Tea Parties & 'Fall' Cleaning

How's that for a title? Not feeling very creative today, but wanted to post a couple of pics just the same.

We are getting in to a really good routine. We've been here for 8 weeks now. The time has flown by for us.....before you know it, the 24 months will be up, and we'll be back home and pick up where we left off!

This first pic is of the girls with their Webkinz buds having a tea party out on the patio. The patio furniture had been delivered a couple of days earlier, and the girls were begging for a tea party out on the patio. One of the highlights was using the cart (shown in the foreground with the blue tray). They though that was too cool! We look forward to having many tea parties, having school and just relaxing out on the patio. This week, however, we have not been able to enjoy the patio. The patio ceiling caved in due to a roof leak and frequent rains. Don't worry, no one was injured...it was a slow caving in. The workers will hopefully be finished in a few more days.

The other two pics are for my dear friends back at home who know that we have a housekeeper...to let you know I don't just sit around, watch TV and eat bon bons all day! HA!
For those to whom this is new 'news'...yes, we are blessed to have a wonderful housekeeper. The culture, and expectatation here, is to have a housekeeper....to support the local Botswana people. Our housekeeper is a gem and we are truly thankful for her...she is always so joyful, whistling a tune or humming a song, and she always has a warm smile for us. Plus, she is teaching us a bit of the Setswana language. We honestly don't have enough work around here to keep her busy full-time, so when she has finished with the daily tasks, she finds work to keep herself busy --- like washing the windows! She does not let her hands go idle. She would do anything I ask her to do...which leads to the pics of the girls and me. The story.....the kitchen floor is tiled, and the grooves for the grout runs deep in some places...too deep to be reached by just a mop.
Thus, to thoroughly clean the grout, a good ol' scrubbing was needed. The girls and I took this on as a weekend project. (I wouldn't dream of asking our housekeeper to do such a task.) The girls were glad to help - they took turns scrubbing and vacuuming up the water with the ShopVac. The project was a great success...the floor/grout is clean and we're glad the task is behind us.









Another quick blurb about the uncreative title....since we are in the southern hemisphere, we will soon be celebrating our first day of fall as our family and friends in the US celebrate spring. I, personally, am looking forward to the cooler temps. We're still in the 80s during the day, and getting to the upper 60s at night. It's funny for us.....we're still tooling around in shorts and flops, while some of the locals...to whom 60s are cold....are wearing sweaters and even winter coats. Reminds me of being back home in NC, and having our friends from NY or other northern states still wearing short-sleeved shirts while the locals were sweaters. due to the 50s or so temps.

I'll try to be a bit more creative and interesting in my next post. Bottom line - we're doing well, healthy, thankful to be settling in here, and thankful for the technology available at our fingertips to keep us in touch with our loved ones.