Easter in Clarens

We finally got together with our friends over the weekend to celebrate Easter.  Our school was off for a long weekend, so we spent our time in one of our favorite small towns in South Africa: Clarens. 

We started off the trip decorating Easter eggs with the girls so that we could hide them in the yard the next morning.  Then the girls woke up on "Easter" morning and found their Easter baskets filled with bunny ears, crayons, and coloring books.  Next they ventured out to the yard to the cottage that we rented for an Easter egg hunt.  It was actually the perfect space for a hunt with plenty to good hiding places for toddlers.  All three girls (Taelyn, Kaelia, and their friend, Arianna) did a great job finding the eggs, but it took them a while to locate the last egg.  They searched just about every where until Kaelia looked up and found the it in a tree.  She certainly did not find the most eggs, but she did find the last one. 

After the hunt, we all drove a few miles down the road to go for a hike in the mountains.  It was an out and back hike that took about 45 minutes in total.  The girls were so impressive as they hiked the entire way out to the turn around.  They were on a mission and didn't want our help!  And it was not a super easy hike for little kids.  At some points, the girls were on all fours, trying to climb up a big rock or step.  They loved it, though!  The turn around location was especially a big hit because it was one big pile of red rocks.  During the hike back, however, the girls were not so full of energy.  Taelyn took turns walking by herself and sitting in her dad's arms while Kaelia was completely pooped out once we immediately started the hike back.  She asked me to hold her and kept saying, "I so seepy, so tired, so hungy!"  She snuggled up in my arms with her head on my shoulder for the entire hike back.  It was precious because that doesn't happen very often these days!

Once we finished the hike, we had a picnic lunch before heading back to our cottage.  It was a beautiful fall day with plenty of wildlife surrounding us.  We even had two wild horses right next to us that let us pet them, and we had a visit from a baboon that tried to take our lunch!  Afterward, Taelyn and Kaelia kept reminding us that the baboon was naughty because he took Arianna's juice box.

Later that day, we made Easter cookies, and the girls decorated them with icing and sprinkles when they were ready.  It made for a nice treat after dinner and the perfect ending to a great Easter day.

To complete the weekend, the adults enjoyed some quality time as well.  My friend, Nicole, and I went out for pedicures at the day spa in town, and Justin and Kris went golfing.  We all also visited the local brewery a few times as well as a wonderful German restaurant that we go to every time we are in Clarens.

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¡Aprender Español!

The girls both LOVE our iPhones and often play with the educational apps that we have. Kaelia loves to play with an animals app the most, while Taelyn is addicted to Letter School and is working on writing her letters (she has mastered A, E, and T so far). They both know exactly where different apps are located on each of our phones and can maneuver around the phone very well. Recently, however, we heard her saying some unusual words while playing on the phone. When we asked her what she was doing, she simply replied, "I'm learning Spanish." Justin has a Spanish flashcards app on his phone, and Taelyn found it one day and decided to take it on. After we discovered that she was using this app, Justin asked her why she didn't learn the words in English and she said, "I don't want to do it in English; I want to do it in Spanish!" And there you have it: our three year-old is teaching herself Spanish. ¡Buena suerte, Taelyn!

Our Newest Little Addition

This week has been pretty eventful as we added another member to our family. Meet our new little puppy, Meeka! She is 6 weeks old (born on Leap Day) and is a cross between a Jack Russell Terrier and a Pekingese. So far, she has been very sweet. She loves to snuggle up and fall asleep in our laps while she also enjoys the occasional play time.

Needless to say, the girls are very excited to have little Meeka around. Taelyn noticed that Meeka was shivering when we first took her home because she was scared, and Taelyn said that she missed her mama. So now Taelyn has taken on the role as Meeka's new mama. During the car ride home from picking Meeka up, Taelyn held her the entire time and was the only person that could get Meeka to stop shaking. Then when we got home, we set up a bed for Meeka, and Taelyn tucked her in with a teddy bear and Taelyn's very own beloved blankie. Kaelia, on the other hand, is a great playmate for Meeka. Kaelia likes to run up to her and as soon as Meeka looks back, Kaelia runs away laughing as she screams, "Don't get me!"

The girls were also intricate in coming up with names for Meeka. Since we first started about the possibility of getting a dog, Taelyn wanted to name it Stitch from Lilo and Stitch, and Kaelia wanted the name, Bolt, from the Disney movie. Then when we picked up Meeka, we learned that she is a girl so Bolt was out. We were completely set on Stitch, but on the ride home, Justin asked the girls if they had any other ideas for names before we made a decision. Taelyn was trying to be goofy and said something like "Meekaboondowbi" (we don't actually remember the entire name. We all laughed about the name and said it out loud a few times. Then we shortened the name to Meeka, and Justin and I actually stopped laughing for a minute and decided that we kind of liked the name. So after a day of getting to know our little puppy a little better, we decided that Meeka fit her best.

First Potty!

