A Memorial Weekend, indeed!

Above are a sample of photos from our Memorial Day weekend! It was jam packed with action since Saturday morning, and the action isn't letting up too soon!

It was all hands on deck after waking up on Saturday. Our first guests, the Steenkamps from Canada, we arriving in the early afternoon, and there was a lot that needed to be done prior to their arrival! We first had to make a stop at a few shops to get the necessary supplies for the weekend and we were out of the house before 9am! Once we returned home, it was the start of cleaning and some extreme gardening. There were 2 bushes left in the front bed that needed to move to the back yard. I managed to get them out, and then mix in 180+ kg of top soil into that garden bed, to prepare it for Monday's floral purchases! In the back yard, I transplanted the 2 bushes, and then started a new bed around our air conditioner. Apparently I need a lot more mulch to finish that bed, which will also be purchased on Monday! (For the non-USA folk, Monday is Memorial Day for us - yeehaa!)

Adriaan, Linda-Joy, Jason and Megan arrived at our house just after 3pm. It was wonderful to sit down and chat with them, while Nathan bonded with Jason! The weather this weekend has been the warmest and best weather so far this year, so we took the opportunity to go and have some fun on our beach! Nathan loved the water, and jumping over the small waves, while the boys (myself and Adriaan included) released some energy throwing a football around and making stones skip on the water! Then it was time to head home, get changed and head to Red Robin for some good hamburgers for dinner! Jason said that his hamburger was the best one he ever tasted, so the Red Robin lived up to its reputation!

On Sunday morning, the Steenkamps and our other friends from South Africa, the Lechner's, came to our place for a fantastic brunch that Liesel whipped together for the 17 people! It was great to catch up with our missionary friends and see how their kids have grown! Coleson, their eldest, was a average kid when we last saw him in South Africa a couple of years ago. Today he is 15 years old, and is over 6ft 2 inches tall! Charlie puts it down to the amount of prawns they are eating in Mozambique :-) At 11am - all the males (with the exception of Nath) climbed into 2 cars and headed to the train station to catch a train into downtown Cleveland. We had tickets to the Indians Baseball game at Progressive Field. Again the weather was perfect, and the seats were in the best position in the stadium, right above home plate! The game was entertaining and I managed to fight off another man to claim an Indian's t-shirt that was thrown in my general direction :-) Unfortunately , the home team lost, but it was still a wonderful experience for all of us. We boarded the train and were soon back at our house, where a few photo shoots spontaneously broke out! That was short-lived as the Steenkamps had to drive 5 hours back to Canada, as Jason and Megan had school on Monday!

All in all we had a great time with our friends and wished they could have stayed longer and enjoyed the wonderful, yet rare, Cleveland weather for one more day :(
On Monday, we are planning to get busy in the garden again, and then relax after the madness of the past 48 hours!

Lot's of digging, dirt and a date!

After a cooler than average week, it seemed to be the perfect weather to do some much needed gardening. It seems that all the houses in our neighborhood had the same landscaper, which means that there is not much variety or color in the plants and bushes of each yard. Given that it is is now Spring time in Ohio, we feel it is our duty to provide our neighborhood with color. So Part I of our color revival project got underway. It involved me digging up an entire bed of about 7 established bushes located in the front yard, and transplanting them in the back. I managed to dig up 5 of the bushes so far, and placed some strategically around our air conditioner unit. It was gloriously muddy, and not for the faint-hearted! :-) Below are a before and an after shot of the bed that we are working on!

Part II and III of the project involve buying some roses and other colorful flowers and placing them where the bushes once stood. That is scheduled sometime in the near future!

At least my manual labor was not in vain as at 2pm I went indoors, got cleaned up, and waited for Nathan's babysitter! When she arrived, Liesel and I headed off to watch a movie that she has been longing to see, Made of Honor. I must say that I enjoyed the movie, although I was slightly concerned that I was the only male in the movie theater. But luckily, one other sucker, I mean, gentleman, showed up with his date.

We returned to relieve the babysitter later that afternoon, and we then had a nice quiet evening at home.

On Sunday, I was up again just after 6 as I was playing at Church again. We had another enjoyable and God-glorifying set. That afternoon, Liesel and I caught up with most of our overseas family, and then headed to our Bible Study group for our penultimate gathering before the summer break. And thus endeth the weekend!!! Next weekend we plan to be getting together with some old friends from South Africa!!

Happy Mother's Day!

