Our first stop this morning was to pick up our passports with their new shiny 10-year Chinese visas in them. This was our fourth time in the bizarre office building that sits atop a suburban Cape Town mall, but the first time we didn’t leave confused and/or nervous. What a relief!

We had planned on a hike today but it was very, very foggy, so we killed time at the mall and tried to find some things we needed: Millie had worn holes in some leggings, and Nick I wear the same pair of pants every day and want a backup pair. Our hope was that by the time we were done, the fog would have burned off.

We spent a couple of hours browsing and managed to resist the gravitational pull of capitalism trying to trick us into thinking our lives would be better with new stuff. We left with some new paper & art supplies, one pair of pants for Millie, an Elsa purse, and a clip with fake pink hair. Just the essentials.

As we drove back into central Cape Town, the mountains were clear and we decided to attempt the Lion’s Head hike. As we were parking and getting out of the car, a cloud approached. I’m not joking when I say that it got covered in about two minutes. I took these two photos 30 seconds apart.

Things change quickly here. We decided to optimistically presume that it could clear up as quickly as it fogged up, so we set off up the mountain.

Millie did great and we got some pockets of amazing views down into the city and out into the sea. We kept her distracted by getting her to laugh and to tell funny stories. We started a bit where she and I tell Nick fake animal facts as if we are experts. Like “Tortoises in this city are slow so they wear rollerskates”. She understood it immediately and was coming up with the funniest things. Then this evolved into telling him weird lies in general. She took it so far and was making us laugh so much. It was a perfect game of “yes, and…” – need to get her in some sort of kiddie improv class.

We held hands most of the way. Is there a better feeling than a little warm and clammy hand in yours?

We walked and walked and then gave up when the terrain started feeling less safe (ladders up cliff sides) and we couldn’t see a damn thing.

Of course the very moment we decided to turn back, the clouds cleared and the sun came out. The last couple of weeks have been less active so it felt good to use our legs.

We got back to our Airbnb and Nick and Millie played cards while I lay in bed mindlessly staring at my phone and listening to them laugh. Heaven.

At 6 we walked over to Cafe Paradiso. I had read about this restaurant in Following the Sun, Margaret Sullivan’s book about their family’s similar yearlong travel adventure and remembered it for if we found ourselves in Cape Town. As it turns out, we can see it from our window… so we knew we had to try it.

The memorable thing about it? Their kids menu is interactive. Instead of ordering a pizza, they allowed Millie to go back into the kitchen, roll out her own dough, add sauce, and choose her toppings. When she was done eating that, she and another little girl spent 20 minutes rolling out, cutting, and decorating cookies that she proudly brought back to the table for us.

Once she got over the separation anxiety, she had the time of her life. And Nick and I got to have a little date. We talked about how American restaurants should offer this, and then we immediately realized what a nightmare it would be. Parents leaving their kids there for hours at a time, others in there live-streaming the whole thing, needing to sign waivers, etc.

We all loved it. We left the restaurant in the rain and walked the 1/2 block back to our cozy Airbnb.