Hunter is 9!

Hunter's birthday was last week, I can not believe he is 9! Hunter is still very sensitive, very focused on whatever sport he is playing, independent with his school work, good big and little brother, and is still a cuddler!

Love those sweet freckles!

Hunter is ALWAYS dirty, this after eating ribs!

In his school uniform!

Holding his sweet cousin!

Swimming, jumping...a favorite!

Loved being the goalie on the soccer team!


Two cuties!

Little brother!

Big brother!
We started celebrating his birthday long before August 2nd; while in the States my mom and dad had a birthday party for him at Shogun. All the family attended; and we enjoyed watching our food being cooked, sang Happy Birthday and ate cake!

Getting ready to watch our food being cooked with cousins, Cameron & Caleb!

Auntie Jess, new baby Cailyn, Poppa & Mimi celebrate Hunter's BDay!
We surprised Hunter the weekend before his birthday with High School Musical play tickets. We invited our close friends, the Bells, and we all went out to dinner and then to the show! The kids loved the play, and Claire is still telling everyone we went to see HSM!

The opera house!

High School Musical with Aiden & Evan! Notice Hunter's hat, he insisted on wearing this as this was his "new" look!

Claire ready for the show!
The day of his birthday, I cooked 30 cupcakes to take to school and he was allowed to wear anything he wanted. He chose his new Yankees jersey and his new Under Armour shirt, two of his presents! Hunter decided he wanted to go out to dinner just as family, instead of our usual family party(In SA, close friends)!

His birthday outfit!

Getting sung to!
I hope that sweet freckled face boy enjoyed his birthday as much as I did, I am so lucky to get to watch this guy grow up!

Blanco Guest Farms!

This weekend we joined three other families and went to Blanco! About three hours away from Port Elizabeth in the middle of nowhere, there lies the most awesome family vacation spot! We had heard lots of stories of how much fun Blanco can be, but until we experienced for ourselves did we understand! Nothing fancy; rooms are definitely not 4 or 5 star, maybe more like 2! It's the stuff that happens that makes Blanco so much fun!

View from our 4x4 ride, Blanco Guest farms to the right of the third mountain!

Cabins!

View outside of our cabin, owners house on far right!

The best part of Blanco for most everyone, the horses!

This is a zebra that comes everyday to stay with the horses, they say it thinks it is a horse!
We arrived on Friday night, and met up with our nanny for the weekend, Portia! She immediately whisked Claire away for dinner in the Kid's Dining Room! Portia brought Claire back for an hour, only to return again so that the adults could go for drinks and then to the Adults Dining Room! Bells ring to let you know dinner is served! Dinner(every meal) is a wonderful home cooked meal, and there is a set menu for every meal. After dinner the adults make their way to the bar to dance and party the night away!
Taylor and Hunter where free to do whatever the entire weekend; we maybe saw them all of one hour a day, literally!
A typical day at Blanco goes like this:
7am Hunter and Taylor race away on their bikes to milk the cows and let the horses out of the stables
7:30 am Portia comes to get Claire to take her to breakfast
8:15 am We meet up with our buddies; Paula & Clayton, Tami & Scott, and Bruce for breakfast
9:30 am Taylor, Hunter, and I ride horses
10 am Portia brings Claire to us so that she can eat breakfast
10:30 am Portia comes back to get Claire (they can ride horses, play on a playground, ride bikes, visit the cows, pigs, bunnies, horses and zebra)
One day girls and I went hiking, one day read or watched guys play sport; or guys went mountain biking!
12:30 am kiddies go to lunch with nannies
1 pm adult lunch
2pm Portia takes lunch, we play with Claire
2:30 pm tractor ride with nannies and kids
Adults napping, playing sport, played tennis with boys

Adults chilling!
5:30 pm Claire has dinner
6pm Portia brings Claire to us, so she can eat dinner
7 pm Portia back, adults to dinner and bar for party
1-2 am arrive home!
The whole day for boys:
WHATEVER they want; bikes, horses, tennis, golf, squash, soccer, and much more! Mostly freedom to do whatever they want to do, all they had to do was run to the dining room when the bell rang!

Claire smiled the entire trip!

Taylor ready to ride!

Fearless Hunter saddled up!

Taylor was VERY fearful on the first ride, and then loved it!



Off they go!

Hunter

Our friend, Matthew!

The twins, James and Matthew!

James and Taylor falling off the mountain!

Our friend, Evan(Claire's age)!

Our new friend, Ashley!
Claire crashed by 7:30 pm, boys usually by 9pm!
This is why this is a true vacation, we (adults) truly get a break!

