Zip-lining (Jana talked me into doing everything, except drugs)

I'm not afraid of heights, or so I thought.  I love rollercoasters, helicopter rides, and paragliding.  Jana is a free spirit and always up for a challenge.  We decided to go zip-lining after finding a place very close to my home online.  Cape Canopy Tour located on Hottentots Holland Nature Reserve, beautiful really.  So, we take the short drive there, we had to book in advance they only have 2 or 3 tours a day because they last a whopping 4 hours from start to finish. I was also shocked, and it took every minute of the 4 hours.  We checked in, the tour came with a small meal that we were to eat after the tour.  We were introduced to our guides and then led to a cattle truck with benches and bald tires.  My husband had a cow about the tires (He nor Lamont took the tour, they stayed in the cafe and sermonized) we then were taken up a winding mountain my daughter screamed half of the way up because there were no doors where we were sitting and she thought that we were going to fall out.  We passed another tour that was leaving, I should have paid closer attention.  They actually had to stop and let us by because the road was that narrow.  We finally made it to the top of the mountain and were geared up.  My gear was strapped on a little too tight but I chose to stay quiet because the snugger the better right?  We hiked down to the first platform, there were 11 in all.  That is where they gave us our briefing and taught us how to zip-line in 30 words or less.  Jana is bouncing around like a pogo stick and I just feel sick.  My daughter who is not afraid of heights and down for anything was scared, she decided to go first and get it over with.

You can't even see the platform on the other side!!!!

Israel Went!!! The boy is terrified of heights after an unfortunate incident at Disney Land that involved a boat and lots of screaming.  We call it Disney Gate.

So I decided right then and there that I wasn't going and that they could keep my money.  I was then encouraged by JANA to just do it.  She would have made Nike proud.  So, I did it.  On the first one, I didn't look around at all.  I kept my eyes on the prize, which was the platform.  Israel and Jana had a blast I mean they were doing tricks, laying back, no hands and other insane things.

She pretty much disappeared from sight.  This is when I freaked out, and then I looked off of the platform.  I did it though, and didn't regret it.  It was beautiful, there were waterfalls and our guides were the best.  Very encouraging and hilarious.

The platforms were really high and some of the lines were incredibly fast, one of the people that went with us came in too hot reached the platform but was going way too fast and bounced off of it back into the middle of the line.  She had to turn around and pull herself in, well with the help of the guide (She did this multiple times and they had explained to us when to brake and even yelled it out to us, so by the 4th time I was like "Geez, get it together").  We arrived at the last platform and then had to hike back up the mountain.  OMG!!!!!! It was so far up, I was like "Where is the truck" and they said "Up there." I was like, " I don't see it" and they were like "Look higher".  I almost had a heart attack, and then I really did when I had to hike up it.  Halfway up I sat on a rock and was like,  "Just leave me here"the guide then told me about the wild animals that were there and asked me if I wanted to wake up with one gnawing on me.  So, I got my butt up and continued on after loosening my still snug straps, my guide scolded me for not saying anything.  Once the circulation returned to my legs I was ready to go (Jana was tired also but she had a camera and could pretend to take pictures so that she could rest, I called her on it too!!). I realized that the tour in front of us was not flushed from excitement but overexerted from the hike, you would think that they would have made some sort of signal with their eyes or something. I do have to say that the ride up and down was scarier than zip-lining.  They need a new truck!   All and all it was so much fun! Thank you Jana!  Next year you, me and Turkey!!

From South Africa With Love,

Go Pro: Paragliding Fail

I was there when this happened!!! My friends the Melrose's had come to visit and Jana talked me into doing almost every extreme sport that South Africa had to offer. So we decided to try paragliding.   This is Lamont and his first launch.  It was epic!!!!!  Or should I say RIGHTEOUS!!!!!

Jana and I had already landed and we knew that he was supposed to come in right behind us and we waited and waited.  Three people landed and we were like "Where's Lamont?".   Then one of the paraglider's told us that he had fallen.  We laughed but then we saw the video and we howled.  I have watched it about 50 times.  More adventures to follow, so stay tuned!