Not only has Kaelia moved up to a big girl bed in the last week, but she also had her first success on the potty! Taelyn went potty last night, and when she was done, I asked Kaelia if she wanted to go too. We ask her this periodically, and if she ever does show interest, she only sits on the potty for a couple of seconds. She did the same last night, but then I asked her to stay seated while I got her a book to read. I ran to her room to get a book, and I heard a noise that sounded like water. Immediately, Justin, Taelyn, and I all ran to the bathroom and saw her peeing on her little potty! When she was done, she even picked up her potty bowl and dumped it in to the regular toilet. We don't necessarily think she will start official potty training because she's still pretty young, but we are so proud of our big girl.

Weekend in Nottingham Road

We had a long weekend for Easter break, so we decided to spend the time in a small touristy and country town called Nottingham Road in South Africa.  We actually have not celebrated Easter yet, though, because we will do that during our next long weekend when we are with our friends.

During our long weekend in Nottingham Road, we enjoyed the country life while we stayed in a cottage at a horse ranch.  The girls loved seeing the animals everyone day right outside the door.  When we woke up the first morning, Taelyn ran in to our room to tell us that she was sitting in bed and then just heard a "neighhhh" like a horsey.  So we took her outside to see the actual horse that was just across our doorstep.  She and Kaelia both loved it!  Kaelia took more of a liking to the ducks, though.  There were several baby ducklings following their mama around, and both girls tried to follow all of them around.

After some time on the ranch, we headed off to town where the girls got to play on a playground and then tried their own candle dipping.  They each took a candle shaped like a ball and dipped it in to various colors.  Taelyn was hesitant about the hot wax, and Kaelia definitely lost interest after she dropped her candle in during the first dip and the wax splattered all over us.  But both girls were eager to choose the colors to dip their candles in and then loved dipping the candles in to water to cool.  They were also pretty excited to see their candles when they were done and even insisted on sleeping with their candles for the rest of the weekend!

The next day, we took the girls to another horse stable where they got to ride their first ponies.  They both LOVED this experience!  Taelyn was such a champ on her pony.  She didn't need either of us to stand beside her, and she did so well on the pony that the instructor had the pony trot!  When she was done, Taelyn cried quite a bit because she wanted to take the pony with her.  Kaelia, being a bit younger, needed my help to keep her on the pony during the ride, but she had a great time as well.  She liked petting the pony and often said "go horsey!" as she was riding.  Her favorite part was when the pony walked over a rainbow colored stick, and she kept saying, "go horsey colors" because she wanted to go over the stick again.

Other than the stable experience, Justin and I had a nice time as well.  We went to a vineyard for some wine tasting and enjoyed the local brewery - the main reason why the town has a name on the map in South Africa.  One of the nicest features, however, was the fireplace in our cottage.  We made a fire every night as we ate dinner and watched some family movies.

The weekend was perfect!  Stay tuned to hear about our upcoming Easter celebration.

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Kaelia's Big Girl Bed

Exciting news this week: Kaelia just said goodbye to her crib and got a big girl bed! She has been waiting for this day for several weeks and could not wait for it to come. She started gravitating towards Taelyn's bed a while ago and then started crying at nap and bed time, saying that she wanted to sleep in Taelyn's bed.

Once we knew a bed had been ordered, we took Kaelia to the store to pick out her bedding. She had so much fun! In the end, she chose a duvet cover with different animals on it like cats, dogs, and elephants. Unfortunately, we did not have the bed right away to put the bedding on. Kaelia actually fell asleep in the car on the ride home that day, and when I set her down in her crib, she instantly woke up crying out "where's my big girl bed?"

But now the day has arrived. Kaelia loves her new bed and so far has done a fantastic job sleeping in it!

March Break around Kruger National Park

Our school had its spring break this past we, so we packed up the car and traveled to Kruger National Park and the surrounding area. The trip started in Hazyview, South Africa where we spent three nights at a great African bungalow hut. The kids especially loved this place because it had two swimming pools (one just for kids with a small waterfall), a playground, and a trampoline.

While in Hazyview, we took advantage of some amazing drives. One day, we drove from waterfall to waterfall and got out of the car to see each one. Our favorite was the Mac Mac Pools where we got to swim in the waterfall and the pools that formed from it. Justin and I even jumped off a small waterfall and landed in to the pool below. The girls also LOVED this spot because most of the pools were shallow enough for them to splash around and play on the large rocks.

We also visited a reptile park in Hazyview. As soon as we walked in, the girls got a chance to pet a snake. They both loved it! Taelyn didn't even want to wait her turn and ran right up to it as someone else was petting it and said that she wanted to hold the snake. She also wanted to walk around in the snake pen until we told her that it probably wasn't a good idea. Once we came across the crocodiles, however, she did not ask to jump in with them.

After our time in Hazyview, we spent one night in Kruger National Park - one of the most well-known game parks in the country. During the first afternoon, we encountered a family of warthogs and mongoose from the front porch of our chalet. Then when we left to swim in the pool, some baboons got in to our fridge (which is ironically on the front porch of the chalets) and took most of our food. For the rest of the trip, the girls kept reminding us that the monkeys took our apples.

During the game drive, we saw the usual zebras, giraffes, antelope, and elephants. Then our last find was a group of three cheetahs, crossing the road. That is a pretty rare find for us, so we were happy with our drive and headed home from there.

The girls favorite part of the trip was swimming with us every day. They spent each day in a pool in addition to the encounters with nature. We had a wonderful time and are now getting ready for our next small trip over Easter weekend.

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