And.... We're back!

As most of you know by now, Izak and I are going to be parents!
Meet Blueberry Bakkes! (a blueberry is how big he/she was when we first had a scan!)

This is part of the reason for our recent lack of blogging... But we are BACK! The nausea seems to have subsided and my energy levels are a little higher which means back to keeping you up to date with our adventures! It feels like there is waaay too much to tell you in one post. I plan to do the trip in THREE PARTS!
 
Also, Izak has begun working for Grace Advance as an intern. It is a great opportunity and he is thoroughly enjoying it. Grace Advance basically assists seminary students and churches seeking a pastor to find the right match. There will be church planting initiatives too. It is a new ministry set up by Grace Church and if you would like to read up more about it check out their site: http://www.gracechurch.org/graceadvance/

Now... put on your seatbelts for PART ONE: :)



We have just returned from our very first ALL AMERICAN SUMMER VACATION! It was unbelievable! The dear Gillies got us tickets to fly up to San Jose (our little dodgy dodge is just as unreliable as ever) and our landlady Ina gave us a week's worth of her timeshare at a Worldmark resort in Windsor!

We arrived up in San Jose on July 15th and stayed in San Jose with the Gillies overnight and then they let us use Mary's faithful and super comfy bronze Toyota for our travels up to Windsor for the week.

Windsor is a little town one hour north of San Francisco. Here is one of us making it over the Golden Gate Bridge! Something interesting to note about California is how it will be so hot inland and then as soon as you reach a coastal area the temperature can drop quite rapidly and there can be a great deal of fog! (Only shortly after this picture was taken, did we reach sunny and hot Windsor which is a little more inland!)

 

 Now for you to see the lovely place that we were booked into! WOW! Such luxury! There was a dishwasher, cable TV, gas bbq/braai, hot tub and pool just outside our condo, gas fireplace, clothes washer and drier, looots of SPACE! Let me introduce you to our luxurious Windsor abode: Here is a link if you want to check out their site with more pics of the place: https://www.worldmarktheclub.com/resorts/wz/

Firstly, to mention that Windsor is a little town flanked by vineyards. It reminded us so much of the Western Cape when we traveled up to our accommodation.

 

Then from our condo, we had a view of the pool and  hot tub:

Our gas bbq/braai and table etc on our balcony:

Then some unfortunately blurry pics of our lounge and kitchen area: (you'll see our sprawled things everywhere indicating that we were already thoroughly relaxed and settled in!)

Now for a tour of Windsor! What a quaint and sweet little town. You will notice that the town doesn't look very old and many of the buildings looked similar almost as though they had been built all at once! Here is a link to the town site: http://www.ci.windsor.ca.us/

 

 

 

Now you will see what I mean about the similar looking buildings:

 

 

 

 

And then to the Town Green:

 

 

 

And then a warning to South African's asking for a doggy bag when you actually mean 'take away' bag! hehe!

 And... that concludes PART ONE of our Windsor travels! We hope to hear from you soon. Thanks for reading about our adventures. :)