Another day in the wine lands

Tomorrow, we will catch a train that will take us to the other side of South Africa, so for our last day in the Cape Town area, we had another outing to Stellenbosch, the main grape growing region. Our first stop was Vredenheim Winery and Big Cat Park, where we had a delicious lunch, a nice wine tasting, and an encounter with some beautiful big cats. The setting was absolutely beautiful and the weather was perfect. It was truly a delightful experience!

From there, we headed over to Waterford Winery, for a wine and chocolate tasting. We had had a wine under this label at our fancy dinner in Victoria Falls and were eager to track down the winery and try some of their other offerings. We are so glad we did! This was one of the most amazing wineries we have ever been to, and every single wine was superb! And, the kids got to participate in their own chocolate tasting, which was obviously a hit.  The owners also invited them to pick as many clementines from the orchard out front as they could carry away. And, as we were on our way home, we were treated to the most fantastic sunset. It was a wonderful end to our time here in the Cape area. We have really and truly loved this part of our journey!

Chilled grape juice for lunch
(Easily the best grape juice any of us have ever had)

We finally got to try bobotie, a local dish our landlords told us about. So. Very. Delicious.

Wall of wine at Vredenheim

Breathtaking!

Vredenheim vines.
(Bonus points if you can find the cheetah in the picture)

In case you missed the cheetah in the last photo

Vredenheim Wildlife and Winery

The majestic (and somewhat rare) white lion

Titan, warning the crowd to stay away from his lunch

Welcome to Waterford

A comfy couch. A plate of exotic chocolates.
It really doesn't get much better than this!

So excited about the chocolate tasting

Chocolate is this girl's love language!

Because this is our favorite winery we have ever visited

Waterford Winery

Perfection!

Picking clementines to take home

Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden

Before I tell you about the main part of our day, I would just like to say that I seriously considered becoming a permanent resident of Cape Town today when we needed to do some laundry, and the place we found to do it was a drop-off service, where we were able to get a large load of clothes washed, dried and folded in the time it took us to do our sightseeing, for around $5US. So. Totally.Worth. It.

After we dropped the off the laundry and did some grocery shopping, we headed over to Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden, at the base of Table Mountain. If you've been reading this blog for more than about five minutes, you know I'm a sucker for any place that's main attraction is flowers. This park was beautiful, and I'm so glad we got to visit! We had a picnic lunch and enjoyed being in such an amazing place. We later weathered a short rain shower and warmed our chilled bodies, in the tea room, with cups of rich, delicious hot chocolate, before exploring new paths.

Clay loved the sculpture garden, of course. 

Beautiful flowering aloe 

The treetop walkway was a big hit with our group.

The dinosaur sculpture garden was also popular.

Max and Clay read every single dinosaur sign.

Protea Flowers and Table Mountain

Sometimes little boys just NEED to roll around in the green grass!

All the bloom phases of the King Protea,
which is the national flower of South Africa

Beautiful garden path. Beautiful girl.

Deep discussion amongst the camphor trees

Half-Birthday Fun

As the half-birthday boy, Max had the privilege of choosing our agenda for the day. He decided on the Cool Runnings Toboggan Park, which was a huge hit with all the kids, and The Giraffe House, which was great for the little boys and kind of so-so for the rest of us. When the cold weather and disturbing creepy-crawly hands-on show got the best of us, we headed back to the house for a late lunch and a viewing of the "Cool Runnings" movie, to round out the day. For dinner, we had a taste of home with homemade chicken fried steak and mashed potatoes, followed by store-bought half-birthday cake.

Heading to the top of the toboggan hill

Weston approved of Max's half-birthday choice wholeheartedly!

Hooray for Dad and Clay!

A fun day for the half-birthday boy

That's Max, under the hood, trying to stay warm while feeding the goats at The Giraffe House.

Clay enjoyed feeding the goats, but he was a little concerned they might eat his fingers.

The namesake of The Giraffe House

The young springbok was testing his mettle by sparring with the older one.

Another friend at The Giraffe House, who you may remember from the alphabet.

V&A Waterfront

Today was cold and wet, so we were looking for indoor activities. We found plenty down at the V&A Waterfront. Our first order of business was to visit the Springbok Experience, which is a rugby museum that Weston found for us. It was fun to learn a bit about the game and get to play around with some of the interactive exhibits. After that, we found one of the less wet picnic tables near the playground and consumed our sack lunch and some treats from a nearby bakery, while listening to some fun live music. Next up was the enclosed ferris wheel, where we had a lot of laughs and enjoyed the great views of the harbor. Finally, we headed over to the Two Oceans Aquarium, where we saw lots of beautiful and unique sea creatures. We love Cape Town and feel that we could easily spend at least twice as much time here as what we have scheduled!

Practicing some rugby drills

He kicks... He scores!

The little boys had a blast on the ocean themed playground!

Ready to ride!

Ferris Wheel selfie

A view of the harbor from the top of the Ferris Wheel

One group of performers that entertained us while we were on the waterfront

Clay almost got eaten by a penguin at the aquarium!

These tubular anemones were beautiful and mesmerizing.

A beautiful display

The touch pool was a big hit with these three!

Shark Attack!

Spier Wine Farm

We spent the day at Spier Wine Farm in Stellenbosch, which is the main wine land of South Africa. It is winter here, so the vines are bare, but the farm was absolutely beautiful, and we enjoyed our day very much. There is a birds of prey rehabilitation center on the grounds, and the kids (especially the two younger guys) were thrilled to get to interact with the birds and other animals in such an up-close-and-personal way. There was a large viewing area and a petting area, and there were several shows throughout the day that we got to enjoy. We also had a delicious lunch at the cafe and a wine and juice tasting later in the afternoon. And, let us not forget sticks and rocks, which are apparently universally fun for all little boys from around the world!

Spier Wine Farm

The vines are bare right now, but they do go on forever.

Max truly loved interacting with the birds of prey
and was quick to volunteer as a helper in the show.

It was great fun to watch and play with the porcupine and learn about her habits.

loving on the barn owls

Lunch at Eight was wonderful, but the boulders in the background were a real crowd pleaser.

I love anything served on a board!

Wine stuff is always cool to look at!

Why, yes there is an owl on Max's head.

Clay also got a cranial visit from the owl.

Juice tasting for the kids

Max's favorite was the middle one.

"Take my picture, too!"

Weston's favorite was the white grape juice.