The home...

Surprisingly enough, today I don't have any photos for you.  Sorry!!  It's been a busy week, as usual and Jake has his term tests coming up, so we're busy preparing for those at the moment.

I am busy doing quite a bit of work in my house at the moment too.  Not big things, but hopefully things that will help Jake and I to enjoy our space a bit more then we do at the moment.  I promise to take some before & after photos for you as we go... it will be slow going, but watch this space :o)

Marius is away this weekend, so it feels like a bit of a strange one for Jake and I.  We have plenty to keep us busy - he has a rugby match tomorrow morning and we're going to his grandparents for lunch tomorrow too, so that should be fun.

Anyway, sorry for the lack of blogging this week... just been one of those weeks.  Hopefully I'll be back again next week!

Sending love, enjoy the weekend - looks like it's finally stopped raining in Cape Town!

Sue XXX

Winter time sunshine...

 The weather was AMAZING on Sunday, right?  Absolutely perfect in every way.  The hammock even managed to go up for a bit and we had to go inside, because we got too warm!  We did a nice early morning walk on the beach with Jake and soaked up the sun.  The beach was very weird on Sunday morning, because of the super moon.  The tide went so far out, I've never seen it like this before.  In the picture below, you can see people walking on what is usually the beach, but with the super moon, the tide was way beyond the sand banks and the water came around like a lagoon.  It was amazing to see...

 Marius showed Jake how to look for white mussels in the sand banks...

The view from my own little island, looking up the beach...

Jake had a ball and we are all starting to really look forward to summer time.  I must say though, these calm, perfectly breathless winter days in Cape Town are, well, just perfect and I could have stayed on the beach for hours...

 Jake's always excited to find dead things on the beach and I have to help him inspect them, no matter how smelly they are...

 Scattered roses washed up on the shore...

 The flowers were also out - a sure sign that spring is on the way...

 The beach looks empty, but it was actually so crowded.  I'm sure the ice-cream man did really well...

 Jake enjoying the sun...

 More spring flowers.  I think the West Coast is going to be gorgeous this year...

 The gorgeous full, full moon that was supposed to have been 100km closer to earth on Sunday evening.  My picture is slightly under-exposed, but I like it this way...

If you missed it, apparently the 9th of September is supposed to be just as good!  I will be ready!

Sending love,

Sue XXX

Little Blue Eyes...

 It's been a while since I shared any pictures of "little" Rylee.  Look how he's grown!!!  Look at those little chubby cheeks.  I want to bite them so badly!  He's such a happy, laid back baby.  He's my little gogga!  And he absolutely adores the other kids in the family.  I just have to mention Jake's name and Rylee's little head pops up to see where Jake is.  And look how beautifully he's sitting up all on his own...

 And don't get me started on this child's most gorgeous blue eyes!  Just look at them... 

 Rylee's mom and dad brought him down to Jake's school on Saturday afternoon to watch Jake play in a cub's soccer competition.  Considering that half of Jake's troop are girls and the other half don't play soccer, they did really well.  Well done Edgemead on being good sports!

 Jake has learned a lot from playing soccer with Michael and Cameron too.  He did really well...

 But back to Rylee...

 And his beautiful blue eyes...

 YAY, a smile for Auntie Sue...

 Rosie wasn't keen to have her photo taken, so I just got of the boys...

 And then Jake was back again and Rylee was all smiles for his biggest cousin...

 OK, so not a great snap of Rylee, but Jake was with him and so there was no ways he was going to look at me!  Look how hot Jake is!  Sweaty boy...

 And all 3 together...

 This photo cracks me up...

 I could only really get Rylee to smile for my photos, by getting Jake to stand behind me...

 His cousin is a funny guy and not yet shy to act like an ape in front of his friends to get his cousin to smile...

 What do you think of Rylee's red hair?  I must dig out an old photo of Rosie as a kid, so you can see her gorgeous red ringlets...

 Jake snuck off with his cousin and took him to watch some of the next match...

 It's so precious that Jake will be able to really remember Rylee at this age.  He was 5 when Corky was born and 7 when Bi came along, so his memories of them will be slight.  This is very special...

More photos to follow soon.  Sending love to everyone. 

Sue XXX

Out and about...

 With winter still lurking around, we took the boys off to the CT science center for the day last  Saturday.  It being National Science Week and all, it was essential.  They had an absolute ball!  We arrived shortly after 10am and only left again around 3ish.  They did a workshop and made their own bouncing putty and then did another on Lego Robotics.  It was a huge hit and they all want to go back again soon.  It's such a pity that the center is so far away from home!  We used to visit it so often when it was based at our local shopping center, now it's a 25 min drive to get there.

Anyway, the kids had fun spending time there again and loved the human gyro...

 It takes some serious muscle control...

 And the ultimate goal is to get the whole thing to swing right around in a full circle...

 As we were leaving, they joined one last workshop... dissection...

 Jake loved it, Michael seemed indifferent and Cameron looked like he was barely holding in his lunch...

 The three boys stood that way for pretty much the entire presentation...

 It was pretty gross though, I have to say - sheep hearts and lungs...

It was too funny to watch the boys though...

 Michael's pumping his hand like a beating heart here - we left soon after that...

 On Sunday the weather was really not that great, but we managed to get the kids down to Eden on the Bay for a bit of exercise.  Jake got this American Football from a friend in the states...

 Marius' boys are both soccer players...

 Jake is still enjoying his rugby practices.  He's in the B team at school, so doesn't get to play many matches, but that suits us at the moment too.  He's learning and having fun in any event and that's the main thing for me...

And Jake's just not a soccer player... Cameron...

 Marius kicks either ball as high as he can and as far as he can and then the boys chase it...

 While Michael isn't a rugby player, he is a tease and Jake rises to the bait every time...

 It all starts out fun...

 But goes south quickly...

 And invariably ends up with someone not very happy...

 Cam thinks it's all pretty funny...

 While the boys were chasing balls, I managed to take a few snaps.  That's Marius down at the bottom...

 And somewhere behind all those clouds is Table Mountain...

 Looking back to where the boys were playing...

 "Lekker by die see" means, lovely by the sea - and it really is, I am so lucky to spend so much time down there with Marius and the kids...

 My little freckle-face.  Jake has such gorgeous eyes...

There is no problem that can't be solved with ice-cream...

 Cam all flushed after his game...

 Jake was still upset with Michael, but they got over it quickly enough.  That's the nice part about boys...

 Cam cuddling his dad...

 And very kindly sharing his ice-cream...

 Michael...

 On Wednesday evening, we met up at the CTICC in Cape Town to see the dinosaurs.  The kids absolutely loved it and we hardly even saw Michael (sorry for the awful pictures)...

 The psychedelic lighting made it a very interesting outing for all...

 A highlight for Jake was the T-Rex...

 He insisted on getting some good photos...

But I think I might have failed in my mission...

 All the dinosaurs move and make sounds.  You can even see their chests moving as they breathe, it's very clever...

 One last snap...

OK, I'm up-to-date again!  Phew, it's been a busy week and we have quite a busy weekend ahead.  Marius has his boys tonight, so we're looking forward to the bonus time with them too.  Tomorrow's crazy with cubs district soccer and Michael has something on at school too.  Hopefully Sunday will be quiet.  The weather is set to be gorgeous all weekend, so we'll be hoping to get down to the beach for plenty of walks.

Hope everyone's well, enjoy your weekends!

Love,

Sue XXX