Recapping the Year...

Well, my friends it has been quite a year. If at the beginning of 2012 you had told me where we would be at the end of 2012 I would never have believed it. I would have thought that we would still be in Korea, getting things wrapped up to come home to the States this summer. But now we're living in Africa of all places and in coming and going we have had many bonus adventures. In fact in 2012 Team Stolasz has touched down on every continent except for South America and Antarctica! (I'm writing this from Amsterdam...) That's gotta be a record we will never break, but I always say, never say never.
To re-cap the year I thought we would do a scale of 1-10 list for 2012, with 1's being terrible and 10 being awesomeness. Here we go:
1.) Cancer, school shootings, African crime statistics, public restrooms in China, fiscal cliffs
2.) Camels, broken puppy legs, visa delays, Korean cab drivers, jet-lag, Australian insects/reptiles, cats that spend the entire day outside and then come in to use the litter box, floods, trying to run in the PE wind, flying through Joberg
3.) Korean emails/greeting cards, IT band injuries, imploding stills, saying 'goodbye' to the HFC, the reliability of the South African power grid, trying to run on sand, air sickness, the Mayan Calendar
4.) Monkeys, weather in PE, driving on the wrong side of the road, global time differences, moving, running at the gym, washers/dryers in any country OTHER than the USA, South African power outlets (C'mon people!)
5.) Braai'ing, having domestics, school uniforms, iPads, Home Plus, African keys (???)
6.) Leaving Korea, having a yard again, Lunar New Year ski trips, lemon trees, Roxy (who should be higher but will STAY at #6 until she stops pooping in the garage), having a good book to read on the beach
7.) Surfing, biltong, judo, Maximus's hunting abilities, race expos, tree swings, anything with Goofy on it, Australian Accents, the smell of Tibetan yak butter
8.) Saying "Gamsamnida" for the last time, Ninjago (Teddy's pick), Elephants, South African restaurants, Brazilian fiddle music, Kangaroos, 'The Walking Dead', empty peanut butter jars (Roxy's pick), kids that assemble their own Lego sets
9.) $250 WDW premium annual pass discounts (!!), Blue Ridge Distilling shipping product, trips with extended family, Disney cupcakes, race medals, Christmas boxes full of candy canes, the LLL family, reconnecting with my big sis, my Dad still being with us
10.) Knowing that we have friends and family all over the world. Sooo good to see you if our paths crossed this year, and if they didn't know you are missed! We hope you have a wonderful 2013 filled with God's blessings!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Christmas in South Africa

Christmas was fasting approaching but it didn't seem like Christmas. To me Christmas activities involve snow and crisp air and chestnuts roasting over open fires not swimsuits, fresh veggies from the garden and beach time. We had to do something to make it seem more Christmassy. Like fill the house with the smells of Gingerbread!

We made the cookies one day and decorated them the next. These 2 did a great job! Of course then our Christmas treats had to go right into the fridge or the frosting would melt and get soggy. They got soggy after a few days anyway so we just ate them fast! Traditional North American Christmas goodies are NOT cut out for summer!

Roxy had no idea what was up but she knew something special was at hand and seemed to pick up the excitement from the kids.

Always wagging, always leaping into someone's lap or chasing a cat!

I told the kids that Santa only handles kid Christmas stuff, not adults or pets so if you want your pet to have a stocking you have to do it yourself. I let them help me stuff Roxy's stocking and they were so excited to get to play santa for their pooch!

Then we tucked the two of them off to bed. They were out cold in about 5 minutes. No fair! I used to lie awake for HOURS wondering how I would ever fall asleep on Christmas even when I was their age! We had a Christmas morning scavenger hunt to set up. Santa's present was left outside so he left the kids a scroll on the couch and a series of clues that they had to find...

clue in the wreath:

Clue in the fruit:

On Christmas morning they were up at 5:45, sooo excited and tore into their stockings with glee but didn't notice the scroll from Santa! (see it behind Sasha on the couch?)

Sasha helped Roxy open her stocking and showed her each item. Roxy was also very excited...

