Update on Life

The rest of the week was spent chilling and chatting under the trees with Mike and Sandy. Saturday Hubby took them to a Car Meet which they thoroughly enjoyed while I quickly did some cleaning and got the place ship-shape again. Sunday Ali bought the boys over for Mike and Sandy to see as they were last here before Travis was born and we had another chill day under the trees. Josh was coughing badly and not at all well so we decided to keep him here and take him to the Dr on Monday morning. I had him with me for the night in the spare room and it was not a good night at all. He was miserable and kept waking up and each time it took a while to settle him again. Luckily I got an appointment for him mid-morning and was given an anti-biotic among other medicine. The rest of the day was spent with Sandy and I taking turns with him. Ali phoned in the evening to say Travis was also sick now and asked me to try getting him an appointment with the Dr for Tuesday. The medicine had not had time to take effect so Josh and I had another bad night with very little sleep. Tuesday I managed to get an appointment for Travis and Ali bought him through. Josh was asleep so I left him with Sandy while I went to meet Ali at the Dr. Once we had finished there we returned to the plot for Ali to say Hi and Bye to Josh and everyone before returning to work. As both boys were too sick for nursery school I kept them on the plot. Sandy made a delicious casserole for supper so that I could see to the boys with feeding and bath time etc. They were both asleep when Diane and Hubby returned just after six and we sat chatting and enjoying our food. No sooner had I started clearing the kitchen when Josh woke up. We all took turns amusing him until he fell asleep again about half nine. Travis was coughing badly so we put Josh in Diane’s bed as we didn’t want them to disturb each other especially as Josh was improving. It was another bad night for me as Travis coughed most of the night and kept waking himself up with it. Several times I rubbed more breathe oil on his chest and back and eventually resorted to giving him honey which helped for a short while. We were up just before six and found Diane and Josh sitting in front of the TV. Josh had woken briefly a couple of times in the night and was up at five ready for his day. We all had breakfast and then Hubby and Diane left followed shortly by Sandy and Mike who were continuing their holiday and going up to the Kruger and surrounding area for a few days. Josh was tired and fell asleep for a couple of hours about half nine. Travis was also tired but determined to stay awake. I quickly cleaned the kitchen while he played just outside the back door with his cars. Once Josh woke we had lunch after which Travis fell asleep. Josh and I chilled under the trees until Travis woke an hour later very miserable as he was still so tired. I managed to rock him to sleep again sitting on the swing bench and put him back to bed. Josh had his supper and a play by which time Travis woke Very Miserable and still Very Tired. I couldn’t do anything with him as he was so miserable and just lay crying. Luckily Hubby and Diane returned and she took Josh while I calmed Travis and bathed him after which he had some supper and his medicine. I put him on the couch with a pillow to watch TV and within minutes he was asleep again. We quickly had some supper and kept Josh awake until half seven so that he would sleep through. By now I felt like a zombie from lack of sleep and we were all in bed soon after nine. Before putting off the light I rubbed Travis’s chest and back and gave him some honey. It worked for a while as he only woke me up around two and after doing all again we slept until six. Diane and Josh had been up since five again. Both Travis and I felt a lot more normal after having a decent sleep. Hubby and Diane left after breakfast and I started my day with the boys. Josh had a good sleep again mid-morning and after an early lunch we left for Alberton as I was running short of supplies. Travis slept in the car until the workshop where we picked Diane up to help me with the boys while we shopped. We were home late afternoon and after feeding the boys and bathing them we put Travis in front of the TV with his pillow again. Luckily it worked again and he was asleep within minutes. After having our supper and keeping Josh amused until seven when he fell asleep with his bottle we spent the rest of the evening on the computer. Both Diane and I had a fairly good night with not too many interruptions though I still needed to keep rubbing Travis’s chest and give him honey to soothe his cough. At least his cough wasn’t bad enough to wake him up. Friday was Diane’s 21st but unfortunately we were not able to do anything as the weather was so miserable and cold and we didn’t want to take the boys out and start them off again with their coughing. Plans to go to the circus farm had to be shelved and by evening we were too tired to care about going out. Saturday when Travis and I got up we found Diane and Josh in front of the TV again. Diane was in quite a state as Josh had been awake since two in the morning wanting to play. I took Josh and told her to have a couple of hours sleep. The weather was miserable and cold with drizzle so we stayed inside again. Josh was asleep not long after breakfast and after dressing Travis up warmly Hubby took him out to play so that I could get their things ready and bags packed to go home. Travis fell asleep until it was time to leave just after eleven. Diane and I were really exhausted after our hectic week of looking after sick boys and were happy to hand them over to Alison who at least had had time to catch up on her sleep and be ready to carry on looking after them now that they were getting better.
After leaving the boys with Alison we left for Lifestyle where Diane and I went to Piatto for a light lunch. I had chicken livers and Diane had a pasta dish. As usual the food was excellent and it was a pleasure not to have to worry about the boys though I was already missing them but with the miserable weather it wasn’t worth taking them out with us. After eating we wandered around Lifestyle where the annual garden display was up. The exhibits were stunning as usual and gave great ideas for the garden. Just before three we made our way to the Lifestyle restaurant to secure a table ready for afternoon tea with Pauline, Val and all. The place was quite busy but we managed to get a table for seven and were joined shortly after by Pauline. We ordered coffee and tea and Diane and I opened presents. I had a lovely necklace and Diane had champagne and glasses. Not long after Val, Kelly, Michelle and Aeron joined us and after opening more presents – Diane had a lovely jewellery box (which matched the purse Ali had given her) with earrings in – we ordered more coffee and cake. Pauline also ordered champagne to toast Diane. When the champagne was poured we sang Happy Birthday to Diane and proceeded to enjoy it as well as the cake and coffee. We had a really great time laughing and enjoying ourselves together. Once the cake was over one of the waiters came over and asked about Diane’s birthday and presents. When he found out it was her 21st he said he was going to organise something. A large group of them came a little later and after making Diane stand on her chair they all sang Happy Birthday to her. Not long after our party broke up and we all headed home where we chilled at home for the evening.
Sunday we were up early to go to a Piston Ring Meet using the Plymouth. As soon as we parked Diane and I headed for the coffee stand we got coffee and then pies which we ate sitting on the stand in the clubhouse area. We spent the morning wandering around looking at the cars on display and taking pics. At twelve we left to meet Dean and his wife for lunch at Europa in Melrose Arch. After parking we made our way, with Brian, to the restaurant where we were joined by Dean and Anne. We ordered lunch- steak for Hubby, a fish basket for me and pasta for Diane – and sat chatting while waiting for it. Not one of us was impressed with our food. Hubby just had a piece of steak with some chips in a little bowl – it wouldn’t have looked too bad on a smaller plate. In my basket was just one piece of each type of fish and some chips – at least the Irish Harp gives about five pieces of each – and Diane didn’t enjoy her pasta at all. Most disappointing and we will never waste our time going there again. At least the drinks were OK with Diane having a strawberry daiquiri and me a glass of wine. The rest of the day was relaxing and having a nap to catch up on much-needed sleep.

