Real Life Animals - Part 1

While Peter went to the US, Benvy, Aviva, and I went to the Lion Park in Johannesburg. Those of you that have been following our blog know that Aviva loves lions (or at least, she loves videos of Taiwanese people dressed up as lions who sing and dance.) Meeting the real deal was a little scarier.

The Lion Park is a petting zoo/game park just outside of Johannesburg. Amazingly, the park allows guests to go into an enclosure with lion cubs (supposedly for just a few minutes, but we were in there for a while.)



Thanks to Benvy for this great photo of me (Callista) and Aviva right after I petted one of the cubs and it twitched (as if to say, "DON'T TOUCH ME!")



Later, we headed over to the giraffe feeding station. Aviva wasn't thrilled with the giraffes. In real life they are huge and have really long tongues!


Before we left, Aviva found a friend to help her on the bouncy castle. I think the bouncy castle and washing our hands after touching the lion cubs were Aviva's favorite parts of the day.


Later, we drove around the lion enclosures to see the lions feeding, but Aviva was fast asleep.

Week in Jozi

A few weeks ago, Peter went back to the US for our friend Michael's bachelor party. Aviva and I got to spend a week in Joburg with Jessi, Uri, and Asher.

There was a lot of just messing around in Asher's playroom.




One night we hung out with our friends, Rob and Nida, and Rob's parents were in town. Aviva had so much fun playing with Rob's dad.




Aviva got to go to soccer "class" with Asher. We had a slight wardrobe problem. Once it started to get hot, I took Aviva's sweatshirt off...only to discover that her t-shirt is way too small. Oops. You also can see (or rather, hear) the problem we are having these days. Is she saying, "Abba" ("father" in Hebrew, which is what Asher calls Uri)? Is she saying, "a ball"? Is she saying, "apple"? It remains mysterious.

Weekend in Mozambique

Four weeks ago (yes, we're very behind in posting!) we spent the weekend in Mozambique. On Friday, we drove to Maputo, where we stayed with Jinty and Benoit and their two boys.

At a park very close to their house, the kids played in a playground, and Aviva borrowed one of the boys' bikes. She hadn't quite figured out how to ride it yet.



On Saturday, Aviva borrowed Emil's elephant mask (which also makes cool trumpeting noises!)

Later that day, we drove about an hour outside of Maputo to catch the ferry to Macaneta, an island just off the mainland. Although we waited for the ferry for another hour (or more) the ferry ride itself was quick and easy, and soon we were at Lugar do Mar, where we stayed Saturday night.

Although it was a bit windy, the team set up a canopy to protect us from the sun.

Aviva is very cool, so she wore sunglasses.

Later that afternoon, our friends Iulian and Birgit, and their daughter, Mira, joined us by the pool. Leo, Mira, and Aviva played under a picnic table.

Benoit and Leo practiced their water acrobatic act, which was getting quite good.


Emil gave us a big smile from the pool.


On Sunday we spent more time at the beach, where Leo and Emil continued their collection of tiny dead fish. Then we had to head back to Swaziland.

We had such a great two weekends with the Jackson-Renard family, and we can't wait to see them again!

Charlotte!!!

Hi everyone,

Sorry we're so behind in posting. It's been a very busy few weeks. I don't have time to upload all of our photos and videos right now, but I just wanted to share with you a few pix of our new niece, Charlotte!

She was born to my sister Sarah and my brother-in-law Christian on May 17, on her aunt Sabrina's (Christian's sister's) birthday, and just 44 minutes after her Ama's (my mother)'s birthday. We love her already!

Aviva loves earrings (or an earring)

Aviva loves earrings, so we thought it would be fun to let her wear my clip-on earrings. Several weeks ago, we took this video of Aviva. I guess I was only able to find one earring. She doesn't seem to mind.

Counting and "Aviva!"

Aviva has been learning tons of new words recently. One thing she's been doing a lot is reciting numbers. She doesn't really seem to be counting, but she has a great time saying "1,2,3,4,5!!!!" Sometimes she just collapses in giggles.



Aviva has also been saying, "Aviva!" She also likes to say, "Ah-vah" or "Ah-vah-vah,"but we think it's pretty cute.

Social Butterfly

Aviva has become a real social butterfly recently. A few weekends ago we went hiking with lots of friends, including Erik and Nicole, and their daughter Lily. Aviva and Lily smiled and waved for the camera. The next week, our neighbors, the Mnisis, came over to play. And just Monday, Ismail and Ibrahim came over to play, and Phetsile brought over her baby son Andiswa.



Aviva's social life is busier than ours!