Happy 1st Birthday P! and reasons not to make a big birthday cake

Trip #3- the last week of Aug we flew up to Seattle. This was our first real "payed by us" vacation since we got married. We planned a year ago to visit family and see the sites, because Evan had never been. I missed it, and Aug is the perfect time to go.. or was it.

See, here's where my summer gets crazy. I had planned, long before P was born that I wanted to make a cool cake for his 1st birthday. I could do it right? Having no experience won't hinder my puny artistic ability (or ability to copy a picture) right? Wrong. Here's where having no experience wasted a lot of time during Aug. I was so freaked out that I wouldn't be able to do it, that I did a practice run, including all the cupcakes, and thoughts of just how I would create such a perfect cake was constantly on my mind. In fact it was freaking me out. I was nervous for a whole month about this day. Planning, making runs to the store for the piping bags and tips, and food coloring, which by the way was the most nerve racking of all, was all it seemed I had time for. My house fell apart, my calling was lacking, my dinners-non existant, and my poor little boy was neglected. Nap times were all about cake and frosting. My freezer's bottom shelf was left bare for the cake.

Since we were to get back just days before P's birthday, I wanted to have the cake all done so my mind could be on other things-like cupcakes and oh, presents. In all the rush of last-minute packing it's no wonder I left the camera home, so we don't have any pictures of our trip. I'll give you some highlights: We went to the Ballard Locks, stayed a night with Travis and Erin, went to the "animal park" AKA animal farm, Hiked Snoqualmie Falls, went to the Museum of Flight, jogged in the rain, went to Pikes Place and bought yummy Salmon, shopped a little- mostly for thing we forgot- like makeup, and saw way too much Halo from my younger cousins still on Summer break. The weather was perfect, the company fantastic, and overall P did great.

When we got home, I had 1 day to put the finishing touches on the cake and make all the cupcakes and get them decorated. My sweet neighbor took P for awhile while I whipped frosting, colored it, and washed and rewashed all the tips. They were perfect. A friend came by later that night and helped me put P to bed and finish up the cake. It was all ready. Sigh. I proved to myself I could do it.

In hind sight I didn't need to be so worried about this that it consumed my life for weeks. I could have been just as calm with the same result. There is a first time for everything, and I learned a lot- especially about what I'm capable of. The best part?... The red turned out PERFECT! It took several tries and lots and lots and lots of red coloring. I still have a tub of it in the fridge.

We had a great turn out, and P enjoyed himself. I got him a free cake from Macey's so he wouldn't stain his skin with the red frosting. Thanks everyone for coming. I love your support and having you there meant a lot to me. Thanks Evan for being so understanding. I love, love, love you. No cakes for awhile. Promise.

D.C.

We were home just long enough to recover from South Africa, when we packed up, and headed for Washington D.C. (again). Our second trip there in less than a year. This time Evan's boss fly in all of the "guys" and their wives/girlfriends/kids. We stayed at the Marriott close to the National Zoo, so just a few blocks away were the animals to entertain P. One of the girls, Kristal, hooked us up with an exec. suite so P could have ample room to romp around. That was so nice! We 3 girls, the only ones that made it to D.C., palled around together. It was so fun to take a vacation with girls! We ate on the company's dime, swam when we wanted, and went where we liked. We also got to meet all the "guys" at the company we've heard so much about- since they're in NY and we're the only two families in Utah.

Riding the Metro. It seems that's all we did!

At the National Zoo- behind the Pandas

P did so well on the plane rides. We went out to dinner every night, and that was really tiresome to him. He only made it through the apetizers before cranking out his bedtime charm. We took turns alking with him outside, and standing up with him. To our surprise, he had no problem falling asleep in the umbrella stroller (which we chanced to bring-ignoring this little detail). I had decided that vacation was vacation, and though I'd kick myself everyday for doing it, naptime and all routine fell to the wayside. I didn't want to spend my humid summer in D.C. cooped up in a hotel room, waiting for naps to end before meeting up with friends to see the sights. P took it well, and even slept decent enough for us. He charmed everyone we met. It's fun to go to Metropolitan cities like that and realized what a novelty babies are. People stared at him ALL THE TIME! It was quite sad to think of what many people miss out on in life. Families are just too important to me. I love them. P with Kristal
Our week was over way too soon, and back we were to work, study, unpacking, and cleaning. Then on to trip #3...

