September Already!?!

September!! The time just flies by so quickly. I can't believe we have been here for a year!! It has been an amazing year.. we have seen some amazing sites and have met the most wonderful people. I am looking forward to another year!

Happy Birthday!!! Well it seems this month is popular with my family and friends for birthdays. So I wanted to wish everyone a great wonderful day!!!
My brother Brent, neice Devin, friend Kelly, My Mom :), friend Johnny, friend Christie, And of course my little, adorable son Evan!! And I know there are lots more that I have not listed. We wish you all a very happy day!

We also celebrated my friend Kimberly's 40th birthday and it was a blast! She was so surprised...and let's just say what happens in South Africa stays in South Africa.. hahaha

I wanted to just post some photos of the boys and their "sports"....Golf & Swimming, I will post some cricket photos soon!
Aiden's golf lessons..



Evan Swimming...



Aiden Swimming...




I thought I would also share some more of the boys artwork. We are coming to the end of the third term of school and the boys are doing so well. Each class paints a tablecloth and then they are auctioned off at our next event in the 4th term... I am saving up to win the boys. It would be a great souvenire!
Aidens' Art...
A Snake...

Chicken..

Giraffe....

Evan's Art....
A self portrait...

A bird.. very cute with all the feathers.

Turtle..


Well to keep the boys busy Scott had them wash the cars.. they had a blast, their neighbor friend,Ryan, helped join in.
Look at the faces of Scott & Aiden... like father like son!


Aiden & Ryan washed and Evan rinsed...


We went to an 80's show the other night which was a blast! There is a group here that does alot of musical shows and they are Amazing! It was great fun.

I would like to say Happy Grandparent's Day! Enjoy your day! We love you.

We are going to be busy over the rest of the month so look for lots of fun posts... we are going to a childrens production of Alice in wonderland. (there are a couple of my friends kids in the production!) We are going to a very nice game reserve for a night and the kids will be on holiday and we will be doing lots of fun things. And last but definately not least we will have Evan's birthday party! So keep checking.

Update

Well I know it has been awhile since the last update. We have just been busy getting back into the routine of things with the third term of the school year starting back up the boys are back into the swing of school and activities.

They grow up so fast! We are starting to plan Evan's 4th birthday party.... with Evan he only asked for 6 kids to come to his party and the ONLY thing he has asked for is a puppy!! Well he won't be getting a puppy. Maybe when we get back to the US, but not now. Aiden is so different, once we started talking about birthday parties he started naming the people he wants to invite to his..and it only adds up to about 30 kids! Aiden is improving in golf and cricket .. his instructors are very impressed! They have both improved drastically in swimming. They have made some great friends and are having a great time.

I have been helping plan the latest fundraiser for their school. We had a ladies tea with a guest speaker and lots of prizes and gifts for teachers, etc. It was a great time! Of course I volunteered to do alot and had a great time doing it. I made alot of the gifts for the hostesses and the speaker and I think I may have gotten a job out of it! :) We have also had some great evenings with friends. We are planning a couple short trips for the rest of the year... as well as planning another adventure for Scott's parents, who will be coming to visit in December. I always have to have something to plan and do! I have also been trying to catch up on my scrapbooking which is grossly behind. I am making headway and am enjoying it again!

The weather has been great! It is the middle of winter and we have had some great days of high 70's and low 80's! Soon it will be the windy season so we will enjoy it while it lasts. Can't complain when you are at the beach watching whales and dolphins in the middle of winter. :)

I wanted to say Congrats to all my friends out there that have sent their little ones off to Kindergarten this year! It is very exciting! My send off is delayed until Jan and is not quite as grand of a gesture since K is still part of Pre primary here. But it is amazing how big they are already!

Other than that we are just enjoying where we are and having a great time. Enjoy the photos attached!!

I will upload more photos of the boys soon...

Here are some of the wildlife from our neighborhood in our backyard... our gate was broken and they wandered in. The swan came back every morning to relax in the pool.



This is our table at the ladies tea. I shared a table with my friend Linda.


Me and my friend Linda at the tea.


Here are the boys...Aiden's friend Ethan was over and they decided to start a band in the front yard. very funny!!!

