Our big holiday vacation - Part 2.5 (Garden Route)

About 5 hours outside of Cape Town you can drive East to this lovely area called the Garden Route on the Indian Ocean.  I describe the area like this:  take the beautiful scenery of the Oregon Coast (loads of trees) then add the beautiful blue water and beaches of the Caribbean and together you have an amazing place.  Most of our adventures were around the city of Knysna.  We stayed in a very small beach community called Bretton on the Sea and then we made it to Plettenberg Bay to enjoy Robberg Nature Reserve, an awesome dolphin tour and the most amazing seafood.  We spent just two nights and three days here, but had a fantastic time.  Lily even did some serious hiking at Robberg Nature Preserve.  I was so impressed.

Bretton on Bay

Dolphin Tour (what fun)

Dolphins at Play (we saw hundreds)

Seal Colony at Robberg (said to be the largest in South Africa)

Knysna Heads (there was some awesome shelling at this stop)

Hiking Robberg Nature Preserve

Our big holiday vacation - Part 2 (Cape Town)

After having a little hang up at the airport due to our lack of birth certificate for Lily (new requirement), we finally made it to Cape Town just a day later than planned thanks to some helpful friends breaking into our safe at home.  A story for another day.  We spent nearly 10 days around the Cape Town area and got to experience everything we also wanted to do in Cape Town and so much more.  Lily seemed to enjoy all of it.  From picking up shells on the beaches to hiking some great nature reserve trails to shopping downtown.  We had a home exchange set up so Lily also got to enjoy the comforts of home, toys included.

Here are just a few of the pictures we took of this amazing city:

Lily at the pool at our house exchange home

Christmas morning

Kirstensbosch Gardens

V&A Waterfront

Muizenberg (on the way to Cape Peninsula)

Cape of Good Hope

Rock Dassie

Penguins at Boulders Beach

Two Oceans Aquarium (Lily under fish)

But definitely not in the shark tank

V&A Waterfront

Camps Bay

Top of Table Mountain

Lots of Lizards on Top of Table Mountain

Shopping for some artsy stuff at the Old Biscuit Mill

Our big holiday vacation - Part 1 (Istanbul)

We were so very fortunate to get to spend just over three weeks on vacation this holiday season.  At first it started as a trip to South Africa, but after determining our cheapest flight options were via Turkish Airlines who also offered free stop overs in Istanbul, we couldn't resist taking a 4 day stopover in one of our favorite cities, Istanbul.  Of course it was Lily's first time to both countries and we didn't expect she would be overjoyed with Istanbul, but she really turned out to like it a lot.  She was completely amused by the "carpet guys".  We had one in particular that tried to befriend us and then suck us into his very expensive carpet shop.  Lily thought this was very funny and kept asking about the carpet guy the remainder of the trip.  She also really got into shopping and negotiating at the Grand Bazaar.  We made no major purchases but she came home with loads of little trinkets for all her friends.

We made return visits to all the amazing sites we saw during our last visit:  the Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace, Grand Bazaar, Spice Bazaar, boat tour on the Bosphorous, Turkish Bath experiences, etc.  But we also enjoyed some new sites that we hadn't experience last time:  Galata Tower, Dolmabahce Palace, the Archealogical Museum, and the Cisterns.

This experience in Istanbul was also very different traveling with a child this time.  The Turks love children apparently.  And I can't stress enough how much they love children.  Lily was lavished with love from every person she encountered from the hotel staff to street vendors to security at the airport.  It made us feel very safe traveling with her in the amazing city.

Here are just a few of the amazing sites we visited.

Cistern

Inside Hagia Sophia

Outside Hagia Sophia

Outside Blue Mosque 

Baklavaria (yummy!)

Spice Market

Outside Dolmabahce Palace

Galata Tower

Istanbul at night

The Big Apple Part 2

On our second day in NYC you would have thought we would have been exhausted.  But we just kept going.  We started the morning by being part of the outdoor audience at the Today Show (we even saw ourselves on screen).  Then we headed to Radio City Music Hall to see the annual Christmas Spectacular show with the Rockettes.  Then we jumped on a bus tour of downtown, stopping at Battery Park for a view of the Statue of Liberty, some tasty lunch on the water and a brief moment at the monument where the Twin Towers stood.  And finally it was back to the ferry for the ride home.  Luckily we beat the end of the Jets/Giants game so the traffic really was pretty good going home.

The Big Apple Part 1

What a month it has been.  So many places, so little time it feels like some months for us.  This weekend we met up with our friends Dave, Theresa, and Madeline in Wilmington, DE and then headed the rest of the way up to NYC for an overnight trip.  We parked at Weesauken, NJ just across the Hudson River from Manhattan and then got to take the ferry over to the city.  The weather was perfect for December.  Low to mid 50s and sunshine the entire time.  On Saturday we toured the city.  We hit Times Square, 5th Avenue (with a stop at the American Girl store for some new outfits for Lily's new American Girl Doll), Central Park (including Strawberry Hills - the memorial near where John Lennon was shot), then back to our hotel and to John's Pizzeria for dinner.  We finished the night off with a trip to Rockefeller Center to see the Christmas tree at night.

Craft Club Grows

This last week it was just Lily and I all week while Chris caught up with his work mates in Seattle.  We had a great week but I was a bit overwhelmed when our weekly craft night grew by two very active young boys.  Wow.  Good thing it only lasts an hour.