A quiet weekend...

With Human Rights Day celebrated across South Africa yesterday, we were all blessed with an extra day to our weekend.  I think we are all feeling quite grateful, especially knowing that there's a short week ahead of us, although I have a mountain of work to get through before I can even start thinking about next weekend!!

The weekend was a lovely one for Jake and I, the weather was great and we did quite a bit.  I didn't get to spend much time with Danie, which is always disappointing, but such is life.  Jake & I are used to being on our own, so we always make the most of our special time together.

Anyway, the weekend started off with Jake and I going with his Granny and her sister to visit Jacques' cousin's farm at the back of Durbanville.  Despite the heat (it was about 38 deg), it was a lovely outing and we have promised to visit them again soon.  Jake had an absolute ball, running wild with the "farm kids" and it was so nice to see them all playing nicely together the entire time we were there.  It was also great to catch up with Annamarie again - I haven't seen her since her last baby was born!!  She's such a laid back, lovely person, who very bravely home schools her four children aged between 10 and 4!

Jake loved the animals on the farm (bunnies, chickens and horses) and I'm sure he's destined to do something outdoors involving wildlife one day.  Annamarie took us on a tour around their grounds and we were able to meet all the animals.  Jake wanted to take a bunny home with us and they were quite happy to let one go, but we have enough pet problems at the moment without adding to the equation...

 This is the view from Annamarie's front porch...

 Meeting one of the horses.  I love the tenderness in Jake's eyes in this photo...

 The boys were quick to take a dip under the sprinkler - in the heat, I didn't blame them and it took a lot for me not to join in their fun.  Jake loved the freedom of being able to get himself soaking wet and filthy dirty without getting into trouble...

 More horses...

 Still wet, the boys then discovered a pile of building sand to slide down and dig in...

 There were two other little kids visiting from a neighbouring farm.  They cannot speak a word of English, but loved joining in the fun...

 One of the workers found a baby snake, which was right up Jake's ally.  It was apparently just a little slug eater, so nothing dangerous.  Jake wanted to take it home too...

 Hahahaha - look how little it is!

 Looks more like a centipede than a snake and I was even brave enough to hold it!!  The thing with holding snakes that really bothers me (and I am pretty scared of snakes), is where are their bottoms?  They don't have toilet paper, or hands to wipe with, so are they clean or dirty animals?  Sorry, but that's just the kind of thing that worries me about creepy crawlies...

 After that, it was time for a dip in the slightly green pool.  The kids didn't care though and they were only too happy to cool off!!  And get rid of some of that sand, I'm sure...

 The dog is a pro swimmer too...

 And then it was time to head off back to the concrete jungle - I think I am a farm girl at heart and Jake definitely loved every moment!! 

 These are all the kids together.  It's surprisingly difficult to get 5 kids to all look at the camera, smile and keep their eyes open all at the same time.  From left is little Ruth (4) Abigail (10), Joel (6), Luke (9) and Jake, of course, stuffing his face with a cappuccino muffin.  I think he was very chuffed to discover a whole new bunch of second cousins and he is dying to visit them again...

 Friday night was spent shopping for gifts for 2 kids parties on Saturday.  We had a quick bite to eat at the Spur too, which was nice.  Saturday was another scorcher and the first party (for Danie's niece, Kira) was almost unbearably hot.  The second party was a pool party, with a slip and slide for the kids, so most of the adults landed up in the pool too.  Had I known, I would've packed my cozzie too.  Saturday evening, Danie had to head home early as he was riding with friends on Sunday morning.  Jake slept in my bed and we had a midnight feast when I joined him after Danie had left - it was such fun!!

Sunday morning was a bit of a stressful one for us; Jake's hamster got himself stuck on his water bottle.  I discovered him on Sunday morning, hanging upside down from his back right leg, chewing desperately to get himself free.  We went off to the vet and ended up having to leave him there so they could anaesthetise him to get a proper look at his little leg.  R355.00 later, I collected the hamster and we are monitoring his progress.  On Sunday evening, the silly boy got himself stuck in his cage again, which left me in tears, watching him eating away at himself again.  Rosanne and Gareth were quick to rescue him (and me), thankfully.  All this for a hamster that Jake got free with the cage and contents.  Oh and I'm not partial to rodents of any form and he does bite, so I can't touch him.  One of the guys from work has suggested flushing Bullet down the loo, but I think it would be a poor example to Jake to just have him put down without trying to save the poor thing first.

