The best part about having a holiday, is deciding at random what to do with each day. As most of you already know, Jake and I have always managed to find new and exciting things to do in and about our city. I love exploring with him and he just loves learning new things.
Taking 9 days off work, gave me a 3 weeks holiday, which was wonderful considering that I hadn't really taken leave in 2012. Since the school holidays were so super short this year, it meant that I only had to work for 2 days of Jake's whole holiday - it was the most wonderful break. Unfortunately, Danie wasn't as lucky, but he did manage to get some time off to go away with us for a few weekend trips.
Over New Year, we went away with friends of Danie's. We stayed at a place called Mofam, which is along the Palmiet River. Of course the boys were all very excited about having a whole weekend to fish to the heart's content. Jake was beyond excited. We had no sooner arrived, then they were off on the little boat for an afternoon of fishing. Jake didn't even say goodbye, let alone allow me the chance to smother him in suncream and came home much later as red as a tomato.
Here they are heading off on their little adventure. Danie's at the back, steering and the other two guys, are (or were) provincial fishermen, so mostly good company for Jake. Unfortunately, I think that most of the time, they tended to forget that he's only 7 and my boy was exposed to a whole new range of adjectives...
On their very first fishing trip, Jake caught his first fish - a Largemouth Bass. He brought it back in a net towed alongside the boat to show me - he was so proud of himself. Thank goodness he did bring it back to show me, the guys didn't take a camera and, despite many hours fishing, this was Jake's only catch the whole weekend...
One of the most important lessons in sport fishing is to release your fish and make sure he's safely on his way after you've had your fun with him...
Besides bad language, Jake was exposed to so many new things over the weekend. Here he is trying out paddle boarding with Justin...
And canoeing with Dean...
This is the view from the balcony of our chalet...
And up the other direction...
One of the things I wasn't too impressed with was the large pellet gun one of the guys brought with. That said, all the grown up men had a go at shooting at the same pine cone in a tree, but only Jake was successful...
A serious fisherman in the making...
Our chalets, looking back from the boat...
This was our last morning before we left and it was raining. Try as I may, I couldn't keep Jake away from the water and while he had plenty of bites on his line, he just couldn't hook anything else...
Back in town, we took a trip through to the company gardens in the city centre and spent a few hours vising the South African Museum. It has nothing on London's Natural History Museum, but it is an inexpensive outing (R10 per person, including the planetarium) and we always enjoy it...
Jake standing inside a model of the jaw of a Megladon, from the dinosaur era. They think this was the largest predator to ever walk, crawl, fly or swim on the face of the earth...
With a prehistoric croc skull...
After the museum, we headed up through the Bo-Kaap to go and find the noon gun. I've never been to see the gun being fired and had no idea where it was. I have wanted to take Jake for ages and finally made it. What a fantastic experience! The views over Cape Town are magnificent and the history behind the firing of the canons is amazing. They have been firing them since 1806 at noon every day, so that ships in the bay can see when it's exactly noon. The trigger is set off by a signal sent via a telephone line from our Observatory. These 4 guns are for military purposes; the whole operation, which has become quite a tourist attraction, is run by the South African Navy...
This board shows the date and the number of times that the specific canon being used has been fired...
Jake checking out the canon - it wasn't loaded yet...
Views looking down from Signal Hill over the Cape Town Stadium and Green Point, with Robben Island in the background...
The history, for those that are interested...
I had my camera all ready, but got such a fright when the cannon actually fired it's 1.5kgs of gun powder (not a cannon ball) that I forgot to take a photo. Anyway, there goes the smoke for the ships to see...
Jake posing with the big gun...
After the firing of the cannon, we went to the Noon Gun tea room and restaurant for lunch. Have you ever been there? It's just lovely. It's Cape Malay style food and is run by a Muslim family from their home. It's really beautiful and the views from the balcony are just breathtaking...
The interior is kitch and just lovely, so typical of what you'd expect. Through the door way in the red wall, next to the mirror, is the kitchen and you can see the ladies working hard to prepare the food...
We had a pretty little visitor while we were waiting for our food. Jake helped her to escape...
koeksiester (not the Afrikaans plaited kind, which is called a koeksister) - a type of doughnut made with aniseed and drenched in syrup and coconut...