From South Africa With Love,

Happy Extremely Belated New Year

I have had several adventures since my last post.  I went snorkeling!  I had a wetsuit!  I also had a panic attack!!!!  I didn't realize that the water would be that deep.  When I say deep I mean that I could not see nor touch the bottom.  We were in the freaking ocean.  We actually did this during Christmas in Mosselbai (Mossel Bay).  A very nice and highly populated area during the festive season (Christmas).  So back to me freaking out, I was fine until I really looked down and realized that it was just really dark down there.  I wouldn't see a shark until he was directly under me and I was dressed as a seal.  A plump seal, aka a recipe for disaster.  So I flipped out and our guide ( A really nice and patient young man, who didn't mind the chokehold that I had him in) took me back to shore.  My kids were embarrassed and amused.  I kind of drew a crowd (A small one), there was a restaurant located directly beside the place where we snorkeled.  Okay, two restaurants.  Some guy was yelling that he would let me know if he saw a shark (So, not helping the situation), then he offered to come in and help me (He was having this one way conversation with me while eating his lunch and sipping several glasses of wine).  I had a guide and really wasn't too keen on a slightly inebriated man jumping in to help me.  I've been snorkeling in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic the water was so clear, warm and beautiful and I was fine.  I'll definitely try again but in shallower water. So, without further a due................Everyone snorkeling but me.

                                                     

Timed Torture.

                             

They fit this time.

My children holding up the peace sign.  I was out of the picture on the other side of them drowning in a floating wetsuit.  I can make the impossible, possible.

It's so much deeper than it looks.

Our guide (He's the pale one in the back)

Well folks that's all that I have for the newest snorkeling debacle.  My next post will be about the Chinese Lanterns that we sent off to ring in the new year and how many fire trucks were called in to remedy the situation.

From South Africa With Love,

Let Me Take You To, Monkey Town!!!!!!

Monkey Town, where to begin......   Some friends came in for a spell, they are also missionaries here in South Africa.  They are from London and let me tell you, British people are a blast (Why did we break off from them again?).  They have small children and wanted to take them Monkey Town, my daughter was ecstatic.  She absolutely loves those things even after I told her that they were carnivores and that in the wild they will eat small animals and children (It's true, National Geographic has no reason to lie).  Nevertheless she still loves them and this trip was a dream come true, sort of.  We had a cool tour guide (Judging by his rat tail), he was very talkative and warned us not to get too close to the fence because they might pee, poop or throw other body fluids at us (Yep, they do that too).  So, now I was officially grossed out and we hadn't even started the tour.  They didn't have a ton of monkeys and the enclosure was not very large so I think calling it Monkey Town was stretching it a bit (Sort of like me calling my three bedroom home a castle).  Anyway..... Two monkeys stood out to me the most, one was a recovering alcoholic.  I kid you not.  For 18 years until it was rescued, it was given alcohol by it's owner and acted just like a human alcoholic abusing it's family after partying all night.  It was also addicted to Coke (The drink not the drug), to which I can sympathize because I suffer the same affliction.  We were told that after many years of sobriety that if it saw a Coke or beer can it would lose it's mind( I'm sure that the irony of Coke sponsoring this primate center did not escape you).  I wished that I had, had and empty can or bottle on hand to test this theory.  It also looked like a former alcoholic, as if life had been very unkind.  The other one was Tammy, who is an chimpanzee.  She is highly intelligent and we were told that she had picked one of the locks of her cage in 20 minutes and would have escaped if not for the other security lock that she didn't anticipate.  She is also violent and rushed the glass when we went to look at her.  She came outside and demanded a song (she did this by clapping her hands).  My friend's husband sang and then she proceeded to throw rocks at him, it was time to move on from Tammy.  My daughter and son did yet another monkey encounter and that was still kind of  cool.  We saw some birds, turtles, and peacocks, oh my!  A hedgehog that I was not allowed to hold or accost so I couldn't get a picture. Here are some of the pictures that I did get. 

The recovering alcoholic.

The albino donkey that has absolutely nothing to do with anything.

Proof that my warnings went unheeded.

Tammy.  Who is actually larger than she appears and has the strength of seven men.  If you look closely at the glass there is a crack in it.  It's bullet proof and supposedly indestructible yet she cracked it. Not going back until the glass is repaired or replaced with something stronger.

The facility has an electric fence surrounding all of the cages, monkeys will send a scout out to test the security.  One monkey will go and test the fence get electrocuted and the rest know not to try it.  There wasn't a ton to see, it was hot and one of the monkeys peed and it got my friend (Did you know that they wipe their pee on their fur?).  So..... we were pretty much done after that.  At least he waited until the end of the tour, and  this brings me to the end of ours.  Blog you later!

From South Africa With Love,

Trunk or Treat

Halloween is just starting to catch on here is South Africa (well in my neighborhood anyway), so I decided to do a Trunk or Treat.  Usually in America our church would have a carnival or other church's have a Trunk or Treat exhibition (like a tailgate party except with candy).

