It's about time...

Every time I blog, I seem to be writing about how busy I am... Well, it's beyond a joke at the moment!  Work is insanely busy and there just don't seem to be enough hours in the day to get everything done.  I have always been privileged to work until 1pm, but I am going to have to start putting in a few more hours a week to get everything done.  It's a good sign and I do enjoy my job, so I can't really complain.

Jake did unbelievably well in his exams.  He worked hard and performed well.  I don't think he expected anything less than his best, but you never know how things go on the day.  I am very proud of how hard he has grafted and we are working hard on him doing more of the work on his own now too - I will not be doing summaries when he gets to high school, then he's on his own, so to say.  Jake is very bright, but like most of us, he's lazy at times and so I'll always need to encourage him.  I actually quite enjoy being part of his studying and learning.  I love seeing what they're doing in class and how they go about it...  It's way different being a parent though and, despite what I say, I am really glad that it's holidays!!

We're one week into the holidays and Jake has enjoyed spending a couple of bonus nights with Michael and Cameron, who also outdid themselves in their term tests (not exams yet - they're on a Cambridge curriculum, so only start in grade 7).  We've eaten out and he's slept over at his granny and grandpa.  He's having a friend over to play today too and we'll be going out with Marius and the boys too.  It's so nice to be able to get out of routine and to have a break from packing lunch boxes!!

Tomorrow though, the fun begins!!  Jake and I are heading off to The Kruger National Park for 2 weeks!!  My mom and dad are joining us and I am sad to say that Marius and his boys opted out this time around.  We are going to REALLY miss them!!  We fly to Lanseria early tomorrow morning, pick up our rental and head on to Marloth Park for 2 nights.  We will stop off at the Sudwala Caves to do a tour and have lunch.  Jake studied (very briefly) these caves in Geography this term, so I'm quite excited to share them with him.  We are meeting up with friends in Marloth Park, which borders on the southern part of the Kruger National Park. 

From Marloth, we spend 2 nights at Skukza, 2 nights at Satara, 3 nights at Olifants (our absolute favourite)  and 3 nights at Shingwedzi - so we'll basically be travelling the entire length of the park. We were very lucky to get amazing spots within each of these campsites, so excited about that.  It's school holidays and the dry season in the park, so it is a popular time of year to visit.  It's also a malaria zone, so when it's dry, it means no mozzies!  I have a few "little" surprises planned for us while we're there, but you'll have to pop back in a couple of weeks time to see what we manage to get up to.  Put it this way, Jake is one hell of a lucky boy!!!  We leave the park on the 16th and have one last stop over before flying home again on the 17th.  Jake starts school on the 20th, so we get home and start running...

OK, gotta go get work done.  Sorry again that I've been so scarce again, hopefully I'll be able to post one or two snaps from the bush!

Lots of love,

Sue XXX