Spring is here and the flowers are in full bloom everywhere. We haven't been doing much exciting since we don't have a car right now, but we go to the gardens a lot, so you get to see all the flowers come out with us. There is also a meadow right before we get to the gardens where there are a lot of wildflowers so some of these pictures are from the meadow. Matt has been learning the streams and the lakes here and has been out fishing a few times. I just sit around and read a lot. Hopefully we will have our car back soon and start touring the country. Until then, you are forced to look at crazy beautiful flowers.

Protea City

Megan's First African Troot!!!!

She did such a good job, I'm so proud. She made the cast, worked the retrieve, and fought the fish so well, then I bend over to help land the thing and allow it to escape at the last moment...

More flowers and good views

Flowers

So Matt should really be writing about these since he is the expert, but he is out making us some money. Go, Matt! Anyways, these are some flowers that we saw on our hike up Helderberg mountain. The mostly pink funny looking flower is a protea, which is a big family or class or whatever, Matt would know. They are all over the place here. Really strange looking and fascinating, and it is the country flower.

Our Vacation in Somerset West

The past few days we got to housesit for some people that we have met here. They live about 30 minutes outside of Cape Town in the middle of the vinyards. We have been taking care of their house and their dog, which is a lab. Its been great. It has been really nice to get to hang out with a dog. I sure miss Buddha, but seeing another happy dog only brings back happy memories. We have been taking advantage of their oven because that may be the thing we miss most. Our first night we made baked macaroni and cheese and I made malva pudding for dessert. The mac an cheese was amazing, but the malva pudding is from another world. It's by far the best non-chocolate dessert I've made...ever. Its a south african dessert and it is kind of a cake drenched in caramely custard. Its also very easy to make. I would be happy to give out the recipe I used, but its pretty easy to find on the internet. It's worth your time. Seriously. Anyways, then we went for a hike up Helderberg Mountain. The hike started at this family farm and then wound you through the vinyards in the whole area and then up this mountain for these incredible views. It was one of the most unique hikes I have ever been on...really focusing on the journey and not just the destination. And there was this black lab at the farm that followed us all the way up...it was like a 5 hour hike. This dog was exhausted. People had written in a comment book at the farm that Trix was a good guide and then we realized that the dog's name was Trix. That dog lives a good life, just getting to pick his people for the day and go for a beautiful hike. Obviously, it again made me think of Buddha and all of the times he would go on hikes with me. He really loved them. It was nice to be around dogs for sure.
Then, we went fishing but you'll have to wait for the photos and the story on that one. All in all, it was a really great little vacation. Although it seems like we should feel like we've gotten a big vacation, so far it has been a lot of work trying to get settled. So it was nice to kick back this weekend.