Homeward bound and Happy New Year!

Finished packing this morning. Took the girls to the local mall to tire them out by walking around. Warren headed to his gym for the last time -- yes, he joined a gym for the time we were here and went almost every day. After lunch and one last dip in Granny's pool it was time to head to the airport. 

I brought Logan's last few homework assignments on the plane and got stopped in security for her safety scissors. I completely forgot they were in her homework packet (duh), and yes, they were confiscated. Logan was not too happy about that! Ooops, bad mommy!

We flew from Cape Town to Frankfurt (11.5 hours) had an 8 hour layover, but thankfully had a dayroom to sleep and shower in (or play if you're Logan), then a 10 hour flight from Frankfurt to good ole' San Francisco. Door-to-door, 32 hours. The girls were, once again, amazing on the flights and travelled so well, we are very lucky parents!

We arrived home to cool, rainy weather, and a very cold house! Warren made a fire, cranked the heat, and went to pick up Chinese food. Girls had tomato soup and grilled cheese and were really ready for bed. My eyes were rolling back in my head by 8, so I hit the hay, only to be woken at midnight by neighborhood fireworks (really?!) at which point I rolled over and wished Warren a Happy New Year... and then could not get back to sleep, so here I sit, finishing my blogs.

Our wonderful trip of a lifetime has come to an end. Thanks to those of you who followed along on our blog, it was fun to read your comments. We are now home safely and everyone is in bed but me... thank you jet lag. Am hoping that these last few posts will be just what I need to get back to sleep!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Bitter Sweet

Well, started packing a bit yesterday, and almost fully packed this morning. Flights are all confirmed, so is our dayroom in Frankfurt since we will be there for 8 hours. So we are all set. We all gathered for lunch at Olivello, which is where we ate lunch on day 3 of our trip, the day we went to Butterfly World – it all seems so long ago… Mom and Piet were there, so were Neil and Tracy, it was our little farewell lunch. After lunch my Mom and I headed off for a Mommy and me afternoon of shopping in Stellenbosch. It was a wonderful couple of hours of poking around the shops and chatting, uninterrupted. Warren took the girls back to Warwick where they have a beautiful lawn for lounging and looking at the ducks on the pond. After that, they went to a really cool strawberry field where they have these beautiful sheet metal sculptures that are brightly painted to act as scare crows.

For dinner we went to Henri's again and dined with Neil and Tracy, so our last date night. 


Sad to leave, but looking forward to getting home. 

The legend of the Warwick Wedding Cup

Centuries ago, in old Nuernberg, the nobel mistress Kunigunde fell in love with a young and ambitious goldsmith. Although Kunigunde’s wealthy father (a powerful nobleman) did not approve of this pair, it was clear that she only wanted the goldsmith to be her husband as she refused many titled and rich suitors who asked for her hand in marriage.

 Her father became so enraged that he had the young goldsmith thrown into the darkest dungeon. Not even his daughter’s bitter tears would change her father’s mind.



To her father`s dismay, imprisoning the young man did not end his daughter’s love for the goldsmith. Instead, he could only watch as his daughter grew paler and paler as a result of the separation from her true love.



The wealthy nobleman reluctantly made the following proposal: He told his daughter, "If your goldsmith can make a chalice from which two people can drink at the same time without spilling one single drop, I will free him and you shall become his bride". 

Of course he was certain nobody could perform such a task...



Inspired by love and with skillful hands, the young goldsmith created a masterpiece. He sculpted a girl with a smile as beautiful as his own true love’s. Her skirt was hollowed to serve as a cup. Her raised arms held a bucket that swivels so that it could be filled and then swung towards a second drinker.



The challenge was met. The goldsmith and the nobleman’s daughter joined hands in marriage and with the bridal cup set forth a romantic and memorable tradition as charming today as it was originally hundreds of years ago.

 

To this day and to many couples the chalice remains a symbol. 
Love, faithfulness and good luck await the couple who drink from this cup.

Here’s Warren  and I drinking from the cup!

The UN goes wine tasting…

Today was a big day for us and for Granny Pat and Oupa Piet, they watched the girls while Warren and I hopped on a bus with 11 other people to go wine tasting. Aaaaaah. I love my baby girls, but an afternoon out was in need! We called our group the UN because we had 2 from Florida, 2 from CA (guess who!), 2 from Jo’burg, 3 locals, 2 Aussie’s, 1 from the UK, and 1 Scot. It was a great group of people, most of them were old buddies of my brother’s from when he lived here, and their spouses, so a rowdy and fun group. As it turns out, I went to junior school at Rustenberg with one of the gals sisters – small world. We went to Kanonkop, Warwick, Simonsig, and then headed to Spier for a picnic lunch on the lawn. A fantastic and fun day.

While we were out ‘tasting’, the girls were having a blast with their Granny and Oupa. Maddie went swimming with Oupa, Logan hung out with Granny since she was still a bit feverish. After naps, Granny took the girls to the Helderberg Nature Reserve to feed the ducks. They also saw a tortoise and were collecting acorn ‘treasures.’ When my brother was two, she used to take him there to feed the ducks; I was just a baby. They had a great day, and so did Granny and Oupa!

When we got home, we enjoyed a delicious braai, and finally bed -- that was a long day for me!

A world of birds

Today we took my Mom to the Hout Bay World of Birds; I’ve been going there with my Grandfather since I was Logan’s age. Again, the girls had fun oohing and aahing at all the birds and little animals. Logan’s favorite part was when a bird said, “Hello” and “Good-bye” to her! Madelyn's favorite thing was a cuddle with a gorilla sculpture...

After the Birds we met my aunts and uncle and more cousins and kids at the Hout Bay Mariners Wharf for a delicious lunch. I think I had fish ‘n chips for the 10^th time! The wind was howling in Hout Bay, but the kids still wanted to go play on the beach – the same beach we spent many a summer weekend at with my good old Grandpa! They had a blast with their cousins, while we got sand blasted!

After the beach we hit Kirstenbosch Gardens to shop on the way home, and stopped with my cousins Andrew, Justine, and their 3 boys for tea. Unfortunately, Logan was now hot with fever – she has the exact same that that Madelyn had last week; my poor little poppet. So home we went, and the girls went straight to bed. We, on the other hand, went out to a wonderful local restaurant called Henri’s. Another date night with beautiful food, and beautiful wine with my love.

Girls day out and date night!

It’s Boxing Day today, a public holiday here. Mom and I decided to take the girls to the zoo, not expecting it to be over 90 degrees! The zoo is very run down, but the girls don’t notice that stuff, thankfully. We saw a lot of very hot animals.

Went swimming again in the afternoon, and then got a wonderful gift from my Mom, a night out! Mom babysat the girls and Warren and I went out and found a local sushi restaurant and had a delicious dinner.

Santa found us in South Africa!

Logan woke us up very excited that Santa had come. We asked her, “How do you know, did you see presents under the tree?” She said, “No, you told me he’d be coming.” And then she went upstairs to verify that he had, in fact, come!

So we got up to open presents with Granny Pat, for the first time! Logan was so excited and loved opening her presents and was excited about everything. Madelyn had woken up on the wrong side of bed and obviously too early, she was so crabby and threw her first two presents with a big, “NO!” So Maddie was our little Christmas Grinch!

After some opening some gifts, we hosted breakfast with our traditional Christmas breakfast of bagels and smoked salmon with all the fixings. The Mimosa’s were delicious! We were joined by my aunt and uncle and two cousins, their kids, and Neil and Tracy. We then tore into gifts again.

After playing and napping, we went swimming on Christmas Day! Does it get any better than that?!