This tree .........
fell into this house!!!!

Carol's tree in my garden, this is the smaller part of it.

Lorraine had been swimming just a few hours earlier!

Well guys, just thought I will let you know, especially for the family in America, we are now getting your weather in the good old RSA. We had a tornado go through Amanzimtoti on Saturday, a very small one, but guess who's house was in the path of destruction. Ours! But then I will follow on Samantha's theme, and say this, I am awfully thankful that we have had no 'home' damage, not like our neighbours, I know now that our house is built solid. The roof is still doing what it should be doing, sheltering us. My room was soaked because my sliding door was open, for the American family, in South Africa, we open all the doors and windows that we can - no central heating here! Could not believe it. The neighbours tree fell into our garden at the bottom, and our tree fell into our other neighbors house on top. And that is how it went - a domino effect. I guess the damage that affects me most, is the gazebo ended up in the pool - so now I don't have shelter from the sun. Just waiting for our insurance to sort it out, so that I can replace it. It did not have a wide path of destruction but the path could be followed and the damage was severe. They say about 10 people died in KwaMakutha (the black neighbourhood) and sad to say, their homes are poorly built so the destruction there is bad. But as my Mom-in-law says, it was a first for her and she is 75 years old. So guys what is happening to our weather.

Well, Andrew and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary on the 05th November. We all had such fun, the kids and I did all sorts of stuff on the sly, I stole some of Melissa and Sams ideas from Cindy's lingerie party. Firstly, they took a video of me answering all sorts of questions, because as the family knows, Andrew and I have a bit of pre-wedding history. Questions were asked, I answered. Lucky for us, Chantal bought her Pa a Harmonica for his birthday, and he is really a budding musician. He religiously practices till all hours. Absolutely loves it. So this gave us time to do all these things behind his back! I then scanned pictures starting from baby pictures through to the wedding, children, holidays etc up to now. Chantal, then made a slide show of it, she is really good, and put some music to it. Andrew and I had planned on going to some fancy restaurant but then it did not seem appropriate for all we had planned. Chantal then volunteered to cook us a mean supper, which she did, we sat at the dinning room table, she purchased plants for decor, etc and it was really very nice. Not just nice, but special nice. We then watched the slide show, Andrew really enjoyed that, and then came the video. I must say, we put him on the spot, and he knew almost all of the answers. Between the two of us, we had to answer 38 questions, and they were mostly right. It was fun. I really enjoyed it, I don't think it would have been that much fun if we had gone to some fancy restaurant, because the kids were with us, Lorraine was there, and we shared our special moments with the people who are really special to us. To Andy and Chantal, thank you for all the effort you put in. Chantal it took you the better part of the day for the food preparations, you spent so much time on the slide show, it was all done at difficult time, as you had exams, but somehow, you pulled it all together, it was lovely, delicious and fun, thank you. And so that puts another huge mile stone behind us. Now we are looking forward to our 50th Wedding anniversary.

This photo was taken on the 08 August 2007 - The day of Chantals matric farewell and the day before Andy's 21st Birthday. Chantal looked absolutely stunning in something different and had a ball. We took Andy and a few of his friends to the Heritage Theatre for a meal and comedy show on his birthday. It was cool. This is such a lovely photo of my kids that I wanted to share it with you.

Andrews 48th Birthday celebrations

On Friday evening, 31 st October 2008, we went to Primi Piatti in the Pavillion with friends to celebrate 'The Main Man that counts' birthday. Lorraine, Chantal, Andy, Janine W, Aunty Judy, Michael, Janine B, Riaan, Amelia and myself all had dinner together and had fun. As you can see, Andrew has shaved the beard off, we all have to get used to the new look again. After Primi the kids went home and the rest of us went to Aunty Judy's for "coffee", and only left there after 12 o'clock. Had a very lazy day on Saturday, and the family watched DVD's in the afternoon, and I crashed. Wednesday (5th) is our 25th wedding anniversary, looking forward to that.

Chantal and Lorraine

Janine W and Andy

Mom's 75th Birthday 3

Ian, Lorraine and Andrew
The family (excluding Yolandi)
The Table - The glass window at the end is actually a shark tank.

Mom's 75th Birthday (2)

Valmai and Andrew Janine and Andy


Dominique and Jonathan

Ian and Lynn

Chantal and Lorraine

Valmai in USA

I went to Sacramento on the 27th July 2008 and returned on 14 August 2008.

Cindy got married on 02 August 2008 and I was thoroughly spoilt by George and Sharon, lets not forget the kids. My highlight was to see Melissa, Garreth, Sam and Cindy and of cause meet their husbands and girlfriend, and then the most precious of all, Melissa and Sam's kids. Got to spend a lot of time with Melissa, Dan, Katy and Sharon, as well as Garreth and Jessica, but unfortunately not so much time with Sam, Eric, Kami. Cindy and Rob were also very busy with pre-wedding arrangements and then they went on Honeymoon. After the beautiful wedding, George and Sharon took Mother and myself to LA, we went to the Kadak Theatre, Hollywood, Universal studios, went down Rodeo Drive, LA is just huge. Then we went to San Diego Zoo. The Zoo is huge. Really needed more than 1 day there, never got time to see everything. Went to the San Diego beach, and that is very different to the South African beaches. We have the greatest beaches here in South Africa, so we are really spoilt. Next we went to Las Vegas - all the glitz and glamour to behold. The strip is just amazing. Sharon and I went to an Ice show, which was totally amazing. We don't see things like that in South Africa. Andrew wanted me to gamble, so yes, I played 20 dollars in the slot machines - and lost it all. We then went down to Salt Lake City to Melissa and Dan's place and saw all the sights to be seen there, even bought Lemonade from children selling it in their front garden. Just so cute and also very tasty. Went back to Sacramento and then went to San Fransisco. The Golden Gate Bridge, saw Alcatraz, went for a ride in the cable car. We got very cold, but it was worth it. I just have to say, that I was spoilt rotten by Sharon and George and I just need to say - Thank you, it was just simply amazing.

Mom's 75th Birthday

Mom's 75th Birthday

The family got together to celebrate Mom's 75th birthday at Cargo Hold, Ushaka World, Durban.

Ian, Lynn, Dominique and Jonathan came down from Rustenburg. We sat right next to the shark tank window, which was absolutely beautiful. Andy, Janine, Chantal and Lorraine also joined in the fun.