Slowly piecing the rooms together

What another beautiful weekend in terms of weather!. Warm, sunny days with temperatures in the upper 20's (Degrees Celsius). This is almost unheard of, since the average temperature for this time of the year is approximately 20C, so we are very privileged at the moment!

So after getting home from work on Friday, I mowed the lawn :-) Lawn-mowing is now becoming a bi-weekly ritual, and soon, I won't be needing to mow the lawn for a very long time! After mulching the grass, Nathan and I played outside. He is absolutely loving the driveway and sidewalks, and the two us have hours of fun chasing each other, with him on his little motorbike (imported especially from Botswana) and me on a Spiderman scooter designed for a 4 year old. Needless to say, my back is not a huge fan of it! I think it's time to buy myself a bicycle...... The savings in medical bills alone for my back should cover the cost!

That evening we took a drive to an Arts and Crafts store, and bought ourselves 3 frames, so we can frame Liesel's dad's beautiful photos and hang them in our lounge. That was my mini-project for the weekend. On Saturday afternoon, while the rest of the house slept, I mounted the photos onto colored backgrounds, and placed them into the frames. They really came out well!! Then once Liesel and Nathan were awake, I hung the photos in the lounge, which now is really starting to take shape and develop character!

Sunday morning was not a day that I could sleep in. I was awake at 6am and was at the church before 7am to help set up the stage for the choir who were singing with us in the service. Thankfully they had the coffee ready by 7:30am and I could fill up on much needed caffeine before I played in the two morning services! The music was really well received today, and I enjoyed being a part of it! Later on Sunday afternoon, we headed out to Target to look for some curtains to finish our lounge with. We found the ideal ones, and our lounge will soon be complete and we can start giving the next room its makeover!

Nathan now is also starting to comprehend the potty training concept. Maybe its the fact that we have set up a reward system, that each time he goes to the potty, he will get a sticker, and after 5 stickers you get a present... but so far this weekend, he has been 7 times and earned 2 presents already. It's amazing what a little incentive can do :-)

...and life returns to normal

On Tuesday, we bade farewell to Rachel, as she continued her journey and headed to the UK to spend a few days with her brother. Now, we were a regular family of 3 again, and the routine returned to our lives. Hence, the abbreviated blog!

Also, since the sudden demise of my Sony Digital Camera, there will be no photos accompanying my blogs for the near future... We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause ;-)

On Saturday, Liesel hit a children's resale in Westlake, and came home with some bargains, like battery operated books of Jay Jay the Jet plane for $1! You go girl!
When she returned, we headed off to a shop to look for some material to drape around our window fittings. We were 50% successful as we got half of what we needed. I then made a stop at Best Buy to start my search for my Sony replacement. So many cameras to see , so little time to check them all out!

That afternoon, I attacked some weeds in my garden with my weedeater. There is no rest for the homeowner ;-) Later that evening, Liesel and myself could finally put our feet up and enjoy a DVD together! Been a while since we could do that!

On Sunday I was awake at the crack of dawn to get to Church by 7:30 for band rehearsal. We enjoyed a good sermon and headed ome for a relazing Sunday afternoon. We are amazed at Nathan who has taught himself how to play children's games on the internet, without any assistance from us! After his nap, we went outside and rode bikes and scooters up and down our driveway for 45 minutes! Life is good here in Suburbia!

One final (scary) fact: in 11 weeks I will be writing a blog from South Africa!!! Until next week then.............

Flying through the air at 115km/h

Exhilarating is probably the best word to describe our experience at Cedar Point on Saturday. Cedar Point has been consistently voted the world's best roller coaster park and is home to the tallest and fastest roller coaster in the world! The park has 17 roller coasters in total and a whole bunch of gentler rides too for those whose tickers have cobwebs on them!

Our day started by dropping off Nathan with our good friends Robin and Brian at 11am. He had a absolute blast with them and their two sons, making cakes, going to a playground, playing soccer, football and basketball! Thanks for watching him so we could go and be kids again in Cedar Point! You guys are awesome!!


We got to Cedar Point a half hour after it opened at 12:30pm. I must be honest and say, I was a little intimidated by these metal and wooden structures towering above us as we glanced at Cedar Point's skyline! All rides at the park are given a rating out of five, depending on their thrillingness (I think I just invented a new word). We decided to start off slowly, so we found a ride rated a 4, the Iron Dragon! And what a start that was!!

After our heartbeats returned to below 90 beats per minute, we thought we would try another 4 rated ride, and our first ride on a wooden coaster ever, the Blue Streak. This ride looked rather uneventful, and tame, but heck, I WAS DECEIVED! This wooden coaster threw us around the track at decent speeds, and a few times I panicked, thinking that I was about to be put into an orbit, as the ride dropped unexpectedly in a number of places!

By this time, we had convinced ourselves that we would be able to keep our lunch down, so we started going on the maximum thrill rated coasters, including the Mean Streak, which is a hug wooden coaster that is made up of hundreds of thousands of wooden planks, cleverly arranged in such away to give the rides a thrilling ride lasting 2 min 45 seconds, with speeds of over 100km/h!

