Seaview Lion Park Revisited

 Click here for Gnarly Lion Video!
In August we had 2 sets of guests come over from the USA in just 4 weeks. We took them both to Seaview Predator Park and we had really different experiences just 2 weeks apart. When our cousins came we got to pet two 7 month old cuties, Ice and Igor. Ice is a white Bengal tiger. He is gorgeous!

Hey beautiful!

 We also got to meet Igor, a lion. He was adorable!

 What a cutie. Sasha and Teddy were not allowed to go in to pet Ice and Igor as they are both the size of a St. Bernard and could easily take out a child. They are very unpredictable and feisty and Ana actually got bitten on the hip by Igor! You can see the alleged bite in the video at the end or beginning of this post.

 Ethan makes a new friend. Don't go too close to his teeth Eth!

They also had some 6 week old Tiger cubs and a Lion cub but they were too small to be handled by the public.

We also got to see some bigger Lions:

 And some beautiful grazers!

When we went back 2 weeks later had an amazing giraffe encounter on our way into the park where we saw about 5 adult giraffes, 4 youths, and wildebeest and zebra all grazing together, but the BEST thing was that we were able to go in and pet the baby Tigers and Lion! This was Sasha and Teddy's first time getting to pet a Lion because it was the first time there were young Lions small enough for them to approach.

 Sasha and Kara taking it all in:

 These 2 were always fighting. You can hear their adorable fighting sounds in the video!

 No Sash, you CANNOT take him home!

 So Flippin' CUTE!

 Hey, no picking on the Lion!

 Teddy and Mom's turn:

 Gnawing on my croc!

 Just as fun as Roxy!

 Seriously, could he BE any cuter?

 Huge paws:

 Jeff got to go in next and had some fun bonding time with the baby Lion:

 So sweet!

 When we went with our Cousins the 3 Lionesses were fed in the field just like we saw on our first visit, but when we went with the Passmore family they fed the younger predators an ENTIRE COW that had died birthing a calf that morning. These younger Lions and Tigers are the ones we saw people petting a year ago when we visited. They were only about 8 months old back then. What a change, you would NOT find me asking to go into the pen to pet them now!

 Dude, wipe your face!

 They worked on that cow until they got through to the intestines and we could actually start to smell cow innards. It was pretty gross but we watched like it was prime time TV for about 45 minutes. It was nasty but fascinating.

Here's the VIDEO of everything!

NOV Potjiekos Competition 2013

 So back in May I got pneumonia. Who gets pneumonia?!? Freak-show. Confined to bed for quite a few days with nebulizer and the whole works.

Jeff and the kids took great care of me, many friends stepped in to help with shuttling and other things and I had a good snuggle buddy who kept me company through the entire thing.

 In fact someone got a little TOO comfortable with being in Mama's bed. Days later I couldn't find her and looked all over the house. She was tired out and was fast asleep in the middle of MY BED! When she woke up she just looked at me like "What?!? This is where people sleep!"

 It's not like her normal sleeping accommodations are so terrible....

As I was on the mend Jeff and I were asked to judge the 2013 NOV Potjie (say poy-kee) competition. Who loves Potjie??? We do! Of course we said yes..... Showed up around noon on a gorgeous day and had a blast hanging out while everyone cooked.

They had a huge area set-up with lots of entertainment for the kiddos.

At the beginning of the day all the teams drew lots and then were randomly assigned a protein. Some got chicken, others fish or beef, you name it. After that they had to grab whatever ingredients they wanted to use from these 2 tables. And then they had a few hours to make the best potjie pot they could with the ingredients they had.

 

Teams hard at work:

Distracting some of the cooks:

I knew we were in for a real treat when the teams began setting up their tables. They took incredible care to make them picture perfect. Each one was set for 2 and I realized that skipping lunch was probably a good call!

Presentation is everything:

Another set-up...

The sales team is ready for us to taste!

Jeff said a few words and then we got out our notebooks and headed into the tent.

Each of the 8 teams had also set us up with a wine-pairing. Uh oh..... I get pretty silly on like 1/2 a glass of wine these days so I knew I had to pace myself and do little sips. There was NO WAY I was going to stay standing if I downed 8 glasses of wine!