First of all, I need to wish my wife and mother of Nathan, a happy Mother's Day!!! Also, although my mom is away on holiday and will probably not read my blog this week, happy Mother's Day ma!!! And a Happy Mother's Day to Gabi, in Botswana! We miss you both and wish you were here so that we could spoil you in person!

This weekend was all about working hard and playing hard! I decided that instead of buying a bunch of flowers for Liesel for Mother's Day, we should rather go to the nursery and pick out a variety of different flowers which Nathan and myself would plant for her, and that way, be a longer lasting Mother's Day gift! So after cleaning the house, we drove to a couple of nurseries, so that Liesel could pick out the flowers she wanted! Then, later that day, Nathan and myself, did all the required manual labor which resulted in 2 flower boxes and 2 flower pots! The weather on Saturday was perfect for working outside. The skies were sunny, but the temperature didn't rise much above 20C/67F! Nathan absolutely loves being outside and helping wherever he can. He is especially fond of watering the flowers with the hose (and anything within the general area - parents included)!

That evening, it was my turn to get out and have some fun. Our church was hosting an Amazing Race competition. There were 7 teams that entered, and I partnered up with Ron, a fellow worship team musician. The games was as close to the real thing as you could get in Ohio, with Roadblocks, Detours etc. At one roadblock, Ron and I were forced to drink an entire two liter bottle of warm Coke before we could obtain our next clue. Ron was the real hero as he drank 2/3's of the bottle in the same amount of time in took me to drink 1/3. Needless to say neither of us got to bed early that night....... After incurring 10 minute penalties at the baseball field, running through Crocker Park (our local shopping District), searching for clues at the Rec center, buying a specific comic book from the local comic book store and numerous other challenges, Ron and I finished proudly in 5th place. We didn't realize the competition was that good, but we had great fun! Also the Amazing Race was excellently organized and was an absolute pleasure to be a part of. Sign me up for next year's Race!


On Mother's Day we went to church as per normal, and afterwards went and had lunch at Max and Erma's (a restaurant - not a couple in the church :P ) It was delicious and the best part of it is they bring you steaming hot chocolate chip cookies straight out of the oven for dessert! Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. I guess that means I have to put in some overtime in at the gym to make up for the weekend :-)

All good things must come to an end.........

Just a little over 15 weeks ago, I sat down to my first lesson in the intensive Java Programming course that my company had enrolled me in. Back then, the obstacles and learning curve ahead us was simply frightening. But with a lot of perseverance, and a few late nights reading text books and examining Java code, I have graduated! On Friday, our graduation ceremony was held at a restaurant in downtown Cleveland. The entire program was considered a huge success and myself and the other 11 graduates can now walk tall knowing that we are able to crunch out Java code. It is rather sad, as I will miss the other 11 participants. We compared it to being on Survivor - taken away from your usual workspace - and placed in a class room setting for 15 weeks. We were family, facing the unknown together! But now, as we return to our workplace, some going home to Albany, NY, it is unlikely that our paths will cross often. I wish them all huge success in their careers!


After the grueling program, Liesel suggested that I celebrate my graduation by buying myself a gift! SO I went out in search of a Nintendo Wii gaming system! These consoles are hugely popular and it was 4th store I tried that had some stock on hand! For those of you who don't know what a Wii is, it is a unique gaming system where the controller senses 3 dimensional movement. So rather than just sitting on the couch pushing buttons, the Wii requires that you actually imitate the actual movement. For example,if you are playing a golf game, you need to do a full golf swing, holding the game controller in your hand as you go through the motions. Liesel and I got a good workout as we played doubles in tennis, a round of golf, and a game of (10-pin) bowling! Needless to say, I have been staying up late (or early in some cases) as I have been trying to improve my Wii skills ;-) I would love to know what people think when they drive past the house at night and see me swinging away at my TV.......



Our Saturday was mostly raining. In the morning we just hit a few shops and spent the majority of the day indoors. When there was a slight reprieve in the weather, Nathan and I hopped on our scooters and spent some quality time on the driveway pursuing one another, while Liesel tackled some weeds in the garden. Later that evening we relaxed and enjoyed one of the latest DVD's.

Sunday's weather was completely the opposite to Saturday's. There were no clouds in the sky, as the sunshine warmed up North East Ohio. We went to Church and then bought an absolutely delicious rotisserie chicken for lunch from Boston Market. That evening we headed to our Bible Study, where we celebrated our leader's 40th birthday! Happy Birthday Tom!

Tomorrow marks the beginnings of a couple of things for me. Firstly, I start my new position, as a Java developer, and join a new team! And secondly, my Spring beach volleyball kicks off!