My 41st birthday

My 41st birthday came and went on Sunday and it was a nice, quiet birthday at home. My birthday wraps up my annual 'Days of Running' birthday game. This year was a bit of a mish-mash of running, paddling and walking. I did skip a day or two - like on Forest Run day (20 May) - but I was with the programme for much of the rest of the 41 days. Having Rusty in my life is a great motivator too because I take her out everyday, whether for a short run or longer walk (she is still building fitness so I don't work her too hard on consecutive days).

My birthday morning started with breakfast in bed, made by Ruben (tea and rusk) and Kyla (toast and eggs) and a gift that Kyla made - a kind of paper-weight thing of my name, made from playdough.

We then headed out to our lovely hills of the Vredefort Dome for a hike. I haven't done the waterfall route for ages and so we chose this one. It is very overgrown and in two places I lost the trail. Fortunately I know where the trail should be and where it is headed, so I could pick it up again further along.

In about August last year we took the children on this route. They wanted to stop almost every 200m and there were tears and drama. This year, they were stars! They have done more hiking - most notably the three-day hike we did with them in October last year. They are also a little bit fitter. What a difference this made. They hiked very well. It is a 10km route with technical terrain and they did so well.

Rusty loved being out there with us. She is a magical trail dog.

Ruben and Rusty heading into the kloof below the waterfall.

Quick stop before a rocky scramble. 

Water! A trickle of water coming down the waterfall - the first time that I've seen water here. Ruben and Kyla enjoyed scrambling up here.

My doggy enjoying the view.

A girl and her dog xxx

Two monkeys

Quick stop

A sleepy doggy in her basket on Sunday night.