Dallas: Back to School Weeks 1 & 2 (also, Murphy!)

I can't wait to finish the rest of South Africa, but feel we need a catch-up post in the here and now.

It's Saturday morning. We're two weeks into the school year. I've done my walk on the treadmill, James and Landon went to swim practice, and now James has taken the girls to the Y for their own swim practice (their team starts up again this week). I'm at my desk with my tea- I did a couple hours of work and now a blogging break feels nice. Also Love is Blind UK is playing on my phone. Indulgence takes many forms.

So we got back from South Africa mid-morning after a million hours of travel. I was impressed at everyone's spirits as we had long lines at customs, getting our bags, and finally getting home. Everyone unpacked (our last lodge included laundry service, so it was nice not to have a ton of laundry on our return), reconnected with friends, and assessed their back-to-school readiness.

Landon had to go straight to his high school parking lot to prep his parking space. At his school they have a fun tradition that seniors get to paint their parking spots. You have to get your design approved and it has to be done in the two weekends before school starts. We were gone for weekend one and we only barely made it back for weekend two. He went to the local hardware store before he left to get paint and supplies, and while I'm sure scraping off old paint in 105 degree heat after two days of travel did not sound great, off he went as soon as we were back home.

On Saturday he got to start his design and on Sunday James went to help him with some detail work and then we all got to come see the results and I thought it turned out so great!!

I can't believe he's a senior.

Every time feels like a crazy mix of joy and celebration at his human we've raised and devastation and disbelief that he won't be in our house every day in a year. It's exactly what is supposed to happen, and he is going to be so ready, but damn. It already affects me more than I anticipated.

Like how will I even be able to work at night if he isn't perched in some strange position on my couch randomly interrupting me with thoughts on completely unconnected things?

On Sunday night we did a back to school dinner.

I'd ordered these fun decorations before we left and made up the table. Turns out, a coloring book table cloth is a hit at all ages.

Claire's first day was Monday.

Like mother, like daughter, she had everything laid out the night before:

She had a good first day! It was so different from dropping her off the year before, when she was coming off a rough middle school experience, new ADHD diagnosis, and showing up at a new place where she knew very few people. The nerves we both felt... this year was just so much lighter.

She got her driving permit on Tuesday and now she's driving us around the neighborhood like she's actually 15 years old.

Unlike her brother, she is SO excited to learn to drive and is begging to be in the driver's seat for every errand and trip.

Landon and Cora started on school on Tuesday. Landon has late arrival and early release so I think he was at school for like an hour, but he does whatever he's supposed to and we don't really worry about it. His new swim team is up in Frisco so he's driving 1.5-2+ hours/day.

Cora was very nervous for her first day at her new school (the school we only learned she'd be going to a few days before we got home). We were able to get her uniform pieces, her school supplies, and at least a vague idea of where she'd be going and what she'd be doing on her first day.

She took the bus - the first of our kids to ever be able to do so, and then she was off!

It went "okay," in her words, which is pretty good for Cora. She's a tough grader. It's hard because most kids in her school started there in 4th grade, and since we only moved here in 3rd, even the ones who transferred from her elementary school weren't kids she really knew. So she's one of maybe five kids starting there in 6th. But on Friday of this past week she came home genuinely excited about her day, so that made me so happy. She's going to do great.

Moose has been very social since we got back. I'm sure it was very strange for him to have all of us leave, have Maggie go to her boarding house, and have Milo gone, all in one day. He's still awkward, but for the first time ever he jumped up on a lap and tried to cuddle. He's loving it, can't you tell?

Speaking of cats! We immediately went on a local Dallas rescue website once we got home. We miss Milo terribly. He will forever be a Milo-sized hole in our hearts and no one can replace him. But we have room in our hearts and home to love another cat, Moose needs another cat to continue teaching him how to be one, and we wanted to rescue an adult cat that wasn't flying off a rescue website the way kittens do.

We reached out with interest on one cat, but his foster mom was very honest about his independence with his humans, which I really appreciated. We reached out about this distinguished gentleman and a few texts into the conversation, I realized his foster mom was one of the associates at my new firm! So crazy.

We got to visit him at her house and he was very purry and social. I also got this amazing comment on Instagram from a blog reader.

We decided to adopt him! He's been with us since last Sunday and is settling in well. His name is Murphy Mittens McMuffin Fike. He is very handsome, very social, and a bit derpy.

Moose clearly wants to be best friends. Murphy seems open to it, but is still accepting other applications for that positions.

