Senna baking fairy cakes

Last week Senna and her mommy baked and iced fairy cakes. Here are some pictures of our darling niece.

Nya's 1st Birthday and Welcoming Party

Although the weather was grey and drizzly on Sunday, it did not dampen the spirits at Nya's party. The flowing pink champagne may have played a part. The kids ignored the damp and played happily in and out of the house.

Sean & Terry, though, had to use golf umbrella's whilst braaing burgers, sausages and spare ribs.

The welcoming ceremony was toasted in pink champagne.

Terry and Traer introduced Nya's guardians - Traer's sister Abbey, best friend Lisa, Traer's cousin Fiona's husband Mark and Terry's friend Chris

7 Weeks and 3 Days

It's been nearly 10 months since I was last home, so Mike said I was allowed to start to count down the days.
Mike has been very busy working over the weekend, so we did not do very much. Saturday evening we went to the Roeds for a BBQ as it was Helenas First Birthday last Thursday - she is looking very cute now she is walking everywhere and has the biggest smile when she can run around with Mikael and Chrissy.
We missed Nyas first birthday party, but hopefully we will get some pics soon on the blog.
Other than that very uneventful here, we got tickets to see Manchester United versus Kaiser Chiefs at Newlands in July when they come to SA for a pre season tour. Should be good as we are 2 rows from the pitch right behind where the teams sit. Hopefully some of the big players will be playing.

Friday, the weekend started with a trip to the Food and Wine show at the International conference centre. We headed there after work, I love going to exhibitions and was very excited because you come away with so many free things pens, pads, magazines etc. So I thought a Food & Wine Show would be amazing. Unfortunately it did not meet my expectations, unsure why they gave us a bag as we went in, because other than the 1 magazine and sachet of porridge (strawberry flavoured - yuk) that was already in the bag, the only extra thing I got from the show was a bar of chocolate (that I bought). The show would have been ok if there wasn't a R75 charge per person to go in, plus you had to pay extra to see any of the hourly Chefs in Action Shows.
It wasn't all bad, the Malaysian Tourist board had a stand and was selling rotis & curry sauce for R10 and came with tea (the same amazing tea that the Malaysians made us when they were over at The Barn).
Saturday: Few chores bank & laundry so headed to Sea Point. The waves were massive! Unfortunately no camera. We then headed to Camps Bay to see what the waves were doing there, for a quick coffee at Vida. The sun decided to come for the first time in weeks so we sat and read the papers outside with our coffee/hot chocolate. Back home to watch rugby/football. Went out to a small pub in Sea Point to meet up with Shaun to watch the Sharks rugby game, then on to Hussar Grill for something to eat.
Sunday:
Awoke expecting it to be a sunny day, as the reports said it was to be hot. Looked out the window and was shocked it was overcast and grey. So I put on my jeans & boots. Stepped outside and realised it was amazingly hot (up to 30degrees). By the end of the day I had to walk around without shoes and socks and roll my trousers up. We got to see Uncle Pete who was down working on the flat, which was nice. The surf reports were showing that Cape Town had the second best surf in the world today - unfortunately Mike was getting over a little cold, so decided entering ice water was not a good idea. But we took a drive to Muizenberg which was heaving with people - turned around and went to Kalk Bay. Expecting Kalk bay also to be busy we took the first parking we found - right down the road. We thought we would try to get into The Brass Bell (being 12:30 on Sunday it was highly unlikely). Very strangely when we got there, there was only 3 tables occupied. It was very strange - not sure where all the people were.
Off home now (monday night) still warm so going for a stroll along the beach.
xx

Sunny Monday

Another gorgeous day today, which is great as we are visiting the local woods with the Beavers this evening.
Just had a few more pics of Nya taken by Traer over the weekend.

Playing with water in my backyard

I love my Nicky lionOOps!! mama left the fridge door open. Her youghurt is really yummy!

Nya

Glorious weather again today. I'm just grabbing the opportunity before the family arrive to post some pictures of our darling little girl
.
Nya started crawling on the 16th April and this is a short clip on day 2 (I don't know how to rotate the clip).

I was granny nanny for three days last week which was a joy.

Oma took Nya for a walk down to Bilsington church.

Opa and Oma gave Nya her birthday present early as she will have so many people at her party on the first and we thought she could enjoy it whilst here (and we could not wait!)

