We took the boys to the Lion Park just outside Johannesburg yesterday for the afternoon.   The kids had a ball because the park isn’t very big (which drives me mad because I don’t feel there’s enough space for the big cats in the 4 lion camps) so they got to see quite a lot of animals in the grasslands even though it was such a hot day; and because they got to pet the cubs, as well as see other cats that you don’t normally see in the Parks (they were in enclosures).

The cubs that the boys are petting are only 3 and a half months old.  Lance is holding onto Connor because they ask that kids under 4 are carried at all times.  The little cubs are quite strong even though they’re so young, and the one took a liking to Bradley and kept pushing into him.

My boys and the lion cub

I’m watching you

Bradley was quite disappointed that he didn’t get to feed the giraffes this time.  They just weren’t interested, and stood with their backs to the people waiting to feed them. LOL!  Maybe next time, they’ll feel like entertaining the kids again.

The last photos were taken in one of the lion camps (we visited all 4 camps).  The lions had just been fed and were all lying under the trees trying to get out of the hot sun. You can see there’s still spots of blood on this young white lion’s face from his grub.

Young White Lion

Daddy and Mommy Lion

Lionesses in the shade

In Control

Fish out of water

Hugging dad

He loves swimming

Just his eyes

Splash

This little piggy

Quiet spot

After the flowers

Beautiful purples

Bradley got this Radio Controlled car for Christmas from his godfather 2 years ago, and he’s never really been interested in it, so it’s been gathering dust at the top of a bookcase (to keep it away from Connor).  I took the boys to the shops this morning, and as I was getting batteries from the shelf, he asked me if I could get new batteries for the car (well, one of them anyway, he has 3 gathering dust).

And that’s exactly what we did… we got home and checked the sizes it needed and thankfully I had them on hand and he spent the rest of the afternoon playing with it. In fact, this was the only one that worked in the end; one of them needs rechargeable batteries and we couldn’t find the controls for the last one.

It’s so lovely spending time at home with the boys and being able to let them rediscover all their toys.

I’m telling you, there’s nothing better than celebrating Christmas in the southern hemisphere where you can enjoy the hot weather with friends and family and spend your days in the pool (or at the beach but we’re never that lucky at Christmas time). Jealous yet? Here are the last photos of our Christmas… I promise

Licking pool water
It’s the closest she gets to the pool, she’s very scared of the water.

Shark in the water
I have no idea where Bradley learnt this, but it’s the cutest thing.

Cutie Connor

Swimming with Granny

Jackie getting a hug

Mastering his new scooter

Fun stocking filler

My beautiful child

Playing with Bradley’s gormitis

Old Flame
These flame lilies in my mom’s garden only flower at Christmas time. My mom brought them back from Zimbabwe in the early 1980’s and they’ve been flowering in her garden ever since. They’re very difficult to grow, and this year only one plant is flowering.

Sunflower

That’s it folks I know, I’ve got a bit overboard this week, hope you’ve got this far
This is what Christmas does to toddlers…

When Bradley woke us up at about 5:30am, he was so excited!! LOL, and it was so infectious… well… it was… once we’d woken up a bit

The excitement started last night actually.  We went to my mom’s house for Christmas Eve dinner and after dinner, I phoned Santa for him (aka my dad).  Bradley could hardly contain himself after that and kept telling us that Father Christmas had said that he was on his way to our house and that he’s on the Nice list and then he kept saying over and over again… “I spoke to the real Father Christmas… I’m going to tell all my friends…”.  LOL, it was so cute!!

We also tracked Father Christmas’ progress on Norad yesterday, and by the time we’d got home last night, it looked like he was about to arrive in Africa… OMW… that made him fall asleep fast :)  There was no way he was missing out on presents because he was awake!

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with your family and friends