A few final holiday photos

Reading the with Gogo 

Getting some Chipski love 

We’re back home safely after making sure we tested the swings at all the stops along the way

At La Belle in Riversdale

A swing inside a section of concrete pipe at Old Nick

Fortunately a safe and uneventful journey home after a good break. 

My dad turned 70 today. I find it quite a strange thing because in my mind 70 is old, but I don’t think of my dad as old (which I think reflects well on him).

We celebrated with a family brunch at Padlangs in Patensie

I was really impressed with Patensie – never been there before and it is a lovely little town.

Gogo and Gramps

There is a lovely outside area at Padlangs with a small bike track that even has push bikes big enough for Grace to ride.

Tractors are always a hit

When they make breakfast in Patensie…..

All of Gramps’ favourite things went into his cake

Following on from yesterday’s search for a geo cache we found our first one while we were there.

It was a lovely relaxed day together with the family. Dad, we look forward to celebrating many more birthdays with you.

Donné and the boys spent the morning with Natasha and her boys, while Grace and I went geo cache hunting with Ida and Melissa. 

The Stanham and Drennan boys

Grace, Melissa, Ida and I went in search of two geo caches close to the Kabeljous river mouth – my first geo caching experience. 

Unfortunately neither of the caches were there, but the journey and search was lots of fun. We discovered a rock mound with the directive, “Add message of hope,” with rocks that people have left with quotes and other messages. 

We also had fun playing in the dunes after searching for the cache. We did find the spot, but the canister seemed to be missing. 

The downhill run

It was a good day hanging out with friends and strengthening bonds. 

Eli wanted to see a rhino, so we set off for Kragga Kamma Game Reserve in hunt of rhinos. Fortunately we were relatively quickly rewarded. 

Rhino Selfie! 

Eli ranks his favourite animals spotted today as rhino, warthog and giraffe. 

Grace’s top animals were the rhino and cheetah

We spotted loads of the animals that they have there and Eli, Grace and Adam all really enjoyed the experience. Adam was particularly good at spotting animals, and we got to be up close to many of them. 

Donné turned 39 today! It was a mostly peaceful day, which took a turn for the slightly-more-exciting-than-aimed-for. 

We went out for some putt putt at the beach front. Check out those birthday girl boots. 

Donné versus the octopus

This was all going brilliantly with laughs, smiles and us having a good time. We got to the last hole and things took a rather sudden change in direction. 

Adam tripped on one of the obstacles and went face first into the bricks edging the hole. When I picked him up it was just blood everywhere, and I knew we were going to need to make a trip to the hospital. 

Fortunately they just glued him back together (litterally), and the milk he drank on the way calmed him. 

The final golf tallies tell an inaccurate tale. Although it looks like Eli is an ace, he actually skipped about half the course, and Donné kept marking Grace’s shots in her column.

Birthday cake! (made by the birthday girl) 

May it be a blessed year ahead for you my love.