New Year

To see the old year out and the new one in, we invited my whole family to join us at the Vaal.  That is 18 people, for those who do not realise the size and scope of that invitation!!!  Our lovely neighbours kindly allowed us to sleep some adults there (swiftly named Calm Cottage), while Carl and I and Heidi and Darrell got to share our house with 8 kids and 2 puppies!. Swiftly named Chaos Cottage!!!  It is a wonderful thing that the kids are old enough and water safe enough to pretty much disappear.  Which suits both kids and adults alike!!  We attended the annual NYE party at the club house and surprisingly, even the adults managed to stay awake.  It did help that we braai-ed late which meant we only had a couple of hours left until New Year.  The kids were given a curfew of 1:30am, which turned out to be perfect timing because that was when the drunk party goers really started getting out of hand.
Apart from the party, we lazed about, went on the boat (record:  Darrell and I and 10 kids!!), went paddling, fished, swam, rode bikes and played with the puppies.  After the gang had left, we stayed on for a few days and had a time of real peace and calm.  The weather was just perfect and we had a chance to ski/wakeboard.  Carl and I are doing well with our slalom skiing (I am actually enjoying it now, rather than just hanging on for dear life!!); Ali is a fabulous wake boarder and Megan managed to slalom ski for the first time.  No small feat!  Trust me, I know!!
It worked out so well that our last few days were restful, so we got home energised and almost ready to take on the New Year with its many challenges that lie ahead.



Loppe on the boat.  Not too happy!

 

Christmas

I am glad that I am about to report a whole lot of interesting things that ARENT HOUSE RELATED!!  No small miracle that!  Yes, my past year has been all about the house, but now, seeing as builders went away and no activity would happen until mid-Jan, we could relax and really enjoy our December.
This year, it was a van der Riet Christmas, so we all descended on the KZN midlands for a week. We (our family & Carl's sister Sarah's family) rented accommodation on a farm just outside Hilton College.  It was so beautiful and served us perfectly for the time we were there.  Christmas eve was at Laurie's house in Hilton, and Christmas day was at Selma and Bruno's place in Howick.  It was a wonderful time for us all to be together and for the cousins to catch up.  Far too much eating went on, but plenty of exercise too (not by me, I'm sorry to say!).
Christmas Eve at the Keysers:

The whole fam-damily (except me, I'm behind the lens as usual)

Anna took this lovely pic of us.  At least there is now a record of me having been there!

Carl holding the Keyser's new baby - Penny

The kids table - although they aren't kids for much longer!

Selma and Bruno
 

Christmas Day at Selma & Bruno:

What a handsome guy!!

The Girls

 Our beautiful accommodation in Hilton:

Overdue....

The problem with blogging is that if one gets behind, then all the things I had planned to write about somehow fade into distant memory! I can't believe my last entry was in March! Since then, we have had a wonderful holiday at Selborne for 10 days. The weather was kind to us, and we went to the beach every day. Much time was spent by the kids fishing in Rock Pools and my mixing bowl became a fish bowl for the duration of the holiday (don't tell future guests!!).

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.

I should also mention that Bruno and Selma stayed with us over the Easter Weekend, and it was super to spend time with them. We then returned the favour and stayed in Howick for 2 nights on the way home. S & B move into a retirement home soon, so it was very nostalgic for us to have our last stay in their beautiful home which they have been in for over 20 years.

Les Menuires

We left Paris on Sunday 2nd Jan and embarked on a monster commute down to Les Menuires. Let me elaborate:

A 5 min walk from our apartment to the Metro; 2 trains to get to Gare de Lyon (and you must please understand that the Metros run UNDERGROUND with NO LIFTS or ESCALATORS, which means heaving our heavy luggage up and down stairs, in our thick winter clothing. Sorry, I just had to share that!); then, after a bit of a wait, we took the TGV for 4hrs to Moutiers. Our great plan was to catch a taxi for the remaining 27kms up to Les Menuires, but sadly there were no taxis to be found. Instead, Roland managed to find the bus station with a bus leaving in a few minutes, and it was a great rush to get us all on. After a mishap with Caron and the luggage compartment (she nearly went freight), we set off. Only to arrive at LM, and need to catch ANOTHER bus up to our apartment. Then it was a few hundred metres walk and we were there. AT LAST. It was exhausting and stressful. We also arrived in the dark, so a bit confusing too. Happily, our apartment was lovely, spacious, comfortable and warm! It had 4 bedrooms, 2 1/2 bathrooms, and a dining room/living room & kitchen. Sheer luxury by French standards. That night we ordered a take-away Roast Chicken and chips and I think it was the best meal we had all holiday!

The next couple of days were a blur of hiring ski equipment, buying ski passes, getting kids to ski school, and trying to find our way around the slopes. Each day, the kids were at ski school until 12:15, so it gave we adults chance to get out on our own a bit. Then we would fetch the kids and head back to the apartment for a yummy lunch (we ordered fresh bread delivered each day and had cold meats, cheeses, Nutella etc. on them. Mmmm). We had to resist the temptation for a snooze, and head back out to the slopes for a couple of hours until the lifts stopped at 4:30pm.

On Thursday, Caron kindly offered to fetch the kids for us, which meant that Carl, Roland and I could head out for a whole day skiing, instead of rushing home at midday. We were skiing in the 3 Valleys area so we headed from LM (1st valley) over into Meribel (2nd valley) and up and over into Courchevel (3rd valley). It was lovely, except for all the map consulting we had to do - which takes so much time, having to stop at intersections of routes and check our way. Anyway, we got there, enjoyed some gorgeous skiing in Courchevel, and headed home, but only after a lunch of sausage and chips which, while tasty, stayed with us for hours!!!

Before I begin on the next few days, which were memorable to say the least, I have to mention my new ski boots. I was so excited to have them, but over the first couple of days, I was convinced I had bought 1/2 a size too small. I was so depressed! Believe me they are the most expensive shoes I have ever puchased, and to think they were too small! Anyway, they actually molded quite well to my feet in the end, and I think my problem was less to do with my boot size, than an incorrect skiing position! Whew!

On Friday afternoon, we were out with the kids and had a glorious time doing a great red run from the top of the mountain down. Towards the bottom, it becomes a blue run, and I had SET MY SIGHTS on our hot chocolate stop. So Ali was behind me (I'm like a horse bolting for the stables by now!), and he wiped out. Big time! Face plant, deluxe. Fortunately, Roland was behind him, and he spent ages helping him up and dusting the snow off him. Worse though, Ali had really hurt his thumb on his ski pole somehow. Of course, I was not going to let this injury ruin my hot chocolate, so we still had our HC, and Ali had to ski back home. I took his poles. Now, when Carl and I went skiing in Westendorf, I had had a very similar accident, and my thumb was very badly hurt, so I knew all about it. Some anti-inflamatories, pain killers and a bandage did it for the evening. By the next morning, said thumb was looking very swollen and blue. But, as I have mentioned, I am an expert in thumb injuries and I wasn't too thrilled when Caron and Carl were hinting very stongly that Ali should go for x-rays. SIGH!!!! OK, I'll do it! Yip, did it and guess what? BROKEN. I was suitably humbled and apologetic. Ali got a fabulous little cast which looks very impressive! Carl was starting to feel grotty, so he had no problem with staying home with Ali for the afternoon, while I took Megs and Sage out for a lovely ski into Val Thorens (next village, same valley). Theoretically, we went with Roland and Caron too, but the girls were big on speed and not on waiting, so we left R & C and headed out on our own.

