Catching up

Now that we are mostly settled from the move, past the renovations, home from the holidays and into the long dark winter, it's time to catch up on our blog.

Just before moving to Victoria, Bramsin invited us to visit South Africa and meet Tamsin's father and some of her family. Bryson was still in school, so Mom sacrificed and stayed home with him. I was spoiled with a once in a lifetime adventure.

We started at the Cradle of Humankind museum. Some of the oldest human fossils have been found in South Africa.

We quickly realized we weren't in Kansas any more and were grateful we had a local guide to steer us in the right direction.

To ease into things, we started with golf. Not just any course however ~ Legends Golf Club. Home of the "Extreme 19th" golf hole.

(This link has all the details. http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=5082256)

This is the golf cart to the tee box.

The tee box.

The target ~ The Africa shaped green even has the island of madagascar in the middle of the sand trap. (The white specs near the clumps of trees are the guys in white tee shirts that locate your ball after you hit.)

The extreme golfers ~ no sad faces here.

That didn't come until the first group flew safely down and then the helicopter had a slight malfunction. Gary, Anthony, the guide and I were stuck up on the cliff for about a half hour. What a great place to be stranded. The view was spectacular.

On the way from the helipad to the clubhouse (in the safari vehicle), we stopped to see some of the locals having lunch.

Of course, it's never enough to simply look at the animals. You have to at least pet one,

take one for a walk

or ride one.

You know they really appreciate it by how they thank you.

Yep ~ that's genuine african elephant snot ~ right through to the teeth.

The facility was actually an elephant socialization/rehab facility. Elephants orphaned because of poaching will die without a social structure. They take the orphans and create new family groups so they can reintroduce them to the wild. Cool.

Then it was back on the road and enjoying the sights along the way. South Africa is like Canada ~ huge

Their version of the Grand Canyon.

...and romance.

We drove until we could golf with the warthogs.

Notice the embarrassed member of the gallery in this clip. They got caught moving during Brandon's tee shot, and decided to hide in the trees for shame.

(That's Tamsin's dad in the audio background, cheering the good shot despite the giraffe distraction.)

You have to be careful where you go searching for your ball on this course.

We were walking up one of the holes when Anthony said: " Last year when we played this hole, a cheetah had just killed an antelope on this fairway!"

Don't ever leave the door to the clubhouse restaurant open!!

Then it was Safari time.

Within a few hundred yards of the gate we ran into this fellow.

He seemed pretty calm until we stopped to snap his picture. We must have been in his space, because he sure didn't like it.

Away just in time to avoid any dents in Anthony's tour van.

I never thought I would actually live the 13th Article of Faith

....We believe in being honest, true, chased by an elephant and in....

Now that's a termite mound!

I'll let the next set of photo's do all the talking.

In Kruger park, there were things to see at every turn, behind every tree and in every clump of grass.

Yes, they have baobab trees...

and Rafiki's.

And amazing gentle giants.

I learned the mystery of why they have craggy trees for the vultures: This are leadwood trees. The wood is so dense, that even after they die, it takes many, many years for the bacteria to penetrate and decompose the wood.

Since the moment you leave your vehicle, you become prey, you are only allowed to get out at specific observation areas. We took time to stretch our legs whenever we could.

This waterhole was right near our camp. It was always interesting to stop and observe in the evening. This night we saw five rhinos in with a herd of water buffalo, a smattering of wildebeest and hippos frolicking.

On our way back into the protective gates, we drove through the herds.

Home safe home..... although Hyenas the size of detroit patrolled outside the compound all night. I don't think the chain link looked all that intimidating to them. I was unable to get snapshots of the monkeys that raided our camp while we were out during the day or the bat that was flying around inside our hut at 3am...Gary slept through that one.

Even in the compound, we were never far from the action. Antelope, vultures, an elephant. If you look carefully, there is a guy standing behind the wire fence of the enclosure to the camp.

My favorite time on safari had to be watching life unfold before our eyes. Anthony spotted this lioness. We were enjoying watching her and her sisters for some time. As we watched... the circle of life carried on around us as if we weren't even there. Notice the location of the lioness relative to the tree.

Her ears suddenly perked up and we saw why. I think they should have been looking for danger, rather than at us...as you can see by the shadow in the grass above the antelopes rump.

