A Family Affair...

 

Sunday morning saw our whole family getting together for a slightly belated birthday breakfast for my dad., who's birthday was on Friday.  We did have a little get-together on Friday evening and a few close friends popped in for supper, but the kids do love birthdays and it's so much easier going out with them during the day.  We went to a busy restaurant, with stunning views of the beach front and mountain.  Corky and Jo above.

 

Because they work such long hours, Rosie & Gareth don't get to see as much of Jo's kids as Jake & I do, so she always makes sure to cash in on plenty of cuddles while she can...

 Bi was really well behaved in the restaurant.  She really is a bundle of smiles and absolutely loves the camera.  Perhaps because I usually pull silly faces for her after I take her picture.  It's our little game...

The man of the moment - champagne & orange juice to celebrate another good year.  I don't think I know anybody (grown up that is) who loves a birthday as much as my dad...

Rosie and Gareth were braver than the rest of us, they got stuck into cocktails at 11:00am.  Teapots with raspberry flavoured ice tea.  Rosanne did have a lunch instead of a breakfast though...

Because he was sitting next to me, Jake thought he could hide from my camera.  No such luck, buddy!  Please note the Beiber (aka Beaver in our house) look he's got going.  These days it takes longer to do his hair in the mornings than it does to eat his breakfast...

As usual, our very handsome Pauly Wauly was keen to pose for photos...

Daddy and his little girl...

 Corky wasn't too keen to look at me for photos, but he knew I was taking them and put on a good show for me...

 Uncle Gareth cashing in on cuddles from Bi...

 And listening to her mummbling about something outside...

 It was all good until she caught sight of her mommy on the other side of the table, then her mommy got all the attention again...

 Further around the table she went and stopped to play games with Nini.  My mother is obsessed with her grandchildren and they are all crazy about her too...

She's too cute and always game for fun...

 Corky still wouldn't actually acknowledge my camera by looking at me by the end of our breafast, but he knew I was there...

 After our breakfast, we'd planned to go for a little walk along the beachfront with the kids, but didn't end up going too far.  Least we can all agree that our children are more beautiful than this lady's... 

 They're 14 and still love getting out, even though they can't manage the walk on their own.  The black one was even panting.  Hahaha - faces only a mother could love...

And that's that.  It was pretty windy, so we our walk didn't last long.  I'll end off with a picture of the view of our mountain from the beachfront.  The restaurant's directly across the road from the beach, so this was our breakfast view too.  Eat your hearts out... 

And that's pretty much it.  Work seems to be quietening down a little, which is always nice.  Jake finishes school next Friday, so the holidays are almost upon us.  I haven't taken too much time off over Christmas, but I'm looking forward to a few days off with Jake to do all the things we never get time to do during the term.  High on his list is fishing, so we'll have to find a few new spots out our way to try out.  I can't wait. 

 

Sending lot of love,

Sue xxx

 

Find me somebody to love...

 Our little foster pups are just about ready to go to new homes.  The lady from the welfare organisation is coming to vaccinate them this evening and they're having an adoption day on Sunday, so our beautiful little babies will be on display and will hopefully find wonderful new mommies and daddies to love them.  They have been totally spoiled in our house, so we expect nothing less for these guys!

 

This is Missy.  Her little sister looks just like her and has a new home already.  Missy is an absolute cuddle bug.  She loves to be snuggled.  She's also a complete clown when you see her playing in the garden.  She jumps around and falls over, completely uncoordinated.  We're not sure what she is.  She might have a bit of boarder collie in her and she has a very strong ridge down her back.  Look at those loving little eyes... 

 This is Mo.  Mo-Mo, Fatty, Mo-Mo the fatso.  He's much fluffier than his sister and has a definite Rottweiler look to him.  His paws are quite a bit bigger than Missy's.  Mo is not as cuddly as Missy, but he looks like a teddy bear...

 Duracell has been an excellent foster parent too.  The puppies are pretty active now and the only time he's ever shown either one of them any aggression is when he's eating and they get too close.  Also when they've looked under his belly for a teat...

 Paahh-llllleeeeasse will you love me??  I promise to be loyal and faithful for all the days of my life...

