AMBER'S 7TH BIRTHDAY !!

Dear Amber,   
Your family in South Africa all send their love to you and wish you a very, very happy birthday today, the 6th March, 2009.
We all want to give you a big squeeze and a big hug to wish you happy birthday.     May you have a lovely day with all sorts of lovely goodies to eat and presents to open and lots of fun.
We are sending you some pictures of us all in Cape Town.
We went for a picnic on the beach and watched the sunset. Here we are going in the car to the beach.  Uncle Pierre took it while he was driving.
There was a great big rock with lots of penguins living there and the wind was blowing very hard.
The penguins look like people because they walk around waddling on their two feet.
Granny and Grandpa having a lovely time with the family at the beach
Look how big Mandy is now.     She is 5 years old.
Michael is climbing on the stones near the lighthouse.    He is also growing up fast.   He is seven too.
Here we are having our picnic at Kommetjie near Cape Town.
This is your Uncle Rick,Aunty Michele and Chrissie in Port Elizabet

 In Australia your cousins, Ross, Caryn and Lindy and Uncle Colin and Aunty Lauren are giving you a big smile for your birthday.
Thankyou for your pictures your mommy sent to us showing us how great you look in your new school uniforms, your new house and also your new school.    We are all very happy for you.
God bless you.... with love from us all.   Granny and Grampa.

VALENTINES DAY.

  OUR VERY FIRST BLOG.

Here it is 2009 and at last we are making an attempt to figure out how to use this software to keep in touch with the family.      While we are staying with the Marais family it is a good time to try as Pierre is a whizz at using the computer and very necessary help is at hand.

Yesterday was St Valentine's day, and Dad's seventy fifth birthday.

What a pleasure to be sharing it with the family in Cape Town.  They always make us feel so welcome and  wanted that it is a wonderful time for us to be together and to cuddle up the kids and experience their growing up.    Friday morning is a special time at their school as it is grandparents' day.     We are so glad that we are here and can support the children by attending the function and for them to see us in the audience while they do their thing on the platform.     

Anyhow, back to the Birthday party.

We invited the rellies in Fish Hoek to come to a dinner party at Michelle's but they were unable to, so Michelle said "We will have a party just for the family.       Michelle gave a list of 10 possible meals with different levels of liking from yuk to wow and Dad filled it in with a choice of 4 wows with prawns at the top, and lemon meringue for dessert, and cocktail fruit (canned) for starters.

While Geoff  watched TV  - rugby -  and I watched stuff on M's computer, Michelle and Pierre swung into action with decorating the 'conservatoire' into a party and preparing the food fit for a grand old gentleman's birthday.

We had a splendid evening and we took some photos for you to share in the lovely occasion.

The Conservatoire

I                                                     We  will always send you a  short "check our blog" message so you know when a post is waiting for you to read.     Colin and Hayley please do the same.     One gets tired of looking to see if there is a blog from you and eventually miss a blog when you do send one.

If this goes off successfully, it is really easy to operate, and great to be able to send you a lot of photos.