I had a small starter for lunch, the ball at the back is called a dahltjie (deep fried spinach and pea thing), a koeksiester and a samosa. The only downer is that, since it's a Malay (or Muslim) restaurant, there's no alcohol served...
Our drive back down through the Bo-Kaap allowed me to take a few photos of the beautifully, brightly painted houses...
Jake spent plenty of time swimming at my parent's house this holiday. Their pool is heated, so you can swim for hours. This year is the first year that Jake's actually agreed to swim without a full body costume and it's so lovely to see his little body turning golden from the sunshine (yes, I do smother him with suncream)...
Cheeky monster! That face never changes...
Connor's always keen to get in the water when Jake's swimming. He's going for lessons, but he's not that keen to get his face wet and can't manage in the pool alone yet. The funniest is when he does get splashed or gets his hair wet, he jumps out of the pool and runs for a towel, crying "my hair, my hair". He must get that from his mom, especially since his dad's fairly thin on top...
Plenty of ice-creams = a good summer holiday...
Even little Bianca had some. As you can see, she's crawling all over the show these days and already manages to pull herself up to walk around the coffee table. Clever girl, considering she's only 8 months old today...
The weekend before work and school started up again for us, saw us going off for a bit of family time at Nerina Guest Farm in Robertson. Danie has been there a few times before and always raves about it, so it was lovely to be able to share it with him. This is the view from our stoep...
One of the best spots on earth for a braai. We had chicken kebabs, boerewors (type of SA sausage) and garlic bread with salad - delish...
Jake took some time out from TV and played with new Christmas presents...
Our rondawel, which was huge inside. We had 3 bedrooms, a lounge, a kitchen and a bathroom inside, with a large patio area behind those windows. It was all run on gas, which takes a bit of getting used to, but it was so functional and tastefully done out, it was perfect for us. Plus, I didn't see any spiders, besides a daddy long legs...
Jake rescuing another little visitor who got herself stuck behind the glass windows...
Dinner time...
After our first night, the owners of the farm discovered this in their shed, just across the lawn from our hut. Thankfully, it was the only snake we saw, but it justified the snake lecture I'd given Jake the night before. After googling it, I'm pretty sure it was a boomslang (or tree snake), one of our most venomous snakes. They come in a variety of colours and all have a very big eye on a not so big head. Whatever it was, I didn't like it...
Since Nerina is a working farm, they've got a few animals too. Here's Jake with Porky Pig. The pig had just given him a fright...
And horses. I went for a 1 1/2 hour ride and could barely walk by the time I got back. I think my bottom might still actually be sore. Jake just loves horses, he's not scared by them at all and just walks up to them and gives them a scratch of a cuddle. It's amazing to see. Even though I did riding for about 2 years (the last time was the day before I found out I was pregnant with Jake, so more than 8 years ago!), I'm still very cautious of horses, especially if you don't know them. Not Jake...
There's me on the pony. Her name was Jessica. She's a thoroughbred that was brought out to SA from the States for breeding purposes. The importers paid R1.2M for her and then decided that they couldn't control her, so gave her away. Rene (the redhead) took the horse in and has trained her beautifully. That said, she did only tell me half way through the ride that before she took Jessie over, the horse had been responsible for putting 5 people in hospital. Thankfully, and despite my sore bum, Jessie behaved beautifully on our ride...
And while I was out working my butt off on the back of a horse, what did the boys do? Yep, you guessed it, they went fishing. The farm is on the Breede River though, so they had to try...
After the ride, we picked up Rene's son, Ben, who Danie knows well from previous trips. Ben is 15, but what a lovely boy. Definitely not your typical revolting teenage boy. He still gives his dad a kiss goodbye! We took him with us to Birds of Paradise, where we first looked at many beautiful birds from around the world and then had a light lunch. It was super hot (high 30s)...
Jake with Pokkels (means chubby), a new addition on the farm...
See what I mean about Jake and the horses? The horse is scratching his face on Jake's back and Jake is just loving it...
Seriously? I'd be too scared of getting a bite on the mouth (or snotted on) to kiss a horse's nose...
