Lily&Rose Design Studio

Out­door fun with the fam­ily was on the agenda last Sun­day.  It is win­ter here, but we’ve only seen a hand­ful of really cold days.  Sun­day turned out to be a beau­ti­ful warm day and that just begs for some out­door activ­ity.  It involved loads of adven­ture too — per­fect for stu­dents on holiday.

Sure there is a story behind the story and it goes like this …

A while ago our eldest daugh­ter, Bianca, can home with a moun­tain bike.  It wasn’t too long or her sis­ter fol­lowed suit.  My fam­ily love spend­ing time out­doors and that did it — Layne didn’t waste any time get­ting him­self a bike and Dae­gan got one for his birth­day last week.  I’m the only one still con­sid­er­ing my options, but the die is pretty much cast!

A very proud Layne with all the girls

Although we live in the city, there are quite a few nature reserves in close prox­im­ity.  The clos­est being Groen­kloof Nature reserve — a mere 15 min­utes drive from home — where most of last Sun­day was spent.  For those who have bicy­cles, there are loads of tracks rang­ing in level of dif­fi­culty; for the more reserved bunch, hik­ing trails.  The rest stay at the base and see to refresh­ments.  A typ­i­cal ses­sion lasts around 45 min­utes and their return is marked by teas­ing, com­par­i­son of speed, moan­ing about wounds (yes!) and hunger pangs.  Vast quan­ti­ties of fruit and nuts are con­sumed before they set off again.

Illanka

Dae­gan, Layne & Illanka tak­ing a break at the top.  The zebra in the back­ground wasn’t their only ani­mal encounter.  They also came across a giraffes, water­buck and wilde­beest in the reserve.

Dae­gan, wait­ing for the pack to catch up.

Zane & Bianca back at the base after round 1

Illanka get­ting a hug from mom (that’s me!); cel­lu­lar phone in hand ready to add a few pic­tures on Face­book.  Talk about (almost) live coverage

Rid­ing makes you hun­gry and they arrive back in time for the braai - the South African ver­sion of a barbecue.  Late after­noon arrived too soon and with that it was time to pack up.

Need­less to say, the evening was spent nurs­ing aching mus­cles and sev­eral scrapes.  Too much adven­ture and fresh air sent them all off to bed rather early.  But not before plan­ning the next adventure…