The Lion and Rhino Park

Sunday DH took me and Hayley to the Lion and Rhino Park just outside of Krugersdorp.

 

What a stunning little gem to escape to from the busy city rush.  We first took the drive through the park.  Saw a lot of bucks and even saw a Rhino with a little one.  Rhinos are such amazing creatures and being so close to them on Sunday I cannot understand why anyone would hurt them.

 

Then we went into the closed camps where they keep the cheetahs, wild dogs and white lions.  We were lucky enough to catch the white lions just after feeding time so they were still eating.  Got some very nice close up shots from my old reliable ‘mik en druk’ camera.

 

Afterwards we went to the animal crèche and reptile park.  There is a huge braai and picnic area and you can then walk through the animal crèche where they have loads of younger wild animals.  You can also pay R30 per person to go into one of the enclosures to hold one of the young animals and also take photos with them.  The line was just very long for this so decided we will plan the trip better next time and then go into the enclosures with some of the animals.

 

Afterwards we had a light lunch, on a wooden deck overlooking the whole area.

 

As we left we noticed another restaurant with a huge play area for children.

 

It was an awesome day but now know what all they offer we will plan a bit better for our next trip. 

 

Next time we will go earlier, stop to have some coffee and then go into the animal crèche before it gets too busy.  Afterwards we will go on a drive and then return around lunch time to have either a picnic or a nice braai before we return home.

 

I can definitely recommend the Lion and Rhino park for people looking for something to do over a weekend.  It is close to home and Hayley really enjoyed the outing and at the same time it is an educational experience as well.

 

Looking forward to the next time we will be visiting the Lion and Rhino Park.

 

 

 

A typical Weighless day

One thing I have to say about Weighless is that you eat a lot!  They divide the total weight that you need to lose by 10, thus giving you 10 mini goals.  For each goal you get a Step.  I am currently on Step 1 and each step has its own specific eating plan or menu.

 

I’ve never had a day where I feel hungry since starting Weighless, and I think that helps to keep cravings away for chocolates and sweets.

 

A typical day looks something like this:

 

Breakfast (before 8 am):

 

30 g Rye Bread

Fish Paste

175 ml yoghurt

 

Morning Snack (10 am):

 

200 g Apples

250 ml Skim Milk

 

Lunch (between 12 and 1):

 

100 g Pasta

120 g Tuna

100 g Tomato

100 g Onion

Gherkins

 

Afternoon Snack (around 2 pm):

 

120 g Orange

 

Late Afternoon Snack (between 4 – 6 pm):

 

30 g Whole wheat Bread

50 g Pilchards

 

Supper (before 8 pm):

 

50 g Pasta

90 g Mince

100 g Tomato

100 g Onion

40 g Tomato Paste

 

Sometimes I can actually not believe that I’m going to lose weight eating like this.

 

Supper excited to reach my first mini goal so that I can see what Step 2 has for me.

All about Me...

My only resolution for 2013 was that this year will be all about me, what I want and what makes me happy.

 

My first big change was finding a new job.  A place where I could really be happy and be seen for what I am good at.  I managed to start at a new company in March 2013 and I’ve been really happy ever since.  I feel that it is important to have a career in a company you really are happy in.  You spend so much of your days at work and it really is the worst thing ever to be unhappy.

 

Secondly I wanted to change the way I feel about myself.  I’ve succeeded in doing effort almost daily with my hair and make-up.  Although I am know expert when it comes to this, it does make one feel pretty when you know you’ve done some effort with yourself.  The second part of completing this journey is to lose weight.  I’ve been very down in the dumps about my weight and I’ve been jumping around from one eating plan to the next.  Following the one diet to the next.  Losing a few kg’s just to pick them all up again.  Last month I officially reached the highest number on the scale ever.  I did not even weigh this much when I went in for my C-section with Hayley.  It was really an eye opener and I decided to join Weighless.  I officially joined them on 6 July 2013.  My goal is to lose about 22 kg and I am proud to say that so far so good.  I’ve lost 1.6 kg with my first weigh in and I’ve not felt this motivated in a very long time to succeed in something and I know that I will be at my goal within the next year. 

 

The only thing I still need to get motivation for is exercise.  I leave home before 6 in the morning and only return after 6 at night.  Traveling between 2 – 3 hours to and from work a day.  When I get home it is such a rush with cooking, packing lunches, sorting out Hayley and also getting some quality time with DH, but I suppose this all is just one big fat excuse and certainly something I need to get my mind around, but at least I’ve taken step one on my weight loss journey.   

 

I look forward to make this journey part of my blog, not only to record it and look back on days I feel like giving up, using my blog as a reminder of how far I’ve become, but also, hopefully to motivate and uplift someone else that needs it.

 

Below is some motivations I found browsing the net, wanted to share it on here as I plan on referring back to this on days I feel like I am ready to give up.

 

Chat again soon

 

xxx

 

 

 

 

 

A beauty contest

Once again I’ve been MIA from my blog.  I will most likely win the Award for the Worst Blogger Ever 2013.

Things have been very busy at home.  So much happening and it does not really help that I work far from home, so I normally leave when it’s dark and return when it’s dark.

 

Today’s blog is actually a bit of a brag post.  The past weekend my DH had to work the whole weekend as they had a huge name change launch nationally for their company.

 

Saturday I took Hayley and we went to visit Daddy at work.  They had jumping castles, sweet packets, clowns and face painters for entertainment. 

 

At 11:00 they had a beauty pageant with 4 judges and Bokkie from Idols was the MC.  Hayley was not allowed to participate as the ages was from 4 years up but we were told that she can join in for the fun as she would properly be too shy to go onto the stage in any way. 

 

So the first time we had to go on stage she refused that I put her down so I had to carry her on the stage.  As we stopped in front of the judges she all of a sudden got out of her shell and started smiling and waving at the judges.  They then calculated the scores and called out a top 10.  I was really surprised when Hayley’s number was mentioned.  She then had to go back on stage to be scored in the 2^nd round again.  As we were waiting in the line-up she pulled away from me running towards the stage telling me she wants to go on.  I picked her up and explained that she needs to wait for her turn.  When her turn arrived she went on to the stage all by herself.  Walked up to the judges, stopped and smiled and turned around and walked back to where I was standing. 

 

I was so shocked!  Clearly we have a little performer on hands and we will definitely look at enrolling her to modelling school or maybe look at something like gymnastics to boost this confidence she already has.

 

She went back onto stage with the rest of the top 10 for a line up.  Stood between everyone like a big girl and smiled and waved at daddy and mommy proudly sitting in the crowds.  She was then given a special award where she won a tiara and an Edgars gift voucher.  One of the judges told DH afterwards that according to her scores she was supposed to be 1^st princess but it would have been unfair due to her age.

 

It was such an unexpected but proud moment for us and it is something that I felt I wanted to share with the rest of the world out there.

 

Thanks for reading and sharing this moment with me.  Hopefully I will be back sooner next time.