Saturday, December 26, 2009

Sofia's stitches

Sal asked Sofia where her stitches were and she said "in that little round circle in my nose where the boogers are"!!!

All the swelling is gone as well as the bruising.

Today we had a pretty busy day. We went to get the refridgerator. The girls swam here for a couple of hours. They took a nap. We went to buy groceries and then this evening went to a restaurant called Spur. It is steakhouse kind of place. They have a huge play area for the kids, a small little movie theater and about 10 video game consoles. They loved it. But they didn't want to eat.

We have a tiny little gecko living here in the cottage with us. He is about 1 1/2 inches long. Sienna caught one as well this morning. And this evening she found some toads and was throwing them in the pool.

Christmas in South Africa

We had a lovely day yesterday with Dr. Norman and Estelle Hudson. He is a board member. I have known him for about 5 years. They are in their late 70's and were by themselves. Their son and family are in Colorado. They have a beautiful little house next door to their son's huge house. They have a huge swimming pool, tennis courts and trampoline. The girls really enjoyed playing outside.

For lunch we had ham, new potatoes, carrots, salad and other light side dishes. Then the girls went to play in the pool. The weather was very nice- not too hot.

The girls woke up about 6:30 and were very excited to see that Santa had come while they were sleeping. We called Sal on Skype and he watched the girls open their presents.They got lots of barbies and princess stuff.

It was a laid back day but nice.

Thursday, December 24, 2009



Santa just dropped off the girls Santa sacks full of goodies. We even have milk and cookies out for him to eat before heading back out through the window. Sofia was a little worried we didn't have a fireplace for him to come down but I assured her he could get through my window. As usual Sienna ate one of his cookies.


Here are the girls getting ready for bed on Christmas Eve. They weren't too enthusiastic about getting their pictures taken. They were more interested in watching Curious George's Christmas.

Here is Sienna's letter to Santa. She included Sofia in it too. At the top she drew a frog and a moose so Santa will know to bring a frog and moose to them. And she wrote her name, "to Santa" in the middle and then Sofia's name at the bottom.

Sienna wrote her letter to Santa tonight. Sofia didn't want to write one and told Sienna to write one for her too

Christmas Eve 2009

Christmas Eve 2009

The girls are starting to adjust to the time change finally. They are actually sleeping until around 7 in the morning now.

Yesterday, we ventured out in a tiny little car called a Ford KA. It doesn't have air conditioner and it was very, very hot so we didn't stay out for long. We went to the post office to mail the cards that Sienna and Sofia wrote for Nonna, Aunt Carla, Mae Mae, and Papa. Then we went to a home furnishing store and the grocery store. The shops are so full right now that it is hard to even walk in them. And Sofia and Sienna want to carry moosey and froggy everywhere and throw them up in the air and try to catch them. They start giggling and get silly. It's hard to get anything done!

They took a short nap and then we went out for a walk in the neighborhood where we are staying. It is really pretty and it had cooled down because of the rain. We walked Biscuit, James's little yorkshire terrier.

Today- Christmas Eve- we left around 10 am to go look for appliances and beds for the house. I bought a refrigerator, washing machine and microwave. The washing machine and refrigerator are miniature compared o what we have in the US.

We had a different driver. A very sweet man named Lunghi. I have known him for several years and he has nevery had a wreck. He was one of the people who was laid off in August from the Heifer cutbacks. I feel really bad for him because he and his wife both are not working. He said they were not going to be able to do anything special for Christmas and his children would not have any presents. I bought his kids bags of chocolate candy and gave him extra money in addition to paying him for driving us for the day. It is so sad. But I will most likely hire him back since that other guy will not be working for us anymore. He was so happy to get a little money.

The girls seem excited about Christmas but it doesn't really seem like Christmas because we aren't dashing around buying presents. And because we are here in SA by ourselves.

Sienna said Santa is brown because we are in Africa.

When we were out today the girls saw ladies carrying bags and other things on their heads. They loved that. They were trying to carry froggy and moosy on their heads.

They also saw some muslim ladies wearing the head to toe burquas with only a small slit for their eyes and they didn't understand why they were covered up.

They are very observant and very respectful of the different things they are seeing. There are people on the side of the roads who sell things. They come up to your car when you are stopped. Sienna enjoys talking to them and making them smile.

Wednesday, December 23, 2009