I saw this idea on Pinterest and decided to do it.  I was so excited, that is until the weather refused to cooperate.  The wind was blowing at the speed of 100mph, I was expecting to see a house fall out of the sky and crush a witch at any moment (I'm exaggerating but that's what it felt like)  I had to wrap bricks in red tissue paper to hold the tongue down, the teeth kept flipping up, the gums ripped.  The thing looked like an orthodontist worst nightmare, to top it off there wasn't a child in sight!!!!  I was so desperate (I had bought tons of candy and would have been forced to eat it) that I sent my son out to scout for trick or treaters.  He found some and was just telling me that they were on their way when my tongue ripped (well not my tongue, the car's tongue), I had to do an emergency tongue transplant with the extra tongue that I had in case of an emergency and this was definitely an emergency.  The kids were so cute, I would have taken pictures of them but didn't want to come across as the "American weirdo" down the street.  It was worth the drama, I'll have to step it up next year!!!!

From South Africa With Love,

The Simple Things In Life

(Sigh)The simple things in life tend to be the most unappreciated things in life.  Take this sunset below, in all honesty I have never stood and watched the sunset until I moved to South Africa.  Life was too hectic for me to take a few minutes and enjoy a sunset.  I have been missing out.......  These are things that we never forget.  I can't remember the last deadline that I had to have in for work or what I cooked last Thursday night for dinner but I will remember the beauty of this sunset forever.  I can close my eyes and still see it.  It was cold but the strand(beach) had lots of people there, eating, some where surfing, vendors were selling overpriced knickknacks.  It was nice.  Sometimes we are blind to the beauty that surrounds us, we overlook it everyday.  I just moved so my Internet has been down, my mother thought that we all contracted Ebola (seriously she did).  I had to explain to her that South Africa and Africa are two totally different places (I showed her on a map before we left, lot of good that did).  It takes a while for things to get going here but it gives me time to appreciate things.  When was the last time that you enjoyed a sunset?  Take the time to stop and appreciate one.  You won't regret it, I promise.

From South Africa With Love,

I Want To Marry You Cookies

I am not a big cookie eater, but I love to bake.  That being said,  I found this recipe on my beloved Pinterest.  They were soooooo good, my family (excluding my finicky daughter who has an aversion to nuts in her cookies, can't win them all) had to have more so I decided to share the recipe.  The name is so cute but I don't tell people unless I have to because it's as weird as it is cute.  Now that I am done rambling.  Without further a due ....................

I Want To Marry You Cookies

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup butter
• 1 ¼ cups light brown sugar
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup uncooked rolled oats
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup white chocolate chips, extra for garnishing, if desired*
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, extra for garnishing, if desired*
• 1 cup roughly chopped, toasted pecans, extra for garnishing, if desired*

INSTRUCTIONS

1. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat until melted. Remove from the heat.
2. Add the brown sugar and granulated sugar and stir until sugars are incorporated and smooth. Chill the mixture for 10 minutes.
3. Remove from the refrigerator and stir in the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla.
4. Add the flour, oats, baking soda, ½ teaspoon salt, and cinnamon and mix together.
5. Stir in the white chocolate chips, chocolate chips and pecans.
6. Roll by hand into medium-size balls or use a scoop, and place on sheet pans. If desired, tuck extra chips and pecans over tops of dough mounds for a lovely appearance.
7. Chill, on sheet pan for 30 minutes.
8. Preheat the oven to 325˚F. Remove the cookies from the refrigerator and bake for 14-18 minutes, or until golden brown. Allow to cool for several minutes on pan, then transfer to cooling rack.
9. Makes 36 cookies, depending on size

The butter and sugar mixture.  I melted the butter in the microwave because who seriously has the time to watch it on the stovetop? It took a minute(literally) and I didn't have to worry about it burning.

Incorporating the oatmeal and flour mixture, the eggs and vanilla are in there already.

I mixed it all by hand.  I could have used my KitchenAid but I haven't been to the gym a

in a while so this is my workout for the day.  See... baking is healthy.

Now for the good stuff!!!

Chopping my pecans.  Also a calorie burner.  I could have bought them chopped but went the extra mile instead (Since I haven't run one in a very long time).

All the ingredients are in, now I just have to mix them.  With my really buff arms.

Hello black mat, I would like to introduce you to a taste of heaven.

Yummy!!!!

Enjoy!!! 

From South Africa With Love,