Thursday, April 27, 2006

I'm so excited!!!!


Ok as I'm sure you all know I'm from South Africa. Well, maybe you didn't know that fact, but consider yourself informed :)

So, one of the most amazing places that we would go every year for vacation, was the Kruger National Park. It was my absolute FAVORITE place to go, nothing like being up close and personal with the wildlife.
After moving to the states, it's one of the things I most miss doing.

Well my family was just at the Kruger National Park last week and I asked them to PLEASE send me the photos they took. So within the next few days I'll be posting them as I get them. I just have to share them with all of you.
I got the first one today, and it's of some lions. Now remember, this is a wildlife reserve, so you drive in through the main gates, and then head to one of 12 camps. I think we pretty much covered them all LOL
If you want to see a map of the Park, click HERE.
The fun part is that you can either stay at fully furnished bungalows, or you can camp. We've done both and they are truly amazing. Each camp has it's own gate which opens at 6am and then closes again at 6pm. ANYTHING beyond those gates is pure wildlife.....you just drive around and see all the animals. Nothing like sitting in your car and having lions, cheetahs, elephants, giraffes....you name it.....right outside the window. By the way, be sure to check my "Remember When???" tomorrow, our story is about one of our trips to the Kruger Park and you DON'T want to miss it.

So here are some lions, I'm just loving this photo, where else can you get this close to these powerful animals?


Wonderful memories I have from going there with my family, and I can't wait to share more photos with you guys :)

Moving on. Yesterday I had a call from the school, telling me that Jasmine had lost her tooth on the playground, and they wanted to know if I wanted them to send the tooth home in a baggie.
I knew it was time to face the whole tooth fairy issue again. Now I'm all for it, but am I the only parent that feels this is getting out of hand???
I'm not just hearing "HEY I GOT A QUARTER!!!", shouts of excitement. Now I'm being faced with "I wonder what she'll leave me, you know SO AND SO got $5 for his/her tooth".

5 DOLLARS?!?!?!?!?! Where was this tooth fairy when I was growing up? I would love to hear what other parents out there think. I feel so cheap when I think about just a quarter, it's like this tooth fairy better measure up to the other modern ones.

Tomorrow Jasmine has her first sleep over. She's all excited about it. Now I'm the one freaking out. How do kids grow up so fast? I know this is the beginning of seeing my little girl grow up and move on, but am I really ready for it?
I have a feeling I'll be the one not getting much sleep tomorrow night. LOL

Want to know what I'm doing today? SPRING CLEANING!!!


Yes yes I know, some of you are cringing at the thought, but I actually really enjoy it. Nothing like smelling a nice freshly cleaned house :)
Besides, I like getting rid of old used stuff so that I can replace it with new ones, or slightly used, whatever, as long as it's new to me that is what counts right?

I better get started, going to do the living room today and it's a big room, gotta wash the drapes, clean the blinds, get rid of pesky spider webs on the ceiling........what's up with those anyway, how many times do I have to get rid of them before they're gone for good?
Wish me luck....hope you all have a beautiful spring day wherever you are.

Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me."
Psalm 51:10

8 comments:

GiBee said...

FIVE DOLLARS ??? Someone else blogged about this a while ago, and I was shocked then, and I'm shocked now! No way! Too much money!


So, how much does the tooth fairy plan on leaving at YOUR house???

Also, I LOVE YOUR TEMPLATE! It's beautiful!!!

Anonymous said...

I agree about the tooth fairy I always give my kids a dollar and they come home from school and tell me that so and so got 2 Junie B Jones books or $5. It must be the going rate these days.

Sandra said...

gibee - the tooth fairy brought $1 LOL My daughter was still excited about it, but I still feel like that is a lot LOL
Glad you like the template :) I love the purple tulips :)

Gloria - Same with mine, one of the other kids actually got $25.....$25?!?!?!?!?! How crazy is that?

Melany aka Supermom said...

$5?!! Gosh you have rich tooth mice over there!
I have never liked going to the Kruger park. I love the wild...spent an entire month in Botswana at the Okavango river. Right in the true wild...where elephants come into our camp. Stepped right next to our two man tent. THAT I loved :)

someone else said...

Waaaayyy too much money for a tooth! A dollar is good. When my girls were little, the amount was a lot less, but times, they are a-changin'. We (I mean, the tooth fairy!) would bring our girls a bigger amount (which in those days WAS $1.00) when they lost one of their front teeth. The other teeth earned a little less.

I still have those little teeth stashed away in my memorabilia. Karen had a tooth fairly pillow (about 4x6 in size) that had a tiny little pocket in it. She put the tooth in the pocket and put it either under her pillow or next to it. The "fairy" replaced the tooth with money in the pocket and gave me the tooth. It was really cute.

someone else said...

One more thing........I love the pictures. I'm looking forward to the ride through Kruger Park.

Donnetta said...

Please don't tell my children what the tooth fairy is leaving at other houses! Only 50 cents is left per tooth in this house... YIKES! I knew we were cheap but wow....

And as for the spring cleaning. Since you enjoy it and I know you eventually will get it done at your place... you'd be more than welcome to head on over to my place and jump right in. I'd be more than happy, as your friend, to give you a pleasant experience... enjoying the spring cleaning... tee hee hee....

Storyteller said...

i really loved your article, thank you so much. I love the Kruger National park as well, i make sure i go there as much as i can, its a must go guys. Thank you for the article. For those who haven't checked it out, you can take a look at what Kruger National Park has to offer in this link http://www.krugerpark.co.za/. Many Trip advisers recommend Kruger National Park, you can also visit Iconic Africa trio advisers as well http://www.iconicafrica.com/