Shallow Pig Cottage near Parys - great breakaway

Shallow Pig Cottage - Koedoesfontein

We haven't gone away for quite a while. We had the camping weekend last year at Sondela, but mostly we had been staying home. It's still a pandemic all around, and in South Africa we are not getting the vaccinations just yet.

I was going down the rabbit hole of places to stay on the Internet, and found Shallow Pig Cottage on Booking.Com. I have already made my next booking as well, as there are quite a few good deals and great places to stay. 

We love Shallow Pig Cottage. It is near Parys, but it is the most quaint cottage on a farm, with everything that you need to stay for days and days. Each morning hubby went and fetch our eggs from the nearby hens on the farm. We braaied and looked at the view for hours and hours. Miss Fine was also very happy with her wi-fi that was sufficient to keep her going. She even entertained herself with mud building, and searching for rocks. 

Shallow Pig Cottage - farm 

We drove through and into Parys on Friday and Saturday. We went over Easter Weekend, which was not a good idea, because the place was too busy. Next time we will only spend time on the farm. We were so disappointed with Venterskroon Inn and the Dog & Fig Brewery. Both were not at all catered for the the guests, and we had to go even though we would have loved to stay. Luckily we found LiewerKoffi (based on a recommendation) when we arrived in Parys, and the next day we had a lovely lunch at Cherry On Top. 

Vredefort Dome Information Centre

We made the bumpy trip to the Vredefort Dome information centre. The previous time we were there, it was with the Voortrekkers at Venterskroon in the Vredefort Dome, and we wanted to show Miss Fine the significance of this place which is the largest verified crater on earth. 

The cottage was more than we could have hoped for. There was the cosiest beds, purified water on tap, wood to braai, and for the indoor fire-place in the cottage. The bathroom has a lovely view. There is a worker on the farm, but we never saw him, except when he went to open and close the chickens in the barn. We had the place all to ourselves.

Miss Fine enjoying herself at Shallow Pig Cottage

Our host was extremely friendly, and made sure we had the best stay. Thanks, Warrin!

It's a Friday

On a Thursday

It's basically Friday today. Although on the calendar it says Thursday. It's Easter weekend and we are looking forward to it. Even Miss Fine said she couldn't wait. She has been picked up at school early by her dad.

I am out of the office in a few hours, and the weekend is here.

Of course we would have loved to go away. Travel anywhere would have been nice.

In the meantime we will be living our best lives at home, chilling and coach-surfing. My to-do list is as short as possible, but here goes:

Plans for an Easter Weekend at home 

- Chill with the family.

- Do an Easter egg hunt. (Although Miss Fine is 10, she still hinted that she would love to do one. We bought some provisions at CNA last week)

- Braai with the family.

- Watch some series, and some movies lined up. We are into If I hadn't met you and Russian Doll at the moment.

- Attend Paasfest tomorrow.

- Fix Miss Fine's blazer for school. She has Choir lined up for next week.

- Read The Good Professional by Don Turner, before BookTasters fire me for taking so long to read the books. I have a really good feeling about this one.

- Help Miss Fine with preparations for a speech.

- Make some Easter craft with Miss Fine. She has a How To project for school and decided on an Easter thingy to make. I wish the second season of The Derry Girls would become available soon.

- I have to do two reviews on the blog. I am really impressed with the AgeWell skincare range. After a month I can see a remarkable difference. The Baby Born Soft Touch also needs a write-up. She is super cute and cuddly! (They are both #gifts)

- Do absolutely nothing!


What are your plans for the long weekend?

What are you watching?

A feverish weekend

We were planning a very relaxed Women's Day and weekend this past weekend!
(Murphy?!)

Little Missy started with a runny nose, and by Thursday night we were struggling with fever.
But not enough to prevent us from going to Decorex on Friday, our yearly inspiration! (And desperation!)
(I had won two tickets through Twitter's Stavey Vee! Yay!)

