Dinner with Shirley

 So wonderful to catch up with Shirley and to meet her delightful daughter, Keira.

Welcome Shirley, to the blogosphere

And talking of cute youngsters, Shirley has just set up a blog for Keira. Keira's looking adorable.

So glad you are blogging Shirly, we'll be following little Keira's journey with tremendous interest. And make sure you include lots of pics of you too!

Congratulations Shirley!!

... and welcome to the world to her gorgeous, new little daughter, Keira Shirley Ann. As Dorothy Parker once said, well done Shirley, we knew you had it in you :)

Thanks to Shirly, I now know that Keira is an Irish name after a 17th century Irish saint Ciara - and it means little dark one... It's a gorgeous name - not least because it is shared by my zany, fun loving cousin in Canada.

Can't wait to meet little Keira in person when we come back to Cape Town in April.

Two weeks back in Cape Town before emigrating to Australia

Highlights

• Seeing our wonderful family again. I cannot get enough of Sammy and Matthew. They are absolutely adorable and we are having so much fun together.
• Seeing all our friends at our Pudding and Punch party
• A visit to St Jame's beach with Jo and the kids
• Ring a ring a roses on the trampoline with Matthew and Sam and many games of hide and seek
• A lovely lunch with Russel, the Boet and Lucy
• Geocaching with Russel, Aaron and Nicky (the professional photographer) at Betties Bay - running down the dunes, climbing the hill at Gordon's Bay, the Botanical Garden and penguin colony, and walking in the reserve
• Dancing to Abba songs with the Boting clan
• Jesus Christ Superstar at Camps Bay theatre
• Ice skating, "horse racing" and go-cart racing at Grand West - and Anthony's winning of "Hot Stuff" the devil for Matthew
• Catching up with Julian who has just had a new son
• Jeans shopping with Sally. Stretch jeans rule. Thanks Sally!!
• Sushi dinner with Jo and Anthony
• Madagascan steak with mum and Mike at Barristers - steak and pepper sauce doesn't come better
• Delicious SPUR meal with Robyn - with peacan nut sundae
• Lovely dinners at mum and Mike's
• Dinner at Marrianne - and her adorable dogs
• Dinner at Jo and Steve and seeing their beautiful new kitchen
• More of that amazing strawberry juice - thanks Steve!!
• Appletizer - how I miss it!
• Playing with the kids at West Lake and rolling around on the castles
• Visiting Nicola's new house and catching up with her and Shirly
• Getting Skype (at long last)
• Jo's amazing biscotti and date balls and mum's chocolate mousse and soup
• Some icey dips in the pool (done to impress Sammy and Matthew)
• Taking Sammy to school
• Packing the boxes
• Watching Annie with the kids
• Taking the kids to visit the fire station and getting to ride in the fire engine and blow the siren - not sure who was more excited, Antony and me or the kids!
• Seeing Ivor and Janice, Jessica and their new baby
• Snogging in the car wash
• Gardening with Sammy
• Dinner at James
• Mike's birthday party where we got all the family together
• Burning all my papers from way back

Flying into Cape Town




Outing to St James

Punky Sam

Partying to Abba music with the Boting clan





Visiting Nicola's new house




Geocaching with Russel in Betties Bay








Check out the heron eating a rat!



And we saw some very cute penguins





And a dassie. Apparently dassies are related to elephants.



Family Outing to Grand West - ice skating and fun fare









Dinner at Marianne






Out for Sushi dinner




Playing at West Lake









Visiting Ivor, Janice, Jessica and their adorable new baby. The cutie in the photos is Jessica.




Visiting the fire station with the kids and getting to drive in the fire engine with the siren on (very exciting for us adults, let alone the kids!)




Mike's birthday party