South Africa Continued

I found out that the backpack was most likely stolen when My Love was at a gas station. The person he was with did not completely close the back door of the car when they stopped, even though My Love locked the door (Can I slap the guy for his stupidity?). When they came out of the station a guy was standing next to their car and said "Oh, sorry." My Love now believes the thief was going back for another bag or two or his camera and other stuff that was in the front seat.
My poor husband is feeling pretty low right now. He had to travel one and a half hours to go to the consulate, because the person at the embassy near him was on vacation. He did file a report at the police station, so that insurance will hopefully cover some of the stuff.
I'm still hopeful that the thief will not be able to access information on the laptop. This whole thing is frustrating. On the bright side, at least My Love was not mugged.
Edited to add - He got a temporary passport so he can come home this weekend! I think he's feeling a little better.

More of South Africa

I really wanted to post some more of My Loves African wild reserve pictures. Unfortunately I will not be able to. Some South African now has them. I was very angry with this person for taking them, but I am slowly finding forgiveness and peace over the situation.
I knew that South Africa has a high crime rate, but I guess I really didn't think that it would happen to My Love and especially to the extent that it did. His whole back pack was taken from the back of his car. It held his laptop, ipod, passport and some souvenirs. He wasn't aware of it being gone until his rental car broke down and he looked for it in the back seat to get some paperwork from it.
The worse part is not being sure of the situation. We do not know if his computer will be hacked into and get some important information. I'm not sure how or when he'll get home without a passport, although I'm sure it will be fine, he just needs to contact the embassy. This is the second ipod to go missing and I know he's frustrated to lose all of his music. Like I said before, it's frustrating to lose the pictures he took, because I'm sure they were awesome. I just hope he had put all of the family pictures he had onto our computer.
Sometimes life is not fun!

South Africa

My Love is in South Africa. He left on the 8th and will return on the 23rd. It's more difficult having him gone this time, because he can't skype or call as much as he usually does. I'm envious that he gets to see all the animals in their natural habitat. I think maybe if he goes back I may go with him. Beautiful Sunrise

Exciting encounter with three bulls.

Hippos cause Africa's most deaths from animals.

Happy 14th Birthday!

AR turns 14 today and will start high school soon! We went on a walk today and I enjoyed talking to her and remembering when she was born and when she was a baby. I hope I don't get in trouble for posting any of these pictures. She did approve some of them.

Building a snowman with M.

Pie eating contest with other young women from our church.

Laser tag.

Doesn't she look spooky? She took this picture of herself in the mirror on Halloween.



Also on Halloween.

Feeding the geese at the park.

With Louise our French foreign exchange student.

Again with Louise on a hike.

Another picture she took of herself and changed the color. Maybe she could be a model?

Happy 5th Birthday!

M turns 5 today. I can hardly believe it! In just over four months she starts kindergarten. Here's some pictures I picked out from the past year's activities.

My Little princess asleep.

Rock hounding

Water fountain at the park.

Below, she's at the zoo. I love the way this picture shows her reflection.

Running at the children's race at a 5K.

Preschool.

Natural Science Museum.

Historical Farm Museum.





Looking at the Chickens from the historical farm.

Cliff dwellings.





More cliff dwellings.

Yes, she fell asleep here.

Finally Posting Some Pics

Been lazy lately, so I'm finally posting some pictures we've taken.

Spring Break

My Love took a couple of days off for spring break. We were supposed to visit G'ma and G'pa in South Dakota, but because of the bad weather and roads being closed we stayed here. We took three free tours. Here are the girls at the Hammonds Candy factory.

AC with her tour hat and sticker.

M being silly with the hair net she wore for her Celestial Seasonings tour. (I'd show you pictures of us all with the hairnets on, but I want to live for another day). The place makes both herbal and regular teas and when you go in the mint room it clears out your sinuses and makes your eyes sting. It was the best tour, because we could be down on the factory floor. It felt like walking right into a Mr. Rogers film. Do any of you remember those from Picture, Picture?

The last tour we took was of the Denver Mint, but pictures aren't allowed. I last went there over 18 years ago and it had a lot more production going on then. It was still neat to see again, though.(Sorry, I can't figure out how to make it so the words aren't on the right side of the picture.)