The Battle of New Orleans (Johnny Horton)

Ok, no one is claiming this as a favourite, but the kids and I enjoyed it immensely.  Those of you who came to my parents' 50th anniversary celebration will see where Josh got his ideas for "The First Kiss", the Lego version of my parents' first lip-lock.  It was sweet. 

Home By The Eshes

Our kids have been getting in a lot of discussions about music lately with some of their different friends.  Tim's friend was asking (jokingly) if we were like Mennonites and didn't approve of any instruments. 
Well, in truth, we do like some Mennonite music.  Paul and I have our favourite, and this is it.  I like it so much, I'm telling the kids to play it at my funeral.  I tear up 'most every time I hear it, but I love it. 

Richmond Is a hard road to travel

I'm collecting family favourite songs.  Timothy found this one, and he and Josh introduced it to me.  (The place we are staying has a bathroom situation that needs music to be playing so we turn on the computer and play a tune. It's a rare luxury to have this much internet access. )  Who knew you could learn so much history watching Lego videos?  Well, our boys knew, but I'm still discovering the joys of Lego videos.

It's a stirring song, isn't it?

Cheetah Outreach

 The Cheetah Outreach in Somerset West was a new one for us.  We weren't trying to get them saved, that really is their name.  Calvin and Evangel got the full experience of going in and patting this regal beast.  The fastest mammals in the world are also some of the least aggressive of the big cats, and have never been known to kill an adult human.  I was waiting outside, hoping our kids wouldn't make history by being the first. 

 I could still see them, but only from afar. 

 Calvin flirting with a meerkat.

 One more glimpse of a cutie meerkat, and then we go shopping!

 It's fun to browse the local jewellery shop.

 Three wire bunnies waiting to be bought. 

 Bead art is really popular here.  It must take hours to make these. 

He looked sad to see us go. 

Ostrich, Oryx, and Octopus

My cousin Ivy's son Calvin is here visiting us for a month.  We are enjoying his visit.  

Calvin loves animals, and he gets very enthusiastic about anything we do with animals, so each day, we have been showing him some of the sights of Cape Town. 



Daniel had enough enthusiasm for all of us. 

Rhodes Memorial was another
day.





Yesterday we went to The World of Birds in Hout Bay.  I hadn't been there since our kids were little and I wasn't extremely enthusiastic about it this time because the weather was more "sit by a fire and read" weather, in my mind.  It was cold, rainy, and windy, but Calvin has one month here, and it is going fast, and we're trying to get him to see and do as much as possible, so off we went.

It was certainly well worth getting away from the fire (especially since we rarely, rarely make a fire) and out to see those birds!  We went from one to the other, exclaiming over funny feet, amazing colors, brilliant beaks, extreme ugliness, and owl eyes. 

These two looked like I felt when we started. 

Daniel and I agree the Cockatoos are the best because they are the friendliest.  We had encounters with an owl that put him as my second favourite.

I wouldn't have dared just let him on my arm without my winter coat on. 

 

 

 

 

Daniel and I had a chat about the birds.

 

Me:  Do you know who colored the birds?
D: The manses.  (men)
Me:  Who made the birds?
D:  Jesus. 
Me:  Yes, God made the birds so He's the one who picked the colors.
 
I wanted to wax eloquent on how He must like bright colors and even eye shadow and eye liner because of the way He decorated some of these birds, but a 5 year old can only stand so much chat when there are worlds to conquer and big cousins to keep up with.  I think God's object lessons are way better than my speeches anyway.

Eww!  The owls left a bit of their lunch lying around. 



It's good to have all your ducks in a row.  Calvin and Daniel are
cousin's cousins which suits them just fine. 



This owl made me feel better that I wasn't the only one having a bad hair day. 



We also got to hold monkeys!  He had to know what was in Calvin's pocket.

 


They are trusting little creatures. 




            This lion really wanted to play.  He followed Calvin back and forth several times, until of the workers asked Calvin to quit "aggravating" the lion.  That was sad, because the lion was enjoying it too, though I doubt his idea of play would have been quite what ours would have been. 


See the works of the Lord! 




                PS  As to why I called this Ostrich, Oryx, and Octopus, we've been trying to serve Calvin some foods that are new                to him.  Ostrich is normal for us, we have it nearly every week, and octopus is Calamari which we got a                        seafood shop with French fries, but the Oryx/Gemsbok was a first for all of us.  We decided it tastes like turkey.