Day 40: Botanical Gardens and Flight Details

Woo hoo!!!  No rain today! :)  It was a warm and beautiful day!  We got up this morning, had breakfast, and went outside to play soccer.  We decided to do homework this morning since we knew we wouldn't be home tonight, and then we had some fruit and went swimming in the pool.  Nicolas enjoyed us throwing him into the pool and we also did some races.

We came in and the boys got ready while I made lunch.  Once we were all ready, we headed to Cresta to exchange money since our attempt on Saturday was unsuccessful.  About half way there, we were reminded by the radio that today is a public holiday.  Grrrrrrr.......forgot about that!  We were hoping the American Express currency exchange place might still be open, but it wasn't.  Ah well.....at this point we only have 3 days left, so we will wing it and use our credit card for purchases.

From there, we left to meet Auntie Beth and Donovan at the Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens.  Beth and Donovan took us on a tour around the gardens.  The landscaping was beautiful!  The weather today definitely made up for the rain we have had.  The sun was shining and the clouds were like fluffy cotton balls in the sky.  Our first stop was at a huge waterfall:

And here's a family picture :)

We walked further into the gardens to the bird sanctuary.  As we were walking, we came across these beautiful butterflies.  The tips of their wings were clear! 

Next, we went into an bird-watching enclosure.  Such a beautiful view!!

We made a loop back around to the entrance.  On our way, we had to pass over a bridge where it appeared there was a modeling shoot going on.  Beth and I restrained ourselves from jumping in the picture. :)

Amazing!

We headed out for dinner at Nando's.  We had a delicious meal and great conversation.  We also had a great chat about shoveling and snow blowers.  Foreign concepts to people from the warmer regions (Beth is from southern California and Donovan is South African). :)

After dinner, we came back to the guest house and watched a movie before heading to bed.

After weather forecasts of rain through Thursday, we were so grateful to have the sunshine all day today.  We are praying that they weather will remain sunny for our last few days here.

4 days until we get home!!!  And it looks like we might be coming home to snow after all!!  Let's hope that it doesn't cause flight delays!!!

Here are our flight details:  Our flight from Johannesburg to Atlanta is scheduled to arrive at 6:00AM and the flight number is DL 201.  Our flight from Atlanta to Grand Rapids is scheduled to arrive at 11:20AM and our flight number is DL 2113.  

We can't wait to see everyone!!  Please feel free to come to the airport if you are able!  We will likely have a tough time adjusting back to the Eastern time zone, so we might be in hiding for a bit when we get home! :)

The Longstreets