Monday, January 17, 2011

Christmas Holiday in South Africa

As many of you may know, we went down to South Africa for Christmas, to spend some time with Julie Anne's brother Mark, his wife Darlene, their two boys Cullen and Dale and Granny and Grandpa flew out from Northern Ireland to join us as well.
We all had a great time. It wasn't really a quiet holiday, with 11 people living in the one house - 5 children and 6 adults, but it was a great fun filled time with lots of family experiences. Probably the most exciting ones for the children were surfing at the beach (which was only about 5 mins drive away), going to Ratanga Junction - a big theme park in Cape Town and going camping.

Sliding in the garden - preparation for surfing in the sea!


Joshua - starting off steady.


Benjamin - is he going down - or just balancing?!


Cullen - happy with the result!


Esther - has a go too. Such fun!


Eyes down - finishing well!

We also climbed Lion's Head ...






...and took the cable car up Table Mountain. Fantastic!




It was pretty exciting for Mummy and Daddy to experience their SA shopping centres, and we took the boys Christmas shopping in Vredenburg Shopping Centre. A good way to think of giving to others.

Another big excitement was going camping. Our campsite was in a spectacular location.


Setting up camp. Not everyone stayed overnight.


Julie Anne with her brother Mark.


Brrr it was chilly the first night. We had a 'braai'(barbeque).

Christmas morning


The excitement of opening presents.


Those eyes are still full of sleep.


Best friends: best brothers.


thank goodness it's blurred. It's just too early for us!


Esther and Dale playing with the new tea set and Peppa Pigs House too.


Christmas Day Dinner/lunch - the earliest we've ever had! What a great time!