Big Bear getaway

We decided to get away for two days to big bear last week. They now have up to 3 feet of snow. Mostly man-made, but it was definately worth it.
We managed to reach a maximum speed of 33.4 miles/hour (I couldn't help myself - had to check with the GPS!) and for those of back home that's 53.4 km/h.

Thinking of all of you....

This one goes out to our families!


Just to let you know, we're thinking of you, love you lots and miss you stacks, especially now in the festive season! You're ALWAYS in our thoughts!

Mom and Dad Milovic, responsible for bringing moi into this world....




My "little' brother Sasa and his girl Jaclyn. A picture-perfect couple, don't you think!



My sister Vesna, and that would be the one holding the cat...ja, ja I know - grapgat.

Our brother in law harold - he's very happy with this fire as you can judge from that grin on his face....

Our model niece Jesica...who's busy growing up into a beautiful lady.

Our cutie nephew Justin! Don't you just wanna squeeze those cheeks!

Ma en Pa Meyer, who were gracious enough to let me marry their son...

Amanda and Derick, Jacques sister and brother in law in the flower beds of Namaqualand.

The latest edition to the couple above: Simone - all smiles...

The older sister: Marile - as pretty as the flowers

And more flower-power: the oldest brother Hardus

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Look at where the year has gone? We can hardly believe we've left South Africa almost 3 years ago!

From Jacques, me and our two little furr-balls Banggattie and Wonder, we would like to wish everybody a WONDERFUL Christmas and GREAT 2007! May it be full of good surprises and excitement and health for all of us!




We've tried to "light" up our house a bit (by now I'm guessing you know we LIKE lights). This is the back of the house on the golf-course side.

We have just stocked up on some more lights for next year! So watch out electricity bill 2007!

What would Christmas be without the Tannenbaum. Ok, he may be fake, but at least he's 9 foot tall!

The cat's favourite place of course is underneath the tree, since it's pretty warm with all those lights. Every now and then we find one of the glass ball decorations in the corridor!

This is the entrance nexto the garage...kind of looks like a runway....for the Reindeer...

Here's Rudolf, guarding the front entrance...

The new improved funky pom-pom Christmas tree....

On wour way home from Mammoth

After 3 days of skiing, I guess we had to go home. Eiisshhhhh....
We took the "scenic" route around the back of the Mountain and just as I thought "Gee I'm glad the snow has melted off the road, since we don't have chains" Jacques manages to find road with snow. Which turned out to prove our little all-wheel-drive is not too shabby! We put it through some road-test and it passed with flying colours! (After I had to take a valium or two...)


We saw a lot of people doing cross-country skiing in this area.

All-in-all it was an AMAZING experience. We still love Big bear, but Mammoth has taken our hearts too now!

The Ski slopes at Mammoth

So eventually - the photos of the slopes.
Let me give you some info first. Mammoth has 3500 acres of terrain, a top elevation of 11053 feet with a 3100 foot vertical drop, 31 lifts and 150 trails. It's one of the largest ski resorts in North America.

This here is the top of one of our favourite trails.


As you can see, they are still awaiting a LOT more snow. It's still early in the season.

It was kind of chilly out there. The mornings were about 25 Fahrenheit and the hottest it got was about 44 F in the day.

This is IT. The highest point!

It was one heck of a way down the "cornice bowl". Even though it was cold I was overheating from concentrating not to "moer" off that mountain!

Amazing views from up there..

A close up photo of the TOP of Mammoth Mountain.

This is where the gondula drops you off ontop.

We took this photo on our last day of skiing. You can see they are now desperately awaiting more snow. It's on it's way in two days time!

The Village at Mammoth

In the evenings we took the bus to The Village.....

It was all lit up with Christmas lights...

A very appropriate place to put a statue of a man on ski's...

Very friendly local wild life....No! not us, the bears!

They look more aggressive in the daytime though...

Christmas trees and lights everywhere...

And even more lights!

What makes you think we like Lights? That is one BIG tree!

All the restaurants were lit up...

And even the inside of the mall was lit up!

Luckily we could take the bus and didn't have to negotiate these roads at night ourselves.

Here we are waiting for our bus.

Look at that aim - that snowball was heading straight for the cameraman!