D-Day has Arrived

The day has finally arrived and we are almost ready to leave. We are all packed with our bags waiting to be picked up on the way to the car. This last week has just flown past. We have been really hectic getting everything organised for Hubby and dogs. Statements also needed to be done and luckily all has been finalised and sent out. Diane has also been very busy helping Irwin Animal Rescue with some much-needed help. We rushed into Meyerton this morning to do the final shop. All beds are clean and tidy with everywhere clean. How clean it stays with Hubby and dogs is anyone’s guess. But at least I left it clean.
Ali and the boys came for the day yesterday (Josh turned 10 months) and we had a great time with them. For a change we even had some sunny weather. The first sunny day in weeks. The boys were able to tire themselves out playing in the playground. Today has been rather overcast with really strong winds. The Cape is expecting their first snow tonight so we are luckily going to miss the first really cold spell.
Well that is it for now as I need to finally get myself ready to leave for the airport. Tomorrow we will be in London. Yippee!!! It we have chance we will blog from London. If not it will be next week from Prague.

One Week to Go

The weather has changed drastically for the worse with a cold snap accompanied by rain, rain and more rain. Luckily I had managed to clear all my washing and ironing before it started – keeping things up-to-date ready for our trip away. The garden has changed almost overnight with the falling leaves making a thick carpet everywhere. Most of the birds have disappeared with just the sparrows and some others still around. The seed in the feeders lasts a long time now. Winter has arrived and the weather forecast for the next week predicts continuous rain and cold. The one good thing is that all the rain gives the garden a good boost before winter really sets in.
Diane and I have been really sick for over a week now and having been dosing ourselves up to make sure we are in good health for our trip. Diane lost her voice for about four days and I just couldn’t shake off my sore throat and bad cold. Today has been the first day in more than a week that we have felt a bit better. I’m sure the cold weather didn’t help. On Saturday Diane and I went across to Ali to look after the boys as she was working and had no-one to look after them. It was a terrible trip getting there as we left before seven and with the rain and mist around visibility was really bad. We just stayed at the flat with the boys as it was too miserable and cold to do anything. When Ali got home we quickly went out for some KFC before Diane and I left. It was still raining but at least the visibility had improved. We stopped at the Glen to do shopping as we had been too sick to go anywhere during the week. By the time we left the rain had stopped and we were able to get home before it started again. Sunday was spent chilling and keeping warm in between dosing ourselves up.
Monday the rain stayed away long enough for me to clear washing again though the damp air necessitated the use of the tumble drier when the things didn’t dry.
At last Diane is managing to wind down with her computer work. She really hasn’t stopped for the last six weeks with all her freelance work. But at least she is proud of all the holiday money she has been able to save. I can’t believe how good she has been about not spending anything unnecessary. Though I must say we both have been saving like mad with no outings or movies at all. It will be worth it with all we have planned for our holiday. We both can’t believe it is only a week left now and are both really glad that our last week will be spent with Mom as her health is not good at all at the moment. Ros is with her now until the 24th, after which Val is going for a week followed by Sylvia if is she is able to make it. We are with her from the 19th and then Pauline is going over to her. We are all praying and sending our love and best wishes for her. Love you MOM.

Pics from Family get-together

Countdown Continues

It has been another hectic time with Diane never off the computer. She really is keeping busy and I’m sure she will suffer withdrawal symptoms when we go on our trip. It was Hubby’s birthday on Friday and I treated him to a meal at Piatto – our favourite place at the moment. We arrived early around six and the place was already nearly full. Hubby had a draught and I had my usual glass of red wine while we studied the menu. My order was a sirloin topped with chicken livers with rice while Hubby went for the rump and chicken combo. Both were delicious. Our evening was going so well we decided to have dessert to prolong it and while I had cheesecake Hubby had malva pudding. Coffee rounded off the perfect meal and we left soon after eight with a vegetable lasagne for Diane. She had just finished on the computer and had settled in front of the TV looking forward to her food.
Saturday we finally got around to sorting out our things for our trip and packed our bags to check we had space for everything. All fitted perfectly and we only need to get a couple of things now. Everything is folded neatly ready to pack on our final day.
Sunday was a lazy day spent chilling over breakfast and relaxing with a book before getting ready to go across for a family get-together at Val. We arrived just before four and had time for a chat and coke before Pauline and Peter arrived with Jed followed by Ali and the boys. We had a great time together catching up with each other’s news while chilling over our drinks. It has been many years since all the brother-in-laws have been together like that. Just a pity Ros was not there too. After a super meal of lasagne followed by dessert we had coffee before heading back home.
We now have two weeks left until departure date. Two weeks today (Wednesday) we will be sitting with Auntie Joan. Can’t wait to see her again.

