Good Long Weekend

Well, Thankfully Ashley was feeling much better by the time I got home on Wednesday. On Thursday we got to sleep in a bit - well Mark and I did. Ashley was finishing Harry Potter until 6 am, and Natalie read until 7:30. Natalie kept sleeping until after lunch, so Ashley, Mark, and I went to lunch. That night, Natalie cooked fried rice for us after we had our ballroom dancing lesson. Natalie enjoyed dancing with our instructor, Fred.

On Friday, we woke up and went to the Lion and Rhino Park. We saw lots of animals and got to play with the little ones. The wild dogs had just recently had puppies - they were so cute. They were still quite wobbly when they walked. Friday night we went to an authentic African Restaurant. We got our faces painted, listened to African music, had ostrich spring rolls and Natalie had zebra. Then we went to watch Transformers.

Saturday was early as we had breakfast at Nick and Belinda's. It was nice - Nick's sister-in-law, Sam, was there from Cape Town. It was good to see her again. She is a massage therapist (or whatever the title is here) so she gave Natalie a few pointers. Of course she needed someone to show with and Mark was more than willing to volunteer :-) Saturday afternoon I took the girls shopping while Mark worked. We went to a flea market at Brightwater Commons and to Cresta for Ashley and I to get a haircut. That night we had John over for dinner and watched 2 movies.

Sunday we went to the Rosebank Flea Market - I don't know how it all got packed!! The girls found lots of fun stuff to take back. We left there at noon and went to Mark's parents' house for a braai. Gran was there and enjoyed meeting Natalie and Ashley. That afternoon, Ashley took a short nap, Mark worked, I got lesson plans and homework ready for the week, and Natalie packed. We went to church, then to eat with Nick, Belinda, John, and Sandy at a Shuarma (sp?) place ( kind of like gyros - except no feta dressing :-( ) Then Ashley packed, Mark worked, and Natalie and I went to sleep.

Thus ends the visit of Natalie and Ashley. I will take them to the airport this afternoon for their flights home. I hope they had just as much, if not more, fun as we had. Hope they have a safe trip home!! Love to all. We'll be talking soon :-) Here are a few pictures of Northcliff that Natalie took when she was here on Tuesday during track practice.

Our Grass Track - many kids run barefoot.


The "floating teacher's" workroom.

My desk


The staff lounge

My cubby in the staff lounge - which half do you think is mine? :-)