On Sunday, Caron needed some time off to recover from her previous days skiing (the less said about that the better, I think!), so she had Ali, and then I sacrificed my afternoon to babysit him while Carl went out with Roland. We didn't just stay at home though, we went and found some snow and tried to make a snowman (unsuccessfully) and threw snowballs (successfully). Fun! Sometimes, I get so carried away with the skiing, that I forget to just have fun in the snow. When Caron took the kids earlier that week, they had a total blast with her (and more succesful in the snowman making department!).On Sunday evening, the snow began to fall, and fell the whole night. We had about 10cm by morning. It was so beautiful and what is always so incredible is how silently it falls.
On Monday we did the trip back to Courchevel, this time with the kids (they only did ski school for the 1st week). Fortunately Ali borrowed Sage's ski jacket (they left that morning) which had wide sleeves so he could fit his hand through, and we used an old glove, bandage and plastic bag for his hand! Carl was feeling worse and worse, and by the time we got back home, he was pretty much man down until Wednesday! Lucky for me, I had Roland to come skiing with the kids and I for Tuesday, so that was nice. By Wednesday, Carl was feeling up to venturing out again. We did some lovely runs, and not two hours into our morning, Megs did a bit of off piste, at speed, and did a total wipe-out, with her poles hitting into her mouth, and she came up sans half her front tooth. Anyone who knows Meg would know that she had the perfect set of teeth. My denist always (used to) rave about them. So, to see your beautiful daughter looking like Nanny McPhee was not fun at all. Also, the exposed nerve at -9 deg was somewhat painful. As with Ali, she had to ski all the way home, and she wept most of the way. Back to the Medical Centre, on to the dentist where we made an appointment for later that afternoon.

Determined not to let this take out our whole days skiing, Carl, Roland and I took Ali to something called BK Park which is an area with humps and bumps and curves and corners which I think is meant to be fun. The first problem was that we couldn't see properly - it was almost like a white out. Roland did not see the edge of the track and went flying over, fortunately not hurting himself, but he took sometime to get back to us. Then we continued. The next problem was that we had a group of young snowboarders (read:no fear) whipping inbetween and around us while we tried to make our way more cautiously down. It was a recipe for disaster and at some stage, I simply got cut off by said snowboarders, couldn't turn, and my skis got hooked in the orange netting and that was me - down a steep embankment, starting on my back, sliding down, and then it was so steep and I had such momentum, that my feet came right over my head and I landed on my tummy. That was a first, seeing my skis against the sky. Not one I would like to repeat though! By that point, I grabbed onto the netting, and dug my skis into the snow to avoid sliding the whole way down the slope. In the meantime, unbeknownst to me, Roland had incurred another wipeout because of my wipeout, and then Carl stopped to avoid taking Ali out, and fell over (I'm sorry, but in the light of my and Roland's wipe-outs, that had to be classified as 'fell over'!!). Amazingly, no major injuries, but it took me ages to extricate myself from the a) netting and b) thick powder snow. We gingerly completed the course and called it a day.

We took Meg to the dentist and he did an good job of cleaning, and rebuilding her tooth. It is not perfect on close inspection, but will do while the tooth has chance to heal, and then we will consider our options. Lucky for Meg, she lives in an age of excellent modern dentistry and hopefully her near perfect set of gnashers will be restored!

That evening (with a healthy dose of painkillers for supper for Meg) we went into the Village to enjoy a Russian New Year, with Vin Chaud (Ghluwein in French!) and fireworks. Stunning.

Thursday and Friday dawned bright and clear and we skied like crazy to make up for the interruptions of the past week. The snow was good, no accidents, and it went a long way to making me think perhaps I wont sell my ski boots on e-bay afterall! I haven't mentioned all the Hot Chocolate stops we had each day, which were salve for the skiing soul. Sometimes a Nutella Crepe or Waffle was thrown in for extra energy. Delicious! On Thursday afternoon, we braved the 'Rock n Bob' - a 4km toboggan run with 22 corners, and a good place to lose some more teeth! Carl, who is cautiousness personified, was NOT keen to do it, but fortunately for him, he married me! And Roland was also keen, so we did it despite Carl calculating all the risks and delaring it 'unwise' (esp in the light of our past week!!!). We had a ball, to say the very least. We did it at sunset and it was stunning to tear down the mountain towards the village on these crazy toboggans. Happily, plenty of spills, but no injuries (I TOLD you it would be fun, Carl!!!)

