It was such a great weekend

We spent the past long weekend at Sondela, just about an hour's drive from Pretoria where we celebrated my wonderful hubby's 40th birthday with my BIL and SIL from Cape Town and our dear friends S&;I. I received the wonderful gift of the weekend in a lodge I designed for clients a while ago and chose to use it for our celebration. We all had such a great time and got to do some of the things we love most. But most importantly, we spend it with our families. Quality time with my hubby and kids. But as always, the story is best told in pictures (hope you have some tea or coffee - expect a picture overload)

The lodge - when we arrived there all 3 the ladies vowed to bath in those lovely huge baths - we each only did once - the outside showers (concealed but with a view) was just way too tempting.

We visited the farm yard where the kids saw cows being milked and fed goats, sheep and many more. A and some of the other girls tried their hands at milking the cow.

I love this one - all the kids apart from the 16 month old S watchiong the milk process. Note the hats - yes, we live under the African sun.

A milking the cow.

The moms and kids went on a game drive where we saw lots of animals and had great fun on a trailer and tractor drive. Mr L was in heaven! (the men mad a wonderful potjie and watched some rugby)

 

We swam a lot! It was hot and the combination of a cold and hot pool led to many happy hours in the water.

We fed the half tame Nyala that comes to the lodges and the kids could not believe they got so close to wild animals. We did keep a very close eye on the encounters.



There was sand art done, faces painted, manicures and pedicures undertaken and spray on tattoos painted.

And simply time spent together with friends and family in happy companionship.

Apart from the big fortieth celebration, the one thing that stood out was the huge amount of bicycling that happened  The gravel roads lend themselves to great cycling and the area around the house provides lots of safe spots for the little ones to ride too. I had a great ride on Thursday while Hunter had several over the weekend. 



 The big event however was that these two girls (8 and 9 years old) did an 11 km ride with their dads on the gravel roads and paths. It is the very first time that our Princess did a ride more than around a few blocks and on a big bike! We were super proud of her. The two just grabbed their bikes regularly and off they went within the area we set out for them.

 I have to leave you with one of the stunning bushveld sunsets. Just breathtaking.