Happy 21st Matt

 

Although your official birthday was a few days back, and this is your 2nd birthday party in a week, I hope this is a good send off into the world of adulting. Happy 21st birthday Matthew. You have grown up to an awesome young man and may your adulting years be just as awesome.

 I can't remember all your friends names

 

Dael, Ryan, Dakotah, Danielle

Jaen

 

Matthew, Danielle, Hans, and oh course Minky

 

 Lynda

Lets Start the Party

 

Matthew is turning 21 on Monday, and as usual his birthday falls in critical exam times, so to start the celebrations off we had a family get together had my sister's place in Pretoria. 

But first we had to drop off Bradley and Dael at the local sports pub so that they can watch the World Cup Rugby 2019 final with South Africa playing against England. So while the Boer War III was on the go, Lynda and I drove north to be with Matthew and family.

Good news is that the Springboks won, and that we had a good time with family celebrating Matthew. 

Strawberry Ice-cream

We had to take Matthew back to Pretoria and there was a birthday party in Pretoria as well, Danielle's 22nd. So off we went to Pretoria to a birthday braai. We brought along the world's best spare ribs, and Christo, one of Danielle's friends a chef, made some strawberry ice-cream. 

This post would have been more about Danielle but it was Christo's strawberry ice-cream that stole the show, yummy. Please sir, can I have some more?

All about that Bass

It's all about that bass, no treble as Danielle my niece plays the bass. Matthew is boarding at their home while he is studying at university. He has 2 exams this week before the holidays so I had to drop him off, and this is when I found Danielle strumming her bass guitar. 

Granny in Sunglasses

Matthew and I had to go up to Pretoria to see about a Student Loan for Matthew. And today the temperatures soared to the high 30°Cs. I think we are in for a scorching hot few days as we sweated in the heavy Pretoria heat.

When we were finally finished, I thought that we would take a turn to see my mom who is up from Sabie to see the vascular specialist. So perfect opportunity to get a photo of granny with her grandchildren minus 1. From left to right is Matthew, granny in sunglasses, Danielle, and Jaen-Jurie.

Decorating the Christmas Tree

This year I left the Christmas tree for last, when Matthew and his cousins where visiting. So here is Matthew with Danielle and Jean-Jurie decorating the Christmas tree, fa la la la, la la la la.

Now we are ready, well just about.

The Day After

It may be the first day of Day of our Lord 2016, it was surely the day after the party on auld lang syne.

We had a late start to the morning, sleeping in after our wonderful drive around the southern parts of Kruger National Park. We arrived at our family in Steiltes, Nespruit just before mid day, for a family lunch since we missed the Christmas day one. And this is what we found; everyone must have partied hard the night before.

Looking back 2015 has been a hard year and we are all glad to see the tail end of it, don’t let the door hit you on the way out. Anyway 2016 is going to be a blessed year even if I don’t know what God has in store for me, all I pray is for God to give me wisdom so that I can make the correct choices. Here's to 2016!

Youth has No Age

This morning the weather was once again beautiful and we decided to have a hike and picnic lunch at Kaapsehoop up against the escarpment overlooking the Barberton crater.

Matthew and I were last here about two years ago taking our Italian Greyhounds for a walk. his time we were joined by my sister Theresa, her husband Hans, and their two children Daniellê and Jaen. Well you know Matthew and I by now so Theresa is the one in the Youth has No Age t-shirt, Hans the Zombie through the hole, Daniellê with the dog called Fudge and Jaen in the green, grey and white striped t-shirt.

My only gripe of the day, is while on our hike we saw signs of litter, cigarette stompies, chip packets, and sweet wrappers littered around this beautiful place. Normally it is so peaceful here amongst the rock formations but we could hear dogs barking all the way from the Kaapsehoop village. Not cool peoples, not cool.

 

The wild flowers and stunning rock formations were still a draw card for Kaapsehoop, along with the views and wild horses. By the end of our hike, all we needed to do was to put our feet up and relax while the picnic lunch was served.