Sept 3rd, 2009
I can’t believe a year has past since I felt you squirming in my belly. That night before you were born you were restless, rolling and rolling, and it seemed scratching, just itching to get out. It was the next day I got to hold you in my arms and look at your sweet face for the first time. I had only seen that face once before, in a dream. It was an older face, but yours just the same. I couldn’t believe I was holding my boy. My BOY! I wanted you to be a boy SO BADLY, and you made me so happy. You wanted to come into this world so much - even early- and you’ve enjoyed it ever since.
Tomorrow we’ll sing to you, watch you rip into a cake, and have you open your presents. But your birthday is not about those things to me. For me this is about your rite of passage, a landmark of days that will never be back again. I realize that my baby boy is no longer my baby. I feel I have to give up part of me as I watch you tomorrow. I will be happy and love it all, but I will also mourn the last day I have you as mine. It seems I now have to give you up to the world. To toddlerhood. As you explore you get further away from me, and from needing me for everything. I thought I wouldn’t miss it, but I will. I do. Happy Birthday sweet boy!

Good Bye Cape Town

We spent our last day in Cape Town going to the top of Table Mountain, pictured behind me here:

We waited all week for the weather to clear up, and it was finally clear enough to go to the top. The views were spectacular. We could see almost all the way to Cape Point, where we had been a few days before, and the oceans are beautiful and vast. It's amazing to see the cargo ships way off in the distance looking like little dots. After seeing this part of the ocean, it makes sense as to why these are such dangerous waters. It's so cool to feel like you're on the edge of a world, like you're so tiny. God really is everywhere. What a testament. Here's some pics of the view we had:

Overlooking the Atlantic Ocean

View of Cape Town central and the Harbor

Our last few hours were spent relaxing and trying to gear up for the grueling 24 hr. flight ahead. We went back to the harbor for some ice cream and lunch, and watched the ships come in and out.

Once we got on that plane, we talked non-stop about how much we missed P. It was a great vacation without him, but we missed him more than he'll ever know. This was the best part of coming home!

The Safari

This morning we got up early and drove 2 hours out to a Safari expedition. We arrived at 8:00, and they fed us breakfast. We stood by little heaters for another half hour trying to warm up before heading out. The Aquila Wildlife Reserve is a privately owned Safari. They stock the land with certain animals, just a few at a time due to land size and population of the species.

African Safaris MUST have what you call "The Big Five," Lions, Elephants, Rhinos, Water Buffalo, and the Leopard. You're almost always guaranteed to see these 5 on every excursion, among other animals.

We loaded in to open jeeps with stadium seating, and off we went. Our driver was our guide. He would stop the car and talk about each of the animals as we would see them. He knew a lot about each one, and I fell in love with these animals. It was so cool to see them in their natural habitat and roaming around. Not behind bars. My personal favorite was the hippo. I told Evan before we left that if I could just see a hippo, I'd be happy. That was the first animal we came across! It really made my day.

Here are some pictures of the animals. I would post more, but this little laptop takes forever to download them all, so I'll post more when I get home.

Overall we saw hippos, elephants, rhinos, wildebeasts, zebras, intu, springbuck, giraffe, cheetahs, and lions. We didn't end up seeing the Leopards or Lions in their natural habitat. They have a large "caged" area to keep some of them safe, as they're on the extinction list. Makes sense. I didn't care much about not seeing Lions. We drove around and around, but they must have been hiding. I got to see the hippo, so I was happy!
We were fed lunch before we left. The drive back was beautiful with valley after valley and mountainous drives. There were some sad cities that consisted wholy of these:

Little "shanty towns" we'd call them. The people were out and about, and it made us sad to see people living this way. Even worse than we saw in Chile. We do remember from what we've seen in life that poverty does not necessarily mean unhappiness. We are truly grateful for everything we have and all the blessings we enjoy. How lucky are we to live in such a blessed nation? I love home and all the opportunities it affords us.

