Aden's First Day of School

The day had finally arrived, the day Aden had been waiting for since we first mentioned the possibility of his attending school one day - the first day of school, on January 18.  As predicted, he was up early, dressed, and had made his bed before he came downstairs.  Mommy helped him start a new devotional book, The Early Reader's Bible that Aunt Linda Louw loaned for him to use as he starts a new journey and learns to read.  With all the excitement of the day, everyone was ready in plenty of time, and of course with enough time for a First Day of School picture.  

We're hoping to remember to ask him every year what he wants to be when he grows up so we can see how his dreams change and grow.  For now, those aspirations change almost every day.  We managed to get him to eat some breakfast in spite of his excitement, and then Mommy and Daddy and Wiley went with him to the first day of school assembly, for parents and students.  (Noah stayed behind with Aunt Jodi.)  Daddy and Mommy helped him get all of his school supplies into the school as Aden picked out a desk in his new classroom. 

All the teachers were introduced, the pastor of the church read Psalm 1, the key passage for the school, and general guidelines were set forth.  There was a lot of attention particularly on the grade one class, who are starting "big school" for the first time.  At the end, someone suggested that all the grade one's should go to the front for a picture.  Aden was sandwiched in the middle of our pew on the second row, and by the time he figured out which way to get out, he was the last kid to go up and sort of froze, realizing everyone was looking at him.  His teacher (also the school principal) asked if he would like to come up with his mother, so Mommy got to go on stage too.  At that point, we weren't sure how Aden would do when we left, but he had no trouble waving us goodbye and joining the other kids in his class. 

When Mommy went to pick him up at the end of the day, Aden was having so much fun he didn't want to leave.  He gave us all the details of his day, and expressed only two disappointments with the first day:  they didn't learn anything new, and he didn't get to ride the bus.  He was quite proud of his uniform, and wore it all day, "so that I won't even have to tell people, they'll just know (that I'm in school now)."

Cape Town - Day 7

Our last day in Cape Town began early and was full of activities.  We still didn't see and do everything, but we did see a lot.  It was a fun-filled, relaxing time and I think we would all go back, given the chance.  Here was our Finale:

Day 7 - Robben Island and the V&A Waterfront

We had to book our tickets for Robben Island online about a month in advance and still could only find availability on the last day we were there and on the first boat going out which was 8am.  We had been instructed to be there at least ten minutes early and Fish Hoek was a good 45 minutes away.  Not knowing what traffic might be like into the city and where would be able to park, we wanted to leave with plenty of time.  So, we were all up at 6am and out the door by 630am.  We were there by 730am with plenty of time to spare.  Not knowing what the island was, the boys just excited about going on a boat ride.  We climbed aboard and found some nice seats on the deck.  Aden wasn't so sure about that and decided he wanted to go inside.  We did, but found the only inside seats were below the deck and with no windows.  This was not going to work once we got out on the ocean waters.  It did give us time to eat the breakfast that we had brought though.  We tried to go back upstairs to the deck, but all seats were now taken.  Daddy and Wiley went up and stood by the rail, knowing we would need the fresh air once the "sea billows" began to roll.  Seeing us standing there and trying to keep our balance, a lady offered up her space.  We sat down right next to the port hole that led to where we had been sitting below deck.  Eventually, Aden and Noah came up to join Daddy and Wiley as they were beginning to not feel so well down below. All boys were now sitting on Daddy or close enough to hold on.  Mommy climbed up the stairs that led to the port hole and enjoyed the ride while standing halfway up the hole.  The waves were quite big at times and the boys were a little scared.  Daddy, who was sitting backwards in order to be able to hold on to all boys, was starting to not feel so well himself.  Knowing that kids will not always announce in time that they feel sick, he kept asking them if they were OK.  They kept assuring him that they felt fine.  It felt like a much longer boat ride than the 30 minutes it took to arrive at Robben Island.

