Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Green Family Reunion - Then There Was Four

After saying our sad goodbyes to Dad, Shannon and Hunter, the four of us took a drive down Chapman's Peak, a beautiful drive along the coast of the Cape Peninsula. We ended up at Cape Point for sightseeing and hiking up to the lighthouse and out to the point.


David, Emily and Clint went over to Franschhoek the next morning for a day in the little French town. They drove up to the pass, bought a rare black springbok rug and spent some time at Babylonstoren.  



On Wednesday, we headed in to Cape Town to hit up a few of our favorite spots – The Old Biscuit Mill for shopping, The Yard for a taco lunch and Signal Hill. That afternoon we stopped by Triggerfish Brewery in Somerset West for a beer tasting before soaking up the last few rays of sun as we watched it set over False Bay and Table Mountain.



The next day we took a bike tour through Cape Town with AWOL Tours. We started at the Waterfront and biked through De Waterkant, Bo-Kaap, The Company Gardens, Downtown, St. George's Mall, Green Point Park and ended back at the Waterfront for an evening of shopping and sushi.



We took it easy on Friday and showed Emily and Clint around central Stellenbosch. We walked through the cute shops along Church Street and Andringa Street and stopped for a tasting at Brampton Wines.


On Saturday we were up before the sun to make the drive down to Gansbaai for the guys to shark dive with Marine Dynamics. Emily and I decided to stay warm and dry and drove in to Hermanus for a cup of coffee and whale watching. That afternoon the four of us drove even further south down to Cape Agulhas – the southernmost tip of Africa. We had a delicious seafood dinner before heading on back home.


Sunday morning we went to church at St. Paul’s and then visited the Blaauwklippen Market. That afternoon we celebrated our joint anniversaries – Emily and Clint’s 1st and our (almost) 3rd – with a fabulous four course meal and wine pairing at Clos Malverne.



David, Emily and Clint did a little exploring around Stellenbosch on Monday morning and I met up with them after work for a visit to Ernie Els Winery and Annandale.



On Tuesday we went out for breakfast to try and squeeze in one last thing before taking them to the airport. After a couple of long hugs and a few tears, we said goodbye. But it is only goodbye for a little while! We had an amazing time with our family and are looking forward to seeing all sides of our family in just a few short months. 

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Green Family Reunion - The Whole Gang's Together

After a long day and a few extra delays, Emily and Clint finally made it to South Africa to join in on all the fun of our family reunion! Having my family all together in our new home was absolutely amazing! I could not have been happier!


After letting them get some much needed sleep, the whole gang headed out bright and early to Muizenberg Beach for a little surfing for the guys and a nice warm cup of coffee or tea from a great little place called Slow Life. We then went to visit the penguins at Boulders Beach before spending the afternoon in Kalk Bay and a delicious seafood dinner at the Brass Bell.


The next morning we drove a couple of hours north to Inverdoorn Game Reserve for a safari. We saw cheetahs, giraffes, rhinos, elephants, zebras, lions, springboks and many others. 


On the way home, we decided to stop by Ceres Adventures for a little zip-lining through the mountains and over the rivers and valleys below.  


We woke up to a rainy day on Saturday so we started at the Stellenbosch Slow Food Market for lunch and then spent the day visiting a few wine farms (House of JC LeRoux, Kanonkop, and Waterford), always a fun thing to do in Stellenbosch!


That night we celebrated Emily’s 24th birthday with dinner at Guardian Peak and birthday cake – yellow cake, chocolate icing (a family favorite!) – back at home.  


On Sunday, we met up with our host family, Gavin and Issy, for lunch at Middelvlei Boerebraai and then went for a chocolate and wine pairing at Bilton for dessert.  We relaxed that afternoon and soaked up as much family time as we could before having to send the Greens back to Arkansas the next morning. 


There is still more to come! Check back for our last week with the Musgroves here in South Africa.