Robben Island

This afternoon, while Evan attended the conference, I decided to take the ferry out to Robben Island. It is a little island 12 km off the coast of Cape Town, similar to alcatraz. And just like Alcatraz, it was used as a prison, though much more laid back.

The weather was terrible, and the water was choppy. I felt myself getting sick from the get-go. Why do such neat places put us through so much to get there? As we arrived, busses were waiting to take us on a tour around the island before we toured the prison.

This island was (and still is) inhabited soely by employees of the island, about 200. There are 29 recorded shipwrecks, some with visible debris, lots of jack rabbits, a wilderness, a lighthouse, a small military base, and 1 store.The guide that took us through the prison was an actual prisoner there for 5 1/2 years. He was charged during the apartide with treason, terrorism, illegal importing... he had a lot of good stories about what went on there. Did I mention Nelson Mandela was imprisoned here? Also Robert Sobukwe, and others heavily involved in the apartide/separation movement. (For those readers who don't know, Nelson Mandela went on to become one of S.A.'s presidents in the 90's. I hung out with a couple from Washington state who were so nice to give me a dramamine for the way home. Talking with them was a good distraction!

Here's our guide telling us about getting mail

From there I raced to the University to watch Evan play in his annual soccer game. They split into teams when they get there, and his team played well. They won one game and lost one, putting them in 3rd place overall! They all played exceptionally well due to a general language barrier. They had an awesome Italian goalie that saved the day. Way to go Evan! He had the longest shorts of anyone on the whole team! My sweet athlete.

Cape Point and the Penguins

Tuesday morning we took a drive down south to cape point, which is the southern most part of western Africa. We stopped at a few towns along the way to get pictures of the bays and the ocean.

There is a beach about a half-an-hour from cape point called "The Boulders." It is a breeding ground and home to African Penguins. We parked, payed the small fee,and walked down to the beach. The penguins were so cute! There were lots and lots of penguins. They stand about shin high, about the height of a large sea gull. I always pictured penguins in ice, just like the movies, so it was strange to see them in bushes, under trees, and sitting on their eggs in burrows in the sand; almost too tropical, but cute nonetheless. We saw fat baby penguins, some of them moulting into their juvenile blue feathers. It takes two years for the penguins to mature to adulthood and take on their black color. The African penguins mate for life starting at about 4 years old. Some of the penguins waddled right up to us for a picture. We laughed and laughed at their awkward gate, with their wings out, sort of unsteady-like. We sadly thought of Porter and laughed at how he'll be walking like that very soon.

From there we drove to cape point, the sun decided to grace us with its presence that morning. As we wound our way through the national park toward the coast, the water took on a beautiful blue. Did I mention the baboons? Everywhere we saw signs warning that baboons are wild and dangerous, which they are, I guess, all we saw were troops walking alongside the road, some with cute little babies on their backs. At Cape Point it was strange looking at the horizon, knowing our eyes were pointed toward Antarctica. The beaches are lined with 50-100 ft cliffs, straight up. So we didn't go down to the beach. We opted for a hike to the old lighthouse instead. This turned out to be the wisest decision, for we had a spectacular view. Looking back at the narrow land, we were surrounded by ocean on both sides. Quite amazing, as if you feel you've made it to the end of the Earth. (Except for the mountains we could see in the distance to the south-east of us on the main land).

Evan wanted to get back to the conference by two, so we left just in time, just as a Japanese tour bus pulled up... Of course it is raining in Cape Town. I went to a local market, then took a nap while Evan attended presentations.

We ate dinner at an authentic African restaurant where we tried a lot of local cuisine. They also sang and danced for us. Then back to the hotel we went to see if the fourth night would be the charm to sleep through the night. It worked! We both slept.

Aparently there is a muslim mosque across the street, which through a loud speaker, day and night, plays-did I mention it was a loud speaker?-prayers, or songs, or whatever, in a chanting way. It wakes us up at 6 am every morning. Very annoying, but good for them.