A celebration....now just memories.

Good morning friends,
Today I have nothing crafty for you, but all about a lovely family celebration..just a word of warning..lots of photos....
About 2 weeks ago I posted about our big family get together for our 50th wedding anniversary. The family came from all over to celebrate with us, and we did have a lovely day with family and friends on 16 August, before everyone returned home to their respective countries.

So now the actual day of our anniversary arrived, and yesterday we just relived all the beautiful memories of the time since 24th July when the first of the family arrived.  The day was not forgotten by all our family and lots of phone calls, skype calls, messages and visits, starting off with a relaxed breakfast, and more visits and ending with a great get together with all our neighbours in the village where we have now been living for almost a year. Our lovely  friends Brian & Linda had organized for everyone in our street to come together to toast us on this great day. We feel so Blessed to be living amongst such wonderful people and so enjoyed an evening of great camaraderie and getting to know more of our neighbours.

Well all is now just a memory, but these memories will be treasured and remain with us for as long as we will be able to remember.

Indulge me please to post a few photos of the last few weeks.

A weekend at a game lodge with the whole family. One of many photos taken around the table enjoying, good food, wine, laughs and lots of fun.









Lovely game drives with good sighting of game so enjoyed by all, especially the overseas family..

Many outings, some on quad bikes enjoying the thrills of off road riding,  cable cars  to see the gorgeous views.







Some time spent in shopping malls to satisfy the young and then fun time at a theme park with great rides for the daring and not so daring,

Then after the big "official celebration lunch", some great family time at home before our visitors all returned to their own countries.......

                                                                             

Picnic lunch for the younger members......

After a great braai (barbeque)lunch, just relaxing chatting and enjoying some 'desserts'.



All in all just such a fantastic time.......






Then adieu, farewell, totsiens, till the next time...whenever....

Thank you to all my blogging and FB friends, for all the loving messages we received the last few weeks while our celebration was ongoing. We do appreciate them all and feel very Blessed to have you all as our cyberfriends together with the friends that we are able to meet and see.

Will be back soon with something crafty again. Have a wonderful weekend.

Love Ursula

I am back

Hello everyone,
I can't believe that it is almost 6 weeks since my last posting. I have had the most incredible 5 weeks and will just give it to you in a nutshell.
On the 11 September this year hubby and I will celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary, and so badly wanted to have our 4 sons and their families here to celebrate with us, but because of school terms in The Netherlands and New Zealand this was not a possibility. The only option was that they come here during the school holidays and we then celebrate it with them.

Our 2 eldest grandchildren from The Netherlands arrived on 24 July as they were already on holiday and their parents and younger brother arrived on 1 August. On 7 August our son and his family from New Zealand arrived and we went straight up to a beautiful game lodge and spent 3 brilliant days there with all 20 members of the family.




Lots of fun, game drives, good food and wine, laughter and even celebrated one of our grandson's birthdays in the bush. It was a special time with many lovely memories.














Back home, the fun didn't stop and we did a number of things together with as many of the family as possible. Cable car trips, theme park with fun rides for all, great dinners and just lots more catching up

On 16 August we celebrated the event joining family and friends for lunch in a gorgeous setting on the top of a hill with beautiful views. Truly the culmination of just over 3 weeks of an incredible time.

Sadly all good things must come to an end and 4 days later the first family returned to the Netherlands with the New Zealanders following 3 days later. Will never forget this special time with all.

Just before they all left I had to get a new computer and with various issues of no power at times and no internet for many hours it became a challenge to get it all installed and working before my son returned to New Zealand. I am  totally computer illiterate and can only do things when explained to me very carefully. I now have so much new on here, not sure just how I am going to get by, but will have to persevere and call for help from my local sons.

I will try to get back to posting on a fairly regular basis, but am rather enjoying the time with a bit of relaxing and catching up with the gardening as we are now into spring and seeing all the new shoots and the lovely spring flowers it is certainly a beautiful time in the garden.

Take care and hope to be back soon.

Love Ursula