2007 Dubai 7's

The last time Andre was able to attend the 7's was a couple of years ago. Each year he signs up to go and ref and has to bail at the last minute due to work commitments.
This year would have been the same situation so he decided to not even sign up. Close to last minute though it looked like he would be able to make it. Rather than mess with appoinments that had already been worked out, he decided he'd play instead. Mmmm wife was not too happy with this as at the moment its just for fun, the odd game here and there, and we've had enough injuries just on the fun level ! This was going to be an entire weekend !
And then came an email looking for applicants to serve as IRB Anti-Doping Chaperones. Andre was accepted and so a compromise was reached. Andre'd play the first day and then be a chaperone for the remainder of the weekend.
So off he went.... Dubai is a fabulous venue for the tournament, so much going on. He had a wonderful weekend. The chaperoning was very interesting....Collect your player from the field, and stay with them until they give their sample. They can warm-down, they can even take a shower. Sadly though they MUST be watched at all times - just in case they "lose" some sample hehehe So guess who got to see a player or two in the shower !? What fun ..........

The Bokke

As many of you might know, André and I to a lesser degree are involved in a rugby blog called RuggaWorld. These two articles really sent chills up my spine
http://www.ruggaworld.com/2007/10/18/praising-our-great-warriors/
http://www.ruggaworld.com/2007/10/18/live-the-dream/
I credit the authors for their awesome emotive writing.
These both explain all we feel as our boys face the 2007 World Cup final tomorrow night.
Here's to you doing it Bokke, for yourselves, for your country, and for every South African with a dream of greatness !

A Real Bok Supporter ...is this you ??
Thanks for the video Brenda, good laugh !

Bahrain 10"s

André is once again at the Bahrain 10's this weekend. The girls and I joined him there yesterday for a bit of swimming before the tournament kicked off.

But ....after getting home close to midnight last night we decided to send him on his merry way today. He left earlyish and will be back early evening.
We're just relaxing at home, mom trying to catch up with news on the blog and then of course it'll be getting ready for school tomorrow.
And here we have the Khobar Quins, winners of the plate final in The 2007 Bahrain Duty Free 10's Tournament.

Sadly no photos of my darling reffing as well last night was too dark and I wasn't there today, next time.

Getting into the spirit of things

The 2007 Rugby World Cup kicked off in France September 7 much to our enjoyment.
September 9, our first game saw me at school for our Annual Open House - never fear though, I went along in my Springbok kit and received score updates from my wonderful husband throughout the evening :)
September 14, our second game of the tournament saw me in a hotel room in Jordan - once again wearing my Springbok kit and getting updates from my wonderful husband :)
September 22, was a tighter game for us and I started thinking "perhaps I should be away every time we play ?"
September 26, Special mention to Alison - hope your day was a great one, sad we couldn't be there to share it with you.
September 30, was fabulous....although I had proudly worn my Springbok kit to school each time we played, the girls and I were delighted to wear our shirts to school the day following this win too !
And then it was the quarters .... we faced Fiji October 7 and in celebration of this win, André decided to attend rugby practice in one of his English jerseys. Now to paint a true picture, the previous practice he had been crunched in a tackle and had been complaining ever since of pain in his side, especially when he lay in a certain way - boys will be boys I guess. So it's October 7, about 8:30, practice should be finishing in about an hour, enough time to get home shower and watch the second quarter at 10pm. No chance André walks in, blood down his face and jersey, and a very primitive effort by a fellow player to bandage his head up - Thankyou. "What happened, I thought this was touch rugby not tackle" I exclaim. We head off to the bathroom to cleanup and disinfect, it doesn't look as bad as when he walked in but basically he knocked heads with .....the coach/player, Tony Mulrain. In case anyone was wondering.... Tony was perfectly fine hehehe. And I thought André had a hard head ! I sent him off to the hospital because it looked like it might need a stitch or two, they said he'd waited too long to come in and just taped it together - do they honestly expect you to be there seconds after ???? Thankfully he got home halfway through the next quarter to see Argentina beat Scotland.

(photos taken after I had cleaned the wound, cleaned the face too before sending him off to the hospital hehehe)

(Next day he kicked his toe on our bathroom scale - looked possibly broken or at least seriously bruised.)
'Tis the season for rugby and it seems 'tis the season for injuries.... in my house at least.

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