A First For Us All

In December we ventured overseas for the first time as a family. We visited England, France and Dubai. Two weeks prior to us leaving, Heathrow had been closed due to heavy snowfall and so we were hopeful that we would get to see some of the white stuff.
You see .... NONE of us have ever touched snow!
But, sad to say, the snow had melted by the time we arrived in England and our wish remained ungranted..... THAT IS UNTIL TODAY! And we didn't have to travel too far for our first snowball fight. On our way through to the Midlands I picked my Dad up from Howick. You see he TOO hasn't ever been in the snow!

We Love Umdloti!

I jumped out of bed ready for a little adventure. For the past 2 months the mantra 'Life is so short' has been ringing in my head and since I have recently conquered my fear of flying/heights and a few other things, I was excited to stop the monotony of the school week and do something different. So I made a few calls and was able to find an apartment right on the beach... Umdloti Beach.

Umdloti Beach has always been a favourite of ours as it is never overcrowded, and a portion of the beach is protected by a reef creating a calmer swimming area which is great for younger kids and ......... body-boarding moms! Yes...... I did it! At the age of 41, I body boarded for the first time and it was amazing! Haha ...no pics so moving on.... Miss Tanzi ALSO body boarded for the first time this holiday. CoolDude taught Miss Tanzi how to Body board. In the pic above you can see him watching his protege take the wave. She is fearless. And of course biggest brother WizzKid is on hand to help her when she gets dumped by the wave. Miss Tanzi is so proud of her efforts ...... but in the backgroung comes Cooldude to refine her skills once more! hehe

Waka Waka ....... bring it on!

5 weeks of holiday!!! let me say that again because it makes me feel SO good ..... '5 weeks of holiday!' ... wahoo!
You see .... the Soccer World cup is underway in my land and most South Africans are caught up in the festivities such an event initiates!
I say 'most' because not all have embraced this event ..... my family being one of them! *gasp*
We are not a family that watches must sport (in fact the only sports we watch are the ones our kids take part in) ; coupled with the fact that we are not patriotic ...... the run up to the world cup didn't stir much excitement in any of us!
But that all changed when I watched the Kick Off Concert! I eventually caught the 'GEES'(Afrikaans word for spirit.) ...... and so did Miss Tanzi ............

That long blowee thing is called the vuvuzela. It may look quite harmless, but it is causing quite a stir .... this local instrument emits a loud-elephant-charging-sound which apparently is disturbing the overseas players.( Our secret weapon ... we need it!) Okay, so now that I have caught the 'GEES'......... I need to get a hold of my brother........

and get him to come on over to the over side ...... the more southern side where the flag and the people are a whole lot more vibrant! Go BAFANA BAFANA (our soccer team)...... you may not be in the competition long(?) but you played SO well in the opening game. You made all (well all most all) of us South Africans very proud!

x

8 days till kick off!

South Africa is buzzing with activity .... shopfronts are beautifully decorated, roads are repaired and looking smart and many cars are adorned with flags and different paraphernalia. As well as a great portion of our nation are sporting our soccer team's colours. We are looking bright and happy!!
Yes!!!.... the FiFa World Cup Soccer Championsips is about to commence in South Africa. OKAY ......so I don't know how ready our soccer team, Bafana Bafana, is but our country is excitedly waiting for the games to begin!

Even though I'm not patriotic nor a soccer fan I can feel the 'GEES' ( Afrikaans word for SPIRIT) and I am sure I will catch a game or two on the tube. What's also fab is that the kids and I get to have a 5 week break! wahoooo
x

"Here kitty kitty ........."

We spent a beautiful morning at the Tenikwe Wildlife Awareness Centre in Knysna. It was amazing to see, and get so close to, the wild cats.We got very close to the African Wild cat, Serval, Caracal, Cheetah and Leopard. Below is the Cheetah

And above, my favourite big cat ..... The leopard.(pic taken by WizzKid)

Knysna ..... our new favourite holiday destination!

The view from our apartment on Thesen Island, Knysna. The boys are trying their luck at fishing.

CoolDude and Miss Tanzi perfectly positioned between the two Knysna Heads.The view from the top of one of the Heads ...... isn't Knysna beautiful!I honestly do not know why we have not holiday-ed here before!! It is the most beautiful place with loads to see and do.

Long weekend at Midmar Dam.

Below is my 'coming out of the closet' picture .....I have never been so vulnerable and in your face, but turning forty has been sooo liberating ...In the words of a dear friend .. "If you don't like what you see ...... then don't look!"


It was one of our best holidays! The weather was fab and we all chilled out beautifully. I managed well without my laptop/notebook ..... 4 days ...... now that must be a record!

Life Skills .....

This has become a common sight at our house ...... a load of boxes sitting at our front door ..... ready for dispatch.

My entrepreneurial sons have set up a business on Bid-or-Buy (the South African equivalent of ebay.) They are doing SOOOOO well and making some good moola. In this country of ours, we NEED to teach our kids to be leaders in business and to be their own boss!
Keep at it boys , you are learning some great life skills!

Best friends .....

This is Miss Tanzi(on right) with her best friend Tayla.

They have such a sweet relationship. I know Tanzi is going to be devastated when Tayla immigrates to Australia. Tanzi told me the other day ....... "Tayla says I can go with her." They are that close.

It is so sad to see our kiddies friendships being torn apart. It is said that kids are resilient, they rebound quickly!Perhaps most kids just know that ," Yes, I know children are meant to be resilient, but it surprises me when Tanzi(age 4) still asks "When will we see Tamar again?" (Tamar was a very close friend of Tanzi who left for Australia 2 years ago!)
Resilient ?...... I think they experience the same emotions that we, us adults, experience! I believe these 'small' events effect them more than we'll ever know!

Trip to Jozi !

The kids have been nagging me to go to Johannesburg. It has been 16 months since me moved away from Jozi (Johannesburg's nickname) and they were desperate to see old friends and to visit some of the places we used to frequent.


For a couple of nights we stayed at the beautiful Montecasino Pallazo Hotel. I felt like a queen!



We took a couple of their friends out for the day.


MrGee and I visited Mandela Square in Sandton City ....... I had to have a pic with our dearly loved Ex-President Nelson Mandela.


And then we went to one of my favourite restaurants ...........

But most of all we just had fun catching up with old friends and reminiscing about our old stomping ground . We drove past most of the houses we had lived in. We only managed to see 5 out of the 7. Yip ..... we stayed in 7 different houses during the 9 years we spent in Jozi !!!!