All i need is my God and my leatherman: Family weekend away at Bulungula

Due to internet (or rather anti-virus) problems, i have gotten a bit behind with the blogging and have left out a whole rather significant period of my life in which Kayleigh and Sam left us to return home. I am missing them so much - they are Liz and I's first adopted children (and possibly last, since we are heart-broken after losing them).

One day about 3 weeks before they left, Kayleigh and I made a list of all the things we wanted to do together before leaving day. The list was as follows:

Sundowners on the water tower

"Sunrise Surprise"

Dinner at Raptor's View

Family dinner cooked by Sam

Family weekend away to Bulungula

Ceighleidh party

We managed to do half of them. We had to skip dinner at Raptor's View, family dinner cooked by Sam and the great ceighleidh party - although they did kind of morph into other events.

So, lets start with the legendary family weekend away at Bulungula. This must be the most photographed weekend of my life with over 400 photos, some of them taken by Josh and Grace. Let me present a (very selective) photo diary of the weekend.

The weekend included some members of our extended family, the Gaunts: Ben, Taryn, Josh (6), Grace (4) and Elijah (2). Kate very kindly lent us her car for the weekend. Unfortunately her car has no boot and feels like it has no shocks. So the journey there was very amusing, with Kayleigh and Sam squashed in the back with the luggage. The Gaunts had the amusing priviledge of driving behind us (cos they didn't know the way) and seeing Liz drive slowly (for a change! running joke:)).

Friday afternoon was spent lounging inside drinking tea and eating rusks while Josh, Gracie and Elijah climbed all over us.

Saturday morning began with beach games Gaunt style. Ben practiced his golf swing, and then with Josh, they created a huge maze. Good fun!

Kayleigh became next on the entertainment list for the day. As u can see, she was mobbed by kids. I think they were drawing flags and maps.

Legendary Bulungula tosted sandwiches for lunch. They are almost as big as Elijah's head!!!

I had an awesome afternoon nap and missed Josh playing the drums with the local kids. Are those Kayleigh's sunglasses?!

Gracie :)

Drumming and tree climbing

Late afternoon, followed by a beautiful sunset

Family portrait: the awesome foursome :)

Saturday night antics round the fire. At Bulungula when you collect your main course, you also get given a "pudding ring" which is your token for getting pudding later. We discovered that pudding rings made good monacles, and many pictures followed :)

Ben and Taryn performing an owl imitation

Sunday morning was bright and sunny and we had an awesome leisurely breakfast...

...which turned into yet another flag drawing session - this time on our finger nails! Josh's favourite part of the world cup seems to have been flags - they made quite and impression on him.

Liz gets the mug with flowers on, because "she's beautiful like a flower."

Annette who works at Bulungula, gave us a tour of the Early Learning Centre. Some adults in the gang also appreciated the early learning play equipment :) All aboard to Loony Land!

What else can you do on a beautiful day besides go to the beach?! The water was perfect temperature, and Josh and Grace loved exploring the sand dunes. Kayleigh decided to change the spelling of her name to Kayle (to be easier for Xhosa people to spell). It says "Sammy" and "Kayle" in the sand. Notice Ben still working on his golf swing :)