Again I find myself playing catch-up with my weekend report back blogging, but oh well, what can one do? If you’re reading this then it means I haven’t lost you lot just yet, so all’s good then! ;)
This weekend was Chantelle working weekend, so once again single-parent mode was switched on and Jessica and I ambled through a weekend of chores, lunch time braais, DVD watching and loads of time playing in the sand on the beach. No big disasters, just loads of tickles and smiles then.
Of course, this means that the weekend before was the activity packed one, and as you know by now, the first half of that weekend was pretty much dominated by Chantelle’s first ever market selling experience. While she and her mom slaved around at the stall in Bellville, Jessie and I tackled the morning, which included a visit to the costume shop to pick up our costumes (which Jessica made more entertaining by making a big poo in her pants just as we arrived), a trip through to Willowbridge to buy a slice of cake and support my better half, followed by a trip through to Ryan to help him move some furniture, before making the journey to Tygervalley in order to buy some new clothes for Jessie, who is growing at the rate of knotts I tell you! (Ackerman’s is a real lifesaver when it comes to buying lots of baby clothes for not quite so much money).
Saturday evening however was the next big one, and after leaving Jessie at home with Ouma, Chantelle and I changed into our fancy dress costumes and awaited Ryan’s pickup, heading out to D’urbanvale for Trish and Matt’s big combined 30th Birthday Party – Lord of the Rings themed of course!
Chantelle looked awesome in her rented brown peasant girl dress, complete with bare feet and braided hair, which she sourced from the fantastic Wonderland Costumes in Somerset West, while I stepped off the conventional path and instead dressed up as a New Zealand prop, complete with rugby socks and a Gilbert ball tucked under my arm, courtesy of Ryan’s old rugby days stash. I also sported this awesome forest green cloak to make people even more confused, also sourced from Wonderland Costumes in case you’re wondering.
Amazingly, Ryan navigated to the address first time around, and we were welcomed onto the huge premises by a helpful little hobbit, before being accosted by the little girl of our host who demanded some game time with the rugby ball (which ended in tears thanks to Ryan). The costumes on display were all fantastic and very inventive (you should have seen Karl’s homemade tree beard!), and we had everything from elves, to Ents, to Peter Jackson himself! (I was kind of hoping some photos would have made their way online by now, considering the fact that the host had hired an official photographer for the night, but as you might have guessed from the lack of photos on this post – that hasn’t happened yet. Tragic because Chantelle and I forgot to take any pictures ourselves!)
There were loads of people (from both parties, though our side was a little thinned thanks to an unfortunate work call that meant Evan had to miss out, despite his costume neatly laid out on his bed – Not that this stopped Natasha from joining us mind you!), a manned bar, delicious starters, themed decor, a lurking pool which claimed two victims on the night (Ryan was one of them!), all leading up to the awesome main feast where we hungrily partook in a succulent spit braai, followed by a cool Minas Tirith cake (cut with a real sword) for dessert.
Apart from the incident which saw Michelle and Damen leave in a haste after the photographer’s flash triggered a little bit of an attack for poor Michelle, the evening was a complete and utter success, thoroughly enjoyable and definitely a highlight of the month!
I was a little bit disappointed in that my extensive research the weekend before wasn’t put to any use, but hey, at least I could identify a lot more costumes that what I would have been able to otherwise, and Trish has promised that we’ll put it to use a little closer to her actual birthday later this month! :)
Anyway, after the fun that was Saturday evening, Sunday was a far more relaxed affair, spending some enjoyable time with the family as we tucked into a lazy braai for lunch, did a spot of shopping, and partook in quite the competitive game of darts against Robert – which I for a change actually won!
Excellent. Anyway, this weekend coming up also promises to be a good one, what with Chantelle doing the market again on Saturday morning, Trish and Karl’s boardgames and cake get together in the evening, following by Michelle and Damen’s little Logan’s big Christening on Sunday – Lots to look forward to then :)