Cape Town I love you...

  We arrived in Cape Town a little tired, but excited to be in an apartment. Yeah for space and a kitchen.  The first day was spent grocery shopping (fun with a toddler) and going to Table Mountain.  Table Mountain is ranked #1 on Trip Advisor with good reason.  After taking a rotating gondola you reach a flat stretch of mountain overlooking the city.  I am loving the contrast between mountains and ocean in one place.  I cooked spaghetti which was the first non-restaurant meal we had in a month.

A very cranky baby after waking from a blast of cold air on the rotating gondola

  The next day we decided to head to Boulder's beach and Cape Point/Cape of Good Hope.  Anabel was less than thrilled to be back in a car seat (many of the countries we have been travelling to do not have them).  However, she was excited to see the African penguins on Boulder's beach.  She would follow them around and  wanted to see all the babies.  After a short visit with the penguins we headed to Cape Point (erroneously known as the point where the Atlantic and Pacific ocean meet).  It was extremely windy and quite chilly.  We walked around shielding Anabel from the wind, then made our way to an ocean front (indoor) lunch.  The food was superb and the warmth even better.

Why do they get tuxedos and I get a purple warm up?

Dramatic coastline of Cape Point

Note to airlines...the quickest route to Rio is not through Paris

  Today was Anabel's favorite day.  It was raining outside, so we decided to check out the aquarium.  Anabel loved staring at the fish and interacting with the penguins.  She especially enjoyed the clown fish's domed aquarium which allowed her to get right in the middle of them.  The aquarium was set up for kids and even had a play area in the cafeteria.  The whole family was happy.

Amazed by the clown fish

Guess we both like fish

Cliché, but she actually asked to do this

  The next day Josh woke up early to try and hang glide.  He made it to the site, but the conditions were not cooperating.  Later in the day we ventured to Kirstenbosch gardens-the first garden to be a World Heritage Site.  I am sure that the grounds are massive and beautiful, but we do not know because we spent most of time throwing Pooh bear in the air and catching it for Anabel.  Anabel found this much more interesting than flowers.

Forget the scenery, how are you making this bear fly?

Apparently the secret is to tickle his tummy

  The last full day in Cape Town we decided to go sky diving.  It has always been on my bucket list and I figured the view would be spectacular.  I was a little apprehensive to leave my daughter with a stranger named "Mess" while both of her parents jumped from an aircraft, but I still wanted to go.  We jumped from 9,000 feet and saw the ocean on one side and Table Mountain on the other.  I loved the surreal experience of floating and falling. Would love to go again...Sorry, no pictures from skydiving, just a video. We didn't bring a DVD player with us so we can't capture and upload the video until we get home.
   We are off to Rio de Janiero, Brazil next but we have a 12 hour layover in Paris before we get there. 'Till we meet again. Bye for now, JAM