Wiley at one of the bus stops

Once there, we were instructed get onto the tour buses that would take us around the island.  We found our way to our seats and tried to answer all the questions the boys had about the island, the boat, the boat ride back, etc.  While waiting, Daddy was still not feeling too well and continued to ask the boys if they felt OK (assuming that they must feel the same as him).  They always said they felt fine.  Finally, Aden looked back at Daddy and asked, "Daddy, do you feel OK?"  The bus finally began on the tour.  Like most tourist activities we do with the boys, it is usually not the actual place that interests them as much as it is the mode of transportation that we use.  They liked riding the bus around the island, and did manage to hear about and take in some of the sights as well while asking questions about them.  Robben Island has a history dating back to the 17th century when it was first used as a prison.  However, it was also used by the military during World War II and as a hospital for leprosy and the mentally and chronically ill.  It became best known as the prison that held the likes of Nelson Mandela during the years of Apartheid.  Besides

Nelson Mandela's former cell

the prison itself, the thing that stuck out the most to the boys was a big gun that was built there during the war.  The story was that the gun took so long to build that the war was over before the gun was finished and it has still never been fired.  And that is the story you will get from Aden if you ask him what he thought about Robben Island. The bus tour soon ended, and we finished the tour on foot, walking through the prison.  Our guide was a former prisoner on the island himself, and gave interesting insight to the tour that you obviously wouldn't get by yourself.  As part of the tour, we visited the cell that had been occupied by Mandela.  If you have seen the movie, Invictus, the rugby team visited the island and showed many of the places that we visited.
It was then back to the boat and back to Cape Town.  The boys (and Daddy) were not quite as excited about it this time as we had been earlier that morning.  However, we found good seats this time that were along the rail so that we could face forward, feel the wind in our faces, and enjoy the views.  The waves were still a bit scary for Aden, but he managed.  Noah fell asleep.  On the way back, we had some amazing views of Cape Town with Table Mountain towering over it.  We even saw some seals in the water which took everyone's mind off of the waves.  It was a fun outing, but I think the boys were glad to be back on solid ground.

The Waterfront is in the heart of Cape Town's working harbor.  The boys loved seeing all of the big boats and little boats that were coming in and out.  The area is full of shopping, restaurants, live entertainment, and various displays and exhibits.  With great views of both the ocean and Table Mountain, it is a great place to hang out.  After lunch, the boys discovered the large playground area for kids.  We then found our way to the double-decker carousel (or douber-deckle as the boys call it). There was a giant display of a man made out of Coca-Cola crates that we had to investigate.  Nobel Square is a display of statues depicting each of the four Nobel Peace prize winners, so the boys had their pictures taken with them.  Lots of shops to wander through, although when the boys were lying down on the floors of these shops, we knew it was time to move on.  Since it was our last night in Cape Town, we decided to try and find a restaurant that had views of the mountain and the ocean.  Just as we had sat down at a restaurant, Mommy remembered that in these summer months, the cable cars to the top of Table Mountain were half price after 6pm.  Knowing that there was a restaurant up there and no doubt a beautiful view of Cape Town and the sunset, we abandoned our table headed and for the Table again.  Realizing that many other people likely had the same idea, we were trying not to get our hopes up.  As we came close to the cable car station, we noticed many cars lining the street but no so many that it seemed unthinkable that we could make it up.  When they motioned us to keep driving past the station we quickly realized the fate of this great idea.  We first noticed hundreds and hundreds of people waiting to buy a ticket.  We then noticed that all of these people were wearing sweatshirts, jackets, coats or blankets.  If our memories of how cold it was up there in the middle of the day with only short sleeves and shorts on weren't enough to deter us from going, the endless number of cars lining the road on this side of the cable car station were.  We drove for awhile, waiting to find a place to turn around, and when we did we still had not reached the end of the cars.  It was time for a Plan B.
Since Fish Hoek sits on the east side of the peninsula, we never saw the sunsets.  We decided that was what we wanted to see to end our time in Cape Town.  What better place to do that but back to Chapman's Peak drive.  We made our way there, finding a pizza place on the way where we could order something to go.  We made it just in time to park at one of the rest areas and eat our pizza while watching the sunset.  "We" is not entirely accurate.  Noah and Wiley were passed out, and would be out for the night, so it was just Aden that was able to see it with Mommy and Daddy.  He felt pretty special getting to sit in the front seat between them while eating his and his brother's share of pizza.  When Daddy got out of the car to take some sunset pictures, Aden jumped in the driver's seat and said he was on a date with Mommy.  It was a great ending to a great trip.

