Baby Rachel

Dylan and Wendy are proud parents af another daughter, Rachel Isla. Rachel was born at about 8:05PM on Friday, 6th March 2009 at the Bay View Hospital in Mossel Bay. Her birth weight was 3.22kg. Leah is also pleased about having a sister and, as the last picture shows (telephone in hand), she was ready to inform all and sundry of the good news. I have taken 3 weeks annual leave at the end of the month and am planning to spend a few days with Dylan, Wendy and family during this period.

Earth Hour 2009

Earth Hour 2009 is a global initiative, by the World Wide Fund for Nature, which calls on every individual, business and community to take a stand against Climate Change. To show your support, sign up now at http://www.earthhour.org.za/?refer=5d82dece6f8d41ba1ba48f6323625626 and commit to switching off your lights for one hour on Saturday, March 28th at 8:30pm. Originating in Sydney, Australia in 2007, the Earth Hour initiative proved a worthwhile initiative when it gained the support of 2 million people to switch off their lights for one hour for this extremely worthy cause. Following on from this success, 2008 saw an estimated 50 million people taking part. Global landmarks such as the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Rome’s Colosseum and the Coca Cola billboard in Times Square, all stood in darkness, as symbols of hope for a cause that grows more urgent by the hour.

This year, 2009, Earth Hour will see the lights go out on some of the most recognised attractions on the planet, including Cape Town’s Table Mountain, Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, Merlion in Singapore, Sydney Opera House, the iconic 6-star hotel, the Burj al Arab, in Dubai, Millennium Stadium in Cardiff and the world’s tallest constructed building, the Taipei 101.

Earth Hour 2009 has one major aim: to unite the citizens of the world in the fight against climate change in order to convince governments and world leaders that our planet cannot wait any longer. Time is running out and therefore 2009 is vitally important, if not the most critical year, to take action on climate change.

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Take a stand and help decide the future of our planet !!!!

Little Miss Sunshine

I have not being updating this blog for 3 or 4 months now due to the change in my work responsibilities and also because I have not been taking any pictures. The pictures in this post were sent to me by Wendy. Wendy regularly sends pictures of Leah and their family, which I always look forward to receiving. These pictures were taken between Christmas 2008 to early February 2009. Grandchild number 2 is on the way (mid-March, 2009), so I will be posting some pictures of the new arrival soon - watch this space!!.

I am hoping to take a trip to Mossel Bay at the end of March/early April to spend some quality time with Dylan, Wendy, Leah and the new baby (name not yet known).

Princess turns One

Leah turned one year old on the 26th August, 2008. Dylan and Wendy arranged a birthday party for her at #44 on Saturday, 30th August. Some 50 or so guests attended the party. Dylan and Wendy's dad did a spit-braai lamb, accompanied by lots of salads, garlic bread and other treats. Despite the inclement weather (see previous post), the party went very well. The spit was done under cover in the back yard. A fire was lit in the fireplace to keep the guests warm, while some of them watched the Tri-nations match between South Africa and Australia, which South Africa won by a record marigin of 53 - 8.

Cape of Storms

One of the worst storms in seven years has hit the city of Cape Town and surrounds, with lashing gale force winds, abnormally high seas and torrential rain, starting the weekend of 30th August 2008.Low-lying areas were flooded, trees uprooted and varying degrees of damage was done to property. A storm surge pushed sea water toward the shore by the force of the winds swirling around the storm, changing the profile of some of the beaches. Spume came over the Sea Point promenade, which was battered by waves as high as 7m. Snow also fell on the mountains and high-lying areas to cap off one of the worst winter weekends of this year. The photographs below depict waves battering the Kalk Bay harbour and flooding along the Strand / Gordons Bay coastline on the opposite side of False Bay.

Leah - Pictures taken during June/July

Leah is able to stand on her own .....

Bloukrans - Bungy Jumping

We had a long weekend at the beginning of May (Thursday 1st and Friday 2nd were public holidays). Janet, Lloyd and I went to Mossel Bay for the weekend, which we spent with Dylan, Wendy and Leah. On the Saturday, Gareth (who went camping with his friends in Knysna) and Lloyd did the bungy jump at the Bloukrans Pass bridge past Plettenberg Bay. At 216m, it is the highest commercially operated bungy jump site in the world and holds the Guinness world record for that reason. Both Gareth and Lloyd had their jump recorded onto a DVD. A week or so later, when Dylan's friend Rob and girlfriend from the UK visited, both Dylan and Wendy did the jump as well.

Killarney Motor Racing (5th April, 2008)

The exciting Wesbank National Championship motor racing returned to Cape Town on the 5th of April 2008. As has now become customary, Lloyd and I attended the race meeting and were at the track at about 9am, in time to see some of the practice laps. As per usual, we met up with Louis and Mark Marrow during the lunch break. There was some exciting racing with a number of accidents and spills in just about every category of racing, but most spectators look forward to the Wesbank V8 formula (the "rolling thunder"), the Production cars and the Superbikes.

Yzerfontein

On the weekend of 28th March 2008, Val, Andre, their families and some friends went camping out at the Yzerfontein caravan park. On the Saturday morning, Janet and I took a drive through to spend the day with them. It was a beautiful, sunny day and soon after our arrival, Val and Andre prepared and braaied some freshly caught fish (as per the picture to the left). The rest of the day we spent chatting, nibbling on snacks, joking and playing some cricket with the children. Soon after sunset, they started a campfire, Lynn had a prepared lasagne with a Greek salad which we had for dinner and it was not long thereafter when Andre brought out his guitar and proceeded to play some "golden oldies" (Beatles songs etc.) to which we all 'sang' along. Although we were asked to sleep over, Janet and I left at about 9pm to head back to Cape Town - Kim (Gary's girlfriend) had arrived that morning and Janet had promised to visit her that evening at her (Kim's) parents house in Tableview.

SA Navy Festival

The SA Navy Festival has become a highlight on the Cape's entertainment calendar with an estimate of more than 100,000 people attending over the three days. This year the annual Navy Festival was held over the weekend of 14 - 16 March out at the Simonstown dockyard, which included free access to most of the SA Navy ships, including the frigates and a submarine. The Navy Band Drydock concert performed on the evening of Friday 14 Mar at 20:00 and the Freedom of Entry Parade through the streets of Simon's Town took place on Saturday morning at 10:00. A performance by the Navy Choir took place on Saturday evening at 18:45 in the Simonsberg Cinema Hall.
Mark, Sharon, Lauren, Janet and I went through to Simonstown on the Saturday evening to watch the spectacular Night Gunnery Shoot, which lights up the sky of Simonstown. The well-trained gunners fired the 20mm and 12.7mm guns at the Lower North Battery overlooking Long Beach. Other events included dog shows, gun runs, fire fighting exercises, tours onboard the ships including free access and guided tours to three of the visiting German Navy ships, which comprised of two frigates and a very large support vessel, free tug rides around the harbour, foodstalls, kids entertainment, a flea market and more. At 17:30 on the Sunday, the Festival ended off with the Retreat Ceremony.

Leah eating veggies (and loving it)!!

Leah has recently started eating vegetables (pureed or mashed) and judging from these pictures, she is thoroughly enjoying it. She loves pumpkin and butternut squash but I am told that she is not too keen on peas though. She also loves her bowl of Nestum (baby cereal) in the morning.