A birthday at Hard Rock Cafe in San Antonio

The Student celebrated her birthday in San Antonio. She knew what she wanted. To have lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe, and to buy herself and a friend Hard Rock Cafe t-shirts.
The Hard Rock Cafe in San Antonio is situated on the River walk.
Each Hard Rock Cafe the world over has their own t-shirts with the name of the city printed on it!
It is a a thing: To collect Hard Rock Cafe t-shirts from all over!

Inside Hard Rock Cafe San Antonio

In the Janis Joplin booth

Little Miss got a whole booklet with colouring pencils to keep her busy

And a kiddies meal in a guitar (guess what she brought home?)

The birthday girl with her drink.
She also got the Hard Rock Cafe glass as a souvenir.

Little Miss was not impress with this birthday celebration. She thinks each birthday should be like the 21st birthday party we celebrated the previous year. We could not convince her otherwise!

Little Hoots

Next time we want to check out the Hard Rock Cafe in Sandton.
(Why have we not been there yet?)

Wordless Wednesday #251 - Dance hair

A birthday party at the Spur - recommended!

Party girls

Little Miss always has a late December birthday, and usually no one of her school friends are around.

We decided on a whim to invite a few of her school friends to Wild Falcon Spur at Heathway (Blackheath) on Saturday. It's a relative new Spur with a very nice playground, and a very high slide which Little Miss took a while to conquer. (The "beast")

We had a lovely relaxed time with the birthday meals for the kids, and platters for the adults. I only had to make the reservations! My favourite kind of party!

Fairy cake
(Cake from the Home Industry, and Fairy from Disney)

Party girls / "Leopards"

Party girls

The children had a lovely time playing and getting their faces painted.

It was especially lovely to walk away on Saturday afternoon without having to do anything! (Except paying, of course!)

I can highly recommend this if you want to have a stress-free party. You can also bring all your party goodies and cakes if you want to make it extra special!

This post is not sponsored! 
We had a very good experience!

Twenty one years of joy

#kiaragatsby
Photo: Patrick Pretorius

To my darling daughter

21 years!

Yes, it's flown by in a blink of an eye, but it has also feel like it's been forever! You have always been with us, and also not!

You are already making a life for yourself, and we love the fact that you still enjoy coming back home to us!

That you are in our lives, and that you are always a delight!

People are always telling me how beautifully mannered you are, and that you are such a light and a pleasure to be around. It's got more to do with the person you are, than our own inputs.

Thank you for being a great daughter!
Thank you for being a great sister!

We all love you very much!

I know you are feeling a bit unsure at the moment about where life is going to take you, and that your expectations vs. reality are stressing you. But I know you are going to grab all the opportunities coming your way, and that you will make the best of your life!

We are cheering from the sides.
Feeling very proud!

No, I am not sad that you are 21!
I am glad that we got here, and that we can look forward to sharing your joys and your milestones!

Love
Mom

Photos from the Gatsby Party we had on Saturday at Chicago's Piano Bar!
It was a blast!

Rick, the Creative behind the cake!

Dance!
Photo: Patrick Pretorius

With family
Photo: Patrick Pretorius

Cheers!
Photo: Patrick Pretorius

Family: Gatsby style!
Photo: Patrick Pretorius

Friends at Chicago's
Photo: Patrick Pretorius

Little Missy

Helping Sis to blow out her candle!

Chicago's Piano Bar

Movie Clip Monday #30 - Hot Wheels Party

Little Missy was invited to a Hot Wheels Party yesterday. They had so much fun driving the little cars.

Say "chappies"

Hot Wheels' cupcakes

Wordless Wednesday #215 - Zip Line Slide at Granny's Garden

iCarly's Spaghetti Tacos are great for children's parties

Last Saturday we were invited to a 7-year old party where the requested food was Spaghetti Tacos, as was demonstrated on iCarly.

We were all a bit taken aback by the strange combination, but it was surprisingly good.
The children loved it, of course!

It is also not that difficult to prepare to put together:

Spaghetti Tacos

Ingredients: 

(quantities depending on number of party goers – 1 Taco for each child, and up to 3 for the adults)

spaghetti

beef mince

freshly prepared tomato and onion sauce

corn taco shells

grated cheddar cheese

guacamole

Directions:

Prepare spaghetti.

Prepare mince with seasoning, but not too spicy for the children.