We caught up with Danie on Sunday afternoon and went to see a model airplane show, which Jake loved, especially the plane that dropped sweets from the sky for the kids to catch.  Unfortunately, I left my camera at home, but it was quite an impressive display.

Sunday evening we were home alone again and I had another early night with my book (Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult - BRILLIANT!!).  Monday morning, we caught up with Joanne and Connor at the aquarium.  It was great to see them again, it feels like it's been so long since we were last together.  We are used to seeing Connor most days at Mom and Dad's, so it's been weird not seeing him so often.  Jake and him had lots of fun. 

We spent the afternoon at Danie's.  I took Jake to do a bit of fishing off the nearest bridge, which was great until he got his lure stuck in a tree and we had to go home.

And that's it.  Hope you all had a great long weekend too!!

Sue XXX

Argus Part 2...

Our weekend was full of cycling.  On Sunday morning, Danie was up with the birds to take part in the Main Argus Cycle Tour.  It's 109 scenic, gruelling kilometers around our beautiful Cape Peninsula.  It wrecks havoc with the traffic and road closures and results in about 30,000 people suffering with extremely sore legs and bottoms.

Needless to say, after having taken part in the Junior Tour, Jake was very excited about the main race.  We packed a picnic, made a flask of hot chocolate (aren't the mornings starting to get cool - the idea of winter just about kills me), then stopped in at Danie's to grabbed some blankets and a spare tyre tube for Danie that he'd left at home.  We had planned to watch the riders along Boyes Drive, which is very near to Danie's house and Danie knew to look out for us along there too, which meant we had a pretty good chance of seeing him.  We ended up having to hike up steep Old Boyes Drive to get to our view point.  We spread out our blanket and poured our hot chocolate, clapping and cheering as the cyclists passed us.  It was THE perfect morning for cycling, not a breath of wind, which is highly unusual for this time of year in the Cape.

Sunrise halfway along our hike, looking out over Marina da Gama...

Jake, excited to see the main riders...

The first bunch of cyclists we saw coming past, was Group A.  There were 3 or 4 groups that went ahead of Group A, but we missed them.  Still, these guys are the professionals, they are serious about their cycling and they are fast.  The wind propulsion that follows the bunch is incredible.  One of the most interesting things for me about watching the race up close like this, was seeing the different groups go by.  The serious riders stick together in a bunch, like in the picture below.  As the groups get less and less professional, the distances between the groups becomes less.  Eventually, by the time we got down to about Group S, they were all kind of merged into one continuous stream.  Danie rode in Group H, which was a really good starting place, amongst the seeded riders.

Group A...

One of the Group A stragglers, with Group B closing in quickly behind him...

This was Group H - Danie's in there somewhere.  Amazingly, he did spot us and since they were riding up hill, he slowed a little extra and I was able to pop the spare tube into his hand and he high-fived Jake as he rode past...

There he goes...

One of the highlights was definitely the riders themselves.  I was overwhelmed by how many people bothered to wave, smile or say a few words as they passed by.  It was amazing to see people in fancy dress, to see the many charities being supported by the cyclists, to see the different modes of bicycles, to hear the cyclists chatting and laughing as they encouraged one another to the end, to see blind men riding on the backs of tandems and disabled men peddling with their arms.  Although I'm not sure that all the people riding these bikes were disabled, some definitely were...

By the time most people got to us and I'd realised that they were worth taking a picture of, they'd gone past already.  It was fun trying to capture a few moments.  So many riders were already so exhausted by the time they got to us (about 25km into the race).  The next couple of pictures are just a few of individual riders...

I would definitely fall off this bike.  I mean how do you actually get on there in the first place?

Ummm... I'm sure that this man's bottom was sore in more ways than one.  Here's hoping he remembered his sun block...

I was also amazed by how many elderly folks were riding...

A fairy of sorts.  And another one with a sore bottom on the way...

