The train trip

Oh the day was awesome!!!! There are not many words that I can say to describe how much I enjoyed the train... it was fun, thrilling and just a perfect day all round.

The alarm went of WAY TOO EARLY but we had to get up and dressed so as not to miss the train. Judi & Aidan arrived just on 6:30 and then we made our way to Pretoria... arrived at 7:30 so had an hour to spare before the train was due to leave..... we put that time to good use... exploring the engine!


Everyone arrived and we boarded the train. In our party was:
- Keith, Cathy & Aaron
- My folks
- Judi & Aidan
- Marianne & Andreas and their two kids plus two friends
- Pamela, Kevin, Kevin's mom and their daughter Carmen


Our only downside of the trip to Cullinan was the roudy bunch in our coach who kept downing alchol... at 9 in the morning I ask you!! Actually they were already imbibing on the station before we left!



We had a glorious trip... chug chug chug and choof choof choof... wooohooo... peeeeeeeeep! The train arrived in Cullinan at 10:30... right on time! We then took a stroll into the village of Cullinan... each going our own separate way with plans to meet for lunch.



Mom, Dad and the three of us went into the information at Cullinan see if we could find out more about my mom's ancestor Frederick Wells... he discovered the Cullinan Diamond. Well the very nice guys there should us around their museum and then also showed us a DVD of the history of the town and the diamond... with PICTURES of this guy... my Mom and I were soooooooooooooo excited. This town will need another visit in the not to distant future to give us more time to explore.


We then made our way to The Lemon Tree for lunch.... a lovely little restaurant where we all had yummy lunch... more than enough to eat. The kids got to play on all the old forms of transport in the open air museum.




And we of course couldn't forget about pudding.... the main reason I chose this restaurant was because of the menu... the kiddies menu desser was listed as:

supercalaphragilisticexpealidotious ice cream

... sounded divine so I just had to have one....

mmmm... yummy. Didn't quite match the pavlova from the other night but was very nice.

Took another stroll around the village and went into Jan Harmsgat se agterplaas where there are all sorts of creations made out of all sorts of stuff... bottle caps, flattened tin cans, old sinks.. such a fun place. There were even old sewing machines bricked into the walls.


Aaron also got to cuddle a bunny before we made our way back to the train for the journey home... a much quieter affair as people were feeling a bit tired. Got some stunning pics of the train going around a few of the corners.




The weather forecast for the day had been 60% chance of rain but I had asked God if He could see to it that we didn't get rained out... but if we did to let us enjoy the day anyway. Well He must have heard me because it didn't rain... until we were driving home!! So Thank you Lord for answered prayer.


Got home at 6... two cups of coffee later before Judi & Aidan left.. then scrubbed Aaron in the bath and put him to bed. We all collapsed just after 9pm!


This was sooooooooooooo much fun that I highly recommend it... a fun day and well worth the cost. Check out http://www.friendsoftherail.com/ and do yourself a favour and book!!!

Counting sleeps....

Yip around this time of the year we start a major countdown. First it was for my birthday and now it's for these...

ONE SLEEP till we ride the train to Cullinan... soooooooooo excited about this.
TWO SLEEPS till Aaron's 7th birthday.... we're taking him to see Beauty & the Beast.

So you won't (or should I rather say might not?) hear from me until late Sunday night or Monday morning.... we're hectic over here.

And once all this is done we will start our count down to Christmas!

Aaron's new hobby

We are a train-mad family.... it's in the genes!

My grandfather worked on the railways all his life
My Dad has a room in his house with a model train layout (not finished but it does run)
My brother has trains too... and even started a train club and website (mmm wonder if it's still going)
and then along came Aaron and the very first toy I bought him while he was still in PICU was .... you guessed it A TRAIN. It lay in his crib next to him and the pedetician even used to squeak it when he came to visit.

So trains are in the family. We even encouraged it more and more by buying Aaron Thomas stuff from birthdays, Christmas and potty training incentives. He now has a whole train layout in his bedroom even (check my layouts if you want more details).

Okay so now on to the point of this post... sort of! For my Dad's birthday in July we bought him a piece of software... Create your own railway. Sad to say we can't get it to work properly on his pc. So we loaded it on mine... hehehe. And on Thursday afternoon last week Aaron discovered the icon and asked what it was... well that was me finished on the pc as he played for the rest of the afternoon.

We were no sooner home from school on Friday and he was again on the pc. And then all day Saturday too (from early morning till 6pm with a short break for lunch!). I had to ban him from the pc yesterday just to give him a break!

So now we have a computer train junkie in the house and he is not even 7 yet!!! hehehe... (will be on Sunday!)

Faith...Family.... and news

I absolutely LOVE the verse in Hebrews 11:1 all about faith... and when I found Stephanie Ackerman (who does RAK doodles) had done that particular verse I just had to add it to my blog... sure hope she won't mind.

Now on to news of the weekend... had a rather quiet and relaxed one... that's how it felt but it was busy-ish. Did the usual laundry chore... started on Friday afternoon and continued on Saturday... now must do the ironing! yuck yuck!

Saturday Aaron and I joined my Dad at his SAG Train meeting.... stands for Saturday Afternoon Group... hehehe... at the Pretoria Show Grounds to see a model train layout... we had such fun...

And... look who we found lurking.... THOMAS!!!

Sunday was spent at church in the morning and then we drove through to my folks for lunch, to look through their 1000+ photos of their 3 week holiday through Namaqualand and finally left Aaron there for his two week holiday! Yip 2 weeks... I have a break... I got to sleep till 6:30 this morning............. sooooooooooooooooo nice and needed!

Going to see a scrapping/school friend this afternoon... Theresa... and then it's home to do that yucky ironing and finish reading my murder mystery.

So that's me in a nutshell for today.... catch you soon.

ps... got pics yesterday of the newest addition to the Sanders family.... little Kaylin Catherine Wehrli born on 23 August to Thomas and Heather (Keith's younger sister). Congrats to the proud parents.