The World Our Kids Live In...

...Isn't the same one that we grew up in.  In fact, it's very different.  And not in a good way. 

Our family home is opposite an open park and when we were young, we were allowed to go play on this open field with our friends.  There were many kids living around the park and we would often meet on the field and play for hours on end.  We'd play hopscotch, hide and seek and ride our bikes.  We'd play soccer and marbles in the street.  And sometimes we'd just have a good laugh at the lone Afrikaans boy who used to offer us his black marble-like sweets from inside his pants (it was before we knew shorts had a pocket on the inside).  We had so much fun until we were called in for supper time. I think our parents only concern was that we would cross the road unsupervised and I can remember standing on the pavement opposite their house with Jo calling "mooooommmmmmyyyyy" until my mother came out and saw us across the road.  Heavens knows what our parents did while we were off adventuring...

Our home is also across the road from a park and Jake seldom goes outside to play unsupervised.  He's getting a little bigger now, so I do need to let him, but in a country where 17  year old girls are kidnapped, raped and murdered (not to mention the babies), there's no such thing as an overprotective parent.  Jake very rarely has friends over to play, most parents work and kids are forced into after school centres.  Many parents aren't comfortable sending their kids off to play at homes where they don't know the parents (I'm one).  And you learn not to take offence when people turn down an invite because they don't know you yet.  Children play inside and its up to the parents to keep them entertained.  They watch more TV than we did and play more TV games.  When we were kids, we only had a couple of hours of programming a day and Tuesdays and Thursdays were Afrikaans programmes, so we skipped those days completely.  It wasn't important to us.

Aside from that, at school, our kids are faced with bullying and bad mannered piers.  Take for example, the boy at school, who hits the girls.  He went as far as to punch one little girl in Jake's class in the nose.  She was devastated.  What boy's parents don't teach him NEVER to raise his hand to a girl?  It's one of the first things Jake learnt.  This same little boy has started bullying Jake a little too.  I'm trying to teach Jake to just walk away, but he wants to pulverise the guy and I'm not sure that I blame him.  At some point he has to stand up for himself.

Jake does enjoy school though and has sweet stories to share every day.  Like this morning, he told us about the boy who took the little girl in their class flowers, because he loves her and that's what boys do when they love a girl.  This is the same little girl who was blowing Jake kisses last week and telling Jake she loves him.  Her affections have changed though, it's amazing what a bunch of flowers can do...


I think the most important thing that we can give our children is love.  We need to protect them and keep them safe.  We want to give a sheltered and loving home, with as many happy childhood memories as we possibly can.  It's why I love to travel and see the world with Jake.  It's why I love doing special things with him.  Hopefully one day he'll look back on our short time together and remember that we had so much fun together!!

On a cheery note, yesterday morning, Jake and I took things a bit slow.  We were awake a little earlier than usual, so climbed back into bed to read stories, each with a cup of warm coffee.  Jake's comment: "sweet coffee is like getting a nice cuddle".  Too true.

Hope you all have a fab weekend.

Lots of love,
Sue X

The week gone by...

 Jake's school had a show of their work this week.  It was great to get in and see Jake with some of the things he has made.  Above is him showing me how the games work in the computer room.  The games are brilliant, educational and yet fun.  They are even learning how to type, holding their fingers on the right keys.  Jake loves it.

Outside each classroom, they have a display of the kids' artwork.  On the right is a flower Jake drew, complete with bugs.  On the left, just above the Century City sign is a drawing of our house.

We've also used this week to get our veggie patch going again.  We're a bit late, so decided to go for seedlings this year, rather than planting seeds from scratch.  The pathways are a little wonky, but hey, they do their job...

 Aubergines...

 Connor's learning to enjoy the garden too.  Jake always says: "come see my garden".  Connor's cottoned on to this and instead of calling it "Jake's garden", he calls it "my garden".  Fingers crossed we can get another budding young gardener going this year...

 We bought these nifty little stands for our beans.  As the beans grow, you can add on extras to make it taller and taller...

 We're trying them out with our tomatoes too...

 Jake with his granadilla bush.  It's growing like a weed and is so full of flowers, fingers crossed for a good harvest...

 And with his Avo tree that's taken off so well...

 lettuces, onions, flowers, corn, marrows, herbs...

 Corn...

 The spinach has been in for a while, we want to make creamed spinach for Christmas...

 Baby Marrows...

 For the first time this year, we found Brussel Sprouts, so quite excited to see how they grow...

 One of the granadilla blossoms...

  A view from the other end of the garden...

 Enjoy the weekend1

Love Sue X

A trip down memory lane...

We finally managed to get a battery for Jake's remote control boat on Saturday!  We had one on loan from a friend of Danie's, but gave it back ages ago, so the boat's been standing on the shelf for months.  Much to Jake's disappointment.  We were fortunate enough to be able to go back to play on the dam at Buitenverwachting.