Oooh! This is fun and it plays music too.

I'm not too sure about this guy called Steve.

I love playing in the garden at Opa & Oma's

Just like my cousin Senna, I love my mummy's sunglasses

It's the Weekend

One of the good things about SA is the number of Public Holidays. We have a two day week this week and after Monday off the Weekend starts tomorrow!
Tonight we have our Heavy Chef Session which is about website usability this month, which should be great.
Not a lot else planned for the Weekend but i'm sure it will include some golf & surfing. I will try and remember my camera where ever we go to make the blog prettier.

Weekend at Fancourt

oops just seen I had saved this in draft rather than posting it -

Mike and Fred Thursday/Friday had a "Site Storm" with new client website client Fancourt - see the new company transport: http://www.heavychef.com/heavy-chef-wwc-news/businessmen-in-buggies/
We all headed off on Wednesday, arriving in George about 5pm.
Mike, Bridge, Paul & stayed at Craig & Chareen's house - which was lovely. Craig & Chareen got back from the Otto trail on Thursday and were able to spend the whole time with us as a planned trip to Cape Town was canceled.
Thursday whilst Mike was in meetings, Paul, Bridge and I went to Monkey Land just outside of Plett. Had lunch in Knysna and back to the house. Luckily I had planned to make a chicken salad as I had to cook before the electricity went out at 6. Mike's dinner meeting was cancelled so he was able to join us for a candle lit supper.
Friday Bridge & I went to the Fancourt Spa and relaxed by the pool and sat in the jacuzzi. Then proceeded to the hairdressers as a cut was only R160. Back to the house and Chareen had picked up Erin's new puppy (Roxy). Paul and Bridge went for a drive to lunch and I went with Chareen to view the new house and choose some tiles etc, then a quick visit to the vets for puppy & dog injections.
Friday night we went to the Wilderness Night Market and met up with Uncle Pete & Aunty Mim for a pizza.
Saturday we went to Botlierskop Safari for a game drive, Mike and Paul went on a horse back safari in the afternoon. Then had a lovely evening meal with Craig & Chareen and a few of their friends at home.
Sunday now home (well at the office) and planning a Mr Delivery dinner.
Thanks Craig & Chareen for letting us all stay we had a great time! Hopefully Mike and I will see you in a few weeks!

Long Weekend (Last Weekend).

In order to have a relatively free weekend, Mike and I went to the office to work on Friday. We stopped for lunch with Sandy at the flat then on the way home we went to the driving range before the sun set.

Saturday morning we had a few chores to do, then back to the driving range.

Sunday we went to Patrick's for breakfast and to watch the grand prix. Then off to Muizenberg for a surf. It was very sunny, but also windy at the beach so needed a jumper whilst reading. Back to the flat for lunch then we walked to the Waterfront, which was only a 15 minutes walk.

Monday little bit of work then decided to walk to the sea - silly idea as it was very hot and seemed a long way. Now I though I should keep the blog up todate whilst watching Miss Potter.

Long Weekend (2 weekends ago)

The weekend got to a lovely start on Thursday evening, Uncle Pete, Mim, Sandy, Warren and Lorna headed down to cape Town, as it was Warren and Lornas last night we all went out for supper at Belgas - along with Fred, Jason, Lea and Eric.
Great night was had by all as we only got home at 12:45.

Friday, back to work but I had a quick coffee break at Vida with Pete, Mim, Warren, Lorna, Sandy & Eric.

Warren and Lorna sadly flew home on friday night, so not able to join us all for breakfast on Saturday at Origins (we actually got a seat! but no black pepper!)

Mike and I took a drive out to the Winelands to 2 estates and stocked up on supplies. Back home we picked up some snacks and met Uncle Pete and Aunty Mim and Clifton for sundowners on the beach (was beautiful). Then we all headed back to our place to watch the Wales France rugby match.

Sunday I had a lie in, then off to Muizenberg to sit on the beach while Mike surfed. A quick check of our emails to find that our friends Bridget and Paul have booked tickets to come and see us on the 2 April for 2 weeks. Decided it was time to start my golf lessons, so we went to the golf club to join and hit some balls. 30% of my balls went into the air and straight!!!!

New Flat

Sorry this has taken awhile but as you can see from the posts above we have been enjoying the Cape Town Life.

We moved into this smaller flat and we are loving it. It's perfect for just the two of us.