While the adventures of Cape Town had come to an end, the next day was just as exciting for the boys.  Not only did a last walk down to the beach allow us to see some fishermen just coming back with their nets full of fish and crab, it was also the day that we would get on an airplane.  They couldn't wait.  Farewell, Cape Town!  We hope to see you again.

Cape Town - Day 6

We decided to take a day off from running around Cape Town.  Everyone was tired from going out each day, but also we knew we wanted to have some time on the beach, so we declared this to be our "beach day." 

Day 6 - Fish Hoek Beach

While Mommy and Daddy took turns going out into the "shark-infested" waters to do a little body surfing, the boys spent most of their time in the sand.  We sculpted Table Mountain, the World Cup soccer stadium, tunnels and anything else we could think of.  We buried each other in the sand and played with a beach ball.  Aden spent most of his time digging a trench from our blanketed spot down to the water's edge and then waiting for the tide to come up and travel through it.  They did venture out into the water some, but the sand was the big attraction.  After a picnic lunch and some more playing in the water and sand, we realized we it was late afternoon.  The sunburns that night reminded us that we were there a little longer than we had intended.  Not many stories to tell from this day, so will let the pictures do all of the story-telling. (No shark sightings, although the info board at the Lifeguard House said that there had been one spotted there the day before. Just missed it.)

Cape Town - Day 5

Despite what we said on Day 3 about not being able to plan a trip up Table Mountain due to the unpredictable weather, that is just what we did on Day 5.   We realized that we were running out of days, so we were just going to have to take a risk.

Day 5 - Table Mountain and Signal Hill

A trip to Cape Town is not complete without making it to the top of Table Mountain.  Just voted one of the Seven Wonders of Nature, it is an icon of the city.  The boys were pretty excited to hear that we were going to go to the top.  They had been asking about it ever since we arrived and had pointed it out to them from the plane, and ever since our first attempt on Day 3.  Knowing the crowds would be out on this New Years weekend, we knew we should get an early start.  We set off, again not knowing what the weather on top of the mountain may be like.  There were plenty of cars already lining the road that leads up to the cable car station, but we managed to not have to park too far away.  The boys actually enjoyed it because they got to see all of the cars that are there.  The new vehicle of choice these days is the Land Rover, and spotting one was always the challenge.  Even Noah, at age 2, can spot them correctly and is quick to shout out, "Land Rover!"  There were many to spot too.
We were all excited to find out that the cable car was open this day, and the skies looked relatively clear with only a few signs of threatening clouds.  There are several ways to climb the mountain on hiking trails.  While some of the trails are not extremely difficult, the thought never crossed our minds with three little boys in tow.  We went straight for the cable car route.  These cable cars are very high tech.  They are round in shape, and the floor inside of them rotates slowly as you ascend and descend.  This allows everyone to have a 360 degree view during the ride.  Leave it to the Swiss to come up with something so brilliant.

Once on top, we realized that we were probably a bit under-dressed, despite it being the middle of summer.  Knowing ahead of time that this may be the case, but still not having any warmer clothes to take with us, Daddy had thrown in a couple of extra t-shirts of his.  These were tied around the boys like capes and became a much needed second layer of clothing.  We walked around the paths that cover the top of the mountain, taking in the sights of the city and ocean below as much as possible, but also enjoying the Cape flora that covered the top.  By now, the clouds were starting to roll in and our visibility was deteriorating.  Aden and Wiley were climbing on top of all the big rocks along the path, pretending to be rock climbers.  Noah tried his best to keep up, but mostly just liked jumping and hopping on and over the smaller stones.  This was another great tactic for staying warm.  We did manage to slow down for a family photo that a passer-by had graciously offered to take when he saw us all sitting there on the rocks.

