November was our final full month in South Africa. We had so many goodbyes to give and so much to do to prepare for the move.
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| This would be our toughest goodbye. Dear Alaska cannot come with us since she belongs to SA Guide Dogs. She will be placed with a new family though she will always be part of ours. |
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| Our boys love her so. |
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| Elegant as always, our dear Jagger. |
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| Early on in the month we spent a day with Savannah who is now a working guide dog for Estine who has become a dear friend. |
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| Estine & her husband Brett. Savannah (Golden) and Brett's guide dog Ari (Black Lab) |
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| Savannah was very curious about their pet hamster! |
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| Estine & Savannah are a perfect match! |
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| Meanwhile, back home sweet Pepper joined us for dinner as he often does when he discovers we are having green beans! |
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| The next day at Monte Casino to see Matilda! |
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| And so began the many goodbyes- this one to Maria's swim teacher Nicola... |
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| ...and to our school bus driver Mr. Joseph. |
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| A weekend with a best buddy. Nico will also be leaving SA the same day we do (his family is going back to the USA). |
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| Summer weekend fun! |
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| A Sunday evening walk with friends at Hedianga. |
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| Finally got to bring Alaska home from her second long season/heat. |
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| Alaska's first outing after her 8 week season was to the dentist with the kids. |
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| My final therapy dog visit with Jagger. |
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| Jagger will miss these visits, especially the chances to leap into bed with the patients! |
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| We got Paolo home for the weekend and spent it at our favorite spot in Magaliesburg. |
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| Sadly the walks and evening braais passed too quickly and it was time to go home. |
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| Maria working hard in PE class. |
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| The kids and I joined Paolo in Nairobi for Thanksgiving. I packed a LOT of extra luggage for a long weekend. Most of these bags are for Italy (gifts and winter clothes). |
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| Paolo's swanky new office! What a view (better than the one he had in Pretoria of a cosmetic dentist's parking lot)! |
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| This is as close as we got to a Thanksgiving meal. |
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| Visiting our Nairobi house. Gio is quite excited about the snooker table. |
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| A pool for Jagger! We went to great lengths to be sure he can continue his hydrotherapy. |
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| We visited the beautiful Karura Forest in the middle of Nairobi. It is more than 2,500 acres and will be a place I can take the dogs every day! |
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| What timing! This huge new trampoline and climbing gym opened the day we were visiting Village Market! A great surprise and a way to get the children excited to move to Nairobi. |
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| Up she goes!! |
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| Our final night in Nairobi we went to a terrific Indian restaurant- Open House. So lucky that it is quite close to our new house. |
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| Back in Nairobi for our final 3 weeks and enjoying every last sunset walk with the dogs. |
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| A farewell coffee for Adie and me put on by the 4th grade parents. |
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| Shopping for sheets and curtains for our new home. Made the mistake of bringing Maria along.... |
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| Just told the boys that we are moving and that they will need to spend 36 days in kennels before they fly to Nairobi. They did not take the news well.... |
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| Said goodbye to our beloved old Land Rover... |
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| Farewell to Gio's terrific teacher Ms. Rachel (and their class pet Taco). |
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| Nico and Gio had a farewell party at school complete with business cards to pass out to everyone. Hoping everyone will keep in touch! |
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| Isn't it fun when the mom of your son's best friend is also one of YOUR best friends?? Adie and I were together in Ukraine as well. We are now hoping for a 3rd post together in the near future. |
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| Beaded replicas of our furry family. |
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| Puppy class with Alaska. |
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| I was asked to bring Jagger along to this class (more on that later) but he was quite rusty! And he never learned this skill of standing on a box so he actually had to be placed on the box for this photo! Jagger is on the right with Alaska next to him. |
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| Class photo. |
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| This happened a lot. Alaska was NOT impressed. |
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| So...immediately after class I left Jagger with my puppy supervisor Alida (she told me she needed him for some training she wanted to do- haha!) and I rushed off to meet with another puppy raiser for a coffee. That "coffee" turned out to be this big surprise party for me! I was shocked! So many great friends from my GDA and therapy dog worlds. I was moved to tears. |
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| Dogs were, of course, invited. And that was why I was asked to bring Jagger to class- so that Alida could bring him to the party! |
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| A farewell to Maria's beloved Early Childhood teacher Mandy! |
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| And on the final evening of November Adie and I invited some of our closest friends for a farewell dinner at La Fermier. Yum! |
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