Mother's Day at Mes ami Manna + other stuff

With Dillo and Sue in Durbs for the weekend, it was great to be able to hook up for a Mother's Day brekkie at the kidz-a-riffic Mes ami Manna in Chelmsford Road. (see pictures alongside)

Dillo was dressed to go to a friend's wedding, hence the monkey suit....


Zi and Adam had great fun in the play area, but Adam did implode later in the morning....


Zi often talks about Sue, and is almost always ready to chat to her on the phone whenever she calls....


In other news, both Hannah and Sofia have now been sterilized, and Pongo potentially has a left-ventricular murmur!!!
Hannah is much more comfortable on her hind legs now - she had suffered a pelvic fracture last month, when she escaped from the load bin of the bakkie, while we were driving back from the kennels after H's birthday party!

Zac has finally committed to visiting Kwambo for a weekend, and we have a few activities planned, including a quad outride - watch this space for photos and details after next Sunday...

Went to the beach today once H returned from her overnight call at the hospital, and then to the movies to watch The Reef, which was enjoyable, but not as much as the breakdancing display Adam treated us to just before the trailers.....

30-something Party for H

The house was looking great, as was the birthday girrl, and we all had a great time, with a fine dining experience, coupled with a cocktail bar and a murder mystery theme in which I turned out to be the murderer of gang lord Fu Manchuria.....

Check out the flickr link to the left for more pics from a very successful evening.

Check out this link for more Murder Mystery ideas....watch this space for feedback from our next attempted murder!

Ma in the house!

Yup, Ma Stoltenkamp is back in SA, and visiting with us in Kwambo - she is enjoying spending time with the kids, but is likely to return down under, before long...

Easter antics

Check out these hot cross buns that H made for Easter....

The boys, scribbling away at Green with Envy in Vause Road

Getting snuggly, in their new elephant sleeping bags, brought all the way from down under, by Ma Stoltenkamp

Kwambonites visit uShaka

Zi has been so interested in sharks lately, and he was delighted to be able to come up close and personal at the uShaka aquarium...


This potato bass was HUGE! Nearly as large as the ragged-tooth sharks he was sharing a tank with !



This slide was REALLY high, but the boys were fearless! Adam even made a rogue last slide all on his own!

The mechanical bull was a hit!

There was NO way that Adam was being left out of this fun !

Some bad news

Adam was diagnosed with asthma, last week....we have to give him horrid medication and a pump, daily....He takes it like a trooper, but it's heartbbreaking.....

Cavallino Rampante !

Yip, that's a real live Ferrari F40, part of the display in the forecourt of the Crown Towers Hotel and Casino Complex, Melbourne, commerating 60 years of Ferrari, during the build-up to the opening Grand Prix of the 2007-08 season.

I spent 3 days + 4 nights in Melbourne on my very first trip to Oz, but only got to explore the city after sundown....still, I got around, and got a fair sampling of what this great city has to offer.

March in Melbourne is a busy month, with loads of shows and expos, the GP, and for 2007, the city played host to the FINA World Swimming championships. Though I didn't get to attend any of these events, I got the impression that Melbournians are quite proud of their hometown, and believe they can handle anything the world throws at them.

Cavallino Rampante is Italian for : Prancing Horse, which is the emblem used by Ferrari....

Monster House Fun!

Check out Aziz in Monster House!

Weekend away

We had a fantastic weekend away in Ntumeni, just outside eShowe.

It was really peaceful, and outdoorsy - had a little dam, with a row boat and a foofy slide! We are now ready for our own fishing rods....

Clubhouse had a pool, and TV and meals and a pub with friendly staff and friendlier locals....

The boys had a grand time, falling asleep dog-tired each night!

Warplanes,Tanks, Guns, oh my!

Adam, leading the charge into the WWII airplane display area, where they had fun checking out the Hurricanes, Messerschmidts and Spitfires....
The signs all said : "Please do not touch or climb onto the exhibits"....yeah, right!

The guys, checking out some big guns....

What a tussle between them, all trying to turn the wheel in different directions !

Centurion tank - and, as one dad said: if these tanks can be damaged by a few modern-day 5 year old boys, they surely would not have won the war....

These pics were all taken at the SA National Museum of Military History, where the boys had loads of fun. We had a little picnic of choc-chip muffins, peanut butter sarmies and juices under a tree, with Granpa Peter helping out.

Though Aziz and Nico did a disappearing act which gave the adults a tad bit of stress, the morning was a great success.

X-Man turns 1 !

Hey ! It's Xave's first birthday this month! We'll be trying to go up to Jozi to join in the celebrations....watch this space!

Home Hotspot

I got my home wireless LAN working at last ! We now have 2 laptops 1 desktop and a printer connected to the network and it is SOOO sweet !

Thanks to Joffry for all his help and patience and perserverance !

Equipment :
Netgear 54 MBit/s wireless access point
D-Link 8-port desktop switch
Gigaset USB stick 108 - to enable H's laptop to connect wirelessly
Cables
Cable connectors

Joffer also introduced me to Tribal Wars, and for that I curse him !!!

Next networking project is to connect the PS2 and the XBOX 360 to the LAN, and also to the home theater....

Happy 2007

Happy New Year to everyone who reads this BLOG - I wish you a great, adventure-filled year, with all the happiness and joy you deserve!

We brought the New Year in through quiet conversation shared with Mardia, Mireille & (new hubby) Errol and Andrew Grant, a work colleague of H's.

For celebrations that were more "out there", check out New Year's in NYC

Though it rained on New Year's Day, we still got Mig and Errol to take a short ride on our quads, and M was unexpectedly taken by them!

This year, I hope you will follow Supersuzy's new blog as she prepares for some changes in her working and living environment.

We too will be anticipating change; not the kind that just happens, but the kind that one creates - first designed, then executed, and with a bit of luck we will all be the better for it - if this sounds guarded, it is.
More later...

My challenge to you for 2007 - make a positive difference to someone's life this year - not by accident or chance, but by design....make a committment and deliver on that committment.

Happy New Year everybody!

Cape Town weekend

I had a great time in CT, with SistaSue - check out some of the pics in my flickr album, and watch this space for a more detailed report...

2 Lil Puppies left

Over the last few weeks, we managed to sell off all our pups except for the 2 we wanted to keep - Sofia and Hannah...once I advertised in the Home Ads and the local newspaper, the calls came thick and fast.

Violet went to a lovely old couple who had to bid farewell to their 12 yr old GSD last year.

Leiea went while I was in CT.

The twins (Mulan and Xena) went to a family who have just moved into the area (Richards Bay) and have always had German Shepherds. Their yard is big, and they are going to spoil the girls rotten.

Overall, we were sad to part with the pups, but are happy with the people they went to.

Things in the yard are a lot less hectic now, and after their last booster shots due this week, I will start walking them on a leash...

First to go !

Violet (named after the daughter in Incredibles) was the first pup from Lois' litter to be adopted, when Derek and his wife came to pick one out yesterday....

We were saddened, but it is a necessary step to take - the young uns are getting so big now, it's becoming too much to handle !

Then there were 5 :
2. Sofia
3. Leiea
4. Hannah (Montana)
5. Mulan
6. Pup whose name I cant remember !

Always look on the bright side of life !

Dillo and I went to watch this show ON BROADWAY (!!!) last weekend ! Didn't WE feel priveleged !

This didn't stop us from nodding off (?) intermittently during the show, being exhausted after a long day of sight-seeing, and Dillo probably suffering the after-effects of a pre-show tiramisu....

Ma does the Big Apple

Lon had to go to NYC all of a sudden (!) for a 2 week trip, and Ma got thrown in....I haven't been able to contact them yet (must be having too much of a good time !), but I will keep trying.

I am SOOO envious, since New York is one of my MUST-SEE places. Still, I can live vicariously through the experiences of others....

I found some cool city guides that could provide loads of fun activities in the city that never sleeps :

Things to do that are free

30 free things to do in Manhattan (do these REALLY exist ?!)

Big Apple Greeters - This one rocks ! Volunteer NYC residents give free tours of their city, anytime of year

New York City's Top attractions

I wanna see photos !

Snake on a Plane

The Python is at it again ! This time, he's back in KL on ANOTHER business trip !

Follow the Adventures of the Python (aka Snake on a plane !) through his online photo album (Mom, click on the highlighted text)...

Population of 1 Reading Place increases drastically !

Young Lois has given birth to 8 lil pups who are squealing, and busy lil fellas, last night between the hours of 23h00 and 05h00.

She is healthy, and her motherly instinct has kicked in immediately.

Excuse me while I rush home to check on her....watch this space for some cute photos...