Grandest Friends Day

Mimi and I had the privilege of attending Cadie's "Grandest Friends Day." It was even cuter that I expected and it included 30 mins. in the gym where the children sang Friend of Mine, Because You Like Me and Skinnamarink and then we moved into the classroom where the children had a program that included reciting poems, a slide show and more songs. Cadie was the only girl in the top row because she is so tall, and she was just adorable and kept smiling at Mimi and I.

I had rushed Mimi a bit because I thought the program started at 8:10, but it actually started at 8:30. It turned out to be nice because we got an up-front parking spot and seats on the front row. Mimi was so sweet to get up early to attend the event and to pay Cadie special attention throughout the program.

We love you Cadie!

Pawsitive Panther Award

We are so proud of Miss Cadence Walsh!

Email from Grant to all the grandparents, "Check out the attached award Cadie got at school last week. Erin asked her teacher how the award recipient is selected and found out that 1 boy and 1 girl get the award each month. Cadie’s name get posted at the school and her name was included on the morning announcements. Basically, it is a BIG deal and we are VERY proud of her!"

South Africa: Coming Home

On Saturday we slept in because we were all exhausted from the long week, jet lag and packed tour day on Friday. We took a taxi and had lunch and did some shopping at Rosebank mall. It was a beautiful warm day (almost all the days were beautiful during the trip) and it was great to relax, pick up some souvenirs, watch traditional dancers in the street and get excited to see my babies! We went to the airport around 4pm and our flights departed around 7. I even had enough time at the airport to get a chair massage.

The travel home was easier for me than the travel to South Africa. I was able to take advantage of the layover in London to get a lot of work done which made me mentally feel more prepared for the work week and therefore able to relax more over the weekend. I arrived home on Sunday at 3pm and Grant was so sweet to pick me up at the airport. I came home, cleaned up and then picked up the kiddos from DD and Big John. It was great to have Monday off work for Martin Luther King day. Grant had to leave Monday evening for a work trip to Las Vegas and while it was hard to be apart for another week. It was nice to be able to go to bed right after the kids so I was able to quickly catch up on sleep and get back on schedule.

South Africa: Final Night Moyo's Dinner

For our final evening we cleaned up a bit in a public restroom and then met Reshigan and Antionette at Moyo's. It was a fun traditional restaurant where the waiters washed your hands in a bowl at the table, a group of drummers roamed around just like the mariachi bands in Texas, your could get your face painted similar to a specific tribe in Africa and the menu included baked grubs! I do not recommend the grubs.

South Africa: Lion Park

The Lion Park "Guided Game Drive through Lion, Cheetah and Wild Dog Camps with Cub Interaction" was awesome. It was pouring rain when we arrived, but the weather cleared up just before our drive began. At the first pride of lions, one of them came right up to where I was sitting and started clawing at the screen! I was surprised and a bit scared! They said they feed the lions enough, but they looked pretty skinny to me. I think that lion wished I was her lunch.

After the game drive, we went into a large open pen to pet the lion cubs. They were cubs, but still very strong and quite playful. Two our of the seven in our group came out with blood drawn. It wasn't a true safari, but I had a great time at the Lion Park.

There is me in the very back!

I was sitting right here! Those claws were inches from my face.

This is a picture from Pradeshnee of the lion at my window.

This little cub wanted to eat my jeans.

South Africa: Aerial Cableway Hartbeespoort

South Africa: Hartbeespoort Dam

South Africa: Summary

On Jan. 10 I made the very long trip to Johannesburg for the kickoff of the local SAP implementation. My wonderful travel companions were Natalie Browne, Sarah Henry, Veronica Rueda, Mark Carter and Nandita Manglavil. We met primarily with Antoinette Roberts and Pradeshnee Deoki from the local South Africa team. They were a wonderful group to work with and the trip was fun both professionally and personally.