Saturday was another travelling day and we reversed the horrendous trip I detailed at the start of this post. The only thing better was that we took a taxi from our apartment to the train station at Moutiers. The best money I spent all holiday!

I have to mention the TGV journey. The journey takes just over 4 hrs, and the train travels at its maximum speed of 350km/hr for part of the trip (not through the mountains, on the flat areas). Yip, that's right. It was an incredible experience! And travelling through the French countryside was just gorgeous. So, it was back to Paris, another 2 trains to the airport and on the plane back home. Whew!

PS - thanks to Roland for some of his photo's - he was our official photographer, so I got very lazy! If you want a more detailed account of our trip, and more stunning photos, please check out his blog (click on Rolands blog in the column on the left).

Paris

Having returned home from the Vaal on the 26th, we began the mammoth task of packing for our long awaited 3 week trip to France, leaving on the evening of the 27th. And I just have to add, for the record, that my sister Heidi, had her son David's birthday party AT OUR HOUSE on the morning of the 27th. As if I didn't have enough stress in my life! To her credit, she and my mom and sister-in-law took complete charge and I didn't really have to do anything. Otherwise, we would NOT be talking!!

We flew to Paris on the new Airbus A380. Which Roland was very excited about, but the truth is, it was exactly like any other plane to me (sorry Roland!). We arrived in Paris the next morning in the cold and dark and fought our way through Paris with all our luggage and found our apartment. Roland, Caron, Kim and Sage (Caron's sister and her daughter) had arrived the day before, so at least the apartment was inhabited and the fridge stocked. A quick rest and shower and we were off.

The best thing was that the van der Merwe's joined us in Paris for the week - I was so excited to see them again (they had emigrated to the UK in June). They came over to the apartment, and after lunch we all headed off the the Arc de Triomphe. We climbed all 284 steps to the top, but sadly the weather was rainy so our view wasn't marvellous. Then we walked down the Champs Elysees and after stopping (eventually) for a drink, we parted ways for the evening.Wednesday, we went to the Isle de la Cite, an island in the Seine, which houses both Notre Dame and Sainte Chapelle (amongst other things!). As Carl and I had been to ND, and most of ND's features are actually on the outside, we joined the 1 1/2 hr queue to see St Chapelle - reputed to be the most beautiful church in Paris. While queueing, Roland, Meg and I skived off and found the most gorgeous little market which helped while away the time (LUCKY for Carl we had weight restrictions on our luggage, otherwise I would've bought some gorgeous wrought iron things. Not known for their lightness!!!). We were not disappointed and the Chapel was STUNNING. 15m high stained glass windows the whole way around, telling the story from Genesis to the Crucifixion. Amazing. We then wandered to Notre Dame and walked around it, admiring the gargoyles and flying buttresses. Later we met the van der Merwes in the Latin Quarter and went a long way around, past the Pantheon, to find lunch. A very painful experience - R16o for a hamburger. Ouch! After saying good bye to the vdM's, we went via a sports store in the Latin Quarter which Roland had found on the web, and he and I bought ourselves some ski boots.

Thursday we went to Disneyland Paris with the vdM's. The kids loved it, but Dee and I agreed that it is completely over-rated. They queued for 1 1/2 hours for one roller-coaster ride. The rides were fun, but the crowds were awful. Ali and I braved the ride, Space Mountain, and we ended the day there. We got home 10 hours after leaving - completely exhausted.

