Mid-April update

School holidays take 1 are over, but they were fantastic! Fiona had a choir workshop on the first weekend, which taught the singers and conductors some fantastic skills. The kids had friends over to play and then on Sunday we went and saw Cirque du Soleil in Cape Town. We had front row seats – it was so good! The kids were captivated by it all, but particularly the miming clown who had us all in raptures for at least 20 minutes by himself on stage. The acrobatics of course were fantastic too.

Then off for a week in Pringle Bay at Niall's aunty's house. 'The Barn' as it's called is a huge holiday house that she rents out to various church and other groups, and family of course! It's right on the sand dunes opposite the beach. We had mostly wonderful weather with the exception of one very windy day. It was beautiful and warm, unlike other visits we've had to Pringle Bay in Sept/Oct. The water was freezing (coming straight off the antarctic), some might say numbing!






We had a very relaxed few days building sandcastles, walking and jogging, having some friends visit, reading and playing games. On Wednesday we went to Hermanus and had a lovely lunch at our favourite restaurant in a cave on the rock platform overlooking the bay and saw some Brides whales (lucky us!). Our German friends, Dirk and Martina and their kids, stayed over Thursday night and spent a lovely morning on the beach and then had a wonderful picnic at the Botanic Gardens at Betty's Bay. So much great food and fantastic company. We all had a wonderful time. And to top the week off, we had a braii birthday dinner for cousin Naomi's 3rd birthday.

Niall preached for the first time at our local church. His aunty and uncle came to support him and Laura and I helped sing a song (Over my head) for the kids. The service was well received and now the cat's out of the bag as to who we are and what we can do, no doubt we'll be even more involved in the future.

The kids have started their winter sports – both are doing hockey and Connor is also continuing soccer (we're avoiding rugby!). We only have 2 weeks back and then get a week off for Easter – we're looking forward to another break, this time at home! The kids both had good school reports (they get a report every term). Laura got 9/10 today for her Afrikaans test – she's doing so well!

Niall and Fi have had their first date night (without kids!), thanks to our American surrogate aunt and uncle, Andrea and Richard. So nice to see Stellenbosch at night and have a movie and dessert out – yum! Prices for movies are so cheap here - $5 each!!!!

Last weekend a large fire burnt on the Helderberg mountain, 10 mins from our house. 11 houses were lost and a number of vineyards were burnt. It was an amazing and eery sight to see the vertical line of flames heading down the mountain towards houses. We were lucky not to even have much smoke in our direction.

We're ready to launch into the easter holidays now. Happy easter everyone!