The travel was LONG and I was so tired when we arrived. It was 10 hours from DFW to London, 6 hour layover in London and then 11 hours from London to Johannesburg. We stayed at the Peermont Metcourt Suites-Emperors Palace near the airport. We were so tired when we arrived at 7am local time, but our hotel rooms weren't ready! Veronica and I took advantage of the time and took a taxi to the Apartheid Museum and the rest stayed at the hotel. The Museum was nice, but there was a lot of reading and after a few hours I was seeing cross-eyed. When I finally got into my room around 3pm I crashed for a quick hour nap before getting together with the group around 5pm to prepare for our sessions the next day.

The week flew by and I was fighting a cold and cough so I focused on work and tried to rest in the evenings as much as possible. Our meetings finished Thursday evening and on Friday Pradeshnee took us on the most amazing tour!

Our group! Me, Natalie, Nandita, Sarah, Veronica and Mark.

This was the tour - as dictated by Pradeshnee;

- We drove in the peak hour morning traffic to the other side of the Joburg (colloquial for Johannesburg) to Hartebeespoort and Magaliesburg. 

- We went to the Aerial Cableway (more info at www.hartiescableway.co.za). At this vantage point you had an 360 degrees of Joburg. On a clear day, It shows Pretoria, Joburg and Botswana. 

- We then stopped at the Chameleon  Village flea market. This is where you bought your stunning African masks and other gifts. 

- Then the Lion Park.
- We had a pit stop at the Nelson Mandela Square where we took pictures at his famous or some would say infamous statue. 

- For sundowners and dinner we went to Melrose Arch. The restaurant we went to for a unique African dining experience that is inspired by the diversity of traditions is called Moyos ( more info at www.moyo.co.za).

Mimosa Before and After

Grant did a huge remodeling effort right before we moved into Mimosa and then we continued the projects as we lived there until July 2014.

On the exterior, roof line adjusted to remove the middle "peak" which was awkward looking and caused drainage issue right above the front door, new stamped concrete sidewalk and patio, new front door, shutters added, all windows replaced, added exterior lighting.

Kitchen included new granite countertops, new tile flooring, painted existing cabinets and added new pulls, texturing and painting walls, new appliances, new light fixture in breakfast nook and new recessed lighting throughout.

In the kitchen, we decided to keep the built-in china hutch, but painted it, added granite counter top, new glass doors and my sister Courtney and I created the custom picture pin-board as the backsplash.

Just to the right as you enter the front door, was the formal living and dining room. The fur-down in the dining room was removed, new wood floors, removed the door between the dining room and the kitchen, painted the walls and all new lighting. This is the room that the kids used as their play room and all their toys were in the big, brown hutch.

The casual living room was just off the kitchen. Part of fireplace removed, fireplace painted, new floors, walls and cabinets painted, all new lighting and ceiling fans.

The master bedroom included new floors, dark paint, custom bedside night pendant lights and ceiling fan.

The master bathroom was an incredible transformation and was one of my favorite rooms in the house! Grant totally changed the layout and it is so beautiful!

The master shower and also the toilet are where the sinks used to be.

The kids bathroom transformation was also incredible. Grant removed a small coat closet to expand the bathroom so that the area with the toilet and the two sinks was not so cramped.

The third bathroom was Mary's and the layout didn't change but the updated finishes made all the difference!

Cadie loved her built-in desk and great lighting in her room.

In Jack Rangers room, all the finishes were updated, plus we removed an old set of built-in cabinets that were not very functional.

Colton's room just included updated finishes. I could not find a before pic of Colton's room.

Mary's room also turned out beautifully!

Updating the old garage storage space to our new office space was one of the biggest transformations! The space included tons of storage, our shared office space and a new area for the washer and dryer.

The backyard became a kids dream yard!

We also built the biggest carport EVER!

In short, our Mimosa house was awesome. We really weren't ready to leave it, but we needed it to be in UP. Bye Mimosa! We miss you!