Photo printing...

 I've finally decided to print "some" pictures to put up in my home.  It's a tough job when there are so many pictures to chose from!!  I'm also don't like clutter, so have never ventured into hanging up pictures all over the house - dust collectors!  But I have reached a point in life, where I've realised that photos are important to me and I want to be surrounded by pictures of the people and places and things that I love.  So, these are just a "few" of the pictures you might see when you visit one day in the not-too-distant future.  And yes, my house is going to be cluttered!

Waiting patiently for his race to start...

Granddad's birthday...

My sister's 30th birthday - hard to believe this was nearly 5 years ago, Jo!!

 A sweet moment with Uncle Paul at the Junior Argus a couple of years ago...

 The braai master, who's hands and feet are just like his father's...

 Harvest 2012 - helping to pick grapes at Buitenverwachting...

 One of the few "recent" photos of the three of us - also from Jo's 30th.  We need to update this...

 One of my favourite pictures of Jake...

 Especially for Megan - a picture of our gorgeous Table Mountain...

 Some memories of holidays shared with my sweet boy...

 My monkey, who looks just like Jacques in this photo...

 Close up of a butterfly...

 Unedited!  Love the colours in this picture...

 My beautiful baby sister marrying the man of her dreams...

 That cute little face has changed so much over the years - this picture feels like yesterday.  We were visiting our good friends in Augrabies and this was on the Orange River...

 Father Christmas in the school play...

 A funny moment with his Uncle Gareth...

 A tiny baboon in the Kruger...

 We were regular visitors to the Two Oceans Aquarium.  Jake used to hop on the ledge and watch the sharks and fish for ages...

 Rock climbing on the beach...

 A heard of 8 rhinos in Kruger - I wonder how many of this heard are still alive today...

 Zip lining with the bravest, most fearless boy I know...

 Excitement in Lapland...

 Meeting reindeer and going for sleigh rides...

 A full harvest...

 Visiting the queen...

 Our pretty Christmas princess...

 A lazy, yawning hyena...

 Sunset in the Kruger...

 Such love in those eyes...

  Corky with his beloved trains...

 Duracell - the extra noisy member of our family...

 Fishing in Kalk Bay...

 Exploring at Buitenverwachting, with the cellar behind him...

 Making a mess with Abi and Becky at his Survivor Party, nearly 2 years ago...

 More beautiful eyes - I can never get enough of this child's eyes...

 So proud of his sunflower...

 More grape-picking at Buiten...

 Feeding camels in the desert in Dubai...

 Ellie in Kruger...

 More silly cousins...

 A fisherman at heart...

 Fun in the sun with his cousins and a family friend...

 Snuggling with his dad, the night he came home from hospital...

 My other sisters, Tammy & Josette...

 Skopelos in Greece...

 A hippo having an early morning swim...

There are so many more to chose from and some of these I won't use, but most of them I will.  I've decided to include pictures of animals and places too, they're all part of our adventure.  I'm also thinking about printing some on canvass.  It'll be a real mix-match of pictures.  I'm not going to print from any earlier in Jake's life, besides one or two of him with Jacques.  There will be a gap, but I'm trying to keep it a little more current.  What you think??

Sue XXX

Fun times...

Little Pip is growing beautifully.  He is so little and so sweet and I miss him when the days pass by without having had a little cuddle.  He was 4 weeks old yesterday and still only manages to not quite finish 6 teaspoons of milk.  He's little eyes are open now and he's such a sweet, tiny little fluff ball these days.  I love it when he's sleeping.  He either snuggles into the tiniest ball, or lies on his back, with his feet in the air... 

 I took these pictures a few days ago (last weekend) when I puppy sat...

 While he doesn't eat much and sleeps a lot, when he's awake, he's hungry.  It's been such a blessing that he's made it this far, we were told that he was the only puppy in his litter and that his elderly mother rejected him at birth.  Lucky that he was given such a great foster mom...

 This weekend was pretty busy.  We had dinner with new friends on Friday night and Saturday was spent rushing about, doing house work, visiting family and friends and the day ended off with a visit to Jacques' cousin's farm out in Durbanville.  We've been there only once before and it's always such an adventure for Jake.  They have 4 beautiful children, who they home school.  It always makes me feel a little sad, thinking that the life they live is the one Jake should've had.  Anyway, he had a ball on Saturday night.  It was a family get-together, we all took a plate of eats and our drinks and the kids ran wild.  Jake's cousins were there and he always enjoys spending time with them.