Big Adventure - Day 16

Day 16 we headed up to Annapolis to meet a freind. Had a wonderful day on the water. Exploring this historic area was so interesting.... Andre's comment "I could live here !" It is a lovely area. Good lunch and great company made for a brilliant day !

September/October Break 2008

We started off our break celebrating Saudi National day (September 23), a wonderful family day, Ashton, Sandi & Tyler joined us for some shopping in Bahrain before home, relax and then spinning in the evening. The next few weekdays, Andre was still working so while he headed to work. the girls of the house had a lazy pj-day watching movies and eating junk ! A wonderfully relaxing time together !

Once Andre was on leave for Eid though we headed down to Doha, Qatar to visit with Larry & Nikki Kenton (friends from SA). We arrived after a long but uneventful journey on September 30 - Larry's birthday ! Happy Happy Larry =) We enjoyed a picnic on the corniche in the evening before collapsing after a tiring day. Then is was off to shop for our camping trip. Once back the girls enjoyed a swim while Nikki prepared for Larry's birthday dinner with friends.

Thursday saw us head out to the desert for a day/night of playing on the quads and camping. Mmmmm an experience ! The girls had a ball on the quads and as usual it was difficult to get Aimee out of the water when we took a walk down to the beach hehehe. All in all a hot, windy but fun experience, made all the more fun spending it with special friends.

Only low-point of the whole break was that Snowbell took a turn for the worse. She ended up being taken to the vet midway through the week and had to stay for treatment. We were due to fetch her on Saturday after we returned from Doha. Dr. Seega was confident the antibiotics and other meds she was taking would clear her kidneys and the parasite that was causing her aneamia. He called on Thursday but we missed the call... when we called back on Friday, we received the sad news that Snowbell had passed away the night before. Sad news for us but finally she wasn't suffering anymore. Snowbell we love you, you were quite the character, you will be missed !

Uncle Jorg....

.... stopped in Bahrain for a visit ! We were so lucky to get the opportunity to visit with Uncle Jorg when he stopped in Bahrain on his way home to visit Aunty Luanne.

Jorg and Luanne (for a bit) lived on our compound in Saudi a few years back. Luanne is back in the States and your is back in the Middle East although not Saudi.

We drove over to Bahrain after our first day at school to meet Jorg at The Ritz Carlton. Girls had a ball swimming while the adults did a little catch up. Then it was over to Trader Vic's for a quick bite and drink before heading back home --- school in the morning !

Was a fabulous visit, just way too short ! Next time longer and with Mrs. Jensen too =)

and now for something completely different ....

So this blog is mostly about how we as a family are all doing and what we're up to. Considering my darling husband who was meant to be involved with authoring it has left it completely up to me, I'm gonna take this opportunity to spring a few of my thoughts on the world.

Tomorrow marks nine whole years since my father was shot outside a post office in Westmead. Now this post could go in to a whole guilt issue I have but I guess thats for another post. Today I am plagued with thoughts of how reliant I am on male opinion. Not the place most women would like to believe they stand, but what can you do !?
You see the 31st of October this year, marked a year since getting the news that Bruce, my principal at that stage had died the night before. Until that stage I hadn't really realized just how lucky I was. Unlike my siblings, who I am sure felt the untimely loss of our father just as much as did, I seemed to gain Bruce. A good friend said to me last week when talking about a lost loved one "they (meaning the loved one) sent xxxxx to her, they knew what she needed and they found the perfect person to take their place". Strangely this was the day after Bruce's anniversary and so it started me thinking. My father had sent me Bruce. Here I was in a very strange country, no extended family around, about to start a new and at that stage very scary job, and I needed him. He couldn't be with me in person so he found me someone just like him. Now I could also believe it was my Heavenly Father but well that just perpetuates the male opinion issue doesn't it hehehe.
You see as I sit here tonight dreaming back to where I was nine years ago and all that has happened since then, just the same as I sat almost two weeks ago, it is bittersweet. I have both heart-wrenchingly sad memories of both men but more than anything I have those skip-a-heartbeat happy memories.
Both men were my go-to when I needed confirmation or opinion on plans, I could vent and moan - although not too much because I knew they'd put me back in my place lickety-split :) I was pushed by both, they had confidence in me and all that I could be and made me realize I was the only one holding myself back.
As I sit here singing their praises and feeling just a little angry at both of them for skipping out on me, I am ok with the idea that as a woman I felt the need, sheesh still do need a man to tell me I can do it - whatever the "it" might be.

Maybe its because I can also say thanks to my amazing mom and sisters and wonderful friends for their examples of how a woman can standup for anything in this world, who knows hehehehe.
And lest my fabulous brother and darling husband feel left out, I couldn't continue without you either !

But seriously, thankyou to all the wonderful people past, present and future who have and will play a part in my existence, I could only wish my daughters have similar.

Daddy, it doesn't feel like a day has passed, I miss you just as much as ever.

Happy Birthday Lucy

Lucy turned 7 on October 7, 2007. Except for the October that'd look pretty cool hehehe. We did the present thing before heading out for school and of course because her main present was a trampoline (which her big sister helped us put together the night before), we were very excited to get home and put in some more jumping time :) Does it look like she was excited at her surprise ???? Even Aimee can't help herself and she knew about it hehehe

Her birthday party was scheduled for Thursday October 11, friends from school joined us for some old-fashioned fun. As much as she begged to go to Sparky's (amusement arcade/park) mom and dad held fast and we decided to just stay home. So after mom had gone out the night before with friends (not feeling so great now), she was up early baking and getting all the food ready. We sorted out the activities ..... pass-the-parcel, musical statues, musical cushions and "The Chocolate Game", and of course there were the scooters, balls, jump ropes and the trampoline outside too. A fun morning had by all - especially André in sneaking a choice photo or two :grrr:

please note the very special beanie we had the children use for the game hehehe

oooh and then their was the cupcake decorating too -
think more decoration ended up in mouths than on cakes heheheh

and it this point I am just plain moeg, but ....at least I have the remote control hehehehe

And lest we forget - well we missed the email by a day....a special mention to "The Old Man" in the family hehehehe Happy Birthday Malcolm, hope the 10th was good, and if not.....well there's always next year :) hugs and kisses.
And Uncle Scarbie - hope your birthday was wonderful too, no fair you got to go to Mauritius though :( hope it was good !
And Wade, hope you had a wonderful day too :)

June/July in South Africa ..... a long one !

