Mr. & Mrs. Vandebilt + kids

Our time here is quickly coming to a close so we have been busy soaking up as much sun, summer, family time and wine (to help dull the pain) as possible.

Monday we came good on our last promise to Charlie and Madeline and headed back to the V&A waterfront to take a ride on the Cape Wheel. The Cape wheel is Cape town’s version of the big eye. The kids had a great time on it – they were more impressed than I thought they would be which is always a pleasant surprise. We even managed a hilarious family green screen photo to complete the day.

We had really been hoping for some more beach time but the winds have been outrageous so Tuesday we packed up and headed to wine country. Not a terrible plan B. We went in search of a wine farm that offered grape juice tasting for the kids alongside the wine tasting. We had read on a few blogs about Lourensford so we decided to check it out. It is in Somerset West which is a relatively unexplored area for us so we thought it would be fun to try something new. Unfortunately for us, they had discontinued the juice tasting and it was deadly hot in the play area. After a lot of crying Madeline cutting the bottom of her foot open we packed it in and headed to Middelvlei in hopes of saving the day.

Luckily we have air conditioning in the car and all three kids had a nap en route. With everyone cooled off and rested moods were significantly improved. I don’t know if it was Middlevlei itself or the naps or just a stroke of luck but we ended up having the greatest afternoon at the farm.

It is the cutest wine farm. You feel like you’ve been invited to someone’s house for the day. They have these picnic tables that overlook the vineyards and what should be a little pond (it now looks like a large puddle because of the drought). They have huge blocks for the kids to play with and a sandpit. Charlie Madeline and Nora had a blast. They played together the whole time we were there.

Middlevlei is also one of the wine farms that offer juice tastings for the kids and it did not disappoint. They did an adorable pairing of four juices with four candies. The kids loved it. To top it all off they have a little farm where you can feed a potbelly pig, goats and turtles. We were sad to have only had a couple of hours at this place.