When the clouds never seemed to pass by, we knew that we were now experiencing the great phenomenon of Table Mountain known as the "table cloth."  This is when the clouds ominously settle on top of the Table, despite the rest of the area being completely clear.  It is not something you hope to experience on top of the mountain, but we were trying to make the most of it and turned it into part of the experience.
It was getting colder, and we were still hopeful that the clouds may roll on by.  We found a sheltered area to have our picnic lunch, while trying to fight off the Red-winged Starlings that have obviously grown accustomed to cleaning up after the tourists.  By this time, it was becoming clear that the clouds were there to stay for longer than we could stand the cold.  Before we left though, we had one last look over the edge and were fortunate to spot on a ledge below, some of Table Mountain's original inhabitants - the Dassie. They are the closest living relative of the African elephant, despite their rabbit-like size.  We saw not just one, but a whole family of them. After that, it was straight to the cable car for the much anticipated ride back down.  The lower we went, the clearer it became.  We were leaving the table cloth.  By the time, we got all the way down, it was completely clear.  Looking back up, there seemed to be one cloud resting right on top of the mountain.  Such is the risk with Table Mountain.

Signal Hill is just across from Table Mountain.  It also offers some great views of the ocean below.  What actually drew our attention to the Hill though was the fact that there were para-gliders floating all around the area and the boys' curiosity was officially piqued.  Driving around the the hill to get out to the area that overlooks the ocean, the Land Rover game continued, although by now the fatigue was beginning to set in after a half day on top of Table Mountain already.  We found a place where we could sit and watch the para-gliders taking off and soaring around and down to the ocean. Unfortunately, that is as far as our adventure took us.  Nobody glided, although it did look really fun.  Aden and Wiley both said that they would do it if Daddy was taking them. Glad to know that they still think Daddy can do anything.  Besides the gliders, the views were impressive and worth the short drive.  The city below and Robben Island out in the distance of the ocean were all good for some snaps of the camera.  As we were leaving, we had a great
 view of the table cloth sitting on top of the Table.  As we drove through sunny weather, it was a rude reminder of the views that it had taken from us, but on the other hand it was impressive in its own right.

It was a quiet ride back to Fish Hoek as the tired ones caught an afternoon nap.  The early morning start, and perhaps the week's activities, was beginning to catch up a bit with some.  There was still a couple of days to go though and more of Cape Town to see.  As always, we ended our day with a relaxing afternoon/evening in the guest flat, and then found some ice cream down by the beach. Can there really be more to do?

Cape Town - Day 4

When the boys are asked what they liked best about our time in Cape Town, they eventually name everything that we did.  However, the list always begins with the Day 4 activities.  It was definitely a day that was geared towards the interest of a child, but mommy and daddy had a great time too.

Day 4 - Boulders Beach, The Scratch Patch, and the MetroRail

About ten minutes from where we were staying is the town of Simon's Town.  It is the site of the country's main naval base, so was a sight in it's own right for the boys with all of the big ships and boats.  Just outside of town is the well-known Boulders Beach, which is part of the Table Mountain National Park.  This beach is home to an African Penguin breeding colony, one of only a few mainland colonies like it in the world.  A boardwalk led us out to the beach area, but all along the way there were penguins.   "There's a penguin, mommy!" one boy would shout. "Here is one over here, Daddy!" from the other side of the boardwalk.  The penguins were often lying in the sand, huddled under some shade, or waddling their way down to the beach area along with us.  Down by the water, they were all around and we had fun watching them swim, lying around on the rocks, and of course doing their famous penguin walk that was fun to imitate.  From there, we followed the boardwalk around the beach area and looked for more penguins as we went.  There was a bushy area up from the beach that the boardwalk takes you through and many of the penguins seemed to enjoy lounging around there.  The boys all became master spotters of penguins, finding some in the most unlikely of places.  The greatest find was the penguin who had found refuge under the boardwalk steps with its eggs.  After that, spotting penguins became a sport.  Another walkway leads down to the actual swimming beach among the boulders.  The boys continue to search high and low (although mostly low).  At the beach, you can swim with the penguins.  Although most of them seemed to like their own private beach down the way where we had seen them earlier, we did see a few waddling around the beach among the people.  It is a nice (but small) beach area, and unfortunately for us, it was full of people and we could not find a place to even sit down.  We thought we might try to come back another day, but was never able to fit it in.  It was still fun to experience it.  If you are ever going to be in Cape Town, make sure to put Boulders Beach on your "bucket list."

