I am loved SURPRISE PART 1-8!

The honeymoon suite, you actually have to see it with your own eyes!

Take me deeper Mama!

Take me in!

Me and my surfer boy!

Mark playing around with the camera, dont know how he got us in?

End to a fantastic day

My boys

Blessings...

How precious is Deqlan?

Loving the fish

Our beautiful soldier Deqlan Ross

Swimming in the rain

Me with Beautiful Gambit

Mark and Gambit

Meggie meets Gambit

Wish we could have played alllll dayyyy...

Gaynor and Gambit Tylers Turn

Kevin gets a chance

Singing like Paverotti

Amazing....

I dont think i could smile wider

Deqlan chilling with Nanna

Smiley boy Keaton wasnt feeling well, but still gorgeous as ever

signing up for the 'under sea walk'

watching kelpie the younger dolphin

SURPRISE!

SURPRISE

Than you my love, you continue to make my dreams come true

Its party time smiley boy!

Cheers to Conrad and the boys!

Loves of my life

Still flabergasted

It felt like a dream

Arriving at Lords of the Manor seeing Mom and Dee, Conrad Megs and Keaton! I was blown away!

Where do i begin? On Thursday morning we woke up and tried to get on the rode by 10am, but with a 2 year old toddler, setting times and sticking to them hardly ever happen! We eventually got on the road by 1130am and i tried to figure out the secret destination by the highway Mark took. After a few minutes i scratched Dullstroom off the list as we headed on the Durban highway - i was 100% sure it was Drakensberg we were headed for! Mark continued to throw me off tack with all the questions i was asking and i eventually caught him when he said it wasnt a place we had been to before - definitely Drakensberg i thought!

Along the way, many text messages were sent to my mom and megs wgo were even more curious as to our surprise destination! I sent photos at familiar stops we all normally stop at, we continued guessing together.

We seemed to be on the road forever and ever- eventually we passed the Drakensberg turn off and i was really puzzled as we headed to the Midlands turnoff - a very familiar turn off we take each easter holidays to our timeshare, Saddle and Trout. You can imagine the look on my face when Mark took the turn off and told me he knew a short cut! We drove passed towards saddle and trout and i wondered how on earth Mark managed to get us in just for two night on some one elses time share? but we drove passed the entrance, Mark did stop though for me to take a photo to send to My Mom who wouldnt believe that we were standing outside saddle and trout - i truly felt like i was in a dream being in the midlands in November? Next stop was right next door - my first surprise! We were staying at Lords of the Manor - the most stunning hotel in the Midlands! In April this year i just mentioned in passing about considering to have my 30th there ! Well, never did i think Mark remembered and actually planned such a stunning getaway at a dream i had of staying there! We stopped right outside reception and Mark said, lets go check in and i said ok...as we walked in Josh Grobans YOU RE LOVED was playing - i was just about to open my mouth and asked Mark if he had organised the song to, when out the corner of my eye stood my MOM , DEE, MEGS, KEATON AND CONRAD ! I IMMEDIATELEY BURST INTO TEARS! out of surprise , out of happiness and out of absolute love that my family had listened to a dream i had and made it happen!!!! I even forgot about it after mentioning it in April! So second surprise -one of the best of my life - i dont know how they all kept this a secret from me!!!! I was told that the plans for this weekend started in April already when i first mentioned it! How amazing is my husband and parents and sister??? My Mom told me that the theme of my birthday was YOU ARE LOVED! How loved did i feel ? I couldnt imagine being loved more!

We spent the afternoon toasting with champagne , enjoying the magnificent scenery and then surprise number 3...Mark had booked us the honeymoon suite and all i can say is WOW I WAS BLOWN AWAY! We enjoyed a lovely supper together , Lords of the Manor is absolutely stunning and the food extraoridnary - you got to go if you get the chance, the Midlands is to stunning for words, you have to experience it!

Friday morning we woke up and i think the second sentence Mark uttered was, 'lets go to Ushaka' - what? another of my favorite places in the whole world? we get to see the dolphins and the sea? LETS GO! Surprise number 4! Surprise number 5 followed soon after ! As we arrived at Ushaka, Mark remarked how 'those people are staring at us' As i looked to my right, there stood Marks Brothers Kevin and Tyler with Louise and Gaynor! They had driven through at 2am that morning! My word, i dont know how many more surprises my heart could handle, but they were just getting started!

