For the birds...

Jake had a school outing on Wednesday morning and for the first time this year, I was lucky enough to be able to help with lifts.  I always wish I could be a fly on the wall, to see how he interacts with his friends and to see how well he partakes/listens.  I am very pleased to say that, compared to some, my child borders on angelic...

We headed off for Intaka Island at Century City early on Wednesday morning. The weather was gorgeous, perfect for being outside and enjoying nature.  We were there not too long ago with my mom and dad too.  The island is basically an area of preserved wetlands, about 5 minutes away from us.  The word "Intaka" means bird in Xhosa and so this natural wetland attracts over 140 different species of birds.  Its an inexpensive trip and one can pack a picnic to enjoy along the way.  That said, doing it with 60 eight-year olds is definitely far from relaxing.

 

Thankfully, the kids were split up into 3 groups of 20 and had 3 different stations to visit.  This is Jake's class.  His teacher in navy on the left is blowing her whistle to get the kids into their lines.  Jake's ahead of the girl in pink and black, he's got a blue cap on and is looking back...

 For school groups, Intaka has a lecture room, where they do a short presentation on the wetlands and about the purpose of preserving these grounds.  Jake's at the back,s till in his cap...

 Our group headed out to do a little walk around the island, to try and see which birds we could spot.  As you all know, Jake loves this kind of thing and he loved being able to show off his knowledge of birds...

Our guide was very informative, sometimes a little too much so...

And the binoculars were far too distracting...

As part of the walk, we stopped off at a hide to watch the birds building nests, fishing, etc.  That's Jake with his friend Michael.  Jake's going to Michael's birthday party tomorrow afternoon...

After our walk, the kids stopped to have their snacks.  Because of his meds, Jake's never hungry at this time of the day, so was irritated at having to wait for everyone else to finish up... 

 

Next up was our boat cruise through the canals...

 More exciting bird-spotting was done... 

 And I embarrassed Jake by taking photos of him.  I can't help myself though...

The last part of our outing saw our group heading back into the lecture hall, where 6 kids, including Jake, went out with the guide to collect 3 different water samples.  Jake also caught a fish and tadpole.  By the time the 6 kids got back, the remaining children were beyond bored and we ended up playing games with them.  The kids were all ready to go home and weren't interested in the water samples at all.

 

Jake was able to choose the kids that rode through to Intaka with us.  He chose the 3 naughtiest boys in the class to be our company, which left me feeling like a lunch time glass of wine by the time I dropped them all back off at school.

 

It was Jake's last outing for the year and needless to say, I loved every moment!

 

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Sue XXX