Kate and Chris engaged

Congratulations to my daughter Kate-Lynn and my prospective son-in-law Chris on their engagement today.

It makes it a dramatic finish to 2015 with my son having married Lisa earlier this month and they are presently still on honeymoon in Thailand.

Kate's fiancé Chris hails from Ohio and serves as a fighter pilot in the US Airforce, having met Chris in Busan South Korea while on leave there in the city Kate was living and teaching in at the time. She's my darling, my princess, and he's one lucky guy, although they both make an awesome couple.

Chris' posting in South Korea has come to an end and he is presently visiting South Africa on a tour here with Kate. The proposal took place on Lions Head, Cape Town, after the couple spent Christmas with me in Durban and also enjoyed a trip to the Hluhluwe Game Reserve. After Kate's locum job here in Durban Feb/March she will relocate to Georgia USA where Chris will be stationed for the next 3 years. The excitement for me has been building since Chris asked for my permission to marry Kate during a flight over Durban with him in my Sling airplane. Chris flies an A-10 fighter jet for the Airforce and it will be great to have another pilot in the family. Although my daughter will be lost to the States, we are overjoyed for them both and wish them everything of the best in their new home.

Here's the link to the Facebook photo album of Chris' visit to South Africa for Christmas, Kate and more..

Chris and Kate in Cape Town this week before the engagement

Engaged on Lion's Head, Cape Town

The happy couple seal the deal

The ring on a protea bush on top of Lion's Head

Chris (right) with the A-10 aircraft he flies

Chris and myself fly my Sling airplane over Durban

Myself, Chris and Kate in Hluhluwe Game Reserve earlier this week

My son Mark marries Lisa

My son Mark married Lisa in a beautiful ceremony in a stone chapel at the Secret Garden venue in a nature and game reserve near Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. The rain lashed down when we arrived for the wedding but by the time it was over the sky cleared and the most beautiful double rainbow appeared.. see pics below. They make a stunning couple and Mark was the first of my  kids to tie the knot. It was a beautiful occasion and everything was awesome from the couple, to the bridesmaids and groomsmen, the setting, the colours, the food and the guests. A proud moment for dad seeing his son get married.

Mark and Lisa tie the knot

The handsome groom and his groomsmen

Mom, gran and father of the groom

The gorgeous bridesmaids

Lisa and Mark at the altar

You may now kiss the bride

Signing the register with the moms as witnesses

Look no more gum says Robbie with Mark, groomsmen

The tunnel of love

Dad with daughter Kate, bridesmaid

Dad, Kate and cousin Josh

Llewellyn and the kids with Kate

Dave, Lauren, Caitlin, Llewelyn, Kate and Calvin

The table settings, carrying the lilac colour theme of the wedding

Stephen and his mate fromVancouver island

The first dance in a burst of  bubbles

My gorgeous daughter Kate-Lynn, bridesmaid and soon to be a bride too

Llewellyn, step-father of the groom, Caitlin and Calvin

The bridal table

Sister and brother

Mom with her kids

Lisa and Mark tuck in to the sumptuous feast

The stunning 180deg double rainbow during the reception

We had a feast

Dad and hubby Llewellyn

Llewellyn with Mark and Kirsty

The thorns with the rose and photobomb by Robbie

Da boys - Dave with Dain (best man) and Llew and Jared (groomsman)

Selfie before I made my speech

And another with the married couple

Tucking into the cupcakes

Gran and Kate trying an ice-cream

A giraffe strolled by on the way home

Kate flies from S.Korea to Vietnam to home

My daughter Kate-Lynn spent her final week in South Korea this week ad starts her homeward trek via Vietnam. She flew out today with Chris on an exciting tour of Vietnam, taking in Hanoi, an overnight train and hiking in the north-west of Vietnam, a two day cruise on a rustic boat around Lab Ha Bay with rock-climbing and kayaking down to Danang, a flight to Ho Chi Minh city for a 2-day cooking course and a 2-day scooter tour... then home.

So excited to see you again.. it's been 1 year 8 months in Korea and a year since we visited there last October.

The incredible islands around the Ha Long Bay area in Vietnam

Kate's last few days in S.Korea involved packing up, saying goodbye to friends, spending a few days with Chris as his Airforce base south of Seoul and then jetting off today to Vietnam

Kate will be travelling from Hanoi in the north of Vietnam, to the west, then back to the east and down south to Ho Chi Minh City which used to be called Saigon during the war

Podgorica to Budva, Montenegro

We have been away a week on our month-long European vacation, and we caught a bus from Podgorica to Budva on the coast of Montenegro where we had only a night before our onward bus trip into Croatia to Dubrovnik.

Budva

Budva was undoubtedly the best seaside resort and stop-over we had on our trip. It is not a huge town, at the foothills of the mountain range and looks a little bit like Camps bay, Cape Town. There is a stunning old walled city and our hotel was just inside the walls. The back droor of the hotel fronted onto the small beach where we sat on lounger chairs, swam in the Adriatic Sea and sipped cocktails that were not overpriced. Outside the walled city the seaside resort boasted about a kilometre promenade with dozens of restaurants, shops and cocktail bars as well as a large fleamarket where we had the good sense to buy some rock shoes after agonising over the pebbles on the beach and the rocks that make up the seabed as you step in.

Budva, Montenegro

The walls of the old city

Our Hotel Astoria just on the inside of the walled city

Cute alleys and passages filled with shops and restaurants

At the back of our hotel was the beach and the Adriatic sea

Some of the fortress ramparts

The waters were crystal clear and reasonably warm

First swim in the Adriatic

Cocktails on the pebble beach

We had a beer in every city - local is lekker (Pivo = beer in Montenegran)

The pebbles on the beach

Comfortable hotel room

The prices were cheap/affordable in Budva. I booked for paragliding off the cliff too but they cancelled due to cloud sitting on the top

We took a cruise around the bay and to the little island

Dinner alongside the water's edge

Yummy breakfast - the first eggs and bacon of the trip

Bus trip to Dubrovnik, skirting the huge Bay of Kotor with little island in the middle

Heading through passport control from Montenegro to Bosnia and then to Croatia - we drove in 3 countries that day