Great Times

Saturday morning I was up at five to get ready for our day out. Hubby was already up and packing the picnic basket to put in the DKW as he wanted to make sure we wouldn’t be late. After having our morning cuppa and seeing to the dogs we all got ready and left just after six followed in convoy by Godfrey and Sandy who were in their Stud Lark. Everyone met in Boksburg and we set off in convoy at half seven for Nkwe Picnic Resort. I really dislike convoys as someone is always getting stuck at a robot or stop street and then all pull off to wait till all are together again which makes the trip much longer. We were almost there when Hubby decided the slow car in front of us was too irritating and he floored it to overtake. The other side of the road was a double lane luckily as there were a couple of cars approaching. Both Diane and I were nervous wrecks as just one of the cars changing lanes would result in a head-on collision. Once he had passed the car there was no space to move back into the convoy which made us feel even worse. Thank goodness Don and Jesse were in the convoy at that point and slowed for us to pull in front of them. What A Relief! Our nerves were finished and we needed to put on our anti-stress roll-on to recover. Hubby of course thought our reaction was hilarious. We reached our destination shortly after and were pleasantly surprised to find what a beautiful place it was. As it was so early there weren’t too many people there yet. Everyone parked, unloaded the cars and set up ready for the day. Diane and I went exploring around the waterfall while Hubby with Don and Godfrey started a breakfast of bacon, eggs, mushrooms etc. When we got back we all ate breakfast and sat chatting and chilling. Once breakfast was over we cleared the things and leftovers back into cooler bags before Diane and I went for another exploratory walk to take some more pics. On the way back to the waterfall we noticed people jumping off the cliff down into the rock pool below. We sat watching and taking pics for a while before joining the group again. Quite a few of the jumpers really took a while to pluck up the courage to jump and I must say I can’t blame them as I would never ever have the nerve to do it. The rest of the morning was spent chatting and laughing together enjoying the relaxed atmosphere of the place. As the morning progressed the place got fuller and fuller with people flooding into the resort. Late morning a group arrived who were having a bachelor party. The poor groom- to- be had been dressed up with a pair of pink wings and knee hi stocking and his trousers rolled up like long shorts. They proceeded to enjoy themselves partying and jumping into the rock pool. The guys braaied some meat for lunch which we had with salds and rolls. After that we needed some more exercise so Diane and I joined a couple of other ladies in the group to climb up to above the waterfall. It was hot work but well worth the effort to see the place from above. The rest of the day was spent chilling and enjoying the company before leaving about four to return home – a much quicker journey seeing as there was no convoy.
Sunday was a lazy day having a lie-in after our early start on Saturday. Monday and Tuesday were busy days going back and forth to Alberton and Pretoria. Wednesday Hubby’s cousin Mike and Sandy arrived for a visit and we spent the day chilling and catching up on each other’s lives as it has been years since their last visit. They have been travelling around South Africa for the last three weeks and have seen some amazing places and sights. Wednesday night we relaxed under the trees with our wine and juice before having a braai.
Well Diane and I will soon be off on our European Trip and we can’t wait. Just another two and a half months to go. Time just flies by.

