Jonathan and Laurel's Visit

In late February, our good friends Jonathan and Laurel came to visit us.  They brought a great activity book for Aviva, as well as a Richard Scarry book, and Aviva had a great time playing and reading with them.

Reading with Jonathan on the back porch

Peter, Jonathan, and Laurel went on the zipline at Malolotja National Park. 

Jonathan

Peter

The ziplining posse

Laurel is suspended way above the trees

...and she looks tough in her equipment

Beautiful day at Malolotja

Later that night, while we ate dinner, Aviva entertained herself by watching tv and using the bike pump.  We're not exactly sure what's going on here, but it was funny.

We had such a lovely time with them, and we can't wait to see them and their three girls again.  Jonathan and Laurel, thanks again for visiting us!

Visit from Steve and Anne

In mid-February, we had a very special treat: a visit from Peter's cousins, Steve and Anne Weisholtz.  (Steve and Peter's father, Richard, are first cousins; their mothers were sisteres.)  Unfortunately we didn't take many photos during the weekend, but I did manage to get a few clips of Aviva having a great time playing with the two of them.




We also went on a very nice drive to Malolotja, but didn't take any good photos of the five us.  We so enjoyed hosting them and getting to know them better, and we very much look forward to seeing them again very soon!

Grandma Ellen's Visit - Mkuze, Day 2

On our second day at Ghost Mountain Inn, the weather was calm enough for us to go on the boat cruise  on Lake Jozini.  The hills surrounding the lake are beautiful, but the real highlight of the trip was the large herd of elephants on the shore.

From this photo, you can see that we were able to get pretty close to the elephants.

 There were many elephants of different ages, including a couple very young ones - almost babies.

I like this last photo because it shows one of the young adolescent males walking away by himself.  A few minutes earlier we had heard some trumpeting, which was apparently one of the older elephants chastising him for misbehaving.  Then later we saw him walking away by himself, sulking.  Teenagers!

Even the excitement of the elephants wasn't enough to keep Aviva from taking her midday nap.

 Peter struck his usual pose (reading a New Yorker magazine.)

Here's the boat we took, after we were back on land.

We've been on many safaris, but this one was definitely different from the normal bouncing around in a  truck.  We definitely recommend it.

Grandma Ellen's Visit - Mkuze, Day 1

For the second part of Grandma Ellen's visit, we headed southeast, toward Durban.  We stayed for two nights at the lovely Ghost Mountain Inn, in Mkuze.  The hotel was not far from Lake Jozini, and in the early evening, we went down to the dock to admire the birds and sunset.

Aviva enjoyed playing in the canoe on the dock.

 And riding on her parents' backs!

The next day, we toured a village in the nearby mountains, where Aviva played with the local kids (and their goat.)  Our host, Justice, had some very fun pants (see 2nd picture below.)

Aviva had a pretty serious face as she looked out of the side of the safari truck.

Later that day, we swam in the hotel pool and generally lounged around.  Aviva loved sharing a bowl of fruit and ice cream with Grandma Ellen.

Grandma Ellen's Visit - New Year's Eve

For New Year's Eve, our friends Ben and Beth, and their daughter, Mikayla, came up to visit from Cabrini Ministries, where they live and work.  It's the second New Year's Eve they've spent with us, and it was great fun. Our friend Antz also came over for dinner, and brought some lovely paper lanterns.  

Peter made a delicious roast leg of lamb, and we had salad, fresh bread, and I think a vegetable (broccoli?)   We took and did pretty well on the New York Times Year in Questions quiz.

As I've mentioned before, we had kind of a tough end of 2012, so we are looking forward to 2013.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Grandma Ellen's Visit - White River, Blyde River Canyon

In December, we had a wonderful visit from Grandma Ellen.  We had some great adventures while she was here.  The first weekend, we drove about 3 hours to the Nelspruit /White River area.

On the Friday after Christmas, we first made a stop at Chimp Eden, a sanctuary for chimps rescued from abusive owners, both individuals and "professionals" (i.e., circuses that were treating the chimps badly.  We took a short tour and had a quick lunch before continuing on.  Aviva does a little monkey imitation.

We then drove to a magnificent guest house, Umsisi House, just a few minutes outside of White River. We rented the small two bedroom cottage, which had a beautiful view of the surroundings.


I didn't take many photos of the house and the gardens - I wouldn't have been able to do it justice - but their website has many shots that show you just how gorgeous the place is.

