Final Family Vacation Photos

We had a lot of fun together and enjoyed some beautiful scenery. Welkom is a very flat, dry place to live so when we get the chance to see the ocean, mountains and a variety of animals we love it. We also enjoy watching the kids take in so many new adventures.

When you take a vacation that is 9 hrs away, you have to make a lot of stops. Making the trip more like 11 hrs away, but the kids are great travelers. This stop is lunch time and enjoying some KFC.

Our first vacation spot was in George and we visited good friends of ours-Val and Danie. We also helped Val celebrate her birthday.

We went to a wonderful farmers market on Saturday morning and had a yummy breakfast of fresh fruits, breads, coffee and pancakes

It is always fun to play in the rocks

Picking flowers

Watching the ocean

Whale watching-we saw many whales with their calves

Monkey Land

Next on our holiday we visited a place called Monkey Land. We took a guided walking tour through the park and the kids were able to get really close to some monkeys. We weren't allowed to touch them but the monkey's would run up right next to us and didn't mind the kids getting close.

Liam and Lindie really enjoyed the monkeys and they are still talking about the fun.

{I know its not a monkey, but there were also lots of tortoises}

Elephant Park

While away on holiday we visited an elephant park near Plettenburg. The kids were very excited about the elephants until they got close and personal with them. We had a bucket of fruits and vegetables to feed them which made the elephants very eager to stick their trunks out to be fed. One elephant even gave Lindie a kiss on the cheek which made her a bit more afraid.

It was a warm day, so the elephants had been playing in the mud making it a messy adventure for us. Brian and I enjoyed the elephants and maybe when the kids are older they will enjoy doing it again.

Red Berry Farm

Last week our family had the opportunity to go on holiday (as they say it in SA or vacation). We decided to go to a place we haven't been before. We headed 10 hours South to George. The kids did great traveling, even Liam after being so sick the day before. It took him a few days to get back to 100% but he still had fun.

Our first full day in George we went to the Red Berry Farm & picked yummy fresh strawberries. Our friends, Val and Danie, moved to George this past May so we spent a few days with them and they showed us around. This strawberry farm has a few rules: to go into the strawberry field each person has to have their own bucket, no eating the strawberries while in the field and you can't fill your container too full. {Haha only in South Africa}

Ok, do you know how difficult it is to explain to a 2 and 3 year old that they can't eat their strawberries yet? Rather difficult...they ended up eating two each.

After our picking fun we had a very yummy snack of fresh scones with cream, strawberry jam and coffee or tea. This was a perfect way to start our holiday.

Family Time!

Last weekend we took a little road trip and left Welkom for 2 days.

I read on-line that Fouriesburg, located in Eastern Free State, about 3 hrs from us was having a Spring Fair. I am always up for getting away and trying to find something fun to do. According to the information on their website it looked like it should be fun. The O'Tools and we left Saturday morning around 8AM. We stopped in Bethlehem and checked into our guest house and the O'Tools went on to check into their place located near Ficksburg.

We ended up getting to the Spring Fair before them and checked it out. My expectations are always too high. In typical, South African style, the advertisement was the best part of the event. Lets see if I can list all the things happening. There was a face painting tent, small craft tent, used book sale, homemade jams to buy and a snow cone tent {by far that was the highlight}. There was a Cherry farm located 20km away that was offering tractor ride tours of the farm. We met the O'Tools there and found out it cost R50 per person {or $6.10} and they wouldn't give the tour until there was a big enough group to go. So we just sat on the deck and enjoyed a chocolate milk shake. After that we drove into Ficksburg to check out that little town and found nothing of interest, so we stopped at a small grocery store and bought lunch to braii at the place where the O'Tools were staying.

The kids had a great afternoon of swimming and playing. Us adults enjoyed our time relaxation and the beautiful scenery. The Easter Free State is so much prettier then Welkom. They have beautiful mountains, lots of fruit trees, and overall just a pleasant atmosphere.

Sunday morning we went to Wimpy's for a yummy breakfast. Lindie was having eye problems, I think she might have seasonal allergies. But she was still very happy, just doesn't look the best.

After breakfast we drove through Golden Gate National Park, something we haven't done before and we thoroughly enjoyed it. The kids slept through most of it, so that was great.

We also found some nice camping sites that we might have to try out as a family get away or team outing. Brian wants to hike some of these mountains sometime soon.

We had a very nice weekend away and it was our way of celebrating Labor Day.