So, here was this morning's story about Froggy and his adventures. The story usually starts as soon as we head away from the house until we get to their school. It was prompted because I told them that tomorrow I have to go to Johannesburg. And they remember that they have been to the Johannesburg airport. Sofia usually adds bits and pieces to the story that Sienna tells. It is cute.

And interestingly enough, when I got to school, their teacher, Yanci, came over and said "Your girls really have good imaginations. They are constantly telling stories about froggy and moosy. With most kids you have to pull things out of them, but not with yours- they are very creative".

May 18th, 2010

Froggy has been on a lot of planes. He took 45 planes and went through 5 airports. And he's been to Johannesburg. On one plane he didn’t wait until the plane stopped and he just flopped out the window. He had a parachute on and it landed him on the ground. Froggy has two houses but he lives in China. His daddy was sad because Froggy went to the house in China.

Froggy went to Pongo’s (note: Pongo is the dog from 101 dalmations) house for a party. The party was for Pongo’s friend, Bobo. Bobo was sick and he had a funeral. Froggy and Moosy went together to the party because they are best friends. Sienna and Sofia also went to the party.

Pongo made bone soup for the party. It had bones and corn and cake mix in the soup. And there was grape juice and green juice to drink.

They all went snake hunting at the party. A snake jumped up and bit Froggy’s eye. I had to take his eye out and fix it because I am a frog scientist and I wear a white coat with buttons and a frog on it. They threw the snake and its skin in the rubbish bin.

Froggy's Adventures

Froggy is a very busy boy. Sienna shares with me and Sofia daily some of his adventures. Given his world travels and all that he tends to get in to, I thought it would be entertaining to capture some of the adventures Sienna shares with us on a daily basis.

May 17, 2010

"Froggy was born a long time ago. He is 45. He was born in China as a king. Froggy had a shiny crown and a long king coat. His king coat was red. And he had king shoes and a crown. Froggy kept jelly beans in his pocket."

Huge pointesettias and weaver birds

Here are a couple more pics from our back yard nature walk. Pointesettias are indigenous to Africa and you will see them growing as trees. They are blooming right now and I have quite a few around the yard. In one of the pictures below, you will see them peaking over my banana trees and lemon tree! The other picture is of a yellow weaver birds. We have a flock of them that stay here. They build their nests hanging from trees.

Morning nature walk in back yard

This morning after a night of rain, the girls and I went along in the back yard on a nature walk, enjoying the beautiful flowers, butterflies, spiders, birds and other interesting things. It is nice to go slowly around and look at all nature has to offer right in our yard. We do that often here, just sit and listen to the birds or watch ants busily working on the huge ant hills in our back yard. Life is much slower here, things take more time and you will find visitors who come very impatient at the pace of life.

In these pictures, you will see a very interesting spider who has made a big web. I don't know what kind it is but we decided to keep our distance and let it be. And you will see a variety of flowers that have come up recently in the yard- especially the orange ones. It is as if they came up overnight. Another interesting picture is of the HUGE fernlike frond. It is a new branch of this fern tree we have. We like to watch them unfold. You can't really tell by the picture, but this thing is about the size of a soccer ball.

In Zimbabwe

I had to come to Zimbabwe for two days for some meetings. Zimbabwe borders South Africa to the north. I will post some interesting facts on this extremely poor country once I get back in South Africa and have a little more time. I head back to South Africa this afternoon.
Zimbabwe has been a lot in the news with their elections in 2008 and with the hyperinflation situation.
In 2008, at the height of the inflationary crisis, inflation was noted at over 231 million%!!!! This is unimaginable. The reserve banks had to resort to printing 100 billion zimbabwean dollar notes. And they weren't worth anything. People would need bags of them to buy essentials. Nowadays, the country is operating on US dollars. One can't even fathom inflation at 231 million%. In the US, we complain when inflation and the price of goods raise 2-3%.

Tammy picked the girls up from school yesterday and stayed the night with them. Then she will pick them up today and I will be home before they go to bed. I can't wait to see them.

Sofia was really posing today for pictures. Sienna not so much.













Here are the paintings they did for me for Mother's Day. I hung them on the wall in the bedroom.



Happy Mother's Day!
When I pulled out their dresses to put on so we could take these pictures, Sofia looked at the dress and said "I am NOT putting that BIG dress on"! It was so cute. And I said, "Oh yes you will!"

Happy Mother's Day!

Here are some pictures we took today for you for Mother's Day! Happy Mother's Day!

We had a good Mother's Day. For breakfast, we had homeade pancakes. Afterwards, we went for a swim in the pool. The girls wanted to see Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang so we went to the movies. Afterwards, the girls painted me a canvas to hang on my wall in the bedroom. They did it in colors of the duvet and shams on the bed- yellow background, blue and red flowers. Very pretty.