There are good weekends, and there are great weekends.

This weekend fell into the great category. Why? Maybe because Ouma was still here? Or because we did some fun things? All that yes, but mainly because we had a weekend without tests, tasks and orals to prepare. And no 8-12 ballet practice or any other school and sports commitments. Yes, we had our early morning horse riding and church , but it still left the whole Saturday and Sunday open to enjoy without thinking of all the things that still had to be done for the week's school. Honestly treasure weekends before grade 4 folks - for 6 solid weekends it was test preparation and way more every single weekend.

So we had a blissful weekend of family visits and quality time together. The cooler weather was a great change and I got to wear my favorite sneakers.

Among the visits and meals we:

Planted a Stapela grandiflora or carrion flower that promptly opened it's flower the next day. It was amazing to see the flies gather in the middle for pollination. I can attest that it does indeed smell like carrion (it's common name is the carrion flower) but only if you smell up close.

We planted a little succulent garden with a sprinkling of salad greens close to the front door. I can not wait to see the succulents grow and the kids love to have a hand in it. They also helped to plant a small veggie patch elsewhere.

Although  A spent most of her weekend catching up on reading she did make us old fashioned lemon and custard tart - it was so yummy.   Always a great fast treat.

We had a lovely family church service where the kids made these little crosses and the story of the muddy heart turned into a white heart with the blood of Jesus was once again told. The crosses came in a gift bag with an Easter egg and the bits of coloured paper to remind them that Easter and Jesus and the empty grave is actually the greatest gift of all.

Ocean admiring the view

 After dropping off Ouma at the airport we hiked up the Faerie Glen koppie - it was lovely and green after the rain. We all had a great time and had a white Easter egg picnic on top.

Miss Ocean and Gabby met the zebras in the reserve and was really well behaved.

It was truly just a great one and I am so looking forward to the next two long weekends of rest and no school work. Roll on holidays.