Our favorite rides were the Raptor which sends you upside down 6 times, as your legs dangle below, with a full view of the earth or sky, depending on your orientation. The Magnum XL 200 is the ride that broke records when it was erected in 1989, as the tallest and fastest roller coaster in its time. It accelerates you to 115 km/h as you head down one of the steepest descents in the world at a 60 degree angle!

Unfortunately due to time constraints and the fact that we had to wait up to 45 minutes in the line for our rides, we could only ride half of the roller coasters in the park. There were two new rides that we really wanted to ride, but we couldn't justify a 1hr 40 minute wait for the one, and the other was out of order. There was the Top Thrill Dragster there, which is the fastest and tallest ride in the world, that accelerates you from 0 to 200 km/h in 4 seconds and rockets you up an 140m high tower that turns you 90 degrees, and then you free fall back to earth, nose first. I wanted to try it out, but I had no volunteers to join me, and didn't want to stand in a line for an hour for the 30 second ride, without being able to share it with anyone ;-)



Finally, on a sad note, I have to say good bye to a special dear companion of 7 years :-( My digital camera died on me today, the day after it experienced unreal G forces whilst in my pocket on the roller coaster! My Sony served me well, and most of the photos you have seen here included in my blog, were taken by the camera..... Now to find a worthy replacement!

Bigger, Better, and absolutely Breath-taking, Niagara Falls :-)

What a wonderful weekend we have just had. Of course, we are all exhausted after our adventure, but that is a very small price to pay to witness the sheer glory of Niagara Falls!!!

Rachel, Liesel's sister arrived from South Africa on Monday for a two week vacation with us. On Saturday morning, we all climbed into the Buick and Drove Northeast, across 2 states to the town of Niagara Falls. Liesel had been before in 1999, but this was virgin territory for the rest of us.

After the 4 hour journey, we pulled into the Niagara Falls State park (the oldest State park in the USA) and made our way towards the thundering falls. Even from afar, the views were incredible! We started by buying tickets for the Maid of the Mist, which is the boat that takes you a few meters away from base of the three falls that make up the Niagara Falls.


Everybody is issued with a blue plastic "raincoat" which offers about as much protection as a sieve against the overwhelming spray. Once aboard the boat, it makes its journey towards the 1 850 000 liters of water gushing over the falls every second!! Near the base of the horse-shoe falls, the boat strains it engines to keep relatively stationery against the flow of the mighty wash! At this point, everybody becomes saturated as the spray envelopes most of you, leaving very few places dry. Nathan loved it as much as his father - something we would do over and over again!



After the Maid of the Mist, Rachel and I embarked on the Cave of the Winds tour. This tour takes you down the gorge via an elevator. Then you head out towards the waterfall, equipped only with a flimsy yellow rain jacket, and State Park issues Sandals. The tour takes you to within 15 feet of the base of the falls, then you ascend a wooden staircase, directly adjacent to the cascades! You can, in places, dangle your foot in the gushing water. The destination of the tour is the "Hurricane Deck" which is right up against the falls and water is pelting down onto the deck. Venturing out on this platform, automatically guarantees that you will not walk away with a dry inch left on you!!! This was a definite highlight for me!!!

That night, I went back to the falls, as they are lit us at night, and this revealed yet another beautiful facet of this place!
God was so good to us, that he gave us bright sunny weather on Saturday to enjoy the falls (my red nose is proof!). On Sunday, we woke up to rain! Rain or shine - the Niagara Falls are still incredible!!!

Happy Birthday Lee!

On Wednesday, Liesel celebrated another birthday. Her celebrations started on Tuesday when her good friend, Robin, brought over a birthday cake (THANK YOU ROBIN!) As you can see, Robin is an icing artist extraordinaire! And the cake was delicious too!

On Liesel's Birthday, she was deservedly spoilt, getting an Ipod from me and a docking station from Nathan. Now the house is usually filled with the sound of music! She also got plenty of phone calls from friends and family throughout the day, and was very appreciative of the fact that so many people cared!

On Friday, I got home from work and saw that our lawn had again achieved the dishevelled, unkempt look. Although that is fashionable as a hairstyle, its not that great for a lawn. SO I hauled out my trusty Craftsman mower and mowed the front and back for the 2nd time this week. I am still trying to find the bible verse that prophesied: "... and there shall be no rest for the home-owner." That was the general theme for the rest of the weekend!

Saturday, we woke up to a gorgeous day. Instead of being "apartment-bound" and needing to go shopping to break the monotony of sectional living, we had plenty of work to keep us busy around the house! We started off by tidying out the garage and the laundry (all my tools had to vacate the laundry...) Then it was washing and scrubbing of Nathan's Little Tikes playhouse, and some of his other plastic toys. Of course Nathan offered to help!

As a reward, after dinner, we headed to our new favorite park/playground/beach. It was a beautiful evening and Nathan loved throwing sticks into the lake while Liesel reclined on a bench swing! Such a beautiful setting!



On Sunday, after church, lunch and a nap, Nathan helped me wash our two cars. While we were outside, Liesel cleaned some of the house in preparation for her sister, who arrives tomorrow! We are looking forward (especially Nathan) to having Rachel with us for a couple of weeks, and we plan to have plenty of fun with her. Next weekend we should be at the Niagara Falls!!

Stay tuned for more adventures of the McCarthy's (and Schaefer) in the USA :-)