Freedom Day Voting in Chicago...

I travelled up to Chicago on Saturday, 27th April, to vote as a South African citizen abroad in South Africa's sixth democratic election since the demise of apartheid in 1994. The 27th of April is a special day in South Africa - Freedom Day - and is a public holiday. It commemorates South Africa's first democratic election of 1994, and it filled me with South African pride to be able to vote on this the 25th anniversary of South Africa's democracy.

I left home at 07h00 and drove across to Effingham, Illinois, where I caught the 09h00 Amtrak train up to Chicago Union Station. It was very cold and snowy when I arrived in Chicago at around 13h00. I then walked the fifteen minutes to the South African Consulate General, where I voted in the general election. I was so excited to be able to make my mark as a South African citizen overseas. I felt very patriotic, and it was lovely to see fellow South Africans again!

I walked back to the train station and met up with a good friend from our Mercy Ships days, Sam, for a bite to eat and a catch-up. He now lives in Chicago with his wife and children and we make it a point to visit them whenever we are in the area - as we did back in 2016. I boarded the train again to head back to Effingham at 16h00 and eventually arrived back home at 23h00 that night. It was a long, but fun sixteen-hour day!

The rest of South Africa went to the polls last Wednesday, the 8th of May, to vote in the general election. The African National Congress (ANC) won 57% of the vote with the Democratic Alliance (DA) a distant second with some 20% of the vote.

 My train pulls into the station at Effingham.

 A good read for a good day!

 Water taxi on one of Chicago's rivers.

 A really cold, dreary day.

 Union Station entrance on Adams Street.

 Skyscraper disappearing into the clouds.

 Following the signs inside the Consulate. IEC is Independent Electoral Commission.

 My thumb was marked with indelible ink - a simple way to prevent people voting twice.

 Crossing the Chicago River.

 Moody skies on the train trip back to Effingham.

 Beautiful skies.

Lovely sunset.

Daviess County Visitor's Bureau...

The kiddos and I were recently out exploring and decided to visit the Daviess County Chamber of Commerce and Visitor's Bureau, situated in the old train station in Washington. Washington, Indiana, was once a bustling railway town and even boasted a massive turntable and accompanying roundhouse, depot and repair yard. It employed over 1,000 people back in the day. There is a fantastic miniature model of the old train turntable and the roundhouse in the Visitor's Bureau!

 The old train station is a lovely building.

 Fantastic model of the turntable and roundhouse.

 Amazing details.

Another model on display.

Easter Sunday 2019...

Easter was celebrated on Sunday, 21st April, this year. We went to Harvest Community Fellowship for the Sunday morning service, and then in the late afternoon we drove out to Plainville for a function with Candace's family. We had a lovely meal at the Iron Kettle restaurant and then the children had an Easter egg hunt at the Plainville Park. Riaan and Eliza both enjoyed the Easter egg hunt there. And of course, Easter is a special time celebrating Jesus' resurrection and victory over death. We made sure that that was the most important message over the weekend's activities. :)

 Eliza colouring at Harvest.

 Riaan waiting for Easter supper.

 Easter egg hunt in the early evening sunshine.

 Eliza toddling around collecting eggs.

 Riaan's basket was quite full.

Candace and the kiddos with her grandparents.

Seder Meal 2019...

We celebrated our Passover and Seder Meal with good friends on Good Friday, 19th April. This has become an annual tradition for us here, having first started in 2017, continuing in 2018 and then again this year. It is always interesting to learn about how the Jewish Passover points to the coming of the Messiah - and how the prophecies in the Old Testament were fulfilled by Jesus! It's probably one of our favourite events of the year.

 The Passover plate. The chicken bone is standing in for the lamb shank.

 Riaan had fun colouring a picture of the plate.

My yummy supper. It was a lovely evening! :)

East Side Park fun...

We went to the East Side Park on a warm April day last month. Riaan had a lot of fun playing in the play area. There is a pirate ship jungle gym that he loves exploring and turning the ship's wheel. He also likes to look for buried treasure. He has such a fantastic imagination! We then went and had a lovely walk around Baumert Lake. The flowering pink trees growing along the path were beautiful!

 He was very excited to play in the pirate ship!

 He walked the whole way around the lake!

 The flowering trees were beautiful! :)

McCormick's Creek State Park in the early spring...

We visited McCormick's Creek State Park on Saturday, 13th April. It was a somewhat chilly day, but we still had a lovely time.We did both indoor and outdoor activities and thoroughly enjoyed our day!

We went to the Nature Centre and took part in a Natural Dye Workshop, where you learn about plant pigments and dyes and then create artwork using the natural dye found in plants. it was really interesting. Candace, Riaan and myself all created beautiful artwork.

We then walked down to the waterfall and spent some time down there. Both our kiddos loved dropping stones into the river. We then went to the Canyon Inn for a lovely lunch before visiting the Stables and then heading back home. It was a great day!

 Siblings photo at the Nature Centre.

 Black rat snake.

 American toads.

 We built a bridge.. And then knocked it down again!

 Different plant pigments.

 With some of the completed artwork.

 Hungry squirrel at the Nature Centre.

 Red-bellied woodpecker.

 Eliza was ready to get outdoors and explore!

 And they're off!

 Pretty flowers.

Canyon Inn.

 Walking down to the waterfall and river.

 All boys love throwing rocks into a river!

 Family photo with the waterfall behind us.

 View through the Stables.

Horses grazing out in the field.

City Street Sweeper...

Riaan enjoyed watching a city street sweeper at work on our street recently. It's quite a fancy-looking machine! The Street department have been doing some work on the roads over the past few days - sealing up cracks and repairing some potholes. We're thankful for the work that they do! :)

City street sweeper rounding the corner.