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

New Wheels!

It's been a busy first month for us back in South Africa, but we've made great progress getting things sorted out. We now have a car (photo: Peugeot Partner Grand Raid 2L Diesel), a house in Somerset West as of 1 Jan, a pre-school for Aiden starting in Jan and SA credit cards. We're still living on the farm with our friends and when the weather allows we spend a lot of time outside and in the vineyards. A highlight for the boys was when a CAT digger spent a whole week digging up a section of the vineyard where new vines will soon be planted. We took them for a close-up look one afternoon.

Ahhh... Africa!

Well, we've been back in South Africa for 10 days now and it has been an absolute blast! The Harvett boys (and mom & dad) all adjusted well to the time zone change and thankfully we have all managed to stay healthy. The flights from San Francisco to London and then on to Cape Town all went smoothly and the boys were super stars. Most of the toys, games and bribes we had acquired for the trip were not even needed.

We've spent some time with grannie and cousins but still have many more visits to go. We're staying with our good friends Nico & Annerie in their house on a wine farm about 10km outside Stellenbosch. The views from here are spectacular and there are 3 winery tasting rooms within easy walking distance. Enough said :-)

We still don't have a car and our money is still tied up in the US, but hopefully these matters will get resolved this coming week. We're also starting to look at rental houses tomorrow. Lots to do, but we're enjoying it all very much!

Saying goodbye...

It was Josh's 6th birthday party on October 16th and we could not miss a party which included a visit from the Lizard Lady! She showed us the most amazing snakes, lizards and even a 65 year old tortoise. Josh, as the birthday boy, could hold each reptile and the other kids could touch them. Super cool. The brown "snake" Josh is holding, is actually a legless lizard...because he has eyelids and ears...and an x-ray shows about 10 legs that disappeared over time.

The baseball playoffs are still in full swing and Gavin's team, the San Francisco Giants are still in the running...so Team Harvett was dressed in Giant's gear to show support (on Gavin's insistence). Yes, even I am the proud owner of a Buster Posey t-shirt, and yes, I know who he is!


We were able to visit the Svendsens on the way home, to say goodbye. The boys are super cute.

It feels like Halloween!

We are making the most of a few weeks of Fall before we return to South Africa and the start of another summer. We visited Apple Hill with friends and had a great time eating apples, apple pie, running through the maze and picking out the perfect pumpkin to take home and carve.
Just look at Aiden's funny faces - it seems to becoming an art form for him....trying to make a different face each time we take a photo.



Gavin made his best pumpkin carving to date! We were all very impressed!

Alcatraz, Science, & Giants!

It's the end of a hectic but enjoyable weekend spent in San Francisco and Mountain View. Christina swam the "Alcatraz Centurion" event on Saturday. A ferry takes the swimmers to Alcatraz and then they swim 1.3 miles in the Bay to San Francisco's Aquatic Park. Fortunately the sea lions stayed away this year and let the swimmers do their thing without distraction. Christina really enjoyed the event and it was a memorable conclusion to her very busy summer of open water swimming.

Afterwards we met the Pollocks at the California Academy of Sciences in the Golden Gate Park. The boys really enjoyed every minute of it and Aiden even got to see the worlds biggest and most advanced planetarium show... Mind blowing graphics and simulation of how the sun, stars and supernovas formed.

In between all the weekend activity we kept our finger on the pulse of the last 3 games of the regular season for the San Francisco Giants. On Sunday, in the last game of the 162-game season, they beat the San Diego Padres to win the National League West division and make it to the playoffs. Aiden and Zack were thrilled that "the good guys" won! We showed our support by wearing our Giants T-shirts!