It seems as though the farm has been very busy since we last visited.  Many old vines have been ripped out and replaced with new ones.  I have everything crossed that the new vines wines are just as good as the old ones.  We were there early in the evening, a lovely time of day to snap a few pictures.

I always feel very mixed about going to the farm.  It's always an emotional trip.  It is a very beautiful, very special place that holds so many memories for me.  They are such happy memories, but are tainted with so much sadness.  I find it very hard to share the farm with Jake, knowing what his life would've been life if we were still there.  One thing's for sure, his passion for nature and the great out doors would've been even greater than it is now.  Here he is getting ready to "set sail"...

Jake discovered that riding his super fast boat in a circle, made a whirlpool on the dam.  Truth be told, the boat is way too fast, too advanced and too expensive for Jake.  It makes watching him learn a tad stressful for some of us...

My most precious boy having fun...

It was all fun and games until the battery ran flat while the boat was in the middle of the dam...

Fortunately, the noise of the boat had attracted a few of the farm kids down to see what was happening... 

And one of them offered (in the hopes of a reward) to get in to the cold water to fetch the boat...

Fortunately, there was an old surf board there and he stripped down to his undies and hopped in.  Their biggest fear was that someone had recently died in the dam, which we didn't know about...

Thanks, Justin!  By the way, he did get a reward and a bag of crisps to share with his friends who were too scared to get in...

Laila came with and the boys were quite nervous of her until they saw her doing her tricks.  Who could be scared of this silly girl?

A view of the dam.  Perfection...

Jake made friends with the boys and got them to play with Laila a bit.  He's normally a bit shy, so it was nice to see him just going up to the group and chat...

Yesterday was a glorious day and we spent most of the day outside.  My parents and sister came for a braai and it was such a relaxing end to a lovely weekend.  Jake did a fair bit of fishing and tried desperately to catch himself a duckling. 

These guys must have been fresh out the oven and this poor duck had a brood of 12!!

Jake's catch of the day included about 35 tadpoles.  He's got very strict rules about catch and release, especially tadpoles, because they might just be baby leopard toads...

And that's pretty much our weekend.  It was nice and lazy for a change.  We did go to the Salt River market at the Old Biscuit Mill on Saturday morning.  It was lovely and we all really enjoyed it.  I forgot my camera at home though, so will have to remember to take some pictures next time.

Enjoy your week,
Sue X

Jake's spot...

Over the last few weeks, I've spent a lot of time redecorating Jake's bedroom.  He's always had a bit of a thrown together room and now that he's getting a bit bigger, it's not so nice.  I told him to choose a them and naturally, he chose a Springbok room.  It has been a great theme to decorate with.  With the build up to the World Cup there have been so many things available in the stores.  Needless to say, it's a bit heart sore going into the bedroom after Saturday's disappointing game, but Jake remains their most avid number one fan.

So, this is the green wall.  I managed to get very light green and yellow to match our theme.  3 walls are yellow, one green.  The posters are of Jake's two favourite players, Schalk Burger and Bryan Habana.  The logo is my work of art...

As with most decorating, it's the little things that make the difference.  We went a bit OTT and have almost used every available space to put something Springbok.  Excusing the weeds (I'm doing something about them), above the window hangs a scarf...

The duvet cover says "Future Bok coming through".  A boy can dream...

The door is seriously OTT, but it's Jake's room and it was important to let him add his few bits and bobs.  He insisted on hanging Danie's cycling medals on the door handle too...

I dug out Jacques' old rugby supporters top and had it boxed framed.  It cost a freaking fortune, but it's something so special and I guess Jake will always hang onto it.  I hope, at least...

I also framed a some of the few pictures I have of Jacques and Jake.  There's really not too many to choose from.  These ones are my favourites...

Also up are Jake's certificates from his very first rugby season...

Jake made a South African flag and put that up on the side of his bed along with some Bokke stickers we found...

We also had an old trophy Jacques won during his rugby days...

Some more clutter.  Jake likes clutter.  I don't...

Jake's rugby ball is proudly on display...

Along with various other trophies from various people.  The bike one was Jacques from BMXing as a kid, the cup was Danie's for golf, the big soccer player is from Jacques' great grandfather.  Only the little soccer man on the right is Jake's.  on the top shelf is Jake's croc skull from our last Kruger holiday and a pic of Jacques and I dancing with Jake in my tum...

I even managed to find fridge magnets to put on his bin...

There are still a few things I need to do to finish the room off completely, but it's basically done now.  Jake is thrilled and is very happy with his choice.  Sadly, I can't even finish this with a "Go Bokke"...

Love Sue XXX