Heritage Day...

It was SO good to lie in and take it a little slower for our Heritage Day public holiday on Monday morning.  The weather was a bit grotty all weekend and we'd had a lot on.  Jake was exhausted too, so it was good to know we only had to meet his cub pack at 10am for our excursion up Tygerberg Hill.  I was impressed with the turn out - with the weather being so dicey I had expected more lazy parents to give it a skip.  When Jake started cubs in December, there were just 9 registered cubs.  He's managed to get 3 friends to enroll and they've brought friends who've brought friends.  It's quite nice, because most of the kids (boys and girls) are in grade 2 with Jake.  Anyway... back to the outing.  This is us at our half way mark, where the kids did a few activities and enjoyed picnics...

 The weather was still overcast and gloomy, but the rain held off.  The kids played games and did treasure hunts...

 Despite the limited sunshine, the flowers were still out - a reminder that spring is finally here...

 For one activity, the cubs had to close their eyes and listen to the sounds of nature.  Jake (in the jersey) got the giggles... 

 I've never actually been up Tygerberg Hill.  It's really pretty and the views are magnificent.  We took an easy route, a nice one, suitable for the whole family.  Tall trees, surrounding the picnic site...

 Next up, the kids had to make pictures out of nature.  That's my friend Bev.  She's an amazing woman, also a single mom, so we see quite a lot of her...

Jake made a boat...

 This is the view down the back side of Tygerberg Hill (looking away from Table Mountain)...

 After our activities, we headed on up to the top of the hill.  Wow!  The views were unbelievable.  This picture whose Table Bay... 

 That big green patch in the middle is my high school (buildings on the left).  My house is just to the left of the school, but I can't see it in between the trees...

 The Cape Flats...

 Of course, the best part about getting out into nature, is the nature itself...

 The hungry caterpillar...

 The greatest excitement for Jake about going on the hike, was that the cannon was going to be fired at noon.  For some or other reason, it wasn't fired and he was pretty upset about it...

 It's not often that you get to climb on a cannon.  Thank goodness is wasn't loaded...

 There really were a lot of worms around.  These centipedes/shongololos were eating some old sap on a dead trunk.  This picture gives me goosebumps, I don't like worms...

 All the kids together...

 These three were up to no good.  They had a stick and were trying to poke it down a hole.  We'd passed a snake warning sign on our way up, which had a picture of a cobra on it and there was no ways I was going anywhere near a hole in the ground.  They lost the stick pretty quickly when I explained...

 After the hike, Jake had swimming, which was followed by our Heritage Day braai at my mom and dad's house.  Heritage Day is also National Braai Day, so it's almost a law that we had to braai...

 Jake was pooped.  He does about 30 lengths in the pool during his training session and between that and the hike, he slept really well...

Hope you all enjoyed the long weekend and the extra day off work and hope you all sat lazily around a fire somewhere, eating good food, with a glass of wine in hand and good company!

 

Love,

Sue XXX

A Jolly good time...

 

We had a busy weekend this last one, so I'm going to break it up over a few posts.  On Friday afternoon, Jake had a friend come over to play.  A very sweet guy, Michael.  The two of them came in neither hungry nor thirsty and spent the next 2 hours playing happily in Jake's room.  For the first time in I-don't-know-how-long, I  had nothing to do.  I had thought maybe the boys would be keen to bake with me, since the weather wasn't that great, but they weren't, so I baked alone.  I made these tiny cupcakes and decorated them with caramel and smarties.  They were delicious and there aren't any left ;o)

On Saturday morning, Jake was invited to a party on board the Jolly Roger pirate boat in the V & A Waterfront.  The weather was iffy and we had all our fingers and toes crossed that they would go out to sea - a previous party saw us sitting along the quayside the entire "trip"

That's the Jolly Roger, coming back into the harbour to collect our party... 

 All our boys were dressed up and looking pretty cool.  That's the birthday boy on the right and his mom behind him with the red bandanna.  I went with, but wasn't cool enough to dress up...

 The flag of The Black Pearl... 

 A last snap before boarding...

 Jake's not big on getting dressed up.  I think he feels like every one's checking him out and he doesn't like that.  Once he'd put his hat on though and had seen that his friends weren't going to react, he was happy.  This is Jake with his friend Lorenzo...  

 I couldn't find a pirate eye patch, so we bought a flesh coloured one at the chemist and I painted it with black and white nail polish.  It's not perfect, but it served its purpose...

 Presenting, Captain Jake Sparrow of The Black Pearl.  He doesn't scare me...

 He didn't want to get his face painted, but did it because his friends were doing it... 

 Pirate school - aaarrrrrrrr...

 Swinging the ropes... 

 And sliding down the pole - all in a day's work for a pirate... 

 Singing to the birthday boy...

 The view from my seat on the Jolly Roger.  I paid extra to go along for the ride.  With our family history with the sea - I don't take any chances on the water...

 This is my sweet friend Elsa.  She's from Argentina.  She has the most incredible life story ever and I'm going to help her write it some day...

 Snack time for the mini pirates...

 Check that kid with the red bandanna... Hahaha - I can watch children for hours and seriously, I don't think he noticed that he couldn't see anything...

 After a light shower, we did indeed head out to sea.  The boys were thrilled, but I think the grown ups enjoyed it even more (speaking for myself, that is)...

 Looking back at our mountain as we pulled out of the harbour.  The clouds finally lifted...

 We tried going up to the top level, but it was way more bumpy higher up, so we all headed back downstairs again.  That's our whole party... 

 Table Mountain flanked by Devil's Peak on the left and Signal Hill on the right, with Lion's Head poking out behind...

 The Popeye sherbet came with a little pipe to suck it up with, Jake thought that was very cool, even though he's dead against smoking in real life.  When you're a pirate, you're allowed to do disgusting things...

 A fishing boat heads out to sea... 

 This was our turning point.  Moullie Point's red and white light house in the front, with Sea Point just beyond.  Incidentally, when we were kids, we once knocked on the door of the light house, thinking nobody was home and someone opened the door and took us for a tour.  My dad grew up in Sea Point and I have many fond memories of walks along the beach front with ice creams from San Marco...

 Jake enjoying the view.  That neck and those ears just do it for me - I hate that he's going to be a smelly, hairy boy sooner than I'd like...

A huge flock of cormorants, chasing something.  We had hoped to see some dolphins or whales (it's whale season here now), but had to settle for birds...

I took this pic especially for Mrs FF and promised to post it.  She always takes such beautiful sky pictures for her blog...

Uh-oh... Jake got muddled up!  Suck, not blow... 

He didn't seem to mind and his kisses were even sweeter...

 The Pirates organised a little skit for the kids too, giving a bit of pirating history that went way over all of their heads, but which all the grown ups loved.  The birthday boy's mom was taken hostage and tied to the mast... 

 Captain Black Beard even made a scary appearance...

 And then it was time to head back into the harbour.  This is the main shopping area of the V&A Waterfront...

 And this is the stunning Table Bay Hotel, which serves the most scrumptious high tea.  It's also the hotel Michael Jackson made famous by hanging his son, Prince, from a top storey window with a towel covering his head.  Google it...

 The striking Clock Tower...

 Another view of the clock tower, with Signal Hill/Lion's Head in the background...

 A view coming into our little nook of the harbour...

 Coming in to moor alongside a gorgeous catamaran. All those boats do tourist trips of the harbour and Table Bay...

All in all, the kids had a ball and I think the parents had even more fun!  The weather turned out absolutely perfectly and we all went home with very sleepy sea-aired boys.

 

Heritage Day pictures tomorrow.

 

Lots of love,

Sue XXX