Christmas morning

Presents, family, smiles, Christmas carols, chocolate and sunshine! What's not to like!?

monkey business

After every busy, fun-filled holiday I find it very difficult to sort through the hundreds of holiday photos, to choose just a few, then to sort them into separate posts and then to decide in what order to post them... This time around it was easy to decide where to start. Besides playing, swimming and getting totally spoilt, we also visited Bambelela. It's a Vervet monkey rehabilitation and conservation farm a couple of hours north of Jozi.  Here the boys got to interact with the monkeys and they absolutely loved it!

They are as inquisitive as little children and come and check you out, look in your pockets, take your glasses, pull your hair, examine your watch etc.

Cuddle me!

Hanging out

The monkeys LOVED Travis's tummy and he got his belly button tickled and licked by all of them! He loved the attention so kept pulling up his shirt to encourage them...

They were also raising a baby warthog,

and have a resident Kudu called 'Sissy',

who likes to make herself at home.

Sissy kindly left us a present one morning,

which was promptly carried away by this helpfull fellow.

We braaied (a lot),

and so did the monkeys!

The peacocks were an absolute pain because they make an awful noise ALL night!

There was time for football,

and zebra watching

and we even fitted in a visit to the nearby crocodile farm.

bed time

The floor of the lounge was not quite what I had in mind!

Sinterklaas visits school

The nervous boys, waiting for Sinterklaas to arrive!

 There he is!

 With the Pepernoten Piet of course!

 Dylan proudly showing off the Zwarte Piet hat he made himself.

Sinterklaas also visited the creche but seeing the man in his classroom was a bit too much for Travis. He sat under the table and ate pepernoten until the Sint and the Pieten left. No photos...

And that was that! I am quite pleased it's over. It's heaps of fun, but 3 weeks of nervous and excited boys is exhausting.

bags full of presents

We celebrated Pakjesavond at Sander and Wendy's this year, had loads of fun, ate excellent chilli, drank wine with great company and of course, got very spoilt! What's not to like about Sinterklaas?

Can anyone see the Pieten?

 The first bag...

 and the first present is for... Dylan!

 Is there one for me, Sander?

 Ja, ja, jaaaaa!

 What else is in there? Is it empty? Not yet I hope!

 The unpacking frenzy continues.

Time to play, Thanks Sinterklaas!

zwarte piet ging uit fietsen...