Anya's Summer Birthday

It was beautiful summer weekend to celebrate Anya's 3rd Birthday!  It may be the only summer birthday she'll ever have in February (plus, we just love celebrating her), so we lived it up!  Friday night Welgemoed Primary School hosted a "Fun Day", which was kind of a mini Fair.  There were a couple of rides for little ones...airplane swings and a horse ride (like the ones at King Soopers that cost a penny only it goes around a whole sort of track).  The girls had a blast!  Though it was quite a different experience with these fair workers than the States.  I was looking to see which plane swing to put Anya in, and before I know it the worker took her out of my arms and carried her to the plane.  She didn't fuss.  She loved the ride (though she was a little tense because she was afraid her paper wrist band was going to fall off.  We got it on a little too loose, and she held it with her other hand the whole time).  I don't really know what we thought was going to happen when the ride was over...but in fact, the same worker picked her up out of the airplane and awkwardly carried her to the exit!  We were both laughed awkwardly, and from then on assertively allowed ourselves into the ring and lifted her into the ride ourselves.:)  They got to ride those rides over and over again because there was NO line!  And while waiting for one of the rides, I got to meet a couple of Afrikaans women whose sons are in the Grade R (Afrikaans class) at Lily's school.  They were so friendly and we swapped numbers.  I'm finding the people here to be very inclusive and friendly!
After the Fair we went to a wonderful family restaurant called "Spur"...I think I mentioned the one called "Mexico Spur" in a past blog because we thought it was a Mexican Restaurant.  We went to that one again for Valentines Day with the kids and they had free face painting!  Anyway, this one is called "Silver Spur", and the play place is like a dream.  They always have "child minders" so the kids can just play while we visit (we can see in the play place).  And there was a full size enclosed trampoline in there!  There's normally a bouncy castle and movie like "Cars" playing too.  We had a wonderful time with the Bests while the kids all played happily!

Saturday I made pancakes.  I thought all pancakes here were crepes, because that was the pre made mix I had been getting...labeled "pancake mix".  BUT, the other day I saw a mix for "flapjacks", and sure enough it's like American pancakes!  You just have to let it sit for 1/2 an hour after mixing it up.  Tasted great and Anya blew out her 3 candles from a pancake.  Then we headed to our favorite beach with the Williams.  We arrived around 10:30am and walked onto what felt like our own private beach....we were the only ones there!  It was awesome!  Beautiful weather and out of the way of the wind...perfect!  Everything went smoothly according to my vow from the previous time to this beach (when I had to hike a few blocks in bare feet on pavement to get to the bathroom with Anya, and then the only place I could find for lunch was this fancy restaurant where I entered in my swim suit, ordered fish and chips to go and declined their offer to sit and wait in their fancy leather couches)...I had vowed 1. Always to wear my flip flops when going to find the bathroom and 2. Bring a lunch!  It worked marvelously!  After the beach, we walked a block and paid to see the penguins on Boulders Beach.  Actually, we did see one penguin nesting  in some bushes up by the beach we were at.  That was neat!  Then we made sure we got some gelato at the quaint little patin stand this retired couple have set up in their back yard patio.  What a great way to retire! Anya had a wonderful day!  It's fun to have some new options of toys to play with too!

Today was the awaited birthday party at Stodel's (the place I wrote about a few weeks ago).  One thing against us was the heat (it was about 92 degrees here today)...but luckily most everything is in the shade, including our little birthday hut!   Stodel's decorated, provided food, slushes, ice cream and goodie bags for all the kids, as well as bags of food to feed the animals!  Everyone had a blast!  Instead of trying to find all the ingredients I need and bake in our little hot apartment, I opted for ordering cupcakes from a woman I met at the market who is just starting up a cupcake business. I basically just had to show up for the party, which was a PARTY!
Anya is 3! It's hard to believe! She brings so much joy and laughter to our lives! One prayer request is for her eye. She's had what we think is a stye on her eyelid for over a couple of weeks now. It started looking better, but then came back. Please pray that she'll allow us to put a warm compress on it a few times a day (she really doesn't like that), and that it will heal. Pray for wisdom if we need to go to a doctor or what to do. Thank you!