More Adventures with Grammy and Poppy

Well after all the excitement of the first week we headed back to PE and stopped over night in Knysna. Knysna was celebrating their annual oyster festival so we took the boys to the carnival for some rides and then had a great relaxing dinner on the water.. and of course had oysters! Then the next morning finished our drive to PE and began our last week of adventures. We did lots of fun stuff but also finally had some time to relax. We toured around town, did some souvenir shopping, played on a couple beaches, saw whales, went to the lion park, explored a few of the kids play places and ate lots of good food! The last week of the visit was much less jam packed but just as fun. We had a GREAT time with Grammy and Poppy and wish they could have stayed much longer! It was very sad to see them go.

The boys petting 6 week old lion cubs at Seaview Lion Park....


Grammy & Poppy petting 6 month old male lions at Seaview Lion Park...


Grammy & Poppy at Sardinia Beach watching the boys play in the sand and watching the whales go swimming by! We watched a huge pod make its way past us.


Us doing some shopping at the beachfront... bargaining!


Backyard visitors....





Dinner out with Friends!


I hope Grammy & Poppy enjoyed it as much as we did! Miss you and Love you!

Wineland 2

Our second day in the winelands we spent in a very quaint village called Franschhoek. Very scenic and lots of great wineries everywhere. We only had a chance to get to two for the day... We started the day in the village for some breakfast and a quick walking tour of the town. The first winery was an awesome tour at Haute Cabriere they specialize in sparkling wine and it was fabulous! The entire winery is under ground to regulate the temp of the wine and the use gravity to bring the grapes into the winery which does less damage to the grapes during the process. The tour was very entertaining and informative. The owner was obviously very passionate about the wine and the history behind what he did, which made it even more interesting! Part of the tour was the tasting.. when we tasted the three sparkling wines they make he opened each bottle with a sword and a lucky girl got the top of the bottle with the cork mounted as a keepsake. Very cool!

The house we stayed in Franschhoek




The Owner starting the tour...




After the regular tour we purchased a bottle of sparkling wine and the owners son opened it for us with the sword! Very cool.



Our next stop was Boschendal for lunch and wine tasting. This wasn't our favorite winery but was nice. Then off to the house to rest up for dinner at the Haute Cabriere restaurant!!





Another end to a perfect day!

Winelands

Now the fun part...We were off to Stellenbosch and Franschhoek to check out some wineries. Here there are some of the best wineries in the world! I know some people will debate this but I will stand by it. They are amazing and here wine is very inexpensive! You are paying alot if you pay over $20 for a bottle, we typically pay $10 or less for really good wine. Anyway.. Our wine extravaganza began in Stellenbosch at the Spier winery. Not only do they have wine tasting, etc they have two other great attractions; the Eagle Encounter and the Cheetah Outreach.. both are run by non profit agencies. The Eagle encounter was really cool.. we attended a show about a few different south african birds and actually had the birds landing on our arms! From owls to buzzards.. very cool. They also have lots of birds on display and you can also have an encounter with a huge black eagle. The boys enjoyed it so much that they have performed bird shows for us multiple times since that day.







Then we checked out the Cheetah Outreach Program and were able to pet an adult cheetah.



Oh and the wine... we finally got around to the wine tasting and tasted 6 different wines and liked alot of them! It was a great morning but there was more to come!!




So the next stop was Ernie Els.. we had to stop here if nothing else for the name. Being golfers we had to check out his winery. It did not disappoint! The wines were very good, but by far this winery had the most breathtaking views! Absolutely gorgeous. We had lunch there along with the wine tasting and had a short tour. We got to see the private room that Ernie has dinner in when he visits. And, of course, Evan found a dead frog while playing in the grass... only my child!

The breathtaking views.......




There was a huge green area for the boys to run and to work off some energy!




This is the private table that Ernie Els has at the winery..


Evan and his dead frog.....


Grammy & Poppy enjoying the view and the wine!


We topped off our day with one last visit to Kleine Zalze winery for some more great wine and a very nice lady who gave us lots of advice and information. Then we were off to our house in Franschhoek to get ready to start all over tomorrow!