Prepare tomato sauce with fresh chopped tomatoes and onions and seasoning.

Prepare guacamole with extra chillies kept separate for the adults.

Put all the prepared ingredients on the table, and party-goers assembly their own tacos.

Warning: Prone to breaking and spillage! (Keep the serviettes close-by!)

There is another version of a Hungry Spaghetti Tacos recipe on the iCarly Wiki. 

It is worth a try! And a re-try!

 

A 60th at Stone Cradle

There was a recent 60th birthday in the family.

The family organised a surprise event at the Stone Cradle restaurant, and it turned out to be a very lovely venue, close to the Rietvlei Nature Reserve and Centurion.

It is lovely to have a buffet of enormous varieties with a view over the landscape. There was sushi as starters! Guess where we got stuck?

Little Missy was very impressed with the table that was arranged for all the kids

Table arrangement

The grandchildren entertained their grandfather

The surprised birthday man!

Entertainment at the venue
(great for a Sunday afternoon)

Two other well-known twins, Daniella & Caitlin of The Little Train that CAN-fame
celebrated their 8th birthday as well!

Speeches for a man that makes a difference!

Lovely to end the Sunday afternoon with a downpour of rain!

We will be going back!

Party before the party

The upcoming birthday Birthday Girl
(photo by Teacher Fransie)

Proof! I promised that I would take party packs to school (One month to the big 4).

The Toddler was more concerned about "letters" that I should give to her. I think she wants to hand out invitations to her "real" party.
It seems it doesn't help to explain that she will be having her birthday when all her friends are on holiday. (*Shame!*)

I hoped the special fuss at school helped a little bit.

We took cupcakes with a candle and party packs for all the children in her class.
The crowns were made in class. I think the other girls with crowns are also December birthday girls. There are quite a number of them in her class!

Tinkerbell party pack 

(Photo by Teacher Fransie)

Enjoy your weekend!

The long weekend - RIM

We had a public holiday last Thursday, and of course it meant a loong weekend to most of us who could take the Friday as leave.

It flew by, but it was lovely. As always when you have a long weekend... (Sic! Sorry, it must seem so boring...)

It feels like we did not do something major, like climbing mountains or going away camping or on holiday, but we had a great time.

In these little moments we are making great memories, and I want to record some of these special times. To not Rest-In-Peace "RIP", but to Rest-In-Memories "RIM".

It was a bit of a cold weekend (Yes, Sis, we are really cold here, although you do not believe us sitting there in London! ;-) )

- But we could make our potjie (stew) outside on Thursday!

(The dog was not part of the potjie...
She enjoyed the sun and sitting on our laps)

- I had a special day with the two girls going shopping on Friday.
We went in search of tekkies for the youngest, and it seems she is just as full of whims as the eldest about her choice of clothes. I think next time I will just buy the needed item of clothing and put it in her cupboard. I does not help asking her what she wants, because it is almost 100% totally impracticable and unwearable or way too expensive!

- We took the youngest to the movie Brave with Princess Merida on Friday evening. I thought it was a  bit of a dark plot, but loved the message portrayed in the movie of girls making up their own minds about their own destiny. The Toddler also wore her 3D glasses for most part of the movie, and it seems she enjoyed it more than I would have thought. There was no nightmares afterwards. The dark forest and the bears did not have a negative impact!

- We had a children's party on Saturday. I am beginning to get used to it, because it is just such fun for the little ones!

- The two sisters bonded so well over the weekend. Whenever we want to know where the little one is, we just go to her sister's bedroom... She is never far away from her big sister!

- It was our turn to drive back to university, and the little one said she misses her sister, and she should not stay away for very long!
Luckily, the student gets a ride every weekend to come back home!

Walking back with her suitcase on the right

- See you next weekend, Weekend!

A Pirate Party at Ennis

We were invited to a Pirate Party at our local Ennis Garden Centre in Honeydew.
I was not even aware that they had a play area for the kids, but I have found my second best place to go with kids...

(Papachinos is still a firm favourite as our little bit of children's heaven!)

But Ennis will definitely come in handy if you get tired for waiting in queues (as you do at Papachinos), or of too much of shrill voices... Because it is smaller and quaint!

There was a happy pirate birthday boy!

And a pirate ship birthday cake!

With loads of "treasures"

Aye! It was a mighty fine party for this Beauty!