Surprise number 6 came in the form of Bianca who met us at the entrance of Ushaka - i knew immediately something had been planned before hand as normal visitors to Ushaka are definitely not escourted in such style! Mom held my hand and Meggie followed behind telling me that one of my other dreams was about to come true and i must enjoy every moment of the day! Bianca had been in touch with my mom for months arranging this trip - she even visited our blog and got to know our soldier pretty well through reading it. Bianca still didnt let up on exactly what was about to happen - i just burst out into tears again - having a feeling that it would definitely be something to do with my beloved dolphins - the creatures that i have loved for as long as i can remember! The creatures that bring such peace and calm and joy and love and happiness and excitement to my soul, all at the same time. The creatures that my son to loves and enhightens my love for them even more. Bianca eventually got the people to open the doors to the dolphin show and Josh Grobans You Are Loved was playing - more tears and more and more. After visiting Ushaka a few times , i know that there is a part in the show where the ask who wants to meet a dolphin - i normally do jumping jacks and whatever else i can to get noticed and to get to meet the dolphin, but i had a feeling that has already been arranged. I handed my camera to megs and asked her to please take lots of photos! But they didnt choose me! So i thought the surprise was perhaps after the show getting to meet one of them?Having a special photo?

The show finished and Bianca led us to an area i have never been at before and she aked me if i knew what we were going to do and i said no, and she said we were going behind the scenes to see the dolphins. Oh my word! As we got into the private area of the park, Nanna took Deqlan and i was told to go and change into my swimming costume! WHAT!!!!! No, this cant be! Surprise number 7 ! Surprise number 8 again followed in the form of Mark, Megs, Kevin, Tyler and Gaynor also getting into their swimming gear! I remember one of the guys joking saying we are here for the undersea walk today, and i still thought ok cool, but then i was told we were about to have a personal encounter with a dolphin! What an unbelievable moment that was,waiting and wondering what was going to happen next ! This amazing experience was made possible by my amazing parents, Mom and Dee- i could never ever ever say thank you enough for this dream come true, an oppurtunity of a lifetime! One i will never ever forget! We were given a few very important rules and learnt some amazing things about dolphins and then got ready to get into the pool with one very very special dolphin! Gambit. I first met Gambit for my 21st birthday celebration, at the old sea world.My mom had arranged they call me up so i could touch Gambit and get splashed by him. Afterwards i was taken on a boat trip which lead us to a school of about 70 dolphins- how unbelievable is that as a gift from my parents - they are amazing to say the least. Back to Gambit, he is not 37 weighing 497 kg and the oldest living dolphin in captivity , so to meet him again, so close for so long was one of the biggest gifts i could ever recieve.

We each got an oppurtunity to give Gambit a good old rub on his back, his anatomy was explained in detail to us, we were taught some dolphinese which allowed us to tell Gambit to make a sound like a bike or sing like Paverotti ! My absolute favorite was being able to kiss Gambit or rather him kiss us and have a photo to remember that moment always, it was amazing to say the least! I was so sad to get out the water and wished i could be there forever , i asked a zillion questions on how i could get to work there - but you got to start right at the bottom, preparing the food for all the wonderful creatures at the park, and then after many years of volunteering and studying , and of course, moving to the sea, it could possibly happen one day, that i work with my beloved dolphins. Who knows?

The weather got really heavy as a thunder storm broke out and we explored the other beautiful marine life for the rest of the afternoon. You can see by the pictures Deqlan had an absolute ball - running everywhere he could, as fast as he could, and he definitely enjoyed the actualy fish more this time around.

After Ushaka we rushed to get Deqlan onto the beach and into the sea before another shower arrived! Sadly, the beach has changed so much , it was high tide to so not space for Deqlan just to run, also not as clean as what i remembered and the water has lost its blue - so sad what pollution is doing to our waters. Deqlan and I had an absolute ball- for about 45 minutes i held Deqlan and we darted in and out of the ways, Deqlan squeling with laughter as each one crashed on our feet! Deqlan managed to wriggle out my hands and even ran towards the sea- he wanted to go deeper and deeper! I had to hold onto him with all i had, the waves and tide were so so strong, he even got dunked once and had ears and eyes full of sand and water to prove it! Deqlan loves the sea more then any other child i have seen, alot are very scared of the sea the first few times around! Conrad and Keaton also joined us for a few minutes and i can picture Keaton and Deqlan running and rolling and eating the sand with Logan when we go back to Natal in December, I CANT WAIT!

We then took a lovely walk on the pier and admired the amazing gift God has given us in the form of the sea and the beach, the clouds and the rain, the sun trying to peer through the clouds - the gift of my family being with me and arranging one of the most amazing days of my life.

We head back to the Midlands which is about 1 hour 45 minutes away and i started planning what i was going to start packing first when we got back as we were going to be leaving in the morning ......or so i was told.........

More to follow!