Capetown 2016 - Wednesday!

So in Capetown, South Africa, you can get Lasik done for roughly $1350 total. I know that sounds scary to many of you to have an eye surgery done in "Africa," but hey...I had a baby here 11 years ago! I know tons of missionaries who have had Lasik here, and honestly, I have been very impressed with the medical care I have found outside of the USA, both in South Africa, Lusaka, and even in Paris! However, I have this issue with not liking to be confined in spaces...without being able to use the bathroom. That would pretty much be the #1 reason I have not had Lasik all these years! (Blu had it in 2005!) But this last furlough was hard on my eyes - all of the travel, late night car trips, getting up early - for the first time, it bothered me that I wore contacts! So Blu finally convinced me to have Lasik in South Africa this year. Yesterday I went to 3 different places for pre-op appointments, and today we headed to Cape Eye Hospital at 8:30am for the procedure. I was #7 out of 7 patients, so I had to wait awhile, but I was thankful for the Valium that helped my wait!

Now that it's all over, I can see! I won't lie; it was a little bit terrifying! For one thing, I cannot understand a THING anyone is saying. Afrikaans is the language mainly spoken in South Africa, so when they finally realize I don't speak that (because I'm blonde, I look South African), and begin speaking English, the accent is SO thick! It took me like 2 minutes to realize the nurse was saying she liked my braid today! I think the poor eye doctor thinks I'm a bit on the slow side as he would say something, I would stare blankly, and then we would both kinda smile and nod at each other! Anyway, the procedure itself was a little scary, and my eyes burned like fire for about 2 hours afterward, but I"m feeling great now! Please pray for complete healing - I am a little nervous because I have Ciproflaxin eye drops to put in my eyes every 4 hours, but I am very allergic to oral Cipro. I told the doctors/nurses this, but they still gave me the Cipro drops, so I'm a little unsure what to do! Please pray for no side effects!

So thankful for Blu waiting for me and spending about 5 hours of his vacation sitting in a waiting room/driving me to appointments, and for Mama Dee & Grandpa babysitting! When it was over, I was pretty excited about the hot tea and sandwiches!

It's over!

On the drive back to the hotel, I was in pain!

While I took a nap, the kids enjoyed some beach time and some more McDonalds!

He then took them to see the movie Trolls!

While I stayed at the hotel with my parents and ordered room service dessert and played Moon!

A sorbet trio of strawberry, lemon, and mango!

Pegs & Jokers!

Monopoly Deal!

A great end to the night - the girls won at 42! (because I can see now!)

Caedmon said "I wish this day would never end!" We said, "Oh! You had a good day??" He said, "No, my hair looks so good today!" That's our Caed.. :)

Capetown 2016 - Tuesday!

Be prepared to be bombarded with Capetown Beach pics today! Our kids woke up (at 5am...) shouting about snow. Apparently Cason looked out the window and saw mountains covered in snow! What he actually saw were sand dunes covered in white sand... I have never seen so much sand and so much wind in my life!! What a day!

We were a little windblown...all day long!

We are staying in a 2 bedroom beach cabana right on the beach! Yay for Expedia's flight+hotel deals!

That is our hotel in the background of these muscle men!

The water was FREEZING but my four (I mean three) kids still got in and splashed around!

Our part of Capetown, Dolphin Beach, is the Kitesurfing capitol of the world! (See..I told you it was windy!) There were kites flying and surfers in the water all day long!

Mom & Dad loved it!

The view of Table Mountain is amazing!

Our free breakfast at the hotel was amazing!

Blu & I spent 2 hours doing a Lasik Screening at 3 different eye doctors, learning our way around Capetown!

I'm a perfect candidate! Procedure is Wednesday!

It's pretty easy to please our kids - they yell things like, "Look! Grass!! Carpet!!!"

We took a 2.5 hour shopping break at a mall about 3 minutes from our hotel - got a big part of the stash done for the New Day kids' Christmas wish lists! Lots of perfume, cologne, sunglasses, and umbrellas today!

Blu & the boys didn't make it very long shopping with us girls...

But we did find a McDonalds!

Dad and I found a Kauai for some wraps and coffee date smoothies!

When we got back, we hung out at the hotel's playground!

In the grass...with a cappuccino...

And tried out the swimming pool!

Did I mention we were a little windblown??

We ate supper at our hotel's fancy restaurant, the Blowfish!

The girls are ready to go!

Blu's not big on seafood, so he got this...

Espresso creme brûlée for dessert!

Dad is serious about his seafood!

Mom's "I really hate seafood, but you made me eat here.." face!

I got chicken and prawn risotto with truffle infused parmesan mashed potatoes. Yes.

We headed to the beach one last time before calling it a night to check out the sunset. It was STILL windy!

Brrr!!!

Some awesome jumping pics in the sand dunes!

Why, yes, that would be me with the giant jump!

What a gorgeous place! Can't wait to do it all again tomorrow!