This is a floating restaurant. They do breakfast, lunch, sun downers and dinner from on board the boat and it is divine! We only did a breakfast cruise (thankfully, I don't think I would've been able to fit into my pants if I did any more) and it was delicious and beautiful. There was quite a big group for breakfast, so they joined up a second boat for the trip...
A pretty dragon fly...
Views of one of our biggest rivers from the boat...
A happy man after a healthy breakfast...
Once we'd finished eating, Ben convinced his mom (Rene with the horses), who did the breakfast, to let them swim behind the boat. The life rings were tossed out and they dragged behind in the cool water. You all know that feeling when it's very hot and you've eaten too much - there's nothing that beats a swim. Unfortunately, I didn't have my costume with me, or I'd have gotten in with them and Jake was keen, but was too nervous of the murky water to hop in...
One last fish before we head off home...
Finally, our last day of holidays arrived. Danie worked and Jake and I headed off towards Franschhoek to visit Le Bonheur Crocodile Farm. We've never visited them before and it was SUCH fun. We were their first visitors for the day, so got a personalised tour, which meant Jake could ask as many questions as he wanted and he was given the stick to poke and provoke the lazy crocs...
All the crocs are Nile Crocodiles and are bread for leather purposes. I had a look at a croc leather handbag in their shop and very quickly put it down again, when I saw the cool R19,900.00 price tag. Apparently crocodile leather is the most exotic leather internationally. This little guy is just 2 months old and will grow to be as big as the one above within 2 - 3 years time...
That little yellow flap's the one to go for if you're ever attacked by a croc. It closes off their airways when they go underwater...
A side view of razor sharp little toothy-pegs...
After his jaws were tied closed with a rubber band, we got to hold the baby crocodile. How special - Jake was super chuffed...
Yay! There's me with my woolly holiday hair...
Learning about the crocodile's exit points (and girl/boy parts), which is a worry I have when holding things like crocodiles and snakes - I never know where it's safe to hold. Even though Jake's hands are clear, we stayed on the safe side and washed our hands afterwards. That little bump just below his back legs is the part to avoid. Seriously, there's no toilet paper in the bush, so you never know what you're touching when you hold them...
Our guide fed a large male croc a chicken for us to see how they catch their prey. He wasn't hungry though, so let it go after he'd snapped his jaws around it...
Not happy with Jake's prodding, this guy was hissing up a storm...
At the crocodile farm, there's also a beautiful dam, stocked with Black Bass and something else starting with a 'T'. Needless to say, Jake was keen to rent a rod and we spent nearly 3 hours fishing. Again...
He caught something too! It was a Black Bass, quite a bit smaller than the other bass he'd caught over New Year, but a fish none-the-less! Some of the farm kids were fishing with Jake with hand lines and they were just as excited for him to catch something as he was. It was the perfect ending to Jake's school holiday and I'm so glad we went...
Taking his own hook out quickly to safely release his catch...
He accidentally dropped the fish just after this photo and the fished hopped back into the water, so I don't have a good posed photo...
Jake's obviously been watching too many fishing programmes on TV, he thinks its normal to get right into the water to fish. Thankfully it was hot and he dried out pretty quickly...
We had a quick lunch in the very casual restaurant at the farm, before heading home. Jake had crocodile spring rolls for lunch, I just couldn't and settled for a toastie instead...
Last week Wednesday saw Jake and I getting back into our old routines. Jake began grade 2 and was super excited to be moving on to his new teacher and classroom. He's in the bugs class and they have a pet locust. He's got a lovely, young teacher who he's mad about, so I'm hoping that it will be a good year for him. He's said goodbye to a few boys from his class last year that he just didn't get on with, so he seems to be very happy. Today should be the start of homework for us, so we'll be fully back into the swing of it. Here's Jake with Connor, who came with my mom to wish him well on his first day of grade 2. Connor starts playgroup on Wednesday and is also officially potty trained now too, so big days for him and we wish him lots of luck as he starts his big adventure...
Well that brings you all up to speed on what we've been doing. I'm feeling so lost and out of touch without my phone, no twitter or BBM - what's a girl to do? Hopefully, I'll be back up and running again soon. I need to find time to catch up on everyone else's news now...
Lots of love,
Sue X