You'll have to excuse the mess as these pictures were taken the weekend we moved in, before everything had a place.

We have since bought a table, and waiting to buy a couple of chairs.

But you can see Mike is happy as he can watch the BBQ and the Rugby at the same time.

Last night in cape Town

Whilst emptying my camera I found these two pictures of the final BBQ with mom and dad in Cape Town.

Scrapbook

Make a scrapbook - it's easy!

Back in the UK

The gorgeous sunshine when we arrived home a week ago went some way to softening the blow of a change in temperature from 27 degrees to 5 degrees. (Night time temp was - 5!).
Traer and Nya arrived home from Tasmania on Monday and we couldn't wait to pop over to see them. As you can see from the photo, no one has explained to Nya that she should be suffering from jet lag. (Is Opa having a snooze or looking at Nya?)Then it was back to work with a vengeance. The previous Tuesday I had gone to BNI in Cape Town with Mike at 6 a.m. We drove along Beach Road with a beautiful scarlet sky as the sun rose over the sea and the temperature was about 23 degrees. This Wednesday I left for Ashford BNI at the same time but had to start my car 10 minutes before I left to clear the ice from the windscreens as the temperature was -5° C!!
Saturday, Lynda, Sean and Senna, together with their friends Nic and Dave, came to spend the day and stay the night. It was lovely to see them again (especially Senna). She is talking so much now and is just gorgeous. Senna was a great help with the washing up.Traer, Terry and Nya, as well as Carol who was visiting from New York, came in the evening for supper. Great time.

Flights Home July 08

It's taken me a year and I am still not used to the South Africa service.
Yesterday a lady at BA told me BA do not fly to Dublin???
Today I call again as I am worried flight prices will increase nearer the time. This time I get a man and I explain that we need to fly to Dublin but stop over in London for 2 weeks before the Dublin leg of the trip. As Gatwick is closer I asked to fly out of Gatwick on the way to Dublin - this time I am told BA do not fly out of Gatwick to Dublin??? To annoy me even further he tells me the total price for one person will be R14,166 (£950) so I ask him what is the price for just Cape Town to London, I was quoted R9,307 which is ridiculous seeing as a flight London to Dublin is no where near R5,000.

To solve all my problems I stick to UK service and phone BA in the UK. We now have the required flight for only £682 per person:

Cape Town to London - 24th July arriving 25th July
London to Dublin - 14th August
Dublin to Cape Town - 19th August

The 26th July we have Bridge & Pauls wedding, then until we leave on the 14th Mike will be hopefully going to London to meet new clients. So lots of time to see everyone!!

Killarney 9th & 10th Feb

Friday was a World Wide Creative outing to the race track to watch the practices.
Saturday was qualifying & race 1.
Unfortuately after these very fast times the engine went pop! A big job, so no racing on Sunday for us. We all still headed to the track to pack the car and watch a few races.

Team Heads to Cape Town

Derek, Nicola, Ed, Les, Mike, John, Ken, Trudi

Racing in the Sunshine!!!!

We have realised that the Lenham does not like the rain & prefers the African sunshine and warm weather.
Saturday the car was flying, Ken our Team Manager & Derek (our new team engineer) had re-wired the car (or something like that) and Ed had the most amazing races.


After the second race we did have to chase around the race track picking up bits of the car's body work. As the left hand side of the car decided to fly off and Ed had to finsih the rest of the race holding the door on (amazingly not affecting his lap times). Left with a big whole in the side of the car and too small pieces to fit together, Derek had genius inspiration of using the NO SMOKING sign on the pit wall - the perfect fit!
(The grey being the back of the sign)
After a hectic hour preparing the car for the next race we were all hyped to see the car race again.
To end an amazing race weekend, Ed won Index Driver of performance. In normal terms he was one of the best drivers of the day!
Thanks Dad for an amazing weekend, it was great to meet everyone and lovely to see Uncle Mike & Chad who headed up from Durban.

Swartkops 1st & 2nd Feb

Awaiting Drivers Briefing with a few toasted sandwiches & coffee.

Start of the Races

As you can see from the lack of posting we all have been extremely busy traveling the country.
Mom and dad left for Johannesburg on Friday 25th January. Mike & I left on the following Wednesday morning. I will let mom keep you up todate with their trip and I will just post some of the racing photos - as people have been asking to see them.