The buck moved his herd along, but sensing danger came back to check. The lioness had moved a little, but can be seen in front of the curved stump tree.

About that time, we heard a thunderous CRACKING sound behind us. We turned to see this guy pushing over the the tree. I guess he wanted the tender leaves from the top branches.

In the end, the lioness could only watch the antelope go and wait for another day.

New Digs and Happenings

Yes, we are getting a lot of grief as to why we have not yet posted pictures of the big move and the reno's. To end everyone's angst, here they are.

Enjoy.

(Come visit soon, as the real thing is even more breathtaking.)

First - the view off our new front deck. The land you see is the good 'ole US of A. The border is in the middle of the Strait of Georgia and that is Mt. Baker in the background for reference. We can watch fireworks from 4-5 cities on the forth of July and are close enough to hear them.

Sunrise

Now the before, during and afters. Unfortunately, we don't have a lot of exterior pictures before.

The Outside:

Before

This will give you a feel for the lovely salmon colored stucco that matched so nicely with the green trim and painted red stones of the pathway.

(You should've seen Sue's eye twitchin' on that one!!)

Note ~ the main entrance was to the lower left in this picture. With no street parking, you got to park in the driveway, walk down the stone steps, enter the house,....then go up the stairs in the "before" entrance photo to get to the main floor.

After

Notice the changes to the right side of the house. We moved the front entrance to the main floor

The main entrance:

After

From the inside

The main entrance before - now converted to bonus room

from below

It's hard to tell from this view, but all the stonework below the stairs was a series of fish ponds with goldfish in them.....it gave the home such a wonderful west coast fishy smell!

from above

(Remember the silver circle decorative hanging thingy...it's an important landmark later.)

from the landing looking down and out the door.

During

Hey, no more fish ponds, stone wall and fireplace! (We decided one gas fireplace and one wood burning fireplace were enough - three was over kill). You can see where it went through the ceiling at the top of the photo. It sure opened the place up to tear it out. By putting in a regular stair case, extending the upper floor and getting rid of the fish ponds, we gained almost 100 sq ft to the dining area and enough room below for a complete recreation room (aka man cave).

After

From below (future man cave, pool table/excercise room with walk out)

From above

The Main Floor, Family, Dining area

Before

Front side of the wall w. staircase

After

Before

The back side of the stair case/wall

After

Before

Dining area (backing on to backside of 2nd fireplace family room).

After

Family room off the dining room

Before

After

The Kitchen:

Before

Notice how the fridge is on the opposite side of the very long narrow island from the sink and stove? Convenient eh? Also, if someone was sitting at the eating bar, you couldn't walk behind them.

Remember the circle hanging thingy? That's what you can see through the door from the kitchen to the dining/staircase area. That entire wall and the door was removed to join the kitchen and dining areas. The window over the kitchen sink was replace with a sliding glass door for access to the deck we added on.

After

Looking from the laundry area through the kitchen and over the deck.

Master Bedroom

Before

After

Laundry Area:

This was a little room off the kitchen. Since there was a three car garage and we are a shrinking family, we expanded the kitchen and captured part of the garage for the laundry room.

Before

After

Downstairs Family room

Before

After

Downstairs Bath

Before

After

Downstair Guest room (your digs when you come visit)

Before

After:

We had to have a picture of snow in this room to remind us what it looked like and to make everyone feel welcome when they come.

Extra's

A full bath was added upstairs off the kitchen

The deck we added

(ps This photo was taken Dec 18 - Rainbows in December?? Cool!)

The water feature Sue rescued

What are you waiting for? Come visit!

V-Day

Valentine's Day

Yeah, you know your wife loves you when she immortalizes you on your favorite foods.

I can't decide if that means: "I love you"or

"Bite me"

After much frustration and irritation with technology (apparently you have ot export video clips out of iMovie before attempting to upload), here finally, are Bryson's skills from a recent tournament. He's # 32 if it looks a little grainy on the web.

Also, Alicia's right of passage badge to the the hallowed ground of the Paramount Lot. (Home of not only Dr. Phil where her internship is, but also "Glee" and "The Doctors")

How fitting that the background for these photo's are "Mickey's"