Back home and confined to bed...

Yes, we got back from Joburg last night. Only to wake up this morning to the 3 of us all being sick with a bad bout of flu...

Managed to get an appointment with the Doc and he has booked us off till Wednesday. Amy has slight tonsilitis and he says we must just watch her. If she gets more throat infections this year and more frequently, we may need to look at having them taken out.

Let's cast our minds back to the start of our weekend in Joburg.

Thursday was an early start, with us hitting the road at about 6h00. We dropped off a spare set of house keys with Ellie, just incase of an emergency. THANKS Ellie, we appreciate it a lot, you are a good friend.

The drive up was a good one, hardly no traffic and Amy only moaning towards the last bit of the journey. Murray's voice seemed very croaky and was going away. He thinks he may have caught something from the guys at work. What a great start to our long awaited weekend in Joburg.

We arrived at Pam & Neil's home (or should I say mansion) safe and sound at around lunchtime. Pam was still waiting to pick up Neil from the airport, as he was on his way back from Iran. Spent the afternoon lazing around and the kids spent time playing on the trampoline.

Amy just loved this, every minute she could get, she would spend it on there. Rachel & Byron took to Amy like a duck takes to water and vice versa. She loved having some kids to play with and Rachel was like a big sister to her. Which really was great for us, as we could relax quite a bit knowing she was fine and happy doing her thing with them.

Pam & Neil have just finished building their dream home in the Cornwall Estate in Irene. I must say I really love the layout of their new home, the open plan of kitchen to TV room to lounge which is very nice. With doors opening up wide onto the patio, which lends to a great feature for entertaining.

Friday, was off to a bad start. Murray woke up feeling really bad and not too well. So, we decided he spend the day in bed trying to recover for the golf game for Saturday. Pam, Neil and myself had a nice relaxing day around their home. We took the kids to play in the park and managed to get some really nice photos of them.

Then Pam, kids and I took a drive to the Irene Dairy Farm for coffee and the kids walked around looking at cows; feeding them and chilling out. Amy ordered a glass of milk, which was so apt for being at the Dairy Farm, while Pam, kids and I had coffees and milos.

Saturday, we met Leona & Shelley at their home in Fourways. While the men went to play Golf at Leeukop Golf Course. We went to Monte Casino's Bird Park (for those of you living up there, it's a must). The first cage we went in with the kids, one of the birds flew directly onto my shoulder, which Amy thought was really great. She tried to touch the bird once or twice, but got a fright when it's beak touched her finger, she thought it was biting her.

We then had lunch there, which made it easier as they had a jungle gym for the kids to play on while we sat and chatted for a while. Then it was off to the games section for the kids to have some fun. Amy enjoyed playing the Crocodile game, where you have to smash them on their heads to get points. THANKS Leona and Shelley for helping her smash the crocs...it helped get her more tokens!!!

We then went back to Leona's place for a dinner and entertainment. Shelley took a drive round the complex with the kids on the golf cart, Amy just wanted more and more...

Danny brought out his Kareoke machine for us to sing. Reluctantly the men (Neil and Murray) said this was not for them. Although I will give Neil an "A" for effort, as he tried a few cords. Rachel thought this was great fun and she teamed up with me. Pam and I decided to throw caution to the wind and give a singing career a try. We chose a few songs we knew to sing, which mostly happened to be ABBA songs. I have also now killed one of Murray's fav songs, by trying to sing it...oh, dear, sorry!!! Danny and Leona sang a few tunes too, well done Danny on reaching those high scores, all Pam and I ever got was poor effort, try again, but we had a great comeback towards the end...with our scores targeting into the 80 plus.

On our way home to Pam's house, Amy woke up in the car and started talking about crocodiles and with hand motions proceeded to show us how they snap, snap, snap!!!! I think she must have been dreaming about those crocs she had been smashing. Of course, we all burst out laughing and Rachel and Byron thought this was the funniest thing ever...

P.S. I will be practicing my singing for my next comeback, Diva in the making...

Sunday, sob, sob, our last day here and it's was Father's Day. Pam had invited some friends round for a braai at lunchtime, which was quite nice, pity we could not stay longer.

We left shortly after lunch for our trip back home. The roads where fairly quite, until we hit Town Hill, just outside PMB. With one car just about trying to swerve into our lane and nearly hitting us.

All in all, we had a fabulous weekend with really great and dear friends...memories that will always last a lifetime.

THANKS Pam and Neil for letting us stay in your new fab home for the weekend; thanks for Amy's presents too, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and Amy constantly talks about Rachel and Byron, she really had a great time. It also made me realise how she will do great when we add a new addition to our family in the near future. Leona and Danny, THANKS for a really fun and exciting day on Saturday and for spoiling Amy. Shells, THANKS for playing and spoiling her too.

Leona and Pam, just wanted to say THANKS for the special frienship the 3 of us have, although I don't see you often enough, just remeber that I love you both and you are very special to me!!!

- that's our weekend in a nutshell, now trying to recover from this bad bout of flu.