My quiet life turned busy...

So, I started working half day and enjoyed a month of afternoons at home with Jake, I was just starting to get used to things, when my sister phoned and asked me if I'd like to help out at her office for a couple of weeks. They pay is good and I only have to work for 2 hours each afternoon, so I thought "why not?". Anyway, I went in on Friday for the first time and today will be my last day with the lady who's resigning. The new lady starts at the beginning of May, so I'll just be around to carry things over until she starts. As it's an accounting firm, they have hundreds of clients on their books and it's going to take quite a lot of learning for me to get to know which clients own which businesses. Thankfully, I'll only be doing a small amount of invoicing and then debtors, so it shouldn't be too demanding. I just need to know how to do it all, so that things run smoothly after I hand over to the the next new girl. I'm looking forward to the change in my work routine and to meeting new people. The drive into town is going to take me a bit of getting used to, considering I only live 2km away from my normal office. Anyway, it's just for a month, I'm going to enjoy it!!

As a last holiday outing while I'm only working half days, I took Jake down to the aquarium on Thursday afternoon after we'd baked a batch of biscuits. Jake loves the aquarium, so we try get there quite often, although we haven't been in a little while. We'd asked my folks if they'd like to join us in the Waterfront for supper and since it was only about 4:30pm when we'd finished walking through the aquarium, we went on to the scratch patch. Jake's never been there before and I've never visited the one in the waterfront either. It was very expensive (R19 for a tiny bag of stones) and it's way smaller then I remember the Scratch Patch in Simon's Town being. After that, Jake and I spent a bit of time wondering around the Waterfront and watching the boats coming in and out of the harbour. When my parents arrived, we went down to Quay Four for fish and chips (calamari for Jake). It was just such a beautiful, calm, relaxing evening in the Waterfront. Since Jake had been sich with a cold and ear infection and was on anti-biotics, we decided to get home fairly early. Still, it was a lovely way to end off my special time with Jake and I'm really looking to getting back to my half days with him again next month!!

Jake taking a closer look at the "Nemos"... Plucking up courage to stick his hand into the icy water of the touch pool... Painting with the kids in the activity room... Jake's favourites - Penguins! Mother and child... The kelp forest... Looking for sharks... A ragged tooth shark... The Scratch Patch... Dragon Boats... Chinese fishing boat leaving our beautiful harbour... Jake watching the above boat... With the Nelson Mandela Clock Tower... With his Nini (my mom) at Quay Four... Nini & Pa... XXX

Mischievous monster...

Jake's a real little monkey these days. He loves climbing and hiding and couldn't give a hoot whether I'm in a state of panic or not. He's been climbing the burglar bars for as long as I can remember. Initially, when he was really tiny, I used to hover below him waiting for him to misplace his foot, but, touch wood, he never has. Now that I'm used to his antics, I can giggle at him across the room and take photos of him. I just hope that the burglar bars are strong enough to hold him now that he's getting a bit bigger... Another of his favourite games, is to play hide-and-seek. He hides under pillows, under duvets, behind curtains, behind plants in the garden, behind doors and his latest - inside his wardrobe. Then he calls me and I have to hunt him down. Excuse the mess inside the wardrobe. The big box has all my special things in it. There's a bag of clothes there that needs to be handed on and a pile of Jake's toys. Out of sight, out of mind... He also loves making soup in this currently unused, but pretty pot. He gets the water from the pool and digs mounds of sand from the garden around him. He usually tries to hide away when he's doing this - he gets filthy! And then his other favourite pass time is to climb trees. It really doesn't matter how big or small they are, if they've got branches, he'll climb them. Look how tall he's getting. And note how dirty from the soup... Least he looked at my camera and even mustered up a grin for one or two of the pictures!

XXX

The long weekend in drips and drabs. Part 4...

Well, there were four days to our weekend, surely I'm allowed a post per day? On Monday, we went through to Kommetjie where my in-laws were camping. It's not my favourite pass-time (I prefer a fixed dwelling), so we just went through to visit them for the day. Our friends from the UK, Jason & Sandi came through to visit too, so it was good to catch up with them there too. We had crayfish for lunch, which is always a treat. Jake loves it though, so I don't end up with very much. It was a nice day though, just very windy and we got home in time to join my folks for a braai (BBQ) with Rosanne and Gareth (my sister and boyfriend). All in all, it ended up being quite a restful weekend!!

Jake with his cousins, Rebecca (in the middle) and Abigail... Jake & Becky scouting out trouble... These two are thick as theives... Abi taking care of the trouble-makers... Lilies... Jake on the phone to his friend (read: girlfriend), Courtney. Hmmmfff....

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. More photos next week, I've run out of time to upload.

Lots of love, Sue xxx

The long weekend in drips and drabs. Part 3...

Sunday was, obviously Easter morning and, therefore, a very exciting day in our house. Jake was up at sparrows and proceeded to run around the garden like a high-speed lunatic. He loved it and is really fully into the swing of things now with regards to Christmas, Easter and his birthday, of course.

Joanne and Paul and Paul's mom, Mary, joined us for a feast of a breakfast, which is tradition for us as a family on Easter morning. Much like the fish cakes on Good Friday. Jake did nothing but eat junk all morning, an indulgence I allowed since it was Easter. We popped in to visit Jake's great grandfather who wasn't home, then stopped at the shop to buy water, as we'd had a burst pipe a few doors down. Jake immediately walked in and asked for sweets, I sternly told him 'no ways' and told him that he'd had enough junk for one day. Once I'd paid for the water and was ready to leave, I turned to get Jake and found him eating a marshmallow fish in the aisle directly behind me. Needless to say, I had to pay for the fish and Jake got a serious lecture in the car home about stealing and taking things that you know are not yours. He was sent straight to his room for time out when we got home and had to repeat the exercise when I went in to fetch him and found him stuffing his face with Easter eggs. The eggs have now been packed away and he's on rations...

After we'd lazed a bit more, we headed down to Camps Bay beach front for an ice-cream. Jake was unobliging as ever with the photos. Anyway, here are our Easter photos...

Waiting to be released... The clever bunny found some sneaky hiding places... The race is on... No more hands... Tucking in to egg number 1... The haul. Not bad for a 3 year old... Jake's gifts to everyone. He painted and packed them himself... The newlyweds at breakfast... My folks... Me and my dad... Jake in the dog's bath water (before they got in)... My unobliging child on Camps Bay beach with his ice-cream... Camps Bay beach with Lion's Head in the back ground... Rear view up to the cable sation on Table Mountain