29 December 2010

the seals of the namibian shore



Well, this has been a quiet week here at the DiCocco house. We still haven't been able to find a dentist who is open that can fix Amos' teeth. He has an appointment tomorrow morning though so all is looking good. I figured you didn't really want to see a video of Amos and his broken face playing cards with Billy - or the kids watching iCarly and Psych marathons (thanks to grammy and papa for the seasons on dvd) - or me lying around reading books, eating chocolate and drinking coke with grenadine and lime (or complaining that i have a sugar-overdosed tummy later on in the day).

So, I dipped into my files to look up some videos from the past few months - ones i haven't even looked at myself - but with my new found ability to resize and post - well, hooray.

Last July/August we were given the opportunity to load up a 4x4 RV and travel as a family into Namibia and Botswana. It was a dream-come-true kind of trip... not only the exotic and peaceful location... but the 5 of us, all bundled up in a trailer, adventuring together for weeks. It was dreamy.
Some days we drove for hours and saw nothing but sand, and each other. Other days, we were delighted by the stuff that everlasting stories are made of. Elephants crossing the highway right in front of us, miles of beach and seashells all to ourselves, hippos calling out from the river we were camped beside. This particular day was Harrison's 13th birthday. We pulled into a small strip of land called "Cape Cross" we had heard was home to seals... lots of seals.

Nothing could have prepared us for the spectacle it was. Stepping out of the truck, we heard them first - calling, yipping, yelling. HEY, WANK, UKK , RAAA , WAAH!
as we crested the hill, first one is visible - then ten - then a hundred. We marvel. We absolutely can not believe there could possible be so many on this small spread of land. And then our eyes glance north - and we realize there are thousands and thousands more. Sleeping, crawling, fighting, lying, playing, calling, swimming, fussing. Thousands. We stayed along the boardwalk for an hour just watching & listening & photographing & standing in awe and wonder.

the kids got cold and went back to the truck, but Billy encouraged me to stay as long as I liked. I just watched amazed. When I went back to the truck, Billy was busy making cocoa - we brought out birthday cake, lit candles and sang a boy into teenage-hood with the seals barking accompaniment.

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