Sunday Family Lunch

One thing which you can’t miss up when in the area is Sunday lunch at the folks. It is times like these that whatever family is around joins around a table for a mother’s home cooked meal.

Around the table from left clockwise are Danielle, Matthew, Jaen-Jurie, Hans, Theresa, Lynda, dad, and mom. Okay photos done, prayer, and now bring up the scrumptious grub.

Cousins Having Fun

Looking after a very sick dog is not fun and it is not fun, especially for teen children. Matthew is very concerned for Skye and he stayed up all night at Skye's bedside.

Matthew's cousins, Jaen and Danielle, are up from Nelspruit in Pretoria because their mom, my sister Theresa, is up for her thyroid check up. Tomorrow they are going to Gold Reef City, a local theme park in the south of Johannesburg. It is a perfect opportunity for Matthew to get away from the seriousness of life and have some fun. I wish I could also go to the theme park but someone has to keep an eye on Skye. So I dropped Matthew in Pretoria for a sleepover with his cousins and hopefully they will all have an awesome time at Gold Reef City tomorrow.

World Robot Olympiad Winners

Here is Matthew with his two cousins, Juan and Danielle, who came up to Tshwane University of Technology in Pretoria to compete in the open category of South African National’s leg of the 2013 World Robot Olympiad and they came away with gold.

With this year's theme of World Heritage, Juan and Danielle presented a Lego robot that conducted tours of Robben Island. Here is Matthew among geniuses.

Day One - Quad Biking

Like last year, Matthew and I trekked up to Fredriksdal to spend the first day of the year with family. This time we had a braai and the children enjoyed themselves quad biking into the forest.
Here is Matthew taking Danielle for a spin on the quad bike. Later when Matthew and Jaen was out in the forest plantation the clouds started looking ominous but luckily for them they arrived back just as the heavens opened up in a cloud burst of note. We had to save the braai by moving it onto the patio. After the downpour, the mist crept in and the kids wanted to get back out to quad in mud. Welcome to 2013.

Day One was relaxing with lots of food and family. Good way to start the year and Matthew enjoyed himself.

Danielle

If you fall I will catch you, time after time. With Theresa my sister lying in hospital and all the tests and prodding still ongoing it has been hard for her family. Hans (her husband), Danielle (her daughter shown above) and Jaen-Jurie (her son) are all in town supporting Theresa. The days are long and the end is not in sight.

As I am writing this blog post, Dr House still hasn't found the cause yet of my sister's problems so it looks like it is going to take a bit longer than expected. But we all know that Dr House always gets it right in the end and saves the day. "Idiopathic, from the Latin meaning we're idiots cause we can't figure out what's causing it." - Dr House.

Fourteen, Thirteen, Twelve and Eleven

Before I say anything, I want to wish all my readers a happy New Year and may 2012 be so much better than the previous, oh I know it will be.

The first day of 2012 fell on a Sunday and Matthew and I went up to a small disused railway sliding called Hendriksdal which in the middle of a forest plantation to visit my folks for a Sunday roast. Oh course my three Italian Greyhounds were dragged along, not that they minded.

After a huge lunch, I took some photos of all my mom's grandchildren, Danielle (fourteen), Matthew (thirteen), Jean (twelve) and Robyn (eleven). Then all of us went on this long walk which must have been over 5km long into the forest with three Italian Greyhounds and two Dachshunds. We enjoyed ourselves getting lost in the forest. With the wind blowing through the trees and the dogs bouncing ahead, the cousins had fun being together.

Cousins in the Park

Family time meant taking Matthew with his two cousins, Danielle and Juan for a picnic to Delta Park.

Cousins

After church Hans prepared a exquisite potjie of lamb and afterwards we watched Louie Giglio’s “How great is our god” DVD. Danielle, Matthew and Jaen-Jurie just had fun. They had not seen each other since July 2006.