Day of spoiling

Thursday morning was a good start with Diane up to wish me Happy Birthday and make me my second cup of coffee after which Hubby made the breakfast. Once Hubby had left for the workshop Diane and I did some work on the computer before getting ready to go in to Alberton. We picked Hubby up and then went to the Piatto for lunch. We sat outside in the sun and ordered Shandies with Hubby’s favourite cherries. Lunch was really good with Diane having vegetarian pasta, Hubby a combo of chicken and steak and me having steak on polenta. When the food arrived it looked so good we decided we had to have a glass of wine to do it justice. We had a most enjoyable chill time together enjoying good food, wine and of course good company. After lunch Hubby decided to go back to the workshop while Diane and I went to Eastgate to watch a movie. We booked for The Tourist and as we had some time before it started went to do some shopping. The Tourist was an excellent movie and we both thoroughly enjoyed it. It was just after five when we came out and we decided to do some more shopping to avoid the five o’clock traffic. First stop was the Bread Basket where we bought our favourite filled rolls for supper and a loaf of Hubby’s favourite bread – sourdough. By the time we had finished wandering round the shops it was after six and luckily by then the highway was fairly clear so we made good time getting home. Hubby was thrilled with his supper and loaf of bread and we all made short work of the rolls. The rest of the evening was spent on the computer with Diane doing some more freelance work. All in all it was a great birthday with plenty of good wishes received throughout the day from family and friends. The best part was Diane doing everything for me as the tradition is ‘your birthday – no work.’
Friday was spent cleaning everywhere ready for the weekend while Diane finished her freelance work. Hubby was home fairly early with all sorts of goodies ready for our day out on Saturday. We had our usual chill glass of wine before spending the evening between the computer and the TV. We were in bed fairly early as we needed to be up early on Saturday.

Latest update

Life has been a hectic blur the last couple of weeks. Diane and I have been very busy with computer work and the normal routine of our daily life. We both had a lot of fun finding our creative streaks for a photo shoot she had with a valentine theme. It was statement time again and we have had a lot of thunder and lightning activity which has meant not been able to get on the computer for hours at a time. Most frustrating when you need to do work! Thank goodness for the daily dose of wine and coffee which helps in the survival game. We took a day off in between to treat ourselves to shopping and a great lunch of a vegetarian phyllo pastry dish which was to die for. Will definitely be going back there again!
Ali moved flats over the weekend so we picked the boys up on the Friday afternoon for the weekend. We arrived home mid afternoon and spent time chilling outside hoping this would tire the boys and ensure a good night’s sleep. Josh fell asleep about half six and Travis eventually about nine. Diane took Travis to her bed as he wouldn’t leave her alone. Josh woke up about half eleven and that was it for the rest of the night. Diane and Travis joined us in bed about two as he was also awake and crying. Both had bad coughs and I think Ali being stressed about moving must have affected them too. Eventually at about three I decided to give Josh some milk in the hope he would fall asleep. As he finished the bottle he looked up at me and then proceeded to bring it up all over me, the bed and himself. Both Diane and Travis flew out of bed and disappeared back to her room. I quickly cleaned myself up before changing and cleaning Josh. I was too tired to care about the bed and just put a towel over that patch before getting in the other side with Josh after waking Hubby who was off to Swartkops for the racing. Luckily Josh fell asleep but unfortunately woke the minute the alarm went at six o’clock. We both chilled outside having breakfast before Travis and Diane woke at eight. Josh fell asleep about nine and was out for a couple of hours while we kept Travis occupied. He was a bit miserable due to lack of sleep. I cooked a big lunch and after he had eaten pushed him up and down in the wheelchair to get him to sleep. He was out for the count for two hours during which time I cleared the kitchen and started organising for our night out while Diane kept Josh amused. Hubby was home late afternoon and had a rest to refresh himself after his early start to the day. We were all ready for our night out just before seven and left at seven for our night of music in the area. The artist for the night was Adrian Galliard and we had a really super evening being entertained with his singing. It was good to be back into the routine of the monthly musical evenings which were disrupted by Hubby’s op and recovery time and to see everyone there as well.
Luckily Saturday night we all had an uninterrupted sleep as the boys were so tired and more settled.
Sunday we had a chill morning outside with the boys before Ali arrived at about twelve to fetch them. We spent the rest of Sunday catching up on our sleep which we desperately needed before spending the evening in front of the TV.