22 December 2019
It is my rural son-in-law’s birthday today. He wants to keep it low key! But just because it is so close to Christmas does not mean we can’t celebrate.
Allan loves reading so getting him a gift is easy – A good book goes down well and he was thrilled to open more than one parcel containing a good novel this morning.
Our daughter’s best friend from high school is spending the holidays in Knysna so she and her family came to spend the day to help celebrate. Wendy and Brynn have kept up with Lauren and Allan over the years in spite of living in different provinces. Wendy was a big part of our lives when we were raising the girls so it was lovely for Earl and me to see her and her family again.
Wendy’s children are 20, 16 and 14. Our grandchildren are 22, 17 and 15 and they all got on extremely well.
Before lunch, we took a walk and a great deal of fun was had when Brynn and the boys swam in one of the farm dams. We joked about the potential danger of eels coming up to bite them – or perhaps a hippo or a crocodile?
Brynn, Allan, Wendy, Ceilidh, Darien, Lisa, Ciaran, Lauren, Simon, Jay
Lucy needed no second invitation to take a dip
Brynn was the first one in
Come on in – It’s glorious
What are you waiting for?
The boys join their dad
Watch out for the eels!
Ciaran
Simon going in to join his cousin, Jay
The Earl cooked a few chickens in the Weber for lunch and Lauren, Wendy and I made the salads.
Lunch Time
After lunch, the boys got active playing ball and swimming in the pool.
What a gorgeous place to have fun in the sun!
At any age – Boys will play ball!
Splashing about in the pool
Please don’t slip!
Bomb dropping from each end of the pool!
It was “Call Back the Past’ when Lauren brought out the photograph albums!
Do you remember this one!
Lauren and Wendy at Wendy’s 21st Birthday Party
Lauren, Wendy and Lisa
Lauren and Wendy
Brynn and Ceilidh
Yes – a lot of water under the bridge – but how awesome that this friendship has lasted over the years and when they meet it’s straight back to where they left off.
I just love this amazing family of ours. We watched “Everybody’s Fine” on TV this evening. It was about a father trying to get his kids together for Christmas. How lucky we are that we don’t have that problem. Our youngest daughter arrives tomorrow but there will still be one of our number missing. We miss Josh so much but are so happy that his dad is giving him a wonderful opportunity to study at an international university in Hungary. We had a video call with him this evening and that, in a small way, made up for him not being here.
Adventuring into Retirement 
What a great family time together. You so lucky. Blessings.
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