Back to SA

 We got home from our trip at 9:30 pm Monday night and school started the next day! We were tired, but our excitement for the new school year overruled it. I now have a 4th and 6th grader! How did THAT happen?!? The crazy thing is that this is a first day of school that they get to experience twice as they will also start 4th and 6th grade in September. It's like some crazy wormhole in space or something!

New classroom, new diary!

 We missed our friends over the break!

 Nothing like discovering that your desk is next to your bestie's on the first day of school!

 Sasha got right back into riding:

 And we were all reunited with a very important family member. She was glad to be back in her co-pilot's seat!

 Bad habits alert... one day I couldn't find her any where. Went up to the bedroom and here she was. She looked at me like "WHAT?!? This is where people sleep!"

 Sasha and I made Max a cat tent so that he wouldn't feel left out. He totally digs it...

Life in Africa section: So there's this company called Eskom that is responsible for power. Apparently they have screwed things up majorly and there's not enough electricity now. So we have something called "load shedding". You lose power for 2 hours at a different time each day if it's phase 1 or 2 and you lose power for up to 4 hours if it's a phase 3 day. So you're constantly checking the schedule and tying to work your life around no electricity. At our house it seems to go off most frequently 6pm-8 or 8-10. Just when you are trying to cook dinner or get homework done on the computer. Oy!

Kids are both swimming for summer sport. There is this herd of ducks that has claimed the pool though and they are quite put off everyday when they get booted out of the pool to make way for practice. They stand there like coaches. I tell ya, you haven't been coached in swimming until you've been duck-coached...

So the kids swim to the other end and the Ducks jump in this end. Then the coaches tell the kids to swim back down the pool and it's this massive show-down... kids vs ducks. Africa....

 We took one last trip down the garden route to Plett...

 Road trip! Someone was pretty stoked that they got to come...

She even packed all her own stuff. Well her IMPORTANT stuff anyway. I had to pack the food bowls and all...

 The place we stayed at was really nice, and they had the coolest front steps I have ever seen! I guess if you're welcoming guests goldfish are a good choice. If your enemies are coming you could dump in some barracuda and then grease the steps...

 I will miss this landscape!

 Road tripping with Roxy is always an adventure because she never knows where she wants to sit but she knows it should be in somebody's lap... and you get very little warning when she decides that it's your turn. Good thing Jeff is a steady driver!

 Since we go to a Jewish School we get to celebrate Purim. Everyone dresses up and this is when you REALLY get to see how chill things are in Africa. This first grader dressed as Peter Pan which in HIS head includes having an actual bow and arrow. He marched all around the parade ring with an arrow knocked and pulled part of the way back most of the time. What could possibly go wrong?!?

 Grade 4's and up dressed coordinated as a class with themes. Ted's class chose "the 70's".

 ...And let me tell you, these grade 4's have SWAGGER! They even  busted out a dance when it was their turn to march around. Video HERE.

 Sasha's class chose "around the world". PERFECT theme for my girl... she was so excited to wear her Korean Hanbok!

 So many great costumes!

 The teachers all paraded too. They had coordinated so that all of their costumes had something to do with "load shedding".

 Hilarious....

Cruisin'

 On Monday we drove to Port Canaveral for our first Disney Cruise on the Disney Dream! We arrived, checked in with no line, and got right on board!

We met up with Mema and Papa and had some lunch and then the kids and Mema and I went to check out the kids areas of the ship on Deck 5. They were AMAZING, and the play/creative spaces went on, and on...

Sasha checking out one of the art rooms:

So many games:

 We had the best day! Just explored the ship, went to the sail away party, and tried to get oriented on such a huge vessel. Of course the safety drill is always a highlight...

 Disney does this thing called rotational dining, where you get to eat in a different restaurant each night but your service team follows you. Our first night was in the Enchanted Garden. It was great!

 Day 2 we were in the Bahamas but we all elected to just stay on board and enjoy the ship. We swam, relaxed, rode the aquaduck, and the kids had a blast in the expansive playground that is deck 5. That evening I wore my Snow White tribute outfit and guess who was in the Lobby greeting people?

 Then it was on to meet Captain Mickey. He spotted my tights immediately:

 He was hysterical!

 Night 2 we were in the Royal Palace and I think that's when we all began to fall in love with our main server, Yekta. He remembered all our preferences, already had the kids names on their drinks and gave them them so much special attention every night:

 He was also an incredible Magician, and wowed us with his tricks! He should be performing in the theater, not waiting tables!

 That night Ted and I got picked for a "know your family" type game show. It was really funny and I was so proud of the answers Teddy gave. What a kid..

The next morning we had to get up early for the INAUGURAL Castaway Cay Challenge! If you ran any of the Marathon weekend races and the 5K at Castaway Cay, you got another bonus medal. Of course, we were in...This was a really fun race and the kids have run a bunch of 5K's but until now have been age restricted out of any of the longer races. So they've only gotten medallions which are vinyl. This was their very first real METAL Disney medal. They were quite proud.

 We had a stunning day on Castaway Cay. Characters, water slides, a snorkeling lagoon, wonderful beach....

....and of course free ice cream whenever you wanted it!

 All too soon it was time to pull away from that wonderful place.

 But there were no tears because it was time for PIRATE NIGHT! Argh Mateys!

Pirate Party on deck:

 On our last day we just ran around the ship trying to do it all. We played, swam slid, and saw "Into the Woods" in the theater. During the cruise we also took part in something called a "Fish Extender" swap. It's kind of like a secret santa. You get in a group with a bunch of other cruisers and you leave age-appropriate gifts in little pockets hanging from the fish or seahorse thing outside everyone's door. Our FE group was SO fun and it seemed like each and every time we went back to our room we had presents! By the end our door looked like this:

We also had a fun room host who "wow'ed" us with his towel creatures:

 But soon the sun set on our last day on the ship and we went to our final dinner with Yekta and Andy.

 The kids were almost in tears saying good-bye to these guys... I really think we had the best team on the boat!

 Artist's Palate was an amazing restaurant. Crush the turtle swam around the edge of the room interacting with the guests!

On Friday we got off the boat early and drove back to WDW. We didn't fly back to SA until Sunday so we had 2 more days to just chillax. We didn't visit the parks, but decided to just enjoy other things. We stayed at Bay Lake Tower and got a MK view room. Had to use the opportunity to take a photo of my final medal haul:

 Then we headed to Beaches and Cream for some ginormous ice cream sundaes!

We attempted to burn all that off with a round of mini-golf. Sorcerer Sasha:

We ate dinner at the Wave and then went back to the room. But the fun wasn't over. We got to watch Wishes from our balcony with music piped in and everything! We turned off all the lights and watched in our PJ's from the coziness of our beds. So cool...

 The next day we packed up and sorted things out, went to Downtown Disney and looked around and swam in the pool. We ate dinner at T-Rex. We scored with an Ice Cave table!

Finally on Sunday, Jeff flew to Houston and the kids and I headed to ATL for the long flight back to Africa. But the magic wasn't quite over. We ran into the young actress who plays Little Red Riding Hood in "Into the Woods", the movie we had JUST watched 3 nights before on the ship! We were all quite star struck and felt very lucky. It was an awesome capper on a wonderful trip.