Invictus: Robben Island

We visited Robben Island where Nelson Mandela was held as a political prisoner. This was the first trip that we've taken where Asher wasn't overly thrilled to be dragged around for a couple of hours. Regardless, it was interesting to visit the island and listen to our tour guide, who was also a former prisoner.

Nelson Mandela's Cell:



Asher & me in front of the largest asparagus stalk that I've ever seen:



Asher enjoying the boat ride home:

Random Monkey Video

Wine Country

Ahh - we had the best weekend. We drove through wine country and enjoyed some amazing wine and food. First we visited Delaire Graff winery in Stellenbosch and had lunch. We then worked our way over to their tasting room, enjoyed some wine and cheese, and took in the gorgeous landscape. The weather was perfect.

Then we drove to Mt. Rochelle winery. We enjoyed a bottle of cab and let Asher play in the grass while we played Bocce ball. It was just a really great day. I can't wait to visit more wineries.

Company Gardens & Den Anker

We had a great day yesterday. Asher and I strolled through the city along with our new friends. We walked through an open market area and through Company Gardens. The park's rose garden was beautiful and it was nice to see people lounging on the lawns. For dinner, Stacey and I ate at Den Anker, a Belgian restaurant on the V&A Waterfront. The food was wonderful. I'm loving all the seafood here!

Cape Point, South Africa and More Baboons

We saw many more baboons on our way to Cape Point. I'm loving it!

Here are some pictures of the Cape of Good Hope in Cape Point:

African Penguins

It was a gorgeous day in Cape Town! We traveled to Cape Point (the Cape of Good Hope) and stopped at Boulder Bay in Simon's Town to see the penguins on the way there. The penguins were sooo cute! I loved it. We took this little video and lots & lots of pictures. Enjoy!

More Hermanus & Apes

I fell asleep at 8:30 last night. Oops.

So on Saturday, we drove to Hermanus to have some lunch and see the the whales breaching. We had a fabulous lunch at Bientangs Cave, which is a restaurant built into the side of the mountain in Walker's Bay. We were able to see quite a few whales from our table although they were far out in the ocean and somewhat difficult to see. Unfortunately, the weather was very windy and cool and the boats were not leaving the marina. So, we couldn't get any closer to them. We are planning to take a boat from the V&A Waterfront this Saturday in hopes of getting up close views of the whales. Here are some pics from Hermanus:

On our way home, we stopped at a lookout point and there we a bunch of Baboons! I love apes, so I was beyond excited! Here are some pics:

African Countryside

On Saturday, we drove to Hermanus to do some whale watching. The drive was beautiful! I took a ton of pictures and below are some of my favorites:

RIP Harvey

You were the best! We loved you very very much!

fffllbbbblblblblblppph

Asher has a new favorite food

We have had so many problems with Asher eating. It's just so wonderful to see him chowing down on something, even if it is cheese pizza! Just to update everyone...we did end up taking Asher to a pediatric gastro-intestinal specialist. He said that some babies develop allergies in their esophagus that make them not want to swallow food, but in these instances the babies would still show signs of wanting to eat, chewing, etc. - which Asher does. We decided to wait on having a scope of his esophagus performed until we get back to the States (although its not looking like we'll need to do that any longer.)

In addition, at Asher's one year check-up, he was in the 60th percentile for height and the 35th percentile for weight.

Take Away Pizza

I love to see what kind of pizza people like to eat in other countries. Yesterday, Clint had a slice of Peri Peri Chicken pizza...nothing wrong with that. We had just eaten at Mozambique in Orange County a few months ago, and we both really loved this peri peri spice. I'll have to remember to bring some home with me.

By the way, I'm a ham, mushroom, and tomatoes kind of girl.

Peek-a-boo

Asher's new favorite toy is our bedroom door - he'll open and close and repeat again and again and again. :)

We had a very nice day today. The weather was fantastic and Asher & I took two long walks during the day.

Nighttime View from our Balcony

Just thought that I'd post a couple of pictures that I took from our balcony. It's really gorgeous here in the evenings! I feel like I'm on vacation!

Settling In

Well, one thing that I've learned is that I'm still an idiot when it comes to using adapters, converters and outlets outside of the US. I melted my hairdryer...may it rest in peace. That was a real bummer. I really liked that hairdryer too. Seems like I would have wised up after living in Paris, but I just wish we could all use the same measurements and voltage. It would just really help me out!

We are now officially members of the Two Oceans Aquarium in Cape Town. It's just two buildings down from us, so I think we'll be spending a good amount of time there during the week. They have a great kids area and a really neat Shark exhibit where people can dive & swim with the sharks.

Below are a couple of pictures of the seals and birds in the marina where we're staying:

Table Mountain

Here's a pictures of our apartment building:

...and the view from our balcony:

Today we took a cable car to the top of Table Mountain. It was a perfectly clear day and we were able to get a nice view of Cape Town. The Indian Navy was docked in Cape Town and there were quite a few sailors on Table Mountain...and again, a few of the sailors took their pictures with Asher. Isn't that really odd? Anyway, here a few pictures that we took from the top of mountain. Enjoy!

We're Here

We took this picture on our first leg to London...then our camera died. So, this is the only picture that I have from our 30+ hour commute. Asher was such a trooper. He did great on both red eyes and our day in London. Fortunately, the second flight was on British Airways and their seats lay flat and Asher was able to get some sleep.

I, on the other hand, have not had much quality sleep. Asher slept on me during both flights and then our first night in Cape Town. I'm sure that the entire experience was really overwhelming for him and I'm glad that we're finally in our apartment and allowing Asher time to get acclimated to his new surroundings. He's sleeping in his bedroom for the first time this evening...fingers crossed that he stays there all night.

The people are so wonderful here...very friendly and laid-back. We are really happy with our apartment as well. I'll post some pictures tomorrow. The area reminds me a lot of Key West, but with much cooler temperatures.

We've finally stocked the pantry with groceries from Woolworth's and Pick & Pay and had our first cooked meal (& a bottle of South African wine) this evening. It was really fun to see a lot of the foods that we enjoyed living in Paris in the supermarkets here. Also, just a funny incident while grocery shopping, we encountered a bunch of Japanese tourist who LOVED Asher! They were doing a great job entertaining him and several of them took pictures of Asher. It was very stereotypical, but very nice :)

Should be a really fun couple of months.

At least one of us is enjoying packing

Asher's One Year Photos

Just got Asher's one year photos back...

Minnie Mouse at Kinsley's House

Asher partied with his buddy Kinsley at her Minnie Mouse 1st birthday party.