Our next stop was at The Scratch Patch.  Since more than half of the world's gemstones are found in this part of the world, it was fun to see something that Southern African is known for.  This was a playground for any young child, but the adults seemed to be having a good time too.  The purchase of a plastic cup for R50 ($6) bought our entry into a fenced-in area full of gemstones.  The boys wasted no time taking off their shoes and wading through the stones in their bare feet.  They began searching through the rocks to find their favorites, filling the cup quickly, then dumping it (Noah's favorite part) and finding more rocks to fill it again.  They made "rock angels" and listened to the sound of the stones as they moved through them and dropped them by the handful.  When everyone seemed ready to move on, we had a full cup of favorite rocks to take with us as a souvenir. 

Back in Simon's Town, we found the train station for the Metrorail.  Of all of the countries we have traveled through, a highlight for the boys always includes riding on public transportation.  This one would be like no other as it is one of the more scenic public train routes you will find.  It runs right alongside the ocean.  As a matter of fact, it runs so close in some stretches that when the waves are big and crashing into the rocks, you can feel the ocean spray on the train.  The train took us from Simon's Town up to Kalk Bay and Muizenburg.  It was a short ride, but full of great ocean views.  At Kalk Bay, we picked a spot out on one of the fishing piers and ate the sack lunches Mommy had made.  One of the highlights of the day was watching the seals in the water as we walked along the pier.  Noah thought it was great to see a real "Sammy the Seal." By the time we rode the train back to Simon's Town, picked up our car, and drove back to Fish Hoek, there were three very tired boys (and two tired parents).  An afternoon of relaxing in the flat, with a walk along the beach in the evening seemed to be a good way to end a fun-filled day. 

Cape Town - Day 3

The weather in Cape Town was great, but the clouds over Table Mountain are never predictable.  There are trails and a cable car that can take you to the top of the city's iconic mountain for some beautiful views, but you really can't make a plan of which day you will do it without risking the chance of a cloudy view.  On this third day, the weather seemed perfect so we made our way to the Table.  We noticed many people retreating down the mountain, or just standing around at the cable car area.  While the weather was perfect, the winds were not.  Gale force winds had closed the cable car down until further notice.  Not wanting to wait around to see if the winds would ever die down, we made our way back down the mountain with the rest of the cars and began planning our Plan B.

Day 3 - Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens and Chapman's Peak

You can tell who had the most energy.

The botanical gardens was a great alternative.  They are situated on the eastern slopes of Table Mountain, making it easy for us to adjust our plans.  The gardens are world-renowned, boasting and preseving some amazing Cape flora.  The landscaping was incredible and the opean areas were perfect for three boys who were full of energy.  They loved running through the fields, jumping around the rocks, and exploring through some of the dirt paths that led us through the forest.  Lots of flowers, trees and plants, but also birds and bugs.  It was a slower paced adventure for us, but enjoyable nonetheless.  Mommy had packed a lunch for us, so we found a nice shaded area to have a picnic, while the boys ran around the open areas between bites.  After lunch, we began a search for the Arboretum.  Having walked near or even around it for awhile without knowing it, we finally realized what it was we were looking for - a garden of trees.  We were glad that we did too, because inside the Arboretum we stumbled onto a flock of guinea fowl and their chicks.  It was a fun, relaxing time at the Gardens.

Guinea Fowl chicks

Noah covered a lot of ground with those little legs.

On our way back to Fish Hoek, we saw signs for Chapman's Peak.  We had read about this stretch of road  that runs along the Atlantic seaboard side of the Cape, and heard that it was well worth the tolls...if it is open.  Apparently, it has been closed at times due to the falling rocks.  They have since added the safety nets and other mechanisms to make the road safe again.  It is said to be one of the more spectacular seaside drives in the world.  Seemed like a great alternative route back, so we paid the toll and joined the crowds.  What an amazing stretch of road it was.  Well worth the $4 we had to pay.  Mountains on one side, cliffs down to the ocean on the other.   Canopy and half-tunnel structures for continued views of the ocean.  Fortunately, there were plenty of places to pull over and take photos, or even have a picnic.  Of course, being only one day removed from our baboon incident, the boys were still very reluctant to have anybody getting out of the vehicle, leave doors open or windows down.  We did our best to comply with those wishes.   This was not the last we would see of Chapman's Peak.   It was spontaneously added to our plan again later in the week as you will soon see.