Maggie didn't notice him for several days and even now I'm not entirely sure she knows that Murphy is different from Moose or isn't just Milo in a different outfit. But she seems glad he's here and already looks to him to tell her what to do. Here she is getting instructions on how to monitor the neighborhood from my office window:

After a few days of decompressing, Murphy has started to show off his personality- he's always following us around from room to room. He has started playing with some toys. He's scratched all the scratching posts. He likes boxes. He tolerates being held. He does not yet sit on laps, but he has started jumping up on the back of the couch when we're on it.

This seems pretty great for 6 days in.

Hopefully over time he'll start being more snuggly during the day and at night. He definitely seems increasingly comfortable just hanging out with us.

We're so glad to have him here.

And now it's Sunday morning and I'm back at my computer to get back to work. Happy last week of August to all who celebrate!

South Africa Day 7: More Marakele!

This was our second full day on safari!

As I've told people since we've been back, this trip was the rare combination of both the greatest adventure you'll ever have - seeing wild animals interract in their natural habitat right before your eyes - and the most indulgent, relaxing treat of a vacation. Our guide called us at 6 am and we were dressed in all the layers and walking over to the main lodge to eat our breakfast snacks. Today's gluten-free muffin was some sort of cinnamon cake concoction that I would give a lot to be eating again right now.

We headed out with our guide, hoping to find a leopard for the kids or any other kind of big cat, but also just happy to see any of these amazing animals we had fallen in love with.

And we found a cheetah! Two cheetahs! Brothers, per our guide.

They were mostly just relaxing in the sunshine, but we did get to see them move positions.

I loved all the animals, but watching the big cats slink around their world really was incredible.

We came across a big herd of zebras, with lots of little ones.

Cheese!

Rhinos! I love them too. They always reminded me a little of Maggie. Something about their stalwart charm.

We stopped for our mid-morning-drive snack with hot tea, hot chocolate, and gluten-free goodies for me.

Hello Mr. Wildebeest

Once back at the lodge it was time for the big breakfast.

And then just some relaxation time (and/or lunch, which obviously my whole family ate all of 90 minutes after brunch but I skipped). I was going to work, but then just read and also took a little nap and it was lovely.

Some monkeys ran across my view at one point and the warthog mom and baby came by as well.

Then it was high tea, with more snacks (including mini gluten-free pizzas!), and then we were off for our afternoon safari, our final ride in Marakele National Park!

And we came across so many elephants!

Including these big bulls.

Love!!

I just remember really enjoying watching everything around us.

Then it time for sundowners!

I took so many pictures of animals that it's easy to miss that the surrounding views were absolutely stunning. Plateaus and mountains and lakes and sunsets... just gorgeous.

My peeps! Just as I truly can't overstate the animals and the views, I can't say enough how incredible it was to share all this with our kids. They were so fun- so interested and curious and delighted to be there... we didn't get to do much traveling in our 20's since we were both getting degrees and started our family so young, but man has it been wonderful to make up for it in our 40's!

Having them with us truly made it so much better- we spotted more animals, got to listen to our guide answer questions we might not have asked, loved recapping our day and laughing over dinner... I'm so thankful we were able to do this together.

The sun was quickly setting, but we spotted quite a few animals on the dark drive back to the lodge.

We had a great dinner by a roaring fireplace and then got to our canvas castle to discover a romantic little set up for our anniversary which was very sweet.

Cheers to 20 years!! Celebrating surrounded by elephants and rhinos, with our three grown kids in their own canvas castle... I can't imagine anything better.

South Africa Day 6: Marakele Lion Cubs, Elephants, and a Treehouse!

Today was our first full day of safari'ing! Our guide called both our tents (I keep writing "tents," but it was a concrete and canvas structure that was basically a small glamping palace, so "tent" doesn't seem right. Maybe canvas castle is the right term?) at 6 a.m. to make sure we were awake.

We put on our warmest clothes (I wore fleece lined leggings I originally bought for Iceland, sports bra (roads are bumpy!), tank, my favorite cashmere wool sweater from Vince, a scarf, and my puffer jacket and I could have used a hat and gloves) and walked over to the main building where the staff had put out some light breakfast snacks and drinks to get our day started. All the groups and guides were there, it was maybe 20 people? They always had gluten-free muffins for me and they were SO good. As James said every day, South Africa has the best breads and baked goods!

We got in our jeep with Njabulo, snuggled under the hot water bottles and blankets he had waiting, and headed out with the sun rising over the bush before us! Some of us paid more attention than others in the cold early hours. (There's a Landon under there. Yes, Mr. "no one ever needs to wear pants" both wore pants AND admitted he was cold. It really was chilly!)

