One year anniversary

A year ago today, the girls and I arrived in South Africa. It is hard to believe a year has gone by. And what a year it has been! Upon arrival, we were involved in a car accident in a game reserve. We were hospitalized and Sofia had to have the side of her nose sewn back on. Then in late January, Gary passed away and we had to rush back to the US. March, April and May were rather quiet. Then in June, the house was broken into and many of our things stolen. July, my father in law, Gino came to visit. August, Sal came and we celebrated the girls' 5th birthday. Late September through late October, we travelled back to the States again. And then for the last two months we have been back. It has been a roller coaster of a year. Let's hope this next year is one of peace and quiet and no major mishaps.

Yesterday was the last day of work until the 3rd of January. Yesterday, I also signed the lease for our new house. I am very excited about our new place. It is in a very secure complex. I have since cancelled the lease at the Plantations and now we will be in Manorfields Estate. It is so very central in Hillcrest. At first, I was a bit worried because I would still have to drive daily back out to Forest Hills to bring the girls to school. But then, just last Wednesday, Hillcrest Primary called and said they had space for the girls. Hillcrest Primary is literally one minute from the new house. It is one the same street just a few hundred yards down! It is ideal! And many of the girls' friends from their preschool are going to Hillcrest Primary. Today, we went to get their little uniforms! They have to wear dark green and burgandy tartan plaid! They were so excited. Their school bags are about half their size- so big! They start Grade R (kindergarten) on January 18th!

Tomorrow, I head for Uganda for 5 days. The girls will stay with our good friends, Jonita and Steven. Their daughter, Izabella, is one of the girls' best friends. We go over to their house a lot. Originally, I was going to try and take them with me but the tickets were too high. I have to go to Uganda for meetings.

When we get back, we leave for Cape Town 2 days later. We will be in Cape Town for 5 days. Then we get back from Cape Town and we move on the 29th and 30th. Then on the 31st we are going to a beach house with Jonita and Steven and Izabella to spend a few days there. It is going to be so busy these next few weeks.

The monkeys are constantly at our house now. Today, the girls and I watched them for over an hour. They are so interesting to watch. Such smart animals. They come and sit at our windows and peak in. Of course, I can't resist but to feed them. I guess that is why the hang out here! Plus there are no dogs to run them away like at our neighbor's houses. The girls absolutely love to watch them. And I think the monkeys like to watch the girls. Today, there were quite a few adolescents and two very tiny babies. One baby was too small to leave it's mother. But the other was just a little bigger, but still so small. Every time I would try to take a picture, one of the adolescents would pull the baby to them and try to protect it. It was so cute. And the baby would squeal because it didn't understand that there may be danger. I would crack the door and throw food out for them. They would run over, smell the food, take a small bite and either eat it or throw it if they did not like it. I had some stale gorp (like chex mix coated with white chocolate). They couldn't figure out why the pretzels and cheerios had this coating on it. They kept trying to rub it off. They scraped it on the ground. It was soooo funny. I think they thought it was dirty and so they tried their best to clean it. It is really educational to watch them at such from such a close proximity. Then, they got into my trash and made a mess. I wasn't too happy about that....

Christmas is next week. It is hard to believe. It doesn't feel too much like Christmas here- maybe because it is hot and because it is not so commercialistic here. It is nice. Yesterday, I took the girls to see Father Christmas (Santa). Sienna warmed up to him. Sofia would have nothing to do with him! She just kept looking at him out of the corner of her eye. She said later it was because she knew he wasn't really Santa.