Team 1 tells us about their pot...

Cheers! Here goes nothin'!

That's a loooooong row of pots to taste!

Working our way down the line and getting briefed by different teams:

Hard at work...

And then they told us that there was a ROUND TWO!!! What?!? I'm not a huge eater to begin with... more of a 5 little meal a day person than a 3 big meal a day gal, so I was already pretty darn stuffed. I rallied a little when they told me it was dessert!

Each dessert had to be prepared over a fire in some kind of metal pot. They came up with some pretty incredibly creative (and delicious!) creations!

Crepes filled with nutella:

Soooo full... must. keep. tasting.....

By the end we had tasted some incredible food and we were loosening our pants. We also had a potjie pot winner, a dessert winner and an overall winner. And we didn't have to feed the kids because Sasha had scrounged a meal off of someone and Teddy pretty much followed us from table to table polishing off the rest of the dessert round after we had moved on. You can tell in this pic that I ain't givin' up that wine glass either. Yum!!

The dessert winners.

And then they gave us both a bottle of wine for being the judges. So we got rewarded for having an amazing meal with 8 courses of dessert. I love this country.

It was a full day of fun, and the festivities continued on into the night. Something tells me next year we'll be expected to ante up and cook so this is probably a one-time experience. Take my word for it. If someone ever asks you to judge a potjie competition say "Yes!"

Dad's Memorial Service

 Anyone who knew my Dad knows what an amazing, unique person he was.

He fought a long, hard battle with cancer and almost won! He never let it slow him down. In January he got up at 4am to watch my Mom and his Grandkids run their first 5k. I didn't think he would make it out the door that early and I was so grateful to have a buddy to cheer with. I will always cherish that memory with him of watching the sunrise together as we waited to see our runners.

He underwent a HUGE surgery with all the attitude and spunk he could muster. The surgery seemed like a success at first but in the end Dad had an unforeseen complication and he passed away on June 13. My brothers Tim and Will were there with him in his last moments along with my Mom and our wonderful friend Pam. He died in his own bed surrounded by love.

Dad did not want a funeral. He wanted a party. And we did everything in our power to make that happen. People drove and flew in from all over the country and all over the world! As people started to arrive they were able to mingle together and watch a slideshow with hundreds of pictures of Dad and hear him sing with his amazing voice.

 Then we all starting heading toward the tent for a celebration of his life.

 Dad's service was such an incredible team effort with so many people pitching in and bringing just the right piece to the puzzle. Everyone in these pictures was a part of it. Tim got us a tent the size of a football field so we could have the memorial where Dad wanted it - right in the yard! Even with impending rain clouds looming there was plenty of room under that tent for everybody.

 And look at all the smiles! I will always remember the laughter I heard all afternoon. What a great testimonial to the fact that when you know where someone is going there can be rejoicing instead of sadness.

 We had a harpist that was paid for by a family there in NC (soooo many people pitching in in so many ways...)

 Just some of the Martin clan:

 Finally we all got together and began the service.

 We had music:

 And several of us got to speak. I don't even remember what I said, I just remember looking out at all those faces and feeling so much love.

 And check out my Mom. She was so happy all day. Lots of smiles, tons of laughs. If there were any tears, I didn't see them. She chose to be happy for him instead of sad for herself and she has continued to choose that path. So inspiring...

 My sister Heather who was so instrumental in fighting to keep Dad with us through her tireless research.

 The Martin family singing. Beautiful!

 I love this picture because it just captures the spirit of the day. My Dad's friend Thomas was sharing something wonderful and he's laughing, we're all laughing, my Mom's hysterical.... what a great time.

 Afterward we all shared a wonderful meal and then spread out all over the property. We were up at the main cabin, down at Tim's distillery, up under the tent, you name it. All afternoon and way into the night there was fantastic people and wonderful conversations.

 Dad has a memorial page set up:
http://lovinglikegod.com/memorial/
I hope you'll stop by and take a peek at it. It really is the best way to get a glimpse of who he was.
I'll miss you Dad.
Love!