A part of History

Saturday night we were a part of history. South Africa participates in many rugby tournaments throughout the year so I am always confused about which one means what. The past few months(June-October) all the domestic teams have been competing for the Currie Cup. This Cup is only played by South African teams and each province(similar to states in principle) has several teams that represent them. There are 14 teams in all, if you are deeply interested in finding out more about the history,etc. click here.  Jeff says this Cup is like the Superbowl.
Our province has three teams, our city's team the Lions, haven't won the Currie Cup in 12 years. Yep, that's a long time. We are often on the wrong end of many jokes made about the Currie Cup. So this year when we were advancing through the stages and staying at the top of the log, people were getting hopeful. Last week Jeff and I got tickets to the semi-finals through a friend(thanks Joey) and took Asher to his first rugby game. What a trooper. Here we are supporting the boys!

We beat Western Province(which has several national team(Springboks) members) which is difficult to do. This week we played the final again on home ground at Ellis Park(Coca-Cola Park now) against the KZN Sharks(also has several Springbok players on their side). You have to understand that historically we are pipsqueaks next to these two towering teams. We were definitely the underdogs coming in, but we had a good season behind us and lots of confidence. The stadium was packed out and again some loving friends(thanks again Joe and Siyanda) got us tickets. This time the whole family was supporting the team. The vibe in the stadium was intense and so much fun. The game began and I wasn't sure how it was going to go. To everyone's surprise we killed the Sharks. I mean gave them a beating. What a game! Final score 42-16. So proud of the boys and happy to finally break the losing streak.

The girls

The boys

Scrum

FIRST Family Photo(can you believe it?!)

Siyanda, Jeff and Asher chilling

Fans going wild

7 months of Asher

Guess who is 7 months old today???

ME!!

Happy Boy!!

Asher loves to laugh and smile. We love that we have a happy boy!

Soon-to-be crawler?

Look at those cheeks!!

This is how you smile for the picture Max

Africa has BIG spiders

Thursday morning I was getting Jeff's lunch ready for his trip to Pretoria, where he had an all day meeting, which he was leading. I was trying to be a helpful and thoughtful wife as I poured his coffee into a travel mug, grabbed some naartjies(sweeter than oranges and way easier to peel) and went to get a travel lunch bag for his food to go in. I opened the door under the sink and began looking around. Couldn't find what I was looking for exactly, so I opened up the other door to look on that side, when I saw this crawling a few inches from where I had just been digging with my hands.

Picked this picture so you could see the size of him. AGH! Gross!

Note: not the actual spider (but this is the kind of spider it was)as I only thought about posting it today after all the trauma and drama. :) sheepish grin. 

I ran out of the kitchen screaming(not piercing but loud) more in horror that I had been so close to that thing that looks like it would eat my face off. Our new puppy Max, who you can see here, proceeded to jump out of the storage bin he was sitting in, while we house train him, and ran yelping into our bedroom, which is where I was running as well :). Asher slept peacefully through the entire ordeal, thankfully. We saw a spider like this guy(not as big as this one was) earlier this year in the back portion of our house and Jeff proceeded to kill him with half a can of Raid. I kid you not, it took half a can. So Jeff tells me to get the Raid out and spray this guy too. We found out this spider is the Huntsman spider and originally comes from Australia and is good for the garden (eats pests) but won't eat your face off. I chickened out of returning him to the garden as I was way too freaked out and proceeded to kill him with half a can of Raid(sorry bug lovers, I couldn't help it at the time I was way too freaked out to think logically). He finally died in a corner of the kitchen and after checking he was dead throughout the rest of the day, we had Jeff come in and sweep him up and out. There was no way I was even getting close to the dead body.

Needless to say I am calling the exterminator. I am fine with these guys cleaning the pests out of the garden, but not okay with them in my house, especially my kitchen. EWWWW!!!!

Any crazy/scary bug stories out there? Would love to know I am not the only one.