coastline as you drive from one part of the city to the other. Today on our way to the aquarium we drove along Chapman's Peak. WOW! We were able to pull over for some family photos. It was a bit overcast but we were still amazed at the handiwork of our Creator.




We continued on to one of the most visited tourists' spots... the Waterfront where the aquarium and a ton of other shops and restaurants are located. The aquarium was a lot of fun for the kids to learn all about the unique marine life that is located in these waters where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet. Here are some of their favorite pictures from the day that they wanted to share with you!

Luke was more interested in the guy cleaning the tank and wanting him to wave back!!

Abby and an eel...


This was a touchpool where the kids could feel all different kinds of small animals...

Yes, this is also the home of the Great White Sharks!! Unfortunately, we won't be doing the cage diving as one of our tourists' attractions :)

The kids got to look under the microscope and learn about different types of skins on the animals...

Yes, we are eating out!!

And Anna finally got her ice cream that she has been asking for!!

What a fun day!

Destination Reached!!

Let's just say there was a whole lot of excitement in the truck today! We found the springs we were looking for so we stopped by to see them and swim for a bit before driving on to Cape Town. Again... beautiful! The pools were nice and warm and in a garden setting.


The children are swimming so well now. It usually takes them awhile to get used to it again and by the time they do we are back home where they don't have the opportunity, so it has been nice to swim more often.



We changed, loaded up and drove off to Cape Town! We arrived just at lunch time so we picked up the keys to the house where we are staying and found a McDonalds!! We never eat it in the states but we were all smiles today!

How thankful we are to the Bowmers(isn't that ironic!) for letting us stay in their home while they visit their children and grandchildren. What a blessing. We are in a cute log home on a mountain close to the beach! I am so thankful for a washer and dryer and of course a home after being in a tent for so long :) We can't believe we are actually here! Josh picked up our friends from the station and we are all reunited again!!