He’s Five!!!

 

We can’t believe it, but Nicholas turned five in May.  Where has the time gone, it was just yesterday that we brought him home from the hospital.  We had a dinosaur themed party for him with all our good friends here.

Nicholas took the first swing at the pinata and all the kids got a turn trying to knock the candy out.

Nicholas digging in the decapitated pinata body for the last bit of candy : )

 

We’re so happy to have Nicholas in our family.  He’s developed into such a sweet, obedient boy.  He loves school, watching “movies”, and playing with all of his friends here.  He makes us laugh with his latest wisdoms and is such a great brother to Ryan.  Happy 5th Nicholas….we love you!!!!

Cape Town

Mike and I took the boys to Cape Town last month so I could do a half marathon and show Nicholas where he spent some time growing up.

The boys loved playing at the beach and on the rocks at the beach in Camps Bay (where we lived when we were in Cape Town). 

We went to Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, a place we loved to go to when we lived here.  The boys chased guinea fowl and we enjoyed the beautiful views.

Ryan loved playing in the leaves at the gardens.  Poor guy has never seen a pile before since they don’t have fall here.

Peanut Butter Day

 

My boys keep me on my toes and keep it fun.  After dinner one night, Mike decided to put peanut butter on everyone’s noses, including Cheerio.  Silly boys, but we have fun.

A Little Friend

 

One afternoon I came into the kitchen and was about to throw away an empty kleenex box when I noticed something alive was in it.  Our gardener had a found a little bird and thought Nicholas would like to see it.  So the boys had fun building it a nest, although we let it go the next day and hoped no cats were around.

Happy Easter

 

I’m pretty far behind on the blog, but I guess doing it now is better than never.  The boys loved dyeing Easter eggs in April.  Ryan slept through the egg hunt, but Nicholas enjoyed the challenge.

Botswana

 

We went to Chobe National Park in Botswana and the amount of animals there was incredible.  Nicholas did great on a 3-hour safari and even Ryan went out gaming for a little bit.  The boys loved it.  Crocodiles, hippos, elephants, lions, warthogs, etc…it was beautiful. 

 

We had beautiful sunsets and the boys loved the private boat ride Dadda arranged for us.  What a great trip!!

Zambia/Victoria Falls

We spent a wonderful vacation in Zambia and Botswana.  We love Africa!!!  It’s a beautiful place and getting up close and personal with animals is amazing. We so much enjoyed spending time together as a family.

These monkeys were very inquisitive and right outside our hotel room.  They even ran in our room once, grabbed all the sugar packets, and had a time scaring Nicholas.  Ryan was unfazed, although we made sure he didn’t get too close : )  Below..there were zebra and giraffe right on the hotel grounds, and we also walked to the hotel pond every day so Nicholas could see the resident crocodile.

We went to the falls almost every day as it was a five minute walk from our hotel room.  One day we put the boys in their swimsuits and walked along the path in front of it.  Even though Mike and I were wearing raincoats, we got soaked.  It was amazing!!

Mike and Ryan at the lip of Victoria Falls.  The boys loved playing in the Zambezi River and the falls were breathtaking.

 

Nicholas and I loved our elephant, Mary.  We took a 45 minute walk through the bush and got to feed her at the end of the ride.

We had a fantastic time as a family.  We love our boys and are so happy to get to travel to such beautiful places.