Ok so its been a while .......

Got back to Saudi last week and done a bit of a summer clean, moved furniture etc. you see with my mom moving out of our home in South Africa it meant there was space for Aimee to be in her own room. She asked for that once before here, we did it but after a few days, moved back in with her sister. Well here we have three rooms but the third has always been the study/storage room. The separate rooms were such a success in SA that we said we'd see what we could do back here. It has meant reshuffling things and a whole wack of sorting but we have decided Aimee will get to have her own room. Project not done yet, with André being away during the week, it limits what I can get done on my own a little.

So now down to the news and photos of our visit home.....
My last update was in the airport in Dubai en route home. We arrived in Johannesburg and because someone had left booking a car and internal tickets so late, we decided to book a car in Johannesburg and drive down to Durban. You see it was the Test weekend and so there were NO CARS available in Durban hehehehe so anyway after waiting almost an hour for any luggage to appear - Johannesburg airport is pitiful when it comes to organising luggage ! we went off to Tempest to collect the car. André will tell you they saw my luggage and decided it wouldn't fit in the vehicle we had reserved :grrrr: so we got a free upgrade.........to a BUS :shock: look it was great to travel down in, plenty of space, girls each had a row and there was still space for my 5 bags. But it was still A BUS :shock:

We had promised the girls a trip to Ushaka so the very next morning we headed off to enjoy the water and FREEZE ! Its winter in South Africa and you'd be amazed how many people have mush for brains and go to a water-park - for fun hehehe it was great and the kids had a ball. Its better in summer though :)

So now its the game, the thing that helped plan the entire holiday hehehe its our wedding all over again ! We love Kingspark - not ABSA Stadium, Kingspark - home of the Sharks :) The stadium was fabulous as always and we caught up with many friends including Larry, Nikki and the boys. Of course we supported the Boks but sadly..........we lost boohoo maybe it was because we only went as far as clothing and not coloring our hair as well hehehe Anyway the All Blacks were awesome and deserved their win. Not saying we weren't hoping the Boks wouldn't pull a trick like the Bulls did to us a few weeks earlier in the final seconds of the game but what can you do.

The following week was spent busy busy busy getting things done at home and then Scarbra came to visit. The wait at the airport to pick him up was long because of bad weather delays.......the girls were not impressed hehehe but very glad to see him :) Of course we couldn't have him visit without taking a trip up to Gateway for some carting. For the record, André won :)

And then it was back to final running around before André left me to go back to work. We did manage to squeeze in a visit or two to Sibaya casino which was loads of fun. André headed back to the heat while the girls and I stayed to enjoy the cooler weather brrrr

On a warm enough day we enjoyed a visit to Suncoast Casino pay-beach. Of course with neither my mom or I having been before, we didn't know what to expect and evil mother that I am, didn't take swimsuits for the girls. They had fun anyway - wouldn't take their tops off though so we just played in the sand and surf as is. A second visit was in order though when we came prepared and Aimee had a ball on Keagan's boogie-board. Don't know how it happened cos mom is not a beach person but these two looooooove the beach, must be their dad's fault :( Bit windy and miserable so we retreated to the grassed area for ice-cream. The kids and mom all enjoyed watching a BMX demo while Debbie and I chatted.

And then of course it was only right to visit an animal farm which was fabulous. Lucy is not so "into" animals and found feeding them or for that matter being near them a bit of a stretch. Aimee had a ball though :) The pony ride - thankfully - was a hit, previously even this was an issue for Lucy :(

And then there was Dylan's 20th birthday dinner. Well meant to be just desserts but turned into dinner too. Much to André's jealousy, I ended up making Lemon Meringue, Milk Tart & Caramel Fridge Tart with my mom in preparation.

And on the same day, Florence's (our maid) youngest daughter had a baby so we were frantically dashing around to get organised for this development. Here the proud granny with our girls when they visited the hospital. And then when we took the cot and other things to their home, the girls got to pose with Bridget for a photo. Bridget was my maid when we were in South Africa and was a huge help and absolutely fabulous when the girls were babies.

Other than all the other running around to do, I needed to pack up the house to prepare to move in with Alison a few days before leaving SA. Family friends needed somewhere to stay and so we offered our home but it meant packing up and moving early. Thanks Dylan for giving up your room for the girls and I to share. Thanks Alison for your hospitality. Thanks Mommy for all your help and patience - it was so nice to have the close time with you again.
It was great to have a final dinner with some of my extended family. Thanks Tammy and Marc for opening up your home. The kids had a ball and well Lucy got to have another close encounter with animals hehehe At first she was terrified of Tammy's cocker spaniel and reacted just the same as she did when we visited Debbie and Brian and their Rottis. Thankfully by the end of the evening she was happy enough to lie next to the poor terrified creature :)

And then I was off and for the first time got caught with excess baggage :( still waiting for my suitcase which I had to send separately to arrive :( the girls were fabulous on the trip home though and I am very thankful for that !

oooooo and other news, just in case anyone is affected ...... André managed to lose his phone in Dubai airport on his return :( so he may or may not have your number now hehehe