We dosed Little Missy with medicine, and for the most part she was sleeping in her stroller.
(As a matter of fact, Little Missy gets dosed by any medicine, so it is not on purpose that we "dose" her. We need to give the Panado or the Celestamine on occasion.)

(Dad got a lot of smiles from all the ladies while pushing her)

It was cold and rainy, but definitely not enough to keep the crowds away from Decorex.
I never knew I needed that thing, until I saw it right there!
Now our house and its interior decoration needs a complete overhaul!
We will be chasing that rainbow (see top photo), after all! *Wink smile*

Friday night had us up with the fever again. The Panado and suppository just before 12 did not help.
She was waking us up with fever dreams: "Hold me!" "I'm scared!" (Eyes wide open, but not awake! Afterwards she told us there was a HUGE FROG who touched the sky...)

While busy running the second bath of the night to cool her down, I followed my own rule:

"As soon as you begin to think "Should you take her to the doctor, or not?" - Take her!"

So we walked into emergency at 2 am on Saturday morning.

Not feeling well at all with red cheeks

20 minutes after the hospital's suppository kicked in!
Up and about!

The fever was dealt a definite blow, and up until now we are only struggling with the runny nose. I did not give her the antibiotics that was prescribed...

The rest of the weekend we tried to recover from the lost sleep, and spend some time with the family!


How was your weekend?

Camping the very best with children

Camping with the Toddler had its own challenges, but we are enjoying camping with our Little Missy so much more.

She opens her eyes in the morning, and announces she is going to play with her friends!
Which is just the next tent away.

When she was not playing with friends, she was in the swimming pool. Dad had his fare share of catching, and keeping her afloat! But she announced to each who looked her way that she can swim on her own!
I had an idea of how exhausting it is when I went with her for a swim in the warm water swimming pool..
Thanks, Dad!

No hands!

Look at me go!
YouTube video: Sliding and swimming

Ball playing with friends

Beestekraal Station fun

Beestekraal family photo
(The Student on her own holiday)

Friends still busy at night

Bushveld sunsets - always spectacular!

That was our long weekend of four days! Of course it still feels too short!

Hope you also had a great weekend?



Related posts:

Camping - we should do it more often

Weekend camping

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!

Easter weekend - Done!

Easter weekend is done and dusted! 

As is a quarter of this year! (Where's the brakes?)

It was such a lovely looong weekend with the family! 

We had a Easter egg hunt in the garden, and afterwards all the eggs were divided amongst the little ones!

For once we could threaten: "The Easter bunny is not going to come if he sees that you have not eaten your food!" (It worked!)

I wish I could keep these special times frozen. 

The awe and the excitement and being with them...

This is the best time right now!

I do not wish for her to grow a day older!

The rest of the weekend was spent in shopping malls to search for winter clothes for the student and toddler.

We also did some tablet gazing after Hubby got himself a Samsung Galaxy Tab for work!

I am now a very excited owner of an iPad!

(How guilty do we feel when we buy something for ourselves?

Even when I buy much-needed clothes for myself!)

Now, does anyone know how to blog on Blogger from an iPad? 

What have you been up to?

A rainy looong weekend

It is rainy here, and it seems that winter is making an early call this year! Going to the Mall we see everyone dressed in their warmest winter woollies.

Lovely weather for a long weekend! A bit of sarcasm here, but we awarm potre making the most of it! A  of goodness is stewing on the stove (thanks Hubby) and we are watching Ironman and the Toddler is catching up on some afternoon sleep... What could be better than this?

We had some family time with the niece and nephew and the grandparents yesterday! I do love Easter time! It is a time of reconnection with family and thinking of Life reborn...

Hope you all have a lovely weekend! We’ve got Monday off as well! Sleeping late is not an option! It is a necessity! Recharging our batteries...

Easter eggs tomorrow! Officially you are allowed to eat that chocolate! Enjoy! (Wink smile)

Related post:
The Tuesday after a long weekend

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?