The next day we went to the Elephant Sanctuary in nearby Hazyview.   The visit started with a short lecture about elephants (physiology, differences between African and Asian elephants, etc.) which Ellen and I really appreciated. (Aviva was indifferent.)  Then after a quick tour of the elephant stables, we got to the highlight of the visit: touching the elephants!  The elephant handlers were excellent, and made sure no silly tourists got stomped or chomped.

The elephants are even trained to give each person a "kiss" - a very slimy, wet, smooch right on the chin.  Aviva was a bit alarmed, and for weeks afterwards was saying, "People DON'T like elephants!"

We got to feed the elephants a bit, and then Peter, Aviva, and Ellen went for a quick walk with them.

After an impressively quick lunch at the famous Harry's Pancakes, we headed north for some site seeing.  All along Blyde River Canyon there are tons of vista points where people can get out and admire the views.  Here are Peter, Aviva, and Ellen, at the "Potholes."

The river, over centuries, has cut away the rock.

We stopped at a few more places along the way.  It's a very pretty place and a nice weekend trip from here.

Hanukkah

In December, we moved to a house just a few minutes away from our old house.  We'll miss the old house, but the new house has a flatter yard and a swimming pool, which are both great for Aviva.  We moved during Hanukkah week.  At the beginning of the week we went to a Hanukkah party at our friend Natalie's house, and at the end of the week, we had a party of our own.

Ben, Beth, Mikayla and Joe (another friend who works at Cabrini) came up for the party, and we ate tons of latkes (potato pancakes) and egg rolls.  Ok, true, egg rolls might not be a traditional Hanukkah food, but Hanukkah is all about fried foods, so I figured, why not?

The second clip is of blessings being said over lighting the menorah at our house.  I'm not sure why I couldn't stop giggling - maybe it had something to do with seeing Andrew wearing the bicycle helmet (which he had been wearing all day.)



For a couple weeks in December, Aviva got to open presents all the time!  She got a great magnetic train puzzle from Grandpa Richard and Grandma Susan, a box of fabulous books from Great Aunt Cheryl, and a doll and balancing game from Grandma Ellen.  Thanks to everyone for the wonderful gifts!




On Sunday of that weekend, our friend Cooper came over and made pizzas for us.  We also were "attacked" by these weird flying ants that swarm all over the place and then drop their wings.  We had the windows open in the kitchen, so they were all over the place.  Asher (who was visiting for the weekend with Uri and Jessi) and Aviva took the opportunity to go toddler-crazy for no reason.

Carrot's Going Away and Peter's Birthday

In December, our very good friend "Carrot" left Swaziland.   He also used to go by "Garrett," but we prefer Aviva's version.  Another friend, Joe, organized a going away party, and we took the opportunity to celebrate Peter's birthday.  (Yes, you're onto us - we just latch onto other people's parties and bring baked goods.  It works out well for everyone!)

Since in our house we only have a "1" and  "2" number candles, Peter turned 21 this year!




Bye, Carrot, we'll miss you!

Aviva's Birthday Gifts

Aviva loved opening all of her wonderful birthday cards and gifts from friends and family this year.

Grandma Ellen sent her a fabulous card and beautiful dress (with matching hair clips!)



Mel Ayi sent her some great toys.



Grandpa Richard and Grandma Susan sent her a box of fun books.




Thank you to everyone who made her birthday so special!

Asher's Visit and Aviva's Umpteenth Birthday Celebration - Oct 2012

Yeah, just say it. We're behind again.  We know.  Finally our internet package is upgraded in our new house, and it's not such a pain to upload things...so here goes!

Jessi, Uri, and Asher came to visit in October.  Asher and Aviva had a great time together.



Our very good friend Erin was leaving Swaziland (sniff, sniff) so we took the opportunity of having all of our friends together to also celebrate Aviva's birthday (again.)  Jessi helped me with some marathon cake baking and decorating, so we had two: a monkey cake for Aviva and one that said, "Bon Voyage Erin."

The first clip is the lead up to the actual song...



...and then, again, we sang "Happy Birthday" to Aviva.  This time all of our friends were there, so it's quite an impressive rendition!

We had a little difficult cutting through the very tall monkey cake with a butter knife.  Erin, Lilly, Peter, and Aviva supervised as I massacred the monkey's head.

Erin, we miss you!