Boys’ toys

Kieran and Barbara are great hosts and the boys are in their element. The property has everything a boy (of any age) could desire: a big backyard (perfect for soccer and MX), motorbikes galore (5 at last count), bicycles, scooters, a basketball hoop and a pellet gun!

Adding to the excitement are a yacht on Lake Canandaigua, a canal boat (see pic), Playstation 2, a big screen TV and an outdoor spa round off the excitement. So, we don’t need to go to Disneyland – but continuing with the dirt bike theme, we are going to the 5th round of the AMA motocross championship at Budds Creek (Maryland), just south of DC this weekend.

We are also going to spend a day in DC and two days in New York city. Both boys have lists of what they want to see in both cities and Mike has a few meetings in NY.

On an unrelated note, yesterday we took a drive to two of the fingerlakes (Canandaigua and Penn Yan) and admired the Amish and Menninite quilting work (we thought of you Jan and Bron). We also popped in to visit Cassidy's grandparents (Jake and Anne) and the beautiful lakeside cottage where we spent our first sabbatical in 1999.

Extended family

Kieran and Mike have been friends for going on 40 years (i.e. from first-year kindergarten). Best men at each other’s weddings, god fathers to each other’s first born (see pics). So, there has been plenty to reminisce about, a lot of stories beginning with “let me tell you about your father...” and much fun and frivolity all round.

The boys get on very well with Cassidy (they even told her she was ‘like a sister’). They went to school with her for a day and enjoyed it so much they wanted to go back the next day. Highlights included playing ‘American Football’ in gym (with ‘Coach Williams’), class question time (they were in the hot seat!), having jello in the school cafeteria and riding home on a (classic American) yellow school bus.

Positively Pittsford

The little village of Pittsford in upstate NY (near Rochester) is our ‘home’ for the final month of our “big adventure”. First settled in 1789, on the banks of the famous Erie Canal, it really is picture perfect. Nestled amongst huge walnut trees (crawling with squirrels and chipmunks!), surrounded by lush green lawns, is Kierans’ 140 year-old ‘cottage’ . The streetscape is very, very American: white wooden houses, big front porches (with rocking chairs/adirondacks/ swinging benches), dark grey roofs/shutters and, of course, the stars and stripes flying proudly. It’s great to be back in the gentle rhythms and routines of home life (i.e. not living out of a suitcase and rushing to catch a plane). Mike is working hard to meet a few deadlines and the boys and I are filling our mornings with schoolwork, cycling along the canal (see pic) and shopping at Wegmans. Yip - food features yet again! Wegman’s is like no other grocery retailer we’ve ever seen – we go there every day (I never thought I would say that!). Kathleen (Cassidy’s mum) has also very generously lent us a car. What a wonderful place to spend our last month!

Portland and Seattle (by Tom )

When we were in Portland we visited the Nike World HQ. When we arrived we went to a talk by the head of Running for Nike. Then we went on a tour around the Nike campus. All the buildings were named after famous Nike athletes. We got to go inside the Michael Jordon building and the Tiger Woods building. We saw their shoes and t-shirts and even their old school photos! There was a soccer tournament on so we got to watch a bit. There was a golf hole where Tiger Woods hit the golf ball into the hole from 300 yards away! In one of the buildings we saw from outside where they designed the gear (but we weren’t allowed in!). We then took a train to Seattle. We went there on Memorial day. It was the Folklife Festival. We looked around, went on rides , drank homemade lemonade and ate cotton candy. It was right under the Seattle Space Needle. After that Dad and I went to the experience music museum (www.empsfm.org). We got to play the guitar, keyboard and drums. We got to experience what it is like on stage. We sang ‘I Love Rock ‘n Roll’ and we sounded terrible! It was a fun day. Next we are off to Rochester.

Canada (by Rob)

In Canada we stayed with friends for 5 days. We went to whistler for 2 nights where they had the winter olimpics this year. We also went on a cablecar to the snow.

We played in the snow and we had a coffee. We even went on another cablecar. When we were going up and down we saw 2 bears. I played trivial pisoot with Leyland. I like Leys dog called Blossom.

Vancouver: worth Whistling about!

Before going to Portland in the US (for a conference) we planned our flights so that we could spend a long weekend in Vancouver with our old friends, Leyland and Lise Pitt. We were very good friends with Leyland’s parents in Pretoria in the early 90s and have known Ley, Lise, Linda and Christine since then. Leyland also supervised Mike’s Masters thesis in '93 (at Henley - see earlier blog) and helped us to go to Australia in ‘96. Joined by Wade Halvorson (our oldest Australian friend - from Perth) and Nic Terblanche (from Stellenbosch), we all spent a glorious weekend up at Whistler: British Columbia’s famed resort and recreation complex and home to many events at the 2010 Winter Olympics (see below). Whistler is like no ski resort we’ve ever been to – it’s simply spectacular on every level. The highlight was a ski-lift trip to the very peak of Blackcomb (mountain) and then a cable car across the valley to the peak of Whistler - on the longest unsupported cable car span in the world (3km). See www.peak2peakgondola.com.

As always, meals were a particular highlight (Ley is a sensational cook) and the wines consumed were not overly modest – demonstrating that Italians don’t have a monopoly on ‘la Dolce Vita’! Another highlight from Whistler was seeing black bears in their natural habitat (see above) – and before you ask, no, they don’t always ___ in the woods.

Creating new memories with old friends

A great part of this trip has been catching up with our many old, dear friends scattered around the world (the ‘upside’ of the South African diaspora)! We have already mentioned Mike’s schoolmate, Sean, whom we spent time with in Italy and Germany, and the Reids. We then spent a great day/evening with another of Mike’s school friends, Colin Makin (top left). Mike and Col were in the same boarding house at Kearsney (1981-1985). Colin and Kieran (Tom’s godfather - who will no doubt feature heavily in future blogs) also shared a flat in Durban during their undergraduate days (in a block where Chris and Ann Beath once lived).

We then enjoyed a wonderful evening in Wimbledon with one of Lee-Ann’s oldest childhood friends, Cath Michell, her husband Charl and their two boys, Dan and Joe (top right). Lee-Ann and Cath spent many (if not most) school holidays together at Palm Beach on the Natal South Coast (where Lee's parents now live).

Finally, we had a lovely lunch (at Epson Race course) with Luke Jackson, his delightful wife, Suzanne, and their children, Erin and Rory (above). Luke and Mike began their working careers together as graduate trainees at Ford Motor Company in Pretoria almost 20 years ago. Luke also drove the bridesmaids at our wedding and spent a few months with us in Perth before Tom was born. It's been amazing seeing our boys playing with all our friends children and hearing (i.e. being bored by) many stories from their parents ‘good ol days’. Of course, it also makes us forty-something-year-olds fell old! On a less cheerful note, the only disappointment in the UK was not being able to see Mike’s cousin Gavin, who, along with his son Alex, had chicken pox!