Friday we rested a bit in the morning, and then the 4 of us went to the Louvre (we didn't go in) and had a gorgeous (but freezing) walk through the Tuilerie gardens all the way to the Place de la Concorde. We walked back along the Seine past the Musee d'Orsay and then headed home for a rest. Megs and I bought ourselves each a trendy hat to keep out the cold.We met Roland & Caron at the Eiffel Tower at 5pm for our trip up to the top. Sadly, the very top was closed due to ice, but we went to the 2nd floor and the view was still fantastic. R & C left straight after with Kim and Sage, but we waited and met the vdM's. We took the train to the Latin Quarter and had a yummy meal there. We strolled along the banks of the Seine for a while (if you think it sounds idyllic, it was!) and then took the train back to the Eiffel Tower to see the New Year in. Perhaps the less said about that the better? The fire works were very unspectacular, and the crowds were terrifying - especially with the kids. If someone had fallen, they would've been crushed, for sure. Terrifying!! When we finally made it home safely, I spent ages torturing myself with the 'what ifs'. Well, we can say we did NYE at the Eiffel Tower, but if I ever happen to be in Paris again over New Year, I think I'd rather go to bed!Saturday morning we rested (having only got home at 1:30am), and then we went up to Sacre Coeur. It was very nice to see it, and we stopped for a great hot chocolate and pancakes nearby. That evening the vdM's came over for good-bye dinner. It was so marvellous to see them this week, and we really miss them!

Early Sunday morning, it was time to say good-bye to Paris. I think we did so much and the kids got a good feel for the city. They were Metro champions by the end, and we walked out LEGS OFF to see all we saw in such a short time!

Christmas at the Vaal

To say that Christmas this year was hectic would be the understatement of 2010. Let me elaborate...

Heidi and Darrell came out from Abu Dhabi for their first Xmas here in 4 years and it was so wonderful for us all to be together.

I mentioned in a previous entry that we moved into our new house at the Vaal, which is in the same complex as our other house, but is right on the water's edge. Sadly for our bank balance, but happily for the family, we have not yet sold our old house and hence we had enough accommodation at the Vaal for 17 people!! My folks, Bruce and Charmaine and the 5 boys all slept at the 'upstairs' house, and we, the Bergesens, Jeanette (Darrell's mom) and the 3 girls were in the 'downstairs' house.

The Bergesen's arrived on the 22nd and we had a wonderful day and night with them before the real chaos began.

The rest of the family descended on the 23rd. We organised that each house would do its own breakfasts, but we would have lunches and suppers together (naturally at the new house because of it's drop dead gorgeous view!). Yes, this photo IS taken from my new patio!!!!

The weather was very kind to us and hardly rained at all. Eskom was not so kind. The power went out at 11am on Thursday and did not come back on for 24 hours. We start to panic by Friday morning - ALL our Christmas day food had been brought down and we were very concerned about it going off. By 10am, I was so worried that we went off to the local store (which had power) and bought some bags of ice to put in the freezer and fridge to keep the temperature down. We also bought a 2 plate gas stove. Naturally, this purchase was enough to get Eskom to turn the power back on!! I'm not complaining though. That area has a bad habit of power failures and I think that the little stove will come in handy at some stage.

Christmas day arrived with MUCH anticipation from the kids. The kids opened their stocking presents from Father Christmas (the real one) bright and early. Then we went off to the local church and had a very pleasant service. After church, Roland and Caron arrived (making it the grand total of 19 people) and we opened the presents from under the tree (our gifts to each other). We gave Grandpa the job of being Father Christmas, but we all know that he isn't the real one. Hey Stef?

After the mound of gifts was decimated and the kids were happily playing with their new toys, we got onto the business of lunch. We had delicious snacks for our starter (thanks Caron!!), and then cold meats and salads for the main course. We ended off with yummy ice-cream for pudding. We were bulging by the end.

Everyone kept themselves very happily amused the whole weekend - paddleskiing, windsurfing (Megan's new passion), swimming, cycling, j-boarding, fishing (no whoppers this time), reading and relaxing. We hardly took out the boat because of the wind, but I don't think it was missed very much at all.

At first Carl and I felt very obliged to be 'hosts' and make sure all our guests were happy (we put that pressure on ourselves, everyone else didn't care!). It took us a while to realise that everyone was so busy doing their own thing, that we didn't really need to worry! That being said, when it is your house(s), the burden does naturally fall on the hosts, and to be honest, I was EXHAUSTED when we left on Sunday!