One of the things we ran into first was a lioness and THREE cubs!! It was such a lucky find - our guide, who somewhow drove the stick-shift jeep, looked out for the paths, pointed out very hidden animals, AND tracked paw prints in the dirt beside the car as we drove past, said he hadn't seen cubs in weeks.

They were adorable - like big giant kittens and they played and romped while mama lounged and watched. Our guide said they were close to a year old and at that age, with a living, healthy mother, they should survive to adulthood.

We saw more zebras, which I love- their coloring is just so gorgeous to me.

Including this guy, who was a pretty fast little runner!

And this one whose smile reminded me of Donkey from Shrek.

Giraffes were plentiful- we came across a large herd with babies, including two with the umbilical cord still attached!

We watched some toddler giraffes playing tag and it was crazy to see their long spindly legs gallopping around while their moms watched.

Seeing giraffe heads pop up between trees became one of my favorite things to spot as we drove around- they're such cool, awkward yet graceful gentle giants.

I love them.

The animal I was most excited to see in Africa was an elephant and I was so delighted that we came across MANY on this day.

Including a mother and baby who was ADORABLE.

Mama got irritated at our jeep being too close, but we'd been parked for some time to observe and she basically walked in front of us. Our guide wasn't concerned, just said she's being protective, waved his hands and yelled and then reversed, and she quite literally flipped her ears over her shoulders like she was doing a hair toss and huffed off, nudging her clumsy squishy baby along.

At the end of our morning drive we got to board Miss Mara, the lodge's boat that sails along part of the river in the reserve. They had food waiting for us (of course!) with two plates of gluten-free options for me.

We got to see a whole bloat of hippos, just chilling in the water and then we even saw two fully out of the water, which was pretty rare to see during the day!

The boat was a cool way to see the land and animals from a different perspective and I'm glad we got to experience it!

After that we headed back to the lodge where we could order a full breakfast (it was now nearly 11 a.m.) and then James and I got massages on the back deck of our room, which was lovely.

Lunch was served from 12:30-2:30, which I skipped, but everyone else ate. Now that we're home we all miss the constant availability of incredibly delicious food!

High tea was with lots of treats was served at 3 (I cannot emphasize enough how much you are fed; Landon was in heaven) and then we met our guide back at our jeep at 3:30, now with an overnight bag for James and me. As an anniversary treat, we planned to spend a night in the Marataba treehouse!

Our guide drove there first so we could drop our bag and the kids could see it.

It was so cool.

Downstairs bathroom:

The staff would be delivering our dinner to the treehouse so James and I could have a romantic dinner date after the game drive, and then the guide would drive the kids the rest of the way back to the lodge to have their dinner and go to bed.

The kids weren't at all concerned about being alone in their separate canvas castle, but Claire was VERY worried that we would be eaten by a lion in the dark in our treehouse. Our guide assured her that would not happen, but Claire was unconvinced.

We drove off for the rest of our sunset drive.

Kudu! Love their crazy horns.

I never took many pictures on the evening drive because my iPhone struggled with the lighting and we all spent long intervals just enjoying watching the animals and chatting with our guide. I know we saw many things, including more elephants and giraffes and hippos out of the water!

We stopped for our "Sundowners" snacks and drinks. Such a fun tradition.

I'm going to be at work today wondering where my gin and tonic and gluten-free snacks are right about 5 pm.

After we saw more sunset animals, our guide dropped us at our treehouse. I don't think I've mentioned it yet, but the guides all have a loaded rifle with them as we drive and they carry it any time they step out of the car. So that's how we were escorted up to our temporary home. Our guide said in 7 years he'd never had to shoot his rifle, though they train on it every month and are tested with moving targets every 3 months. In his words, "if you know what you're doing and don't push the animals, you should never need it." But of course, they're ready just in case.

James and I had a great dinner sitting out on our treehouse. We checked off a previously unknown bucket list item of mine to play parcheesi in a treehouse under a sky full of stars. We snuggled. We decided we missed our canvas castle and radio'd our guide to come get us at 8 pm.

Honestly it was a pretty perfect night. Especially because we were given an incredible gift on our short drive back to the lodge area -- a leopard!!!

She was so gorgeous.

We sat for a while to watch her, just feeling so lucky.

And then we were back in our canvas castle, after popping by the kids' to tell them we were back, and got ready for another day in safari paradise tomorrow!