South Africa

On the day before Thanksgiving we drove from Utah to Cassopolis, Michigan where Rob's grandfather and wife live. We arrived about 20 hours later, exhausted. Rob did all the driving and I looked after the kids. When we got to the house we just relaxed and then hit the sack pretty early. Then early on the Saturday morning we left and drove to Baltimore and arrived at Greg and Kristin's house after about 12 hours. It was so good to see them again. By the time we arrived though Thomas has croup. I was really worried about him, but luckily with Greg being a doctor we had a professional keeping an eye on him. Over the next few days we visited with them as well as Rob's family. Sometime while we were in Baltimore, Thomas developed conjunctivitis. Then Luke got sick with a cold and conjunctivitis and Rob and I got the adult version on croup. Anyway, we flew to South Africa and the boys cried for about 13 of the 16 hours. Fortunately we had one extra seat beside us and so either Luke or Thomas would lie down for part of the way while the other cried. I think that they were tired and struggled to sleep while not lying down and their sicknesses probably made them feel worse. So after that hellish flight we eventually landed in Johannesburg.

The next day was Sunday and because we were all sick we just went to Sacrament Meeting. It was so strange being back but cool to see people I hadn't seen in a long time. Over the next few days we mostly just relaxed by the pool and took care of some errands, such as closing my bank account, and so on. It was really nice and relaxing. I loved seeing my mom and grandparents again. I loved the heat! Sometime while we were there I got conjunctivitis too and I had developed a bad chest infection, so I went to the doctor and got onto a couple antibiotics. Rob, Gramps, and I did go to the Rhino and Lion park and that was fun too.

Springboks

About to be bitten by the little critter!

Some friendly Zebras

I love the African grasslands

On the Thursday we headed down to Cape Town and Andrew and my dad picked us up from the airport. Some of the things we did: went to Llandudno beach a few times, went to Camps Bay beach, sat on Hout Bay beach eating Thai food, went to Moyo and ate in a tree house, saw a few friends (sadly not all of them due to lack of time), swam in my dad's pool, spent a few days in the Cederberg, Rob hiked up Table mountain, walked around Groot Constantia, ate at the Waterfront, and went to Chris' graduation. There are tons of other things I wish we could have done/seen, but it is hard travelling with 7 month old babies who don't sleep just anywhere and get so grumpy without their naps.

Luke at Llandudno Beach

Thomas as Llandudno Beach

Thomas and Luke

At the Waterfront with Table Mountain in the background

Thomas copying my father

What to do when you don't have your stroller at the grocery store

At Groot Constantia

Chris and Luke

Andrew

After two weeks we headed back to Johannesburg and spent Christmas there. Christmas eve we had a wonderful dinner at Martin and Cicely's place and then on Christmas mom made a delicious Christmas lunch. In the afternoon we headed back home. I hate saying goodbye! The plane ride home was awesome though because it was almost empty and we had 4 seats each - so we slept most of the way home.

We then had a big Christmas meal at Rob's mom's place and all of his family came round. That was nice. After spending the next day with Greg and Kristin and the day after that with some of Rob's family, we headed home. Rob again drove all the way. We were so grateful to be home. Travelling is fun, but it is also nice to be in your own home again afterwards.