This past weekend was pretty wet – proper winter weather in other words. It was a work weekend for Chantelle, working a split shift on Saturday and then a full on Sunday – but neither this nor the weather was enough to stop myself and the girls from enjoying a weekend full of fun!

IMG_20150531_152331 jessica, emily and craig lotter family selfie

Although our original plan for Saturday had been to head out to The Giraffe House for some animal feeding fun, the exposed nature of the place plus the wet weather didn’t make for a great combination, and so instead the plan was changed and Chantelle, Jessica, Emily and I headed off to Joostenberg Vlakte for some fun at the far more suitable Bugz Family Playpark!

With the outdoor area shut due to the weather, all the kids were running wild in the inside play area, and despite the noise and activity, both Emily and Jessica got a kick out of stretching their legs and climbing and sliding over everything that got in their way! :)

In other words, a particularly good way to tire out both little ones and make for a rather relaxed Saturday evening back home whilst Chantelle worked out the rest of her shift…

IMG_20150530_141916 chantelle, jessica and emily eating snacks at bugz playpark

Sunday on the other hand I was flying solo with the girls, and so I decided to make the most of a gloomy day and head out for adventure to Butterfly World, another location that works okay regardless of the weather.

First things first though, we needed to do a spot of shopping, in particular we needed to find a pair of boots for Emily.  After a few failed attempts, we eventually found something suitable at Shoe City, and with Jessica’s approval on the final design chosen, Emily was at last outfitted with her very first set of gumboots – pink Princess Sofia the First ones of course!

IMG_20150531_122320 emily lotter wearing her new boots from shoe city

With the shopping part of the morning now done, next up it was pancakes at Blaauwklippen Family Market (delicious as always), followed by a pony ride for Jess – seriously, she is in love with this pony ride thing!

IMG_20150531_130153 jessica lotter eating pancake at blaauwklippen family market

Emily was particularly cute stomping around in her new boots mind you.

IMG_20150531_132852 jessica lotter riding a pony at blaauwklippen family market

Finally, it was time for the long drive through to Klapmuts and Butterfly World, where on entry it was a nice surprise to see ticket prices lowered by 25% due to the cold weather – essentially the butterflies aren’t particularly active on wet, gloomy days.

Nevertheless, butterflies or not, Butterfly World has plenty of furry, scaly and feathered critters for the little ones to see, and as expected, Jessica and Emily had quite the ball – with us spending more than just a couple of hours wandering around the place.

IMG_20150531_151018 jessica lotter at butterfly world

We ended off the day by grabbing a bite to eat from the cafe, before jumping back in the car and making the long trip back home – with both girls enjoying quite the lengthy nap in the process!

IMG_20150531_141827 toddler emily lotter at butterfly world

In other words, a good weekend with my little princesses despite the miserable wet May weather! :)