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.

Cape Town Mid 2006 Highlights (before emigrating to Australia)

Betties Bay

• 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

Admin

• Packing the boxes
• Burning all my papers from way back
• Getting Skype (at long last)

Dinner & Food

• Sushi dinner with Jo and Anthony
• Delicious SPUR meal with Robyn - with peacan nut sundae
• Lovely dinners at mum and Mike's
• Dinner at James
• Madagascan steak with mum and Mike at Barristers - steak and pepper sauce doesn't come better
• Dinner at Marrianne - and her adorable dogs
• Dinner at Jo and Steve and seeing their beautiful new kitchen
• Jo's amazing biscotti and date balls and mum's chocolate mousse and soup
• More of that amazing strawberry juice - thanks Steve!!
• Appletizer - how I miss it!

Theatre

• Jesus Christ Superstar at Camps Bay theatre
• Watching Annie with the kids

With the family

• 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.
• Snogging in the car wash
• Ring a ring a roses on the trampoline with Matthew and Sam and many games of hide and seek
• Some icey dips in the pool (done to impress Sammy and Matthew)
• Taking Sammy to school
• Playing with the kids at West Lake and rolling around on the castles
• Ice skating, "horse racing" and go-cart racing at Grand West - and Anthony's winning of "Hot Stuff" the devil for Matthew
• Dancing to Abba songs with the Boting clan
• Mike's birthday party where we got all the family together
• 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!
• Gardening with Sammy
• A visit to St Jame's beach with Jo and the kids

Friends

• Seeing all our friends at our Pudding and Punch party
• Catching up with Julian who has just had a new son.
• A lovely lunch with Russel, the Boet and Lucy
• Jeans shopping with Sally. Stretch jeans rule. Thanks Sally!!
• Seeing Ivor and Janice, Jessica and their new baby
• Visiting Nicola's new house and catching up with her and Shirly

Flying into Cape Town




Outing to St James

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