It's Great to be Eight

I am not sure how it happened but Aiden has turned 8 years old!  Being in South Africa has made this birthday both unique and challenging. Birthday's are supposed to be spent with family and friends and most importantly Aiden is now the age in which he could finally be baptized! We decided to let Aiden choose if he wanted to be baptized here or to wait until we move back to Arizona. He has decided to wait so that all of his family can be there! 

Fortunately, there are plenty of exciting things to do here and we were still able to make Aiden's birthday very special.  He wanted to go to the Rhino and Lion Park. So with just his little family, he spent the day with a bunch of wild animals! This is a large park that you can drive through and we were able to see white rhino's, zebra's, water buffalo, antelope, cheetahs, endangered wild dogs, and white lions. One of the coolest things we have seen to date was feeding time! We were able to watch the wild dogs, cheetah's and lions eat a dead cow! This wasn't as interesting as it would be if we had seen the animals actually hunt and kill the animal themselves but it was still eerily cool to watch these savage beasts chow down! We were able to watch one of the cheetah's eating a slab of meat just inches from our vehicle. At this park there is also a large cave that we were able to explore. We went underground approximately 60 meters and saw beautiful stalagmites and stalactites. Our tour guide pointed out interesting formations, including one that looked just like the Virgin Mary!  I had never been in a cave before and it was pretty amazing to see what happens underground!

Although, Aiden didn't bring any friends to the Rhino Park he was able to celebrate his birthday at school with some of his new friends.  I made  cupcakes for his class and they gave him a little party! I am glad we decided to send him to school so that he could meet some children his age. Unfortunately, I haven't met their families yet so it was still too awkward to invite them over for a party. We made sure that Aiden had plenty of things to open and he was very excited about his presents. When Aiden went to bed he said it was the best birthday ever (which is what he says every year but I'm still glad he liked it)!