Last bit of Leopard Rock

When we were not playing golf, hiking around hills with wildebeest, playing canasta or eating, we had Spencer and our friends' kids playing on the small little playground the hotel/resort provided! It was great to be able to sit and let the kids have some fun out in the sun.

Spencer on the teeter-totter with someone, looks like it was fun though! (as you can see this was still when he had all of his upper teeth)

Looking at part of the resort from the playground/grassy area. Quite beautiful.

Spencer has the BEST smiles!

Really pretty purple flower that was in a tree.

Tyler took this while waiting for me, and it's just the inside of the hotel. At the far end was where we ate breakfast and dinner, it was quite fancy and had a grand piano right by the entrance.

We had a fabulous time at Leopard Rock with our friends, and we are so glad they invited us to go along with them. It's a beautiful place to relax and enjoy the family.

Walking Safari

Here are the rest of the animals we saw while on the walking safari.

I actually forgot which antelope this is, but they were huge!

Spencer either 1- displaying how he can look like the Statue of Liberty or 2- showing us his special stick he got from the walk.

Wildebeest. Very...different looking.

Wildebeest walking over the hill.

A baby wildebeest!

Okay, so this picture doesn't do it justice, and we seemed much closer, but this was when all the antelope started running at the same time! The noise from all the thumping on the ground was incredible. I loved hearing and watching it.

Quite the backyard these animals have, eh? Quite the view too. Yes, that small Spencer running up to us in the picture.

Giraffe Family

While on our little walking safari we were able to spot some giraffes! It was a small family of 3. We wanted to take a closer look, but wasn't sure if that was okay, but our guide was fine with it.

So, of course, Tyler wanted to get as close as possible. Our friends' daughter saw Mr. Tyler getting closer and wanted to go with him and make sure he was safe.

The baby giraffe.

Peek-a-boo, I see you giraffe family.

The giraffe family. Mom, Dad and baby.

Tyler wanted to keep getting closer, and this was his "surrender" walk. Doesn't he look harmless??

Again our friends' daughter wanted to be with Mr. Tyler to get close, so she ran out there with him.

The giraffes did not think Tyler was harmless and ran away.

Then our friends' son wanted to get out there and see the giraffes.

I see you Mr. Giraffe.

I see you too little boy.

And then he changed his mind and just started wandering around the area, with Monkey in tow.

back to Leopard Rock

Now to continue with our trip that we took to Leopard Rock.

I forgot to mention that the Queen Mother stayed here one time also, they had pictures of her and Queen Elizabeth in the hotel. Pretty cool.

Leopard Rock also is known for the golf course they have there. It has some of the most spectacular views while golfing. Tyler was able to enjoy it while golfing one day. He was loving life. Spencer and I were able to see a little bit of it when we decided to go on our walking safari there. Okay, so not a real walking safari, but we walked around a park that had animals on it! So we passed by the golf course on our way to the park.

Here's Spencer standing in front of the golf course.

I also saw this castle type building up on the hill. I don't know what it's there for, but I wished I could go up there.

The cliff above our hotel.

Spencer helping his friends along the path.

At the beginning of the park we saw some zebras. They are my favorite.

Then we saw some wildebeest. That is our guide on the right.

The views we were able to look at while walking/hiking.

More to come with the animals we saw while walking.

Toothless Spencer

Spencer's at the age where his teeth start falling out....literally they have fallen out. He lost his first tooth last summer while in the States, and then lost the second one within the week when we got back to Zim.

The next ones took some time, even though they were loose for a long time. His top four center teeth were all loose at the same time, and we were just waiting for them to come out. Well, they have, and all within a month, nay, within 3 weeks!!!

The following pictures are here to document the slowly growing gap in Spencer's mouth.

The first one February 27th. Lost while eating cantaloupe! I know crazy, right?!? Cantaloupe?! It's so soft, but that shows how loose it was.

The second one March 12. This one came out at school.

The third one March 17th...just 5 days later. I believe Daddy pulled this one out.

The fourth one March 23nd. This one came out at school today! It was completely out except for the back part being in the gum, stuck! He pushed it out while on the way to school.

As you can see in the last picture his middle two permanent teeth are already coming through, but it sure is fun to see him without teeth, and hear him talk. :) What a cute boy that is growing up much too fast!

Leopard Rock

A couple of weekends ago we were invited to go to Leopard Rock with our friends. It was last minute and we weren't sure if we could, but we decided this would be the best chance to go, and so we did! It was beautiful! Leopard Rock is in the Eastern Highlands, where lots of mountains are, and it was wonderful. It took about four hours to drive there, so not too bad, and this was the scenery we got while driving. As you can see it was pretty great, not too hot because the sun was hidden.

We also saw a lot more of these rock formations that are all natural here. I think it's crazy that they are just balancing on each other like that.

A big ol' hill we saw. I don't know what it was, besides a hill.

YAY! Welcome to Mutare!

This was the view after we saw the shrubbery welcome sign. Gorgeous, right?

After Mutare we still had about 30 minutes to drive up into Leopard Rock. It was great to see mountains again.

Still climbing!

Finally made it to Leopard Rock Hotel.

Tyler and his friend went and played golf right after we got there, after that Tyler went in the pool with Spencer.

I was up at our hotel room taking pictures. This is the pool they went swimming in, it has three different pools, each one being a different depth.

This was the front of the hotel, and that is our friend that we went with (she knew I was taking the picture but didn't look), and luckily they were right next door! :)

The other view from our balcony. Beautiful, yes? (wait, I've already asked that)

Next post will be about the animals and more views we saw there!!

Nature

Nature at its best. I love capturing these beautiful scenes.