On Sunday the 18th of November we found ourselves free of a market commitment and so organised a birthday boerewors braai in celebration of Jessica’s second birthday. And blessed as we are, pretty much all our friends could make it through on the day, not to mention the wind free, bright sunny afternoon we got to play in!
Chantelle worked hard to get the place spick-and-span, with me keeping Jessica out of her hair long enough to actually get most of the stuff set up and prepared. As for the outdoors, I got the outside braai cleaned up and ready to use, stuffed pretty much all our chairs around the braai, flicked on the front door fountain that only really runs when we’re expecting guests, and set up our solitary beach umbrella for some much needed shade.
It wasn’t too long before the rest of our guests started rolling in, and pretty soon we were playing host to the Stapelbergs, the Montgomerys, the Storbecks, the Grangers, the Oosthuizens and of course Ryan, who brought along the old Lotter Gazeebo which we promptly set up to cover the rather exposed side of the house where we were all gathered around the fire and enjoying the rather soft grass underfoot (which Chantelle had sneakily watered just a while earlier in the hope of making it a little softer).
Zandea, Evalynne, Logan and Jessie seemed to enjoy themselves on the day, Logan in particular loving splashing in the water fountain, and Jessica who seemed to find a new mom in the form of Zania, much to the consternation of poor little Zandea! And of course there was the usual playful squabbling between our little Jess and the even littler Evalynne, neither of which seem all that comfortable with the notion of sharing just yet!
My boerewors (enough to feed and army) came off the coals perfectly, and was complemented by a delicious potato salad and carrot salad to go with the rolls, followed of course by a decadent dessert of freshly cut bar-one chocolate cake!
Ryan had also brought along his Kinect for the XBOX, which was dutifully set up in the lounge for anyone to play – which of course was all that was needed to coax out the competitive side of Karl as he battled hard against anyone man enough to challenge him at Kinect Tennis.
All in all it was a gloriously awesome, long day of fun, sun and friends, and we are seriously blessed to have each and everyone that was there in our lives.
So happy birthday to you young Jess, I hope you enjoyed your special day (even if Mommy didn’t bake you a cool, customized cake)!
(Oh, and if you are worried that this post seems a little light on the photos, never fear, I posted all the snapshots taken on the day over here, just in case you’re wondering of course!)