You can see your children, you can not see your children! The best part, they are happy no matter what!

Happy Kids!

Taylor, Hunter and Claire are living the life! This opportunity of living overseas has given us many extras; my children have the best of BOTH worlds! They get to live and experience another country, and get a "real" USA summer filled with laughter and happiness! Among the list of things they did were: playing with friends, playing with cousins, going to Disney World, going to the beach, fishing, swimming, playing tennis, playing baseball, meeting a new cousin, going to a wedding, going to a professional baseball game, going to a water park, staying up late, sleeping in, and just being happy kids!
Here are a few of my favorite pictures of the kids over the last month and a half that we were away!
Claire was the flower girl in my sister's wedding!

Taylor and Claire acting silly at the wedding!

Hunter and Claire on the golf cart, ready to go to the pool! Hunter learned how to drive the golf cart this year, Mimi said he "passed" his drivers test!

Needless to say, Claire did not pass hers!

A must on every trip to Florida, The Florida Gator Stadium!

I love this one, he would die to be a "Florida Gator"!

Claire!

Ofcourse, the kids at Disney! (Lots more Disney pics to come in another post!)

Taylor and Mickey!

Hunter and Mickey!

Claire, getting ready to go have afternoon "tea"!

The Best Part of Our Trip!

The most important reason we had for going to the USA was to see family! We had not been home for two years, two very long years; and I was ready to see everyone I love! This trip was filled with so many things; but my favorite moments are the simple ones, the best ones...my time with family! I got to be a part of the birth of my niece and the wedding of my sister; I was so thankful to be able to be there for that! I feel as if the time home was "full"; I was there long enough to get to spend good quality time with everyone!
A few of my favorite pictures of the family.....
Mom and Dad!

Cousins!


New baby, Cailyn!

Grandma Lou and Claire, going to tea!

I also got to spend some time with my friends, times that will be treasured! Taylor was quite the social butterfly, and was invited to spend time with several different friends while he was home! Hunter also got to see all of his close buddies...memories made!
A few of my favorite pictures of our friends...
Drinking margaritas and eating Mexican food...

The younger half of the group!

Swimming with buddies!

My friend, Lisa and Claire. Claire saw Lisa and immediately asked if she went to her school! LOL!

Back!

Our last few weeks of our FANTASTIC trip was spent in Louisiana, home to my family! We eventually had to say "Good Bye" but only After a sweet baby girl was born, after a beautiful wedding ceremony, after sunburned skin and chlorine filled hair, after many sweaty baseball games, after spend the nights and laughing with friends missed, after shopping every TJ Maxx known to man, after 8 suitcases filled, after teary eyes and filled hearts....we arrived "home"!
I can honestly say that we had a GREAT time, a full time, a happy time! But unfortunately all things must come to an end; and I traveled with three kids by myself to the other side of the world to a happy husband and daddy who REALLY missed us! (We missed him too!)
Home is where your heart is, and Thank God I have two homes! The one where my family is that I grew up with, and the one that I am watching my kids grow up! So I said "good bye" to hot, sunny and lazy days; and "hello" to cold, rainy, BUSY days filled with homework and sports!

Home!

We have been home, the US, for three weeks now and we have not stopped! After a very long flight we arrived in Louisiana safe and sound, and so excited to be on solid ground! We spent our first week catching up with my family, and had a couple of great nights with old friends! The first night with our buddies we went to our favorite Mexican restaurant and drank margaritas; then finished the night at our friends house! I kept thinking the whole night..."It feels like just last week I saw these girls"; I guess that's a good thing to fit right back in! The next night our buddies threw us a Crawfish boil, and invited more of our old buddies!
It was awesome seeing everyone again, very bittersweet as I kept thinking I wish this could happen all of the time! The connections we have made here in Louisiana are some of the very best, I hope to always have them in my life no matter where we are!
After a great weekend with friends we spent some good quality time with my family!
After a week, we hit the road again and headed for Florida! On our way, we made a pit stop at Florida Gator land and Taylor took some of the grass for a keepsake! We finally made our way to see Pat's parents in Florida, after three days we headed to the best place in the world! Disney World! What can I say...we had the best time ever! Four days of happy family time, I love that place. Unfortunately after spending a few more days in Florida with Pat's parents we bid farewell to Pat. He headed back to go to work, and catch a few of the World Cup Games! I miss him very much, as our family is incomplete without him!
The kids and I spent another week in Florida, and headed back to Louisiana for a few more weeks of family and friend time!
I am exhausted and shopped out! I think we have hit every TJ Maxx and Target from Louisiana to Florida, and any other favorites along the way!