Jake liked this lady.  She was wearing the same cycling top that he'd raced in the day before...

There were a lot of teams riding together too, always good to see team support...

This is looking back up the hill.  We sat below the road sign on the left.  It was the 84km to go mark, not very encouraging, in my opinion...

By 9am, we were ready to go.  There was still a steady stream of cyclists coming through, but we'd been there since about 7am.  Danie passed us at 7:40 and we'd seen a few other friends, including Danie's brother.  We headed back down Old Boyes Drive and home again. Now that the sun's up, you can see a little more.  This is part of the Marina (Danie's house is quite a bit further to the left of this picture) and Muizenberg Beach is in the background.  So pretty...

Happy chappie, still wearing his medal and new cycling T-shirt...

All in all, it was a fun morning for Jake and I.  He loved seeing the people in fancy dress and so many people spoke to him and high-fived him along the way.  They also tried to steal his breakfast roll, which he thought was very funny.  As for Danie, considering that he hasn't done as much training as he would've liked to, he did really, really well, finishing in less than 3 1/2 hours.  I am very impressed!!

Secretly, I'm also more than a little  jealous that I haven't done the ride before.  Besides the cycling part, it looks like so much fun!  My running partner, Sueann, did her first ride this year too and also did really well.  She's convinced that she can get me to train and ride with her next year - we'll see.  I quite enjoyed sitting on the side of the road eating breakfast, drinking hot chocolate and watching the passing parade of cyclists.  Also, my legs were tired from walking up Old Boyes Drive (it's steep), so I would really need to get a lot fitter.  Anyone keen to join me?

Sue XXX

Argus Part 1...

Saturday morning was the Junior Argus Cycle Tour.  Jake was adamant that he'd be doing the 10km ride this year, after having done the 5km last year.  We have spent quite a bit of time on our bicycles this year, just doing short trips to the local shopping centre and to visit family nearby.  We definitely haven't done 10kms!!  On one slightly longer trip (probably about 5km), Jake had to stop 3 times for water, so I wasn't holding my breath for a great ride on Saturday and was secretly quite relieved that he had Danie to ride with him.  Before the race, I made Jake promise that he wouldn't whine and moan about being thirsty and tired, that it wasn't a race (it always is when it comes to boys though) and that he just needed to go out there and have fun.  Needless to say, he did stop for water plenty of times en route, but he had a great time and he is so, so proud of the medal he "won".  Well done, Jake!  And thank you, Danie, for riding with him, you're the best!

At Danie's house the morning of the ride...

An excited little man.  That's Laila's snout on the right...

Arriving at the race track (Youngsfield Military Base, which is just around the corner from where my mom grew up)...

Jake & Jamie, Danie's brother's son.  Jake adores Jamie.  They were hoping to win the PS3 that was being given away...

There was lots of entertainment for the kids, including magic and snake shows before the ride.  The boys are watching the snake show here...

Jake with his cousins, as he calls them, Kira and Jamie, all ready to go...

As a surprise, Jake's Granny and Grandpa came through to watch his ride...

My boys all set for action...

Looking cool after lap one...

This guy was super good.  The commentators kept calling him Michael Schumacher...

All done - well done, Jake!!  And I think well done Danie!  It's crazy out there, the kids are all over the show, which is why I'm glad I could stand on the sidelines and take photos.  I would've fallen, or crashed into a kid.  Probably my own...

Coming through to collect his medal and goodie bag...

I'm super proud of you, my beautiful (naughty) boy...

Happy cyclists...

And one last one with his proud mommy.  Shew - I know where Jake gets his white pins from now...

To those of you with kids, this is such a lovely, fun day out as a family.  The tricycle tour is only 2.5km, then there's the 5km and the 10km rides.  They all get medals (if they finish), a cool drink and a goodie bag, which had a packet of crisps, a cereal bar, a bucket & spade, a canal walk voucher, a spur voucher, a lollipop and a few other odds and ends in it.  There are water points along the road for them too.  It was not expensive either - I paid R135 to register Jake to ride with one adult rider, plus paid for an extra adult rider and bought him a gorgeous T-shirt.  All for R135??  Join us next year, it'll be fun!!

Once again, well done Jake, you're my super star!!

Sue X