Temple trip - June 2013

We drove up to Joburg, leaving at 2:00 in the morning... But the upside of that is that we enjoyed a beautiful sunrise in the Karoo.

My gran (or Gran-Gran to the kids) met us at the temple and we went to Zoo Lake together, which the kids really enjoyed!

Cindy drove up with us to see friends, and also to help us looking after the kids.

We stayed one night at the patron housing, and Josh and Hannah both slept on the floor. Of course Caleb and Hannah can't leave Josh alone when he's trying to sleep though...

Exploring the temple grounds. It was Caleb's first real time at the temple, because he was just a newborn when we went last year.

Follow the leader... But Josh wasn't even aware that the others were following him at first! They really do adore their big brother!

We stayed the rest of the time with Wayne and Louise in Vereeniging. They recently had a fireplace put in, and every night we had a fire. A new adventure!

We visited Kariba Ranch on the Saturday morning, and Josh showed us that he really is getting much braver with feeding animals.

Caleb really wasn't so sure about this whole thing though...

And after the success with the big animals Josh wanted to try and feed a rabbit as well...

But they're actually harder to feed! It jumped away as soon as he got there!

Kariba really is a great place to visit with the kids!

Caleb made great friends with Wayne's dog, Chewy. Hannah was very scared of him, like with any dogs, but Caleb just couldn't get enough of him!

Lisa and Bryce came down on Sunday afternoon, and Hannah loved the attention that Lisa was only too happy to give her :)

3 peas in a pod!

Hannah did my nails for me! Not too bad, considering she's only 3 :)

Louise has a big white board, with colourful markers that she uses for her seminary lessons. And every time we're up there Josh, and now Hannah, really enjoy drawing on it. And we got some pretty impressive art from them!

Hannah drew me.

And Josh drew a few dragons. You can see how he added detail as he went along...

And Caleb can't be left out of course...

A flying dragon

Josh was really impressed with this chocolate in the shape of a barrel. He asked me to take a few photos of it.

When we were leaving the temple Cindy and Rhyno caught a tadpole in the stream at the patron housing. They put it in a water bottle, and it came down to Vereeniging with us. We forgot the bottle in the car though, and when we went to the car in the late morning the next day we saw it was still alive, but then we forgot it again. The next morning we left early for church, and when we saw the bottle half the water was frozen! But somehow the tadpole was still alive! We took the bottle inside after church, and then the next day Wayne took us to one of the local rivers and we had a whole release ceremony :) Josh really enjoyed it!

Our last day we spent just relaxing with Wayne's family. We feel so comfortable at their house, and they are always so welcoming. Such a blessing!

Hannah with lipstick again...

And then the drive home. When we were driving through the Cape mountains there was snow on the mountains!

Josh and Hannah being clowns at one of our stops.

And the best part of any trip is always coming home! But what a blessing to have a temple in our country!