Time is flying by.

The last few weeks have just simply flown past. Diane and I have been busy on the computers – me getting all the office work as up-to-date as possible and next month’s returns sorted and Di has been busy with her latest website for Irwin Animal Rescue. In between we have had days of no computer access with all the thunder and lightning around. Most frustrating but at least we are on track and Di’s site is up and running. We had another trip through to Pretoria to collect Diane’s passport stopping to visit Pauline on the way back as she was at home that day. We had a great lunch and chat together before making our way home about half three to avoid the afternoon traffic rush. Lucky we left when we did as it started pouring shortly after and some highways were impassable. Since then we have had overcast, rainy conditions with some good days in between. We had Travis and Josh again last week as Ali needed a few nights of sleep as Josh is not sleeping much at night at the moment. They were here from when we fetched them on Thursday afternoon until Ali picked them up on Saturday afternoon. When we got back home we let them have plenty of fresh air and exercise to tire them out and once supper was over they both fell asleep fairly quickly. Travis was with me and Diane said she would have Josh with her. Travis was out until the next morning but Josh woke after about an hour. We kept him awake until about half nine and all followed not long after. When my alarm went off at six I got up and found a very tired Diane who had been kept awake with Josh’s coughing all night. She went back to bed while I took over and made breakfast for Hubby and Travis. Josh slept a couple of hours during the morning as did Travis. During the afternoon we went up to visit Margie and sat in her garden as it was such a lovely day. Travis and Josh played together under a tree for about an hour. It was quite funny as they actually had a bit of a fight with Josh pulling his hair and Travis smacking him back. Josh has already learnt to turn on the tears for sympathy even though he starts the fight. After our visit we came home for our much needed glass of wine before supper. Both boys were tired after all the fresh air and were asleep early. We were all in bed early but poor Diane had a very sleepless night again. Josh had woken in the early hours and just wanted to play. She ended up sitting watching TV with him to try and get him to sleep again.
When I got up at six she had a cup of tea before going back to bed. I don’t know if looking after the boys has been a good idea for Diane as the last thing she wants or needs is her own kids. She says anytime she wants she will look after them and then give them back – best of both worlds – only occasional sleepless nights. Saturday was spent amusing the boys in between their naps. This is much easier now with Josh crawling around. We put him in the cottage lounge with lots of toys for amusement. Hubby thoroughly enjoyed his playtime with both boys. Ali arrived mid-afternoon and not long after I went to see why Dude wouldn’t stop barking. He had found a rinkhals and it was a huge one. Hubby and Ali came to deal with it and got rid of it. Travis screamed to stay with Ali so I had to stay with him in the background. He was thrilled with all the carry-on and was jumping around shrieking with excitement when the two of them killed it. Typical boy! Ali left not long after and peace reigned once more. I quickly did some clearing away of all the toys lying around before Hubby and I got ready for a night out at a party. We had a really great time and were home in time to be in bed just before two. All the partying couldn’t have been good for us as both Hubby and I didn’t feel well all day Sunday. We just took things easy and spent most of the day reading. The last couple of days has been spent doing more computer work and going in to Alberton to get the license for the mobi-jack. We were so busy all morning we didn’t even eat and stopped to have a meal at Alberton City just before four. I got Hubby a take-away so that at least it saved making the kitchen dirty. The evening was spent watching TV and relaxing.

It is now only three weeks until our trip. We really need to find the time to go through things to see what we must still get. Luckily as we have thought of something needed we have got and put all in a box so it is just a matter of going through it. We are both starting to feel excited now and can’t wait.