I'm Allergic to Africa

Time just seems to be going quicker and quicker these days!  The past 6 weeks were a little rough as sickness swept through the house again.  The day of my last post, Rusty came down with severe food poisoning and was down for about 4 days.  He also got rear-ended on his way home from work the same day and what was supposed to take 10 days to fix took over a month, and 2 days after we get it back, it's back in the shop with a grinding brake.  It's a good thing I know how to drive a manual transmission! Luckily Rusty was fully recovered for our holiday to Durban.  We spent the first four days of July in Pennington with another KS family.  Since it is winter here, it was chilly and windy, but the kids still had a blast on the beach and we really enjoyed the trip.  The sand was beautiful and the water was clean, you could even spot whales out on the horizon.  The drive was easy and not too long, taking only 7 hours with a couple of stops.  The kids are great travelers, I'm ready to go back!

I have been coming down with a sinus infection every 3 months since we've been here which is not something I generally struggle with at home.  My last episode started about 2 weeks ago that began with a full-blown upper-respiratory flu which is lingering in my sinuses.  I have come to the conclusion that I am possibly allergic to my thatch-roof house.  Not only is it made of grass, but it has dried out and is very dusty since we haven't had a drop of rain for over 2 months.  Also, winter isn't really 'winter'.  Plants and trees and flowers are constantly blooming, and with so many different species I haven't been exposed to, it's tough to say what  exactly is causing all my troubles.  The ENT wants to do surgery to open up my airways, but I am not really keen to have something like that done here.  I think I will try other options for the next 10 months until I can get back to the states and get a 2nd opinion!  

With all the sickness said and done, the weather has been absolutely gorgeous!  It can get a bit chilly at night still, but with the sun out during the day, it warms up pretty quickly and we've been enjoying temperatures staying steady between 65F - 75F.  We're a month away from summer which promptly starts on September 1st.  

My baby girl will attend her last day of preschool on Friday.  The following Wednesday she will attend her first day of kindergarten.  Hopefully I will not be a blubbering mess!  The school year here is January-December, but Miranda will be going to the American International School of Johannesburg which stays on a typical American school schedule.  She is very excited and ready to go!  I'm not.  The week after she starts school, Jackson will begin preschool.  I have found a nice place that I can send him to two days/week in the morning.  Poor little guy really needs some social interaction and this seems to be the only way he's going to be able to get it.  

With the clock ticking we are busy deciding where else we would like to travel to and figuring out who else is going to visit.  Since the ever elusive leopard has decided to keep his presence from us thus far, we definitely have a few more future game drive safaris on the agenda as we will not leave this country until we see it!