The day after the wedding was always going to be a bit of a slower one, and thankfully that is exactly what it turned into.

We had a cruisy start with a lovely breakfast at Oluchi Lodge with some of the other wedding guests, before spending much of the day relaxing around the pool and recovering from the night before. Most of the kids were pretty worn out after such a big day, so there were plenty of naps, plenty of lying around in the sunshine and generally not too much rushing anywhere.

Except for when it was raining.

For reasons we still cannot quite comprehend, our belongings appear to keep multiplying and expanding as this trip goes on. This may possibly have something to do with people continuing to give us things, but we maintain that this is completely unrelated. Either way, Chris decided that we had reached the point where yet another suitcase was required.

So Chris and Karl headed into town in search of a Checkers Hyper. Chris faithfully followed the GPS and arrived at Checkers, where they were at least able to get some of the groceries we needed. It was only after getting back to the rental car that Chris realised they were at Checkers, not Checkers Hyper.

Fortunately, the actual Checkers Hyper turned out to be about 30 metres across the road.

This made slightly less sense when we discovered that Checkers Hyper also appeared to contain another Checkers, but we decided not to think about it too much. Most importantly, we managed to find the suitcase we needed, and Karl found another little toy plane, so he considered the shopping trip a great success.

While Chris and Karl were inside Checkers Hyper, there was apparently quite a decent thunder and lightning storm outside. From inside the shop they really only noticed a bit of rain, but back at Oluchi Lodge, Dan, Isaac and the rest of the family got the full experience with a short, sharp lightning storm and a decent downpour.

After returning to Oluchi, while the last of the weather was doing its thing, the boys settled in to watch some rugby on TV. Even Karl took an interest, which was probably something of a novelty for him as we must confess there isn’t a huge amount of sport watched on TV in the Hoffmann household.

🔒

Family photo

Enter the family password to view protected photos.

Unlock photos

Later the sun came out again and the kids were straight back into the pool. The water was definitely on the cold side, but that didn’t seem to bother them too much.

One of the really special parts of this trip for us has been watching Karl spend so much time with Olivia and Mackenzie. He has absolutely loved playing with his cousins, and whenever we have been away from them he has constantly been asking, “Are my cousins coming?” or “Are we going to see my cousins?” Getting to watch them all spend this much time together has been a really lovely part of being here.

Later in the afternoon, Chris also enjoyed a quieter moment watching the sunset from the top of Oluchi Lodge. The colours in the sky looked really nice against the little pool, and it was one of those simple moments where everything looked particularly peaceful.

With absolutely no South African influence on our dinner timing, we decided to be sensible and had things cooking by about 5pm so the kids could eat at a reasonable hour. We all sat down together for a nice dinner, although unfortunately Dan only managed two or three bites before starting to feel pretty unwell, which seems to be one of the side effects of some new medication she is taking.

Dan decided an early night was probably the best option, and Chris, Karl and Isaac weren’t too far behind her.

All in all, it was a very quiet day by our recent standards, but after the excitement of the wedding, I think everyone was quite happy for it to be that way.

Chris, Dan, Karl and Isaac