 After a morning of running circles around the furniture, Mo's taking a little break...

 He's good at posing for pictures...

 I promise not to chew your favourite furniture...

 But I can't say the same for your socks!  Missy and Mo have had a ball playing tug-of-war with a sock over the weekend.  They have kept us well entertained...

But all of that playing is hard work for a little guy... 

 Who me?  I was only pretending, I'm not tired...

 Yawn...

 Sleeping puppies are like sleeping babies.  I just want to pick them up and cuddle them, but I know, I know... let sleeping dogs lie...

 So, please drop me a little note if you'd like to be the proud new owner of one of these gorgeous, child-friendly, partly toilet-trained, very lovable babies.  Just in time for Christmas!!  There is a small fee for the welfare organisation, but it's so minimal (R500.00) and includes sterilisation.  But seriously, can you put a price on the love of a puppy?  Just think of that puppy breath...

 

Love,

Sue X

A Mini Break...

The weekend has come and gone all to soon.  Jake has been super excited about our little camping trip with a bunch of his school and cubs buddies.  He's been most excited about fishing.  There was talk in the week leading up to our trip, about going somewhere else because of rioting farm workers in the area, but I'm so glad that we managed to stick to our original plan.  It was calm an peaceful (if not a little windy) and it was just great to have a quick re-charge before the festive season really kicks in.

 

Because of a broken down bus in the Du Toits Kloof Tunnel, we took the pass over the mountain (thank goodness I wasn't driving) and after stitting through a bit of slow moving traffic, we eventually arrived at our camp site around 6ish.  We unpacked and set up camp and got the fires going for supper.  Jake and I had burgers - divine!  All that meant that Jake had to patiently wait until Saturday morning before he could hit the water.

 

This little girl is a friend from cubs.  She likes to chase Jake and she can do the splits, which really freaks him out.  Her name's Allegra and her mom's Italian.  Her dad was raised in a fishing family and has been fishing since he was about Jake's age.  He was great with helping Jake when things went wrong and was full of compliments for how well Jake manages to fish and how knowledgeable he is on the subject.  He even went as far as saying that Jake was a pleasure to fish with... 

 This is Allegra's baby brother, Ashton.  He likes to fish too...

 Skurwekop campsite is on a working farm.  These orchards were directly behind our tent...

 Pity the peaches were too tiny to munch on...

 There was plenty for the kids to do, besides hang around the campsite.  Besides fishing, there was chess, 2 swimming pools, a playground with a trampoline and kyaks to rent.  If I'd known kyaking was so much fun, I'd have rented one for us the entire weekend.  We borrowed a friend's for about half an hour and it was GREAT!  Jake did some fishing on the opposite side of the river... 

 Beyond the chess set, were vineyards for winemaking purposes.  The Robertson Valley has some great wines...

 This is looking back from the chess set towards the camping site.  The blue gazebo on the right is where we were.  The river is just beyond the big trees in front of the hilll...

 A tired fisherman, playing with huge thorns...

After an "early" night on Saturday, Jake was ready for more fishing on Sunday morning.  It was HOT (33 deg C)...

 Looking upstream...

 And down...  This is the Breede River, by the way...

 Jake's tackle box is pretty much always a mess.  It's actually too small for all his stuff and I think Father Christmas might bring him a new one this year...

Jake does it all on his own these days.  He knows that to ask me to tie on a hook and sinker is not an option, so he's learnt how to do it... 

 And as a typical little boy, he loves dirt.  It's probably the thing I like least about camping.  That and ablution facilities & spiders... 

 The water was warm.  If I could've seen the bottom, I might've been tempted to go for a swim...

 Jake pretends that I'm not taking his photo...

 Hey!  What's up, dude.  It's been so interesting to see how boys talk to each other.  And how much that's changed in the last couple of weeks...

After a weekend of fresh air and sunshine, we made a quick pit stop at KFC in Robertson on our way home.  Jake's in the middle, flanked by Aiden and his little brother Josh and on the outside are Nicholas and his sister Megan, who's mom went to school with me...

All in all, it was a great weekend and the kids all had a ball, which is really what it's all about!

 

Love,

Sue X