Last Family Vacation #3

Now, after so many months of waiting and preparation, Larry and Alyssa have come and gone.  Their twelve days here flew by; it just wasn't enough time.  We have a running family joke; it seems every time in the past few years when we get the four of us together I've assumed it will be the last time.  (I thought at this point it would be hard to get all of us together, or that gatherings would include significant others.)  Well, this is the third time I've been proved wrong, hence the title, and I am thrilled!!  And looking forward to #4.

The two of them arrived on March 20 and spent the night together in Pretoria before coming to Polokwane on Alyssa's birthday.  After a few days making sure Larry was familiar with our hometown and ways of living and had met our friends, we headed to the beautiful Escarpment.  We met Jessica the hippo, spent a day in Kruger, toured the Panorama route, and went to fellow Milwaukean PCV Steph's village.  Though they would see  each other in Sabie, we wanted to make sure Larry and Alyssa met Steph and spent some quality time with her, and vice-versa; each had heard so much about the other.  We ended up in Sabie for the weekend of Longtom.  You'll remember from my last blog entry that this was the culmination of all the hard work I'd done for KLM.  I am happy to report that the weekend was a huge success, both financially and fun-wise.  Over $20,000 was raised; two PCVs completed the ultra-marathon (56K); and everyone seemed to have a good time.  Larry ended up helping us out tremendously; he took tons of photos and then helped upload his and the other photographers' pics to a website for KLM and the PCVs. 

The next day or so was spent working our way towards Joburg, seeing whatever was of interest along the way.  This was the only part of their time here that wasn't planned, so the spontaneity was fun.  We spent their last afternoon at Constitution Hill and Court in Joburg; and that night we had a special dinner in Newtowne.  On April Fool's Day, they both flew away to their respective homes, leaving us to wait for the Last Family Vacation #4.