Sushi night!

I attended a Sushi course with Grant Valentine two months ago and we promised our wives they could test the fare at some stage. The evening did coincided with the World Rugby Classic final (retired international rugby players), in which South Africa played and beat the All Blacks, so my absence from jeering at the chokers must have been for good reason. Have a look at the photo below - no - it was not bought, but "rolled" by theses artistic hands.........a really great evening was had by all and we ate enough sushi to feed a small Japanese army.

Nicki is in London and Luxemborg on business this week so it is home alone for Talya and I - take aways, DVD's might be on order!!

Speak soon.

Disney for 3 year olds

Apologies for the delay in updating the blog. It has been a challenging - and of course stimulating, couple of months. Dave has been trying to concentrate on finishing his Masters assignment (as well as concentrate on the rugby), and I have had to take on extra tasks at work. Most evenings are much like this one, get home, dinner, bath and put Tayla to bed, and then we head for out 'puters (as Tayla calls them) and do another couple of hours work. Not very exciting, but needs to be done.

Last week we were joined by the Fosters in Orlando. We stayed in a villa which was very central and had all we needed including a pool. We managed to visit Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Disney MGM and of course Sea World. All highlights. Tayla's highlight was having lunch in Cinderella's castle and seeing all the characters including Snow White and Sleeping Beauty - wow! She, of course, had to wear her special Cinderella dress (blue of course), and thought she was beautiful. She was so excited she could not eat.

Less enchanting were the characters with masks on, they were fine to look at from a distance, but not good to have a photo with. Some of the shows also caused many tears as there was real rain in the theatre, or the Lion King show that was just too noisy. But at the same time she had absolutely no fear of the roller coasters - I was more scared than she was.

We had a lovely week, although I would not say it was relaxing, it was certainly fun. The highlight was of course seeing the Fosters, Chris and Tayla get along like a house on fire and there is rarely need for adult intervention.

Now we are home for a little while, although I have 2 business trips to the UK in November. Tayla and I fly to SA mid-December for a well earned break where I plan on putting my feet up and letting the grandparents make up for lost time.

Madam has started ballet (on a Saturday morning at 9am!). I have to say she does love it. She also takes Spanish at school (Dave and I are learning at the same time). The kids these days have so many opportunities - we got to learn Afrikaans - how relevant is that!

We promise to keep you all updated.

World Champs

Sorry, for not updating for so long....it has been a very busy September...and October. We are off to Disney on Saturday and promise to fill in all the gaps on our return.


As for the Boks, we had a fantastic bash here with about 20 South Africans...and just to make sure.....


HE WAS OUT!!

Our new Bok supporter!!

The end of the Summer Holidays

The summer has ended and Dave has had to return to work – all very sad as I was getting quite into the routine of having a stay at home Dad. He is very handy although he is constantly telling me how busy he is and all the things he has to do.

Kevin and Kate became part of the family for about 10 days in August. It was amazing how they slotted in so easily. I am now trying to get Kev a job over here. Tayla adopted Katie as her best friend and poor Katie could do nothing without little madam. We had some great nights out too, sampling some delicious food and enjoying the Dave Bootle’s excellent tunes. I am sure that was not us dancing on the chairs – my my – the youth of today!

Dave is off to the Isle of Man next week for his hockey tournament. Formal gear is pink Bermuda shorts, blue tie and navy blazer, complete with long socks! They have been training pretty hard although I am not sure whether the captain is the fittest member of the team. They went for a run on the beach the other night and all the other guys came back, except Dave! Needless to day he was just behind them and Tayla was very happy to see her Daddy.
This weekend is a long weekend in Bermuda – Monday is a holiday, so we are hanging around here. I feel like I need a holiday even though the rest of my family have had a lovely long one. Our next trip is to Orlando in October for half term – Mickey Mouse here we come.

Tayla is good – she has gone back to sleeping well at night, and sometimes comes to my room in the middle of the night. When I say, "What is the matter?" she replies, "Mommy, I just wanted to see you!" As you can imagine, with that she promptly climbs into our bed and goes back to sleep. Thank goodness for King size beds.