Wow what a FUN, FUN, FUN night! Just a few hours ago, Nancy and I threw Ace (the real love of her life :P) his first birthday party. We invited a few friends who also have their own dog(s). All the little ones were so adorable and got along with each other so well! We played a few dog games and had treats for them all, including a birthday cake for the birthday boy Ace!
Thanks to those that attended: Trini, Gary, and their dogs Bella and Rocky; Jenny, Joe, and their dogs Moochi (sp?) and Cotton; Sharlene, John, and their dog Bailey; as well as a few other friends who made it but without a four-legged friend: Will, Mark, Stephanie, Morgan, and even our parents!
Check these video clips of Ace and the gang having a good time. Warning, there might be a lot of awwwing and more awwwing after seeing these ooberly cute friends!
I just wanted to give a big shout out and thank you to the owner of the place we stayed at while in Pretoria, South Africa for Vasti and Pieter's wedding. Her name is Beatrix van de Merwe and she's the kind, thoughtful, and super sweet owner of LynnRidge Guesthouse. It's a bed and breakfast place suited for families, individuals, and couples.
The food was delicious at the guesthouse but what I really liked about the place was Beatrix herself. She was always there in the morning to greet us for breakfast and just knew what we needed before we even asked. If you're ever thinking about going to South Africa, particularly Pretoria, then I HIGHLY recommend you staying at LynnRidge Guesthouse. Hopefully the video and photos will convince you of how much Nancy and I enjoyed staying there.
LynnRidge Guesthouse Patula 293 Lynnwood Ridge Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa
Contact: Beatrix van de Merwe Local Tel: 012-3480816 (office) INT Tel: +27-12-3480816 (office) Local Fax: 012-3483499 INT Fax: +27-12-3483499 Cell: 082-8528415
Here are a few interior shots of the different rooms Beatrix has to offer. Each one is furnished differently from the rest. Enjoy!
Happy holidays everyone! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas celebration with your loved ones. It's been really nice having the past few days to relax and catch up on things after being in South Africa for the last two weeks.
I wanted to share a few more photos with you, mainly from our trip out to Sun City, which is about two hours outside of Pretoria/Johannesburg. The place is filled with a safari, man-made water park, casino, games, segway tours, hot air balloon rides, and even a crocodile zoo! Nancy and I got up extra early two Mondays ago (12/14) and caught a taxi ride (shoutout to Trevor our driver and Meline who organized the whole thing for us) out to Sun City.
We were a bit nervous driving there as the weather got really bad, with both rain and thunderstorms hitting us. But things cleared up when we started the safari tour around 8:30AM. Although the day was a bit cloudy and I wished more animals came out, we were glad to just be out and about enjoying the wildlife of South Africa :). We also stopped by the water park (wished I had brought some swimming trunks!). Below are a few videos and photos of the safari/crocodile tours:
We got to see wilderbeests, zeebras, impalas, giraffes, hippos, elephants, rhinos, and even a lion. Unfortunately, most were at a distant, so far that my 70-200mm on a 5DM2 was just not good enough to get a close-up shot of the animals :(. Next time, I'm bringing a teleconverter and a cropped sensor body. Excuse to go back to South Africa and visit the best safari in the country :).
And lastly, the crocodile zoo. I forgot the actual name of it (as you might be able to tell from the third video above, I was too distracted being nervous to listen to our tour guide):
There were a few other animals in the zoo. Fortunately, we didn't run across any snakes. I felt so lucky to go through two weeks without seeing a single one. As some of you might know, I'm TERRIFIED of snakes. More on that later...
And here are a few more photos of our good times in Pretoria/Johannesburg/Sun City from Nancy's point-and-shoot camera, starting with Vasti and Pieter. They took us to a South African lounge/restaurant called Moyo. The vibe was amazing there, it should definitely be a place you check out if you ever visit SA. We even got our faces painted!
Here's our safari tour guide named Solly; we loved his insight on the animals but more so his subtle jokes and sarcasm. We learned a few South African terms and gestures, including a "secret" handshake with the locals...ayoba!!!
You can't go two weeks in SA without being hyped up for FIFA World Cup 2010. There were quite a few constructions going on in preparation for the big event next May/June. Oh yeah, we also had a lovely picnic the day before our safari trip in Pretoria.
Lastly, check back again soon for photo and video of the place we stayed at while in Pretoria. Our time in SA can sorta be divided into two parts: Pretoria/Johannesburg and Cape Town/Stellenbosch. This concludes the first part of the trip. But I can't wait to share with you part two, which consists of the three weddings I second shot with Christine Meintjes. Bye for now!
Hullo hullo hullo! Quick update guys...we left Johannesburg and flew into Cape Town yesterday morning. Special thanks and shoutout to Christine's colleagues Audrea and Nastassja (hope I spelled your names right!) for picking Nancy and me up at the airport and driving us to the Devon Valley Hotel. It's located in the ever so beautiful and surreal Stellenbosch. Just imagine the wineries of Napa, Sanoma, Solvang, and Temecula from California but nicer :P.
Sorry guys but I'm a complete mess with my blog posts due to lack of time and WIFI...again! Anyways, going back to our days in Pretoria and Johannesburg this past week, Vasti took us to the Pretoria Botanical Garden (this past Sunday) where we had a lovely picnic. We're so thankful (and guilty!) to have the bride and groom treat us like we're the guests/clients, you guys totally rock! Later that evening, Vasti's family (shout out to you all!) invited us over for a braii (sp?), which is the term for a South African BBQ. We had these really good sausages, chicken, and of course beef :).
Videos below are of us at the picnic and a not so good one of me rambling on at Vasti's house later, sorry about the bad audio/lighting on the latter. We then headed out to Sun City the following day (this past Monday) for a safari. Details on that including lots of video soon I hope!
Ahhh...it's 9:40AM Friday and Christine and her boyfriend Iaan are coming by in 20 minutes. Can't wait to meet her for the first time and see Iaan again (we had dinner yesterday evening while Christine was busy shooting like a kazillion weddings in a kazillion days :P). We're heading off to the Western coast of Southern SA for a wedding today, spending the night there (because it's a 2 hour drive away), and coming back to Stellenbosch in the morning for a wedding here tomorrow. It's gong to be a lot of fun not only second shooting these next few days, but getting the pleasure to work with Christine. It's showtime!
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