Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden Visit...

We visited Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden on Tuesday, 14th December. Mom and Dad and Debs met all of us (Shirl and Montassir, Rhyenn and Jesse, and my family) there and we had a lovely walk through the Gardens. 

We saw Colonel Bird's Bath (built in 1811) - which collects spring water - and the dinosaur sculpture display, and then had a family picnic lunch overlooking the beautiful views. We walked along the Boomslang elevated walkway on our way back down to the vehicles. It was a lovely day!

Driving along the N2 Highway towards Cape Town. We turned off to the left at the base of the mountain...

And headed along the M3 Freeway, which went passed the damaged Mostert's Mill - which was gutted in a fire last April. :(

Leopard statue at the top entrance of Kirstenbosch.

Cape spurfowl (cape francolin) family...

And the Crawford family!

Colonel Bird's Bath.

Exploring the little stream that runs down from the Bath.

Eliza and Jesse explore the dinosaur exhibit.

Dinosaurs amongst the cycads!

Riaan was not feeling well today, but enjoyed seeing the dinosaurs!

Bird of Paradise flower.

Castle Rock from near our picnic site.

We had a lovely picnic on the lawns overlooking Cape Town's southern suburbs.

Eliza tumbling down the slope!

View towards Rondebosch Common and Red Cross Children's Hospital clearly visible. (The tall yellow block-shaped building.)

Silver leaf tree in Kirstenbosch.

Variety of pincushion flower.

Pretty plants.

Another type of pincushion.

Lovely tall flowers.

More tiny pincushions.

An unopened King Protea flower peeks out from behind its leaves.

Pretty purple flowers.

Walking along the Boomslang.

Family photo on the Boomslang.

Eliza with auntie Debs.

Remnants of Jan Van Riebeeck's Hedge, planted in 1660.

View of the concert stage at Kirstenbosch. We've been to many Kirstenbosch Carols here.

Family of Egyptian geese.

Statue of Nelson Mandela.

Black girdled lizard.

Heading out of Kirstenbosch after a lovely walk and picnic. :)

Surprising the Family...

Mom and Dad and my sister Debbie all arrived at Shirl's place at 13h00. The reason (and the excuse to get them there) was that the final F1 race of the season was happening that day and they were going to watch it together. Shirl quickly ushered them through the house to the back garden where we were standing and waiting. They were so surprised, shocked and happy to see us! All COVID protocols went out of the window as they enjoyed holding and hugging the youngest Crawford family members! 

We had a relaxing Sunday afternoon in Shirl's back garden, and we even video-chatted my brother Linds and his girlfriend Nina, who couldn't make it that day due to COVID-19. We also helped decorate the Christmas tree and Mom and Dad and Debs stayed for supper, too. It was a fantastic Christmas present and surprise for my Cape Town family!

Debs, Eliza, Mom and Dad.

Mom with her youngest grandchild, Anya.

Old Flicka, the faithful family dog since 2010.

Eliza putting up her stocking.

Candace and Anya enjoying the cool Cape Town weather.

Sea Point Promenade...

We went for a walk along Sea Point Promenade on our first morning back in South Africa. We'd really missed the crashing waves of the ocean. It was lovely to be back, hearing the seagulls and smelling the fresh sea air in Cape Town, but before too long it was time to head back to Shirley and Montassir's place to surprise our family! :)

Driving into town on the way to Sea Point. It was a rather gloomy day.

Colourful kayaks by the water's edge.

View back towards Green Point.

Shirley and Eliza. :)

Playground fun.

Fun on the swings at the playground.

Looking up at the paragliders.

A paraglider comes down to land.

Riaan chases after a hadeda ibis.

Hadedas are common - and noisy - throughout Cape Town.

Rhino sculpture. If you look at it at the correct angle it forms the rhino image below.

View of the rhino from the viewing point.

Lovely to see ocean-going vessels again!

The red-and-white striped Green Point Lighthouse.

Travels to Cape Town...

Back in August of last year, Candace and I began talking seriously about visiting South Africa for Christmas 2021. My eldest sister wanted us to come and her family would host us. It would be a surprise for the rest of my family. And so we had tickets booked at the end of August and were looking forward to a summer Christmas with our Cape Town family! 

Fast-forward three months and omicron's rise almost brought an end to our plans, but we decided to carry on as usual. We certainly weren't going to let fear get the best of us. The only change we made was switching our flights to avoid Europe completely (due to additional COVID testing requirements) and fly direct from the USA (Newark) to Cape Town with United Airlines.

And so the week of our departure arrived and with it our COVID tests on Tuesday afternoon - within the 72 hour window prior to our departure from Indianapolis on the Friday. Our test results took their time coming back and we made one more change to our itinerary - pushing back our departure from Indy - on the Thursday night.

Finally, the day (Friday 10th December) dawned and our three test results arrived during the course of the morning. My test was the last to arrive and we had made an appointment for a rapid PCR test for me, but thankfully while we were waiting at Washington's Quickcare facility my result arrived and we were good to go! Three negative PCR tests and we were on our way to Indianapolis for our 15h35 flight to Newark and then on to Cape Town!

Despite cutting it a bit fine in Indy and being the last to board that flight, our travels went really well and the 14 hour flight from Newark to Cape Town was fantastic - and the kiddos did amazingly well! We departed the USA at around 21h30 and landed in Cape Town at 18h25 local time. There were tears in my eyes as we came down over False Bay and lined up for Cape Town International Airport's main runway. It was an emotional landing as passengers applauded and we were finally home! 

My sister Shirley and her husband Montassir met us at the airport and we had a relaxing evening, enjoying boerewors rolls and settling in at their lovely house. It was lovely to see them and my nephews again since the last time we saw them was in March 2017. We also reminisced about our rather stressful travels. It was good to be on solid ground in Cape Town!

Excitedly waiting for our departure from Newark. :)

Approaching Cape Town.

They were so ready for land!

Flying over the Cape Peninsula as we begin our final turn for Cape Town International.

Turning over False Bay.

Lined up with the runway.

The False Bay coastline.

On final approach into Cape Town.

View of the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner.

 

First view of Table Mountain and Devil's Peak as we drive to Shirl and Montassir's house.

Our cozy flatlet.

Our home for the next (almost) three weeks. :)

Riaan's Sixth Birthday...

Riaan turned six years old on Tuesday, 7th December. We had another low-key day at home - apart from driving to a CVS Pharmacy for COVID-19 tests late in the afternoon. But more on that reason (and why I have been so quiet over the past month) in the future exciting posts!

I worked again for most of his special day, but we spent lots of family time together and Riaan enjoyed his day - and his annual Hobbits' Breakfast for supper! His birthday cake was a special request from him - a six-layered cake! Candace and our friend Hannah did an amazing job with it!

As usual, here is Riaan's special day in December 2020. :)

Opening presents - his first very own Technic Lego set!

A tractor/combine harvester model.

Riaan's cake was amazing!

Hobbits' Breakfast for supper - yum!