Winos!

The Harvett Boys currently have the rare privilege of being assistants in the making of wine for their parents :-) We are part of a group of a dozen or so people that have pooled some cash, sourced some grapes and are in the process of making a 2011 Shiraz. The process is taking place at Joostenberg's cellars just outside Stellenbosch. Earlier this week we met at the winery for the de-stemming and sorting process that produced 3 tubs of grapes and juice. Later in the week fermentation started to occur, so today we went for the "punch down" - a process that happens 3-4 times daily for about 10 days. The boys were very eager to help and are impressed with the enormous quantities of grapes. Place your orders now s we hope to have everything bottled and ready for consumption (or aging if you have the discipline) by this time next year!

Hiking in Helderberg nature reserve

We are continuing our exploration of our new town and visited the Helderberg nature reserve on Sunday morning. Our house is on the foot of the Helderberg (it means "clear mountain") and it is about a 10 minute drive to the entrance of the park. It was a beautiful, windless morning and it was beautiful the walk through the indigenous plant life. The highlight of couse, was the local wild life we came across. We named him Angus. :)

This photo is just to cute not to blog about, and is the result of Zack's uncle swinging him around in our pool.

Boys!

We are really enjoying the summer, with lots of visits with the family and going to the beach. We were able to combine the two with a visit to my brother's beach house in Melkbosstrand, which is about an hours drive from us. Aiden discovered the two waterguns at the house and did not let go for the rest of the weekend.

Zack just loves the spiderman mask.

Our new home

Here are some photos of the home we're renting in Somerset West. We made good use of the outdoor space with parties on Friday and Sunday. Today we celebrated ouma Annaline's birthday with cousins, uncles and aunts. We cooked a lovely leg of lamb (from the Karoo) on the Weber accompanied by some of the wines we picked up on our winery visits last weekend.

Both boys have turned into excellent swimmers. Aiden can dive out a torpedo from the shallow end of the pool all by himself and Zack does a very decent head-first dive and is able to swim up to the surface. After a few more months of this wonderful weather they may grow scales and fins... Aiden thoroughly enjoyed his first few days of school and looks forward to Monday morning when he get to go again.

First day of school in SA

It's been a long and eventful transition from life in California to life in the Fairest Cape. Today somehow signifies the end of the transition and the beginning of routine with Aiden attending his first day of "Grade 0" at Rooha Pre-Primary in Somerset West. He has been looking forward to going back to school for a long time and thoroughly enjoyed his day. He will now be going 5 days per week from 8am-12:30pm.

We are making good progress with unpacking and settling in, and I even have some time to update the blog for a change. It's wonderful to still have a packed schedule thanks to so many friends and family in the area. We're still catching up with everybody and enjoying every moment of it.

Family Holiday at San Lameer

We are currently enjoying a very relaxing
holiday with Christina's family at San Lameer on the South Coast of KwaZulu Natal. The days are warm, humid and balmy and the evenings very nice and cool. Since our last visit here 2 years ago, a beautiful swimming pool with gorgeous views of the Indian Ocean and Trafalgar Beach has been added to the house. Needless to say (and as can be seen from the photos), we are thoroughly enjoying the pool.

We've also already been to the beach several times and Aiden and Zack are really enjoying the big waves and the lagoon. Our nights are spent braaing on the deck and enjoying some of SA's finest wines. We are also partaking in a favorite South African tradition of watching test cricket (5 day matches). South Africa is playing India. It is currently the 1st test and SA is teaching India a lesson! Jacques Kallis (probably the best all-round cricket player in SA history) scored his highest score ever today... 201 runs not out.

Feels like vacation...

We can't believe that it is already December and that we've been back in SA for over a month already. In many ways it feels like we're still on vacation... We've just had our first weekend where there were no prior commitments and we could sleep in a little and do just what we wanted. On Saturday we visited a few kid-friendly wine farms... Kanu, Welmoed and Skilpadvlei. Sunday morning Christina went for another swim at Clifton while Gavin took the boys for a two-and-a-half hour hike through th vineyards and up a hill above Jordan winery. The views were spectacular, but it was a bit of a windy day so we were glad to get back indoors.

Other photos are from last weekend when we visited Noordhoek for Nicola's 15th birthday and we went for a walk on the beach. And a few weeks ago Gavin wento to a SA vs USA soccer match at the new soccer stadium in Cape Town