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!