More Birthday Surprises

Nix, Philip and Nats ( and Abigail!)
Cheers!

My little pilot!

I got a hole in one!

Daddy day care

Receiving my tribute from mom

my guardian angels on earth

peek a boo

Conrad and Meggie

Nix and me

Another surprise!

Oh my word! Nat's and Philip and Nix arriving

In the pool throwing NED Stones!

Chillin

!!!!

After a good nights rest and dreaming of the fantastic day before, we all woke up to a bright and Sunny Saturday morning. My first question to Mark was,'what time are we leaving, so i can start packing' Mark had the biggest smile across his face and said, 'we are not leaving today, we are leaving tomorrow!' what! you must be joking, surprise number 9! I was so very very happy and thrilled, i definitely wasn't ready to go home yet, we were all having to much fun , not to mention all the surprises that continued coming.....

I met Mom and Dee for breakfast and Mom told me , she had another surprise, we were not going home till Monday! Surprise number 10! I was ecstatic and just started laughing saying i couldn't believe it! I had invited the family around for a small potjie on Sunday - what was going to happen to that? Mom politely informed me that they had to phone and cancel with the people i had invited!

We had a lovely breakfast then took a walk to see the horses at Saddle and Trout, our time share next door! Its so strange to be in the midlands in November when it was so hot and everything so green!We are so used to the coldness and the rain in April! We had a great walk around and Deqlan enjoyed the putting greens and holes as he always does! We didn't realise though that because the air is so unpolluted how quickly you burn - well let me tell you we all burnt from that little half an hour walk! We went back to Lords of the manor and enjoyed a little swim! We tried to get Keaton in the pool to , but poor little thing was fighting his second tooth erupting and a case of baby measles , which we only found out later!

I wanted to tell you a story about Deqlan throwing the NED stones into the pool. When Deqlan and Nanna go on there walks, there is a little pool of water they pass each day. Nanna gives Deqlan three stones to throw into it - N - E - D - every time they walk. When Deqlan got to the pool, there were tiny little stones surroung the pool and he loosened quite a few of them and started throwing them in the pool - with each one we all shouted N - E - D he must have thrown at least a hundred in! I tried to get as many out as i could as i am sure the hotel wouldnt have been to impressed with a pool full of stones, but what a lovely symbol ! NED always please Dear Lord!

We enjoyed lounging on the lush grass and i was still reminiscing about the magic that happened the day before when a car pulled into the Manor - and i thought nothing of it, and continued chasing Deqlan round the hotel - when i came back out the entrance, i saw Meggie holding her camera in her hand with a big smile on her face and the next thing two heads of blonde hair appeared from nowhere! It was Nix and Nats!!!! Surprise number 10! It cant be! Philip had brought two of my closest friends to the Midlands to celebrate my birthday with me! The weekend before Nix and i were discussing we are going to have quite celebrations for our 30th, we didn't want anything big - well my friends, you are very good white liars! i cant believe you kept this such a surprise from me, i never suspected a thing! My nerves where shot from all the amazing surprises, i actually ordered a glass of wine! I had to sit down and realise what was going on - the most amazing surprises had been planned, just for me, all these people from my family and friends had made the most amazing effort to drive 4 hours to surprise me and celebrate my birthday with me - I AM SO LOVED!

We spent the rest of the afternoon meandering in the midlands, showing everyone why we love this little peace of paradise in the mountains so much. The boys ended up at the Bierfassl , watching the rugby and after a lovely lunch we went back to the manor to watch the dvd from our dolphin encounter the day before - i wish i could post it on the blog but its just to big! Ill have to show you when you come and visit us hey! We enjoyed some delicious hot chocolate as they fog descended upon us - the strangest thing about the midlands is that you get to experience 4 seasons in 1 day! From sunburning in the morning to pulling out your winter jackets for the evening!

My darling Mom had prepared the most stunning tribute to me, adorned with dolphins and trinkets of the beach and sea, but more stunning and meaningful then ever was the words written in my tribute from my mom and dee, megs and conrad and keaton, and even from my darling husband and precious son. While i read the words, my guardian angels had put to paper, my mom played 'IN MY DAUGTHERS EYES TO ME' - well you can imagine there was quite a fine waterworks display to be had! Thank you Darling Mom for the enormous amount of effort you put in this tribute and for making each moment of my birthday and of my life extra ordinary - nothing is to much for you , you never leave a single moment out of a moment - even down to the music! What can is say, you are amazing, i love you and appreciate you more then you will ever know.

We had a lovely supper together and all climbed into the most fluffiest, biggest, comfiest beds i have ever slept in , ready for what was waiting on Sunday, my actual Birthday - i still couldn't believe the amount of love gone into making my birthday truly unforgettable...what more surprises could there possibly be??????