WELCOME TO MY WORLD - Dreaming of Summer Holidays...

The end of the year is always an exciting time for us because we get three weeks of pure laziness, dinners around the fire, daily explorations, way too much delicious food and plenty of wine! Most Decembers, we head off to my dads house in Fisherhaven - it is honestly THE BEST three weeks of my year!

Fisherhaven is a suburb of the whale watching town of Hermanus in the Western Cape, South Africa. It is situated next to the Bot River Lagoon, about 14 km from Hermanus center and about 14 km from Arabella Country Estate and Golf course - (Credit: Wiki)

We are approaching the end of our Winter here in Cape Town which means that soon, we will be able to start feeling and smelling the end of year holidays approaching... We have an expression here in SA for something good approaching...

Can you feel it - it is here!

And to Capetonians... a few months away is practically NOW! haha :) True story!

I thought I would share some of my best memories from our last holiday at my dads place, whilst I simultaneously dream about those days coming again soon... haha :)

On arrival, it is all about priorities.... WINE! After the wine has been poured to mark the beginning of the holidays, then we can deal with everything else. lol

What I love most about the lifestyle out there is how basically everything is done outdoors. Cooking, eating, you name it!

There is always plenty of conversation around the fire while the guys braai our food.... YES, in South Africa, we BRAAI - we do not BBQ. We cook REAL meat on REAL FLAME! hehe - no burger patties will be accepted in the men's circles around the fire I can assure you. lol

We are a large family - 10 Adults and now 5 kiddies. Us ladies generally take care of all the sides that accompany the braai meat, and we get quite creative over the holidays... due to the absence of stress in general. lol

On this occasion, I prepped one of the sides which was a roasted baby marrow dish with green beans, bean sprouts and goats cheese feta. Oh... basically my entire family is Banting, so we ALWAYS have to think outside the box when it comes to the sides, as NO carbs would be accepted by the boys. lol

and the salads are always very creative too - boasting everything from ribbon carrots to camembert cheese... YUM!!!

While the boys take care of the fire, there is generally music blaring (compliments of yours truly - DJ JAYNE) haha - whilst the kids muck about and swim...

It is Xmas time, so Granny and the kiddies generally go exploring the surrounds for things to make all our Xmas decorations with...

and mom's Xmas trees are ALWAYS a BIG hit!

We get up to all kinds of crazy stuff in the evenings... like the girls proving to the guys that they too can do pull ups... hehehe

My arms hurt for about two days after this.... lol

One of the best parts of spending the holidays with my AMAZING family is the little adventures we take...

This one was an amazing little restaurant called "Betty Blue" that us ladies visited on our own as a lunch treat from my sister in law... it was such a fantastic little place, and the pictures of the food speak for themselves!!!

another adventure to a little pizza restuarant in a VERY small town called "Bot Rivier" - the restaurant is an old train carriage which has SO much character! This particular evening was simply loads of fun! You know, you just get those evenings when EVERYBODY lets their hair down... this was one of those! lol

Banting Burgers on the menu... so the Banters were VERY happy!

the kids were happy....

and so were the big peoples...lol

There was loads of dancing and plenty of fun! One of my brothers even pulled an "Ice Ice Baby" moment - but we wont publish that...lol (Forgive the blurry pics, but yes... WINE! lol)

We even did the "Colour Run" last year, which was an experience NEVER to be forgotten! It is a 5km walk/run which involves a LOT of colourful mess and music! lol - Loads of fun for the whole family, and I was SUPER proud of my little man finishing the 5km walk unattended! The "colour run" originates from the Hindu festival "Holi" so it actually has plenty of history behind it!

A good breakfast / brunch is ESSENTIAL after such strenuous activities... hehehe - we enjoyed breakfast at this venue so much that we decided to go back and celebrate our "New Years Eve" at the same venue!

Let the New Years Eve celebrations begin!!! - Strike a pose ladies!!! hehe - Dont you just LOOOOOOVE that old truck?!!!

and yes... this was all of us nursing a few hangovers on New Years Day at the most amazing venue - "Houw Hoek Inn" - we also got to see and meet a few of our family members that live abroad...

At the request of the ladies (obviously lol) we took to a wine route adventure the next day... for those of your that are not aware, the Western Cape is renowned for its wine routes, and is probably why we are all such avid wine drinkers. We boast some of the best wines in the world :)

The guys were VERY patient throughout the day as we went from wine farm to wine farm... and were AMAZING chauffeurs as us ladies tasted and tasted and tasted some more... hahahaha!!! Needless to say that all the ladies were VERY happy by the end of it all. lol

Very.... verrrrrrrrrrrry happy ladies! lol

A recovery breakfast was in order... and back off to Betty Blue we headed... This was the most unusual breakfast I have ever had! It was poached eggs in a curry. It was DELICIOUS and just what the doctor ordered after the wine tasting adventure. lol

The boys were on to their crypo talk as usual.....

Time for some fun around the pool with the evil uncle Brett. lol

then it is time to get dinner going around the fire... I think one of my favourite parts of evenings outside and around the fire is probably the night swims!!! - I know it is most definitely the thing that the kiddies look forward to the most! The pool is solar heated, and with days reaching 34 degrees Celsius, the pools is a delicious 31 at 11pm at night!!!!! It is like bathing under the stars! Perfect to relax on the edge with a glass of red wine!!!

Oh man! I cannot WAIT for the end of the year!!! lol

A little tango on the pool deck...

Plenty of fun and tunes in the kitchen....

Drinks at the beach...

and most importantly... my AMAZINGLY BEAUTIFUL family with me every day!

(I must make mention that there were a few family members missing in this pic as they had not arrived at the holiday destination yet...)

So yes... that is what we get up to in our end of year holidays :)

Until next time!!

Much love from Cape Town South Africa xxx