Our December .... shew !

*** Seems there was a problem in the first loading of the images (thanks Steven & Emily for pointing this out) so I am in the process of reloading them, keep checking back ! ***

Well since my last posting we've been running around a little like chickens with their heads chopped off :)

Andre got back from Yanbu/Rabigh and we had a final week at school before closing for our winter break. We were busy at school with Band Concerts - you can see Lucy here having fallen asleep at one - maybe something to do with falling asleep to classical/instrumental music each night ??? hehehe

Choir concerts - Aimee's afterschool activity Kids Rock were performing ... very cool songs, will post the lyrics once we're home and I have them in front of me. She did a fabulous job !

Class parties and so on ... Here is Aimee at a class performance on the last day, Aimee and her group were performing a poem about penguins. Here she is with an ice-experiment they did in class with her friend Sayako, followed by her with other friends - Brigid, Ameera, Cheslee...

This is Aaron (Aimee's best friend) and his parents Jana and Rick.

And with that week done, a speedy departure to the airport.
We HAD to leave as soon as school was out to make our flight in Bahrain. This was scheduled to leave at 5:50pm. I say scheduled because after sitting on the tarmac for 4 hours - technical difficulties, takeoff had been aborted, we were released back into the airport. Seriously frustrating is the understatement of the year as we were left wandering the airport waiting for some news about our flight. Only once panic settled in at the prospect of missing all our connecting flights, were we informed we could board. The flight finally took off at 12:30am.

We arrived in Dubai and literally ran to the gate ready to board our connecting flight. Arriving in Johannesburg 45minutes late we sped to passport control. This another experience in itself. I don't think I have come across two more unhelpful annoying and rude individuals ever. As the two staff members proceeded to laugh at our frustration and pass our passports over to deal with others, Andre and I literally boiled. We had been directed to the "assisted passengers" queue but the problem was the woman dealing with us was also apparently a supervisor and so had to deal with any problems or queries, hence interupting the smooth stamping of our passports. Finally through and heading for the luggage which definitely wouldn't have made the connection with us, we filled in a claim and headed to domestic departures to pick up tickets. Yay we were boarding the LAST plane and we could relax minus luggage though. It really did feel like we'd fought to get home for Christmas hehehe. Thankfully we're seeing the end of a very long Wednesday and Thursday !

Right its now Friday and the concrete fence at the back of our garden is being moved :) The guys spent the day doing the job which meant our wall is now inline with everyone else's and our garden has gained a few extra square meters. Photo pre-move.

Saturday and Sunday was spent preparing and purchasing paint - house painter arriving on Monday morning bright and early to paint the interior of our house.

And the rain continued to come down :( - most of the week !

Had to stop in and visit my good friend Debbie and her family. :( Belinda had broken her leg the day we arrived which meant sadly not as much fun in the sun this year as we'd had before.

What would it be if we didn't go and have the necessary photo with Santa at the Pavilion ? And then ice-cream at Milky-Lane.

Yay the rain let up and we couldn't waste it ! Off to Ushaka - Debz and Courtney joined us, along with Keagan, sadly Kim and Malcolm were also taking advantage of the good weather and getting things done at home so they couldn't join us.

While the weather was good, we relaxed for a bit at home, early presents in the way of tents for the girls - attempted sleeping outside but the bugs were too disturbing hehehe Aimee trying to learn to knit with granny and then yes the daily bird feeding - two of our friendly crows especially !

And before we knew Christmas was upon us. We spent Christmas Eve with Alison, Keagan and my mom.

Christmas morning - mmm well trained children hehehehe
Girls woke up around 5:30am, came through to us announcing there were presents under the tree :) They were told - "give us til 6am at least!" while half asleep I could hear them scouting things out in the lounge "ooh look at that one" "those are the same size" etc etc etc. 6AM - not a minute after - curse whoever taught them to tell time grrr "Daaaaaad its 6o'clock, time to get up!"
Well we were done in record time, gifts were distributed - mmmm something tells us cards were read while mom and dad were trying to grab those extra minutes, paper was ripped oohs and ahhs and it was all over. Of course puntuated by Lucy taking a break to enjoy a mouthful or two of chocolate hehehe.

And we were off to Tammy and Marc's place for a wonderful Christmas with almost all of my cousins (Wall side).

Boxing day and we were slowing recovering from our sun burn, sunny day so off we head for Tala. This is a fabulous game farm just outside Durban. We had a ball, animals aplenty and of course a quick stop in the hugely crowded swimming/braai area.

We also couldn't pass up seeing the nights downtown in Durban !

Continuing with the cultural heritage theme, we headed off to some museums in Durban. By lunch we were all museumed out after visiting The Old Court House, The Old House, The Natural Science Museum and The Maritime Museum. A quick stop at Spur for a snack and heading off home.

Next day a stop at the beach - not great weather and a visit to Durban Mini-Town, and the girls get a much talked about Ricksha ride.

And now its New Years eve, we're at home packing and getting ourselves oragnised for our departure tomorrow. Oh and sharing a bottle of champayne between us :) bit tipsy by this point !

To all our dear friends and family - Hoping you had a fabulous Christmas - oops I missed doing that in time didn't I :(
Thankyou for being a part of our lives, thoughts, and memories of 2006 and may 2007 bring you all the blessings you deserve !
BTW Andre has been promised - by Santa, at least one piece of silverware for the Sharks trophy cabinet this year so ..... to the rest of you NON-Sharks supporters, sorry missed out on that blessing didn't ya ?

See you all in 2007 !