The week gone by...

 Jake's school had a show of their work this week.  It was great to get in and see Jake with some of the things he has made.  Above is him showing me how the games work in the computer room.  The games are brilliant, educational and yet fun.  They are even learning how to type, holding their fingers on the right keys.  Jake loves it.

Outside each classroom, they have a display of the kids' artwork.  On the right is a flower Jake drew, complete with bugs.  On the left, just above the Century City sign is a drawing of our house.

We've also used this week to get our veggie patch going again.  We're a bit late, so decided to go for seedlings this year, rather than planting seeds from scratch.  The pathways are a little wonky, but hey, they do their job...

 Aubergines...

 Connor's learning to enjoy the garden too.  Jake always says: "come see my garden".  Connor's cottoned on to this and instead of calling it "Jake's garden", he calls it "my garden".  Fingers crossed we can get another budding young gardener going this year...

 We bought these nifty little stands for our beans.  As the beans grow, you can add on extras to make it taller and taller...

 We're trying them out with our tomatoes too...

 Jake with his granadilla bush.  It's growing like a weed and is so full of flowers, fingers crossed for a good harvest...

 And with his Avo tree that's taken off so well...

 lettuces, onions, flowers, corn, marrows, herbs...

 Corn...

 The spinach has been in for a while, we want to make creamed spinach for Christmas...

 Baby Marrows...

 For the first time this year, we found Brussel Sprouts, so quite excited to see how they grow...

 One of the granadilla blossoms...

  A view from the other end of the garden...

 Enjoy the weekend1

Love Sue X

A trip down memory lane...

We finally managed to get a battery for Jake's remote control boat on Saturday!  We had one on loan from a friend of Danie's, but gave it back ages ago, so the boat's been standing on the shelf for months.  Much to Jake's disappointment.  We were fortunate enough to be able to go back to play on the dam at Buitenverwachting.

It seems as though the farm has been very busy since we last visited.  Many old vines have been ripped out and replaced with new ones.  I have everything crossed that the new vines wines are just as good as the old ones.  We were there early in the evening, a lovely time of day to snap a few pictures.

I always feel very mixed about going to the farm.  It's always an emotional trip.  It is a very beautiful, very special place that holds so many memories for me.  They are such happy memories, but are tainted with so much sadness.  I find it very hard to share the farm with Jake, knowing what his life would've been life if we were still there.  One thing's for sure, his passion for nature and the great out doors would've been even greater than it is now.  Here he is getting ready to "set sail"...

Jake discovered that riding his super fast boat in a circle, made a whirlpool on the dam.  Truth be told, the boat is way too fast, too advanced and too expensive for Jake.  It makes watching him learn a tad stressful for some of us...

My most precious boy having fun...

It was all fun and games until the battery ran flat while the boat was in the middle of the dam...

Fortunately, the noise of the boat had attracted a few of the farm kids down to see what was happening... 

And one of them offered (in the hopes of a reward) to get in to the cold water to fetch the boat...

Fortunately, there was an old surf board there and he stripped down to his undies and hopped in.  Their biggest fear was that someone had recently died in the dam, which we didn't know about...

Thanks, Justin!  By the way, he did get a reward and a bag of crisps to share with his friends who were too scared to get in...

Laila came with and the boys were quite nervous of her until they saw her doing her tricks.  Who could be scared of this silly girl?

A view of the dam.  Perfection...

Jake made friends with the boys and got them to play with Laila a bit.  He's normally a bit shy, so it was nice to see him just going up to the group and chat...

Yesterday was a glorious day and we spent most of the day outside.  My parents and sister came for a braai and it was such a relaxing end to a lovely weekend.  Jake did a fair bit of fishing and tried desperately to catch himself a duckling. 

These guys must have been fresh out the oven and this poor duck had a brood of 12!!

Jake's catch of the day included about 35 tadpoles.  He's got very strict rules about catch and release, especially tadpoles, because they might just be baby leopard toads...

And that's pretty much our weekend.  It was nice and lazy for a change.  We did go to the Salt River market at the Old Biscuit Mill on Saturday morning.  It was lovely and we all really enjoyed it.  I forgot my camera at home though, so will have to remember to take some pictures next time.

Enjoy your week,
Sue X

Jake's spot...

Over the last few weeks, I've spent a lot of time redecorating Jake's bedroom.  He's always had a bit of a thrown together room and now that he's getting a bit bigger, it's not so nice.  I told him to choose a them and naturally, he chose a Springbok room.  It has been a great theme to decorate with.  With the build up to the World Cup there have been so many things available in the stores.  Needless to say, it's a bit heart sore going into the bedroom after Saturday's disappointing game, but Jake remains their most avid number one fan.

So, this is the green wall.  I managed to get very light green and yellow to match our theme.  3 walls are yellow, one green.  The posters are of Jake's two favourite players, Schalk Burger and Bryan Habana.  The logo is my work of art...

As with most decorating, it's the little things that make the difference.  We went a bit OTT and have almost used every available space to put something Springbok.  Excusing the weeds (I'm doing something about them), above the window hangs a scarf...

The duvet cover says "Future Bok coming through".  A boy can dream...

The door is seriously OTT, but it's Jake's room and it was important to let him add his few bits and bobs.  He insisted on hanging Danie's cycling medals on the door handle too...

I dug out Jacques' old rugby supporters top and had it boxed framed.  It cost a freaking fortune, but it's something so special and I guess Jake will always hang onto it.  I hope, at least...

I also framed a some of the few pictures I have of Jacques and Jake.  There's really not too many to choose from.  These ones are my favourites...

Also up are Jake's certificates from his very first rugby season...

Jake made a South African flag and put that up on the side of his bed along with some Bokke stickers we found...

We also had an old trophy Jacques won during his rugby days...

Some more clutter.  Jake likes clutter.  I don't...

Jake's rugby ball is proudly on display...

Along with various other trophies from various people.  The bike one was Jacques from BMXing as a kid, the cup was Danie's for golf, the big soccer player is from Jacques' great grandfather.  Only the little soccer man on the right is Jake's.  on the top shelf is Jake's croc skull from our last Kruger holiday and a pic of Jacques and I dancing with Jake in my tum...

I even managed to find fridge magnets to put on his bin...

There are still a few things I need to do to finish the room off completely, but it's basically done now.  Jake is thrilled and is very happy with his choice.  Sadly, I can't even finish this with a "Go Bokke"...

Love Sue XXX