...And loved all of it! But the kids still hadn't spotted the scroll!

Finally they spotted the it and they were off on the hunt!

Reading the second clue. They had such fun with it and their reaction was priceless!! VIDEO HERE.

Two happy kids!

Roxy meanwhile was totally Wiggin' out on Christmas. Grabbing people's presents and jumping up to sit on the couch. What a bad dog. Love Jeff's hand in this picture and the look on her face. She seems to be like "Oh but the cats are allowed up here?!?!"

I made our traditional breakfast casserole and Mom, I even made a gluten free end this year. You would have loved it!

Kids had such a nice morning. Sasha loves to open each gift and play for a while so we usually finish opening presents around 1pm!

The boys got right to work putting some Lego Ninjago together....

And I got my very own wetsuit for surfing! When the kids go back to school I'll be ready to hit those waves again!

Jeff's family tradition is seafood for Christmas so we did a mash-up and did a South African Seafood Potjie. It was delish!

And then finally the kids opened their last present. Jeff and I just wanted to relax at that point so Teddy sat at the table and spent 4 hours putting this together all by himself. It's ages 8-14! Future Engineer....

It was a wonderful Christmas, but it was only the beginning of what we have to look forward to. The one thing missing was friends and family and tomorrow we get on a plane and head to Rhode Island and then WDW! Can't wait for 2 weeks back in the good ol' US of A!!

Around here...

 Wanted to throw out a general update on all things SA. My garden is exploding now that we've hit warmer weather and I can't keep up with the yellow squash and the beans. The tomatoes are covered in green fruit but true to form I am leaving for 2 weeks just as they turn red. Bah!

 We've been enjoying the yard and the pool and had a nice lazy summer week between Dubai and Christmas.

 And we have reached "Braii level 2"... mastering the Potjie (say "Poy-Kee"). This is when you cook over wood coals in a cast iron little witch's pot. It takes several hours from lighting the fire to eating, but it's a fun way to cook dinner if you're all hanging outside anyway!

Getting hot!

We got the Christmas cards all mailed out a bit late this year. It was a big job so I had to exploit the child labor at my disposal....

Hard at work!

The tennis court is getting a lot of use as a skating rink. The kids love to go down there with roller blades and scooters and tear around.

And Roxy continues to grow! She almost always has one ear inside-out which drives Jeff crazy but adds to her adorableness if you ask me.

She quickly outgrows all the beds we buy for her and can't go to bed without putting at least 5 of her toys in her bed first.

AND.. monkeys came into our house and ate our bananas. Came home to find a mess on the counters and a bunch of empty banana skins still in the bag. What?!?

My friend Bettina sent us a HUGE care-package with peppermint candy canes, molasses and other treats so we were able to make our traditional favorites. Peppermint bark:

And gingerbread cookies! Who gets to bake Christmas cookies in their bathing suits? What lucky kids...

And we've been loving the beach! PE has ocean on 2 sides of it so we can drive west and hit the town beach with the boardwalk, pier, ice cream shops, ect.... there are a lot of people but it's fun to people watch and there is this one little place where water comes thru a gap in the rocks and makes this groovy pool to swim in:

But our favorite beach is to the south just 5 minutes from our house! It's called Sardinia Bay and it's a wild beach with huge dunes, crystal clear water and even on a Sunday there's very few people.

Roxy loves the beach and alternates between digging....

...tearing around meeting other dogs, or taking off down the beach with random families meaning we have to go running after her and bring her back with the leash. Now we bring biltong to the beach so she sticks around.

And of course, the kids are in heaven!

The Rest of Dubai

For our last 2 days in Dubai we tried to hit the highlights. First we went to the Mall of the Emirates. It's the second largest mall in the world, only because they built the Mall of Dubai! In Dubai malls go on forever. If you've been to the Mall of America you have a small idea of how big these things are. You can't walk from one end to the other without a meal stop and a nap. Plus they are full of things to do! They have full-size amusement parks, kid museums, skating rinks, you name it. One of the headliners at the Mall of the Emirates is Ski Dubai - an indoor ski area! You can ski and snowboard, or hit the sledding section. When you rent, you get a snowsuit, boots and socks too. Which is great since we were wearing shorts, T-shirts and flip flops! We decided to opt for the sledding since it was just the kids and I and ski hill looked pretty steep! First we played in some snow tunnels. It was freezing!

Then we hit some tubing runs. It was pretty empty since school is still in session in Dubai.

Then we did a bobsled track. Check out Teddy flying up the side as he takes the corner. He went so fast I thought he was going to fly out of the track! We had some hot cocoa and and looked at some Christmas stuff too. It was cool to be in the snow and cold on an 80° day!

There were tons of cool restaurants to choose from but then these 2 spotted an IHOP. Really?!? I have to eat at IHOP in the middle of Middle Eastern goodness? Just one of the joys of Traveling with Kids. What can you do? I have to say though that the harvest grain and nut pancakes were goo-oo-ood!

Mall of the Emirates! Sooo glitzy!

After the mall we went to the Atlantis Hotel. This is the amazing hotel out on the Palm Jumeirah. We went to this weird aquarium lost city thing that is down in the bowels of the hotel. It was interesting but hard to follow the thread of what they were trying to do. They need to bring in some Imagineers to help them plus this thing.

Weird artifacts from Atlantis?

The main tank was HUUUUGE and very cool though.

King Triton's throne?

After that we took the monorail back to the mainland and I got a shot of the Burj Kalifa and the Burj Al Arab in the same photo.

That night we went to a really nice middle eastern restaurant right at the base of the Burj Kalifa with the Smith Family. This thing is so much bigger than it looks in this picture.

Every 30 minutes or so there is a really great fountain show and it's different every time.

Dinner was delicious! And the company wasn't bad either...

Me and my buddy at the Burj Kalifa.

Then we headed into the Mall of Dubai - the biggest mall in the world. It has a theme park, a full sized skating rink, a huge kids museum, an aquarium and who knows what else.

They had a Disney store but it was a high fashion Disney Store. Full of really high-end purses and snazzy outfits.

Wow!

Why is this shop not in Orlando?

Even more Disney purses!

Next we went to see the main tank at the aquarium. See the plaque at the left? That's to let you know that the Guiness Book of World records has certified this as the biggest sheet of plexiglass in the world. Told you they are obsessed with having the biggest and the best!

Shark Spotted!

Across from the tank is what has to be the biggest candy store in the world although I couldn't find the official sign. It went on for rooms and rooms! Teddy actually came up to me almost in tears because they were closing and I had told him that he could pick something out. He goes "There's too much candy and I can't decide!" Poor child....

Wow!

As we were leaving we saw this camel. Jeff goes "Ted - run and lie under the camel and pretend you're being trampled!" Boys. Glad Teddy is still with us so we can laugh about it!

The next day the kids and I took Jamie and Emily to Wild Wati water park. It's a water park so we don't have any pictures but we had a GREAT day and we saw ladies in swimming burka so what more do you want? That night was our last in Dubai and we headed to another shopping area that was set up not as a mall but more of a traditional Souk. It reminded me a lot of the Morocco pavilion at Epcot.

They had a gold-dispensing ATM. WHAT!?! Gangnam style has nothin' on the Arabs...

We had a nice meal out overlooking the beach and then looked around the souk. This guy was making cool sand pictures.

Found me an old lamp in a junk shop. Wonder what happens if I rub it? (I did NOT get 3 wishes....)

One of my favorite things in Dubai was these beautiful lamps all make out of glass mosaic. Gorgeous!

Courtyard section of the souk.

The next day we had a relaxing morning and then headed to the airport. We were only in Dubai for 5 days but we got to see almost all of the highlights thanks to our incredible tour guides the Smith family! We have been on a lot of trips this year and this was one of the best ones and it was totally last-minute and totally unplanned! So that's a good lesson for me that sometime winging it can be just as rewarding as months of planning.