Highlights of South Africa Part Two

April 24, 2010 - Cameron's 5th Birthday Party

We finally got to celebrate a birthday with Cameron.  I asked Nix if we could have his party early so that we'd at least be there for one of them.  So Nix organised a party at Kid-e-Up, a great venue in Kyalami, that has just about everything you need to entertain kids - jungle gyms, jumping castles, trampolines, ponies, swings, etc etc.We just had to organise the food and treats.  The weather didn't quite co-operate that day, it was one of the coldest days and had rained the night before.  It was predicted to rain the entire day, but thankfully held out for the party.  Kids being kids weren't phased by the cold, still running around outside and enjoying themselves.  Thinking of it, I didn't even see the kids stuffing their faces with sweets because they were too busy playing.  Nix had organised a clown, which was a great idea as it kept the kids indoors for some of the time and they thoroughly enjoyed it.  Emma was even entertained, she was squealing along with all the kids.

Cam really had a great day, from the start he had the biggest smile on his face, you can see it in all the photos.  So glad we got to share this day with him.

More pics of Cam's birthday

April 27, 2010 Ukutula

With the limited time that Rod had in SA we squeezed in as much as we could and tried to see as many people as we could too, with everyone working, getting together with friends and family during the week was tricky.  However the last Tuesday of our holiday was a public holiday.  We decided to ask whoever wanted to join us at Ukutula, a lion park just over an hour from Johannesburg.  There were 15 of us, it was such a unique experience, to be able to see so many lions up close.  I don't know how many lions there were, but there were a lot, from 9 week old lion cubs to adults, cheetahs and tigers too.  Truely amazing.  One of the cheetah's names was Emma.  We were able to milk feed the baby cubs, touch them and even carry them if you wanted to.  That day they had just brought in a buffalo that died giving birth to her calf and fed it to the lions, they also introduced a male lion into the one section of just females, so was interesting to see how they suss each other out.

The lions were really intrigued with the kids, Cameron and Caitlyn would walk up and down and the lions would pace up and down following them.  Emma would be squealing and you would see all the lions sit up and run toward her (you can see this in some of the photos) - can you just imagine if there weren't any fence barriers.  Kind of scary in a way.

The closest that Emma got to the lions were the lion cubs - she almost got to sit on one, that was pretty funny, as the ranger placed her above the lion cub for a photo you just heard everyone gasp.  Emma just wanted to touch them.  These lion cubs were pretty fiesty especially at feeding time, Uncle Roy was the unlucky one to get clawed, but thankfully nothing serious, their claws were pretty mean for such small little things.

Again the weather was cold that day, and thankfully the rain held out, turned out good as the lions were more active.  Definitely a great day and something I would recommend people do if they want to see lions up close.

More of our Ukutula experience

May 9, 2010 - Mother's Day

My First Mother's Day, sometimes I still can't believe I'm a mommy.  It's so special having a baby now and I'm so proud to be a mom.  Pity that Rod wasn't with us to share my first mothers day, but nonetheless it was still a good day.  I got to spend it with my mom, gran, Nix and Rod's mom, so that was special, we all went to Pretoria to have Mothers Day brunch at Aunty Glor.  Eggs, bacon, sausage, fruit, muffins, it was all good.

This time the weather was sunny and beautiful, great weather to be outdoors.  I had battled to put Emma down for a nap, so instead took her downstairs to be with everyone and just aswell, we managed to capture some great shots and Em was in one of her happy, bouncy moods.

Thanks Aunty Glor and Kar for hosting Mothers Day brunch, it was wonderful spending this day with everyone, a great way to end off an awesome holiday in SA.

More of our Mothers Day Photos