OK, I know. I think the most exciting thing to happen since Megan's birthday was Heidi's visit in August. She came our for about a month, and happily, Darrell joined her (and the kids) for two weeks, which was a wonderful treat for us all! Seeing as pictures say a thousand words, I will intersperse my diary of activities with photo's.
Practically the first thing we did when they arrived was to head off to Afri-ski in Lesotho for our annual skiing pilgrimage. The actual skiing itself was fraught (no lift for 2 of the days!), but the snow was great, the weather was glorious, and we still managed to have a great time.
In Africa, a boer maaks 'n plan, and so we precariously went up the slope on the Pisten Bully. There is NO WAY that would've been allowed in Europe or the USA. It was SO dangerous, I was having heart attacks!
When we were back in JHB, we filled the time with activities:
Our first trip on the Gautrain
A visit to a tree top canopy tour thing in Birdhaven. What fun!! 
Then we a went to Sondela Nature Reserve, near Warm Baths (or Bela Bela for the more modern South Africans out there!). One of the highlights were the Nyala that came right up to us (and even into the chalet) to be fed. Quite an experience being so close to a wild animal (and yes, they are still wild - Ali got horned by one of them - clearly Ali looked like a threat!).
We took all our bikes and rode everyday. While it was great fun, we had so many punctures, that we started to lose our joy after a while.
There is a heated out door pool - perfect for August when the weather is hot, but the water is not! 
Another highlight was that we were visited by some bushbabies in the evening, and if we sat VERY still, they would come right up close and grab whatever food we had chucked for them (probably highly frowned upon, but irresistible!). 
There were so many of us there (my folks, Bruce, Charmaine and kids, Heidi & Darrell and kids, and Carl and I and kids, as well as Darrell's mom) that we even were able to have an action cricket match, organised by Darrell. I am ashamed to say that I was hopeless. But, fun was had by all, and I'm sure one of the boys will tell you which team won. I've forgotten!
Sadly, our holiday was over all too quickly, and before we knew it, it was time for Heidi to head back to start their new life in Doha (where??? Qatar, in case you weren't sure!).
Not before Heidi and I had a glorious day at Vusalela Day Spa though! Ahhh, bliss.
Meg got a table tennis table from us and they had fun testing it out in our garage.
Other than a disagreement between adults and kids re the use (or abuse?) of cell phones, which resulting in Carl confiscating said phones, I think the party went well and the girls all enjoyed themselves.
We started with a brief description of the history of Shabbat and did some of the traditions associated with it (I was just waiting for them to launch into 'May the Lord protect and defend you.... from Fiddler on the Roof fame, but no such luck!). We then enjoyed a lovely 3 course meal. The highlight was the kitka bread on our table which gets torn by hand and shared around. Megs and Al loved that, and even now, if we see Kitka bread at the shops, we just have to buy it as a treat! 
After dinner, we hurried to the Shul (has to start before Sunset) where we joined in the service. It was sort of Anglican in nature where the rabbi speaks/sings and the congregation speaks/sings in reply. It was also in a combination of English & Hebrew. The most unique thing was trying to keep track of where we were in the book, as it went from back to front!
We took Ali down to Leisure Bay to spend two nights with his friends Brent and Cameron who both moved there at the end of last year (much to Ali's devastation!). At the same time, we managed to fob Megan off with the Bouwers (who were staying in Ramsgate) for the same time. I think that will be the last time Wayne jokingly suggests that Megan stay for the night! They had her for two instead. Which meant that Carl and I were on our own for 2 days. Sadly, I did not actually enjoy having the kids away from home, and I was delighted to drive the 100km south to fetch them again! En Route to dropping fetching kids, we spent a most enjoyable time with the Bouwers.
I have to add that our stay was over the Easter period, and for the first time since we've been going to Selborne, Pennington had a whole lot of Touristy things on. The kids enjoyed a Sandcastle competition (everyone won!); we had a Fish Braai at the Ski Boat Club, and on Easter Sunday we dragged ourselves out of bed to attend a Sunrise Church Service on the Beach. Rather nice.
We had to stay at the Victoria Falls Hotel - the greatest colonial hotel ever! It was built in 1904, and, being the first hotel built in the area, secured the best spot of all. Every time I walked out onto the terrace, my breath was taken away with the beauty of it's view.
Please note, that I AM MISSING from the above photo - just in case you weren't sure!!!!!!
We then ventured into the town so we could purchase some essentials to get us through the next 24hours until our luggage arrived (hopefully!). Meg got a gorgeous cosie and I'm glad she did because it was stinking hot, so she got good wear out of it (although, as Roland says, when you consider the cost to amount of fabric, it was a pretty expensive purchase!!). We went to a local supermarket and were pleasantly surprised to see the shelves full of goods. They now use US dollars, or SA Rands, and it seems that things are more available than I heard they were in the past.
We had a cake around the pool to celebrate Ali's birthday. Poor boy - all his presies were in our missing luggage so he had no gifts to open, other than the generous one from R & C. 
At 3pm we were collected from the hotel and driven to a nearby game reserve where we enjoyed an amazing Elephant Safari. We got to ride on Elephants through the game reserve, and on our return get up close to the elephants - feed them, feel them etc. It was quite an experience. Then we had drinks along the banks of a river before being returned to the hotel.
We were all eagerly anticipating the arrival of our luggage (we had been tracking its progress by phone all day!) only to find it was not there. Then after some serious confusion we finally found out that Roland and Caron had collected our bags. WHEW!!!! At last, a good shower and CLEAN CLOTHES before going to the restaurant, Jungle Junction, for the joint birthday celebration dinner. There was traditional dancing and a buffet groaning with food, all enjoyed under the African Sky with the spray from the falls in the distance shining in the full moonlight. A more idyllic evening would be hard to find.
The Vic Falls area is known for its adrenalin activities and while I was NOT going to let Ali bungi jump off the bridge, we did let him do the Zip line over the gorge. An exciting experience for him, less so for me!!
We chilled at the pool for the rest of the afternoon (at last all of us had our cosies!).
At 4pm, we got picked up and taken upstream of the Zambezi to enjoy a Sunset Cruise. It was just beautiful. We saw hippo's and an elephant as well as lots of bird life. We had drinks and snacks on board, so on our return to the hotel, we just sat on the terrace again and had a light supper.
Monday morning was pack up and go. Sniff sniff! It was so marvellous, I have run out of adjectives to describe it.
climbing walls,
a fighting pole thing
