We had a good rest at Dikhololo

Dikhololo is a great place for families. It was just under a two-hour drive from Johannesburg, and we were in the Bush-veld on Friday this past weekend.

Of course we were still emotional about the loss in our family. Stew's death left us reeling! We had his funeral on Monday this week.
(I don't know if you ever get over the loss of a young family member? How do you smile when you know there are so much sadness?)

Little Miss did not stop swimming for the whole weekend. The best of all! We could watch her swimming from our chalet as all the chalet clusters are built around swimming pools. How cool to watch her swimming from the bed (while reading) or braai (barbecue) for the whole weekend!

We went exploring, water sliding (even me, and I loved it! Little Miss hated it!) and played tennis while we were there! We could have stayed MUCH longer, but a weekend is of course way too short! We did not even went to the indoor heated pool (it was too hot!), or drove around too much looking at the wildlife. The putt-putt also did not happen. Next time...

I am sure we are the only family that got lost from a viewpoint on our way to our car... But that was part of the adventure! My Dad with his in-built GPS could only shake his head when he heard about us walking around the hill searching.

We celebrated my Dad's birthday this weekend! How blessed we are to still be able to go on holidays together!
He is such an inspiration for always being active and on the go!

Thanks, Dad, for all the holiday fun!

This is life! Summer, the Bush-veld, a fire going, a swimming pool and a drink!

This was a good rest!

Masterchef in the making?

Masterchefs preparing the fish

Little Miss always tells us that her Dad is a Masterchef, and why don't he also go on the Masterchef series?
It does not help disagreeing with her about how good one should be...
(Not that her Dad is not very good!!)

We had a less busy weekend this past weekend, and Little Miss could help her Dad with his food preparations, which she was happy to do!

We had buckets of rain, but it did not deter us in doing one of our favourite activities: Braai and braai (barbecuing). South Africans always find a reason (or no reason at all) to braai!
And never ever a pattie...

We also had load shedding on Saturday and Sunday evening! (Who did not?)
But there is nothing like candle light and a little bit of Seinfeld to have made it worth the while!
Thanks, Eskom!

We are now counting the sleeps to

• the holidays, 
• Little Miss' play-play party at school, 
• Little Miss' birthday and 
• Christmas, of course! 

Happy times!

The Tuesday after a long weekend

The feeling you have after you have been woken from a very good dream and you don’t want to open your eyes… That is the feeling I have today after a great weekend! We had an extra public holiday yesterday.


There is nothing that feels as good as when you know you don’t have to get up early on Monday morning! Not even Friday evenings can be as good as a Sunday without a Monday…

The rainy season is not yet over on this side of the world, but we saw some lovely sun this weekend as well. It was great staying at home. We only did the Gautrain trip, and spend some time searching for patio sets… Unfortunately our taste does not fit our “patio”, and I think we will wait until we have the bigger “palace”! Always nice dreaming, though… (wink smile)

Hubby put up a permanent gazebo, and thoroughly enjoyed braaiing (barbeque) outside! I want to die and go to lazing-in-the-sun-and-braai-and-red-wine-heaven! No singing in the choir for me, thanks! This is much better!

The Teen had her own busy life to attend to this weekend. How do you know you have a Teen in your life? When her door is closed when she is there, and it is open when she is not! But it is not as bad as it seems! Really! (tongue-in-cheek)

But I was beginning to think about the French tour that is just around the corner, and how we are going to miss her. Up until now we have been stressing about getting everything done, but now I am going to stress about letting her go… Already working on a couple of speeches in my head before she goes!

What advice should I give the Teen about going overseas?

Who steals a garden umbrella?

The weather is like summer here. And weekends translate into being outside and braais(barbeques). We had a patio umbrella the previous weekend.

This weekend it was gone!

Who steals garden umbrellas? It is a very heavy, especially with the metal base. Dries walked around in our complex to see if someone had nicked it. We can’t imagine seeing someone walking out with it under their arms. Not that it would be that strange... Reality is stranger than fiction!

It could have been the garden services on Wednesday. They trimmed our neighbour’s trees, and it’s possible they could have smuggled the umbrella and stand out with the tree branches.

The case of the missing umbrella... Another crime statistic? No, not even worth mentioning here with our large crime levels in South Africa.

Just suck it up! It is very frustrating! It’s not like we have back pocket money on hand to go out and buy a new one immediately...

What has been stolen from you that are worth a lot to you, but not worth going to the police about it?

Sunday sun and girl’s play

We had another glorious sunny day here in South Africa. Braai (barbeque) and soaking up the sun! Glorious!

The grandparents James & Leonora

Arnia with the dog

We had such a lovely time with the toddler. We miss a lot with us going to work and she going to day care. We don’t always see her in her best of moods, and with what and how she occupies her time. When I pick her up at day care after four, she is usually tired and hungry, and mostly in complaining mode... (The gripe of the working mom! Little whine!)

The toddler loves playing with her dolls. It is amazing how much girls and boys differ with the toys they choose to play with. She spends hours walking around with her dolls. Dressing them. Swaddling them. Pushing them in her toy stroller. Even feeding them her own food, or giving them her bottle. It is precious to watch! The repetitive mode is on, and she does it without getting tired.

It makes me realise how much moms practise to be moms.

No wonder that we are slightly better at it! (Wink smile!)

Sunny Saturday - going for a ride

We have lovely, sunny weather here in Johannesburg! After a cold week of winter, the sun was a welcome break for the weekend. What do we do when it is warm? We braai (barbeque)! Nothing beats a good fire, and off course: red wine!

Mieka, the toddler, with her sticker on the forehead from the Tiny Gymnastics this morning.

*Goodbye, I am going now!* (with the camera bag over her shoulder)

*Open up this gate!*

*Going for a drive!*

(She can "ride" it by herself now!)

BDay weekend in pictures

Birthday breakfast at Fashion TV in Ceder Square

Braai (barbeque) with my family

Dog training: picnic with the toddler
The toddler is sick again... (we started Sunday with a vist to the doctor). She left her first marks on the kitchen cupboards!
Braai with the extended family, again!
It was a great weekend! :D
It is really hot here. Strange for this time of the year. Usually it starts getting colder when my birtday comes around.
(We won't mention the sleep deprivation because of the sick toddler. ;-) )