Tayla's first sports day.

Well, last Friday Tayla experienced the intensity and cutthroat world of professional sport - Athletics day.....needless to say the preparation was considerable. Days of carbo loading (Marmite toast?), hours of mental preparation (Now don't be shy Tayla!!) and much committment to training (Stand on the line...ready....on your marks....get set....go). Mom and Dad took the day off and were given special tickets, in the front row, by our star athlete. She put us up in the best 5 star hotel and we dined at only the classiest restaurants......what a wonderful young lady and all in two years.

So dawned the day! The pre-race hype was lived up to and Tayla managed a first place in the bucket and ball race, and the hoop, sunglasses and hat sprint event. Second places in the egg and spoon contest, 30m sprint and Thomas the Tank engine push off......Dad had to keep his overly competitive wife in check by asking her to stand at the finish to guide our star athlete. All in all a fun day.

UNTIL Mom had to run and Dad had to sprint. The results will be broadcast on Sky Sports and Supersport next Sunday night. We will keep you guessing. These two photographs will be appearing in the Hello magazine but for special friends the sneak preview is below. Note the COOL mom in sunglasses and dad racing in stylish pink, white and blue!

It was then onto the Bermuda Agricultural Show where all sorts of animals, displays and action events were on show. Literally the entire island comes to a stand still for this three day event. We got school off on Friday and I must say it was very worthwhile seeing. Tayla loved the animals and all the horse show items. Dad's "hockey" (I use this word lightly - when you see that photo you will understand) team made it into the National Tug-of-War final and tugged for $1500 against the National Parks team. After a valiant effort we were soundly put to sleep.

Dad is second from the back!!

I thought I would upload a few other pics from our recent trip to South Africa just to remind everyone how beautiful the Kruger National Park is....and how fortunate one can be to get so close to animal and the outdoors.

This is going to be a big week in so much as South Africa play those Aussies on Wednesday, the Super 14 nears its climax and work has one or two interesting developments. More on them later. I am hesitant to comment on the cricket but if it is anything like the previous games against those fantastically gifted and wonderfully nice men graced with such sportsmanship it should be close.

Finally, if anyone has seen the person pictured below please tell him we miss him and would love to hear from him!!

Learning to Drive all Over Again

Well after 3 months of owning a boat, I have finally had a ride on the boat. We had a slight glimpse of summer this weekend with beautiful weather on Sunday.

Dave scored a hat-trick playing hockey and his team managed to win the league (he also managed to give a 'friend' of his, playing on the opposing team, 3 stitches!)

For all those of you that are interested, the Grand Slam of Golf is being played here in October - all welcome. Give me a shout if you want details.

Cheap tickets from London www.flyzoom.com.

Come and visit - we have to share this piece of paradise. It is funny how when I went to the beach on Saturday, it took my breath away all over again.

Tour of SA 2007

We are all very relieved to be back home, sleeping in our own beds and recovering from the jet lag!

The Horans had a great trip. We arrived in Jo'burg (to be greeted by a traffic jam at Gilloolys!), and headed for Mom's and a visit to Mike, the only dentist we trust. Then we had a wonderful catch up with everyone at Bren and Hayley's place on the Saturday. It is quite frightening to see how these Rhodents are multiplying and producing the most beautiful offspring (pity about the parents!). Sunday we had a wonderful lunch with the Caveney crew (to increase to 5 on th 16th April).

After tearing around Jo'burg we headed down to Dullstroom to the most perfect spot - see www.elandsvalley.co.za. Mike and Willma joined us there along with the other Horan clan. It is superb for kids with a tree house, toy boxes, books etc. The staff could not have been more amazing making us freshly baked bread and bringing Dave champagne for his birthday. Dad and Liz also joined us for a night and helped us sing Happy Birthday to Dave 'just one more time'. I am not sure how many times we blew the candles out either but Josh and Tayla had much more fun than all of us put together. The 2 of them got along really well which was great - may it continue in the years haead.

The down to Kaapsehoop for Dad and Liz's wedding which was great. A wonderful time to catch up with many old family friends - nobody has aged at all! I think we all had a really great party and Dad and Liz had a great time.

After this much awaited wedding, we head to the Kruger for 2 nights and then back to Nellies for 4 more nights, spending time with family and friends along the way. We were pretty lucky in the park, only really missing the leapards and cheetahs.

We are all home now and dying for the summer to join us, it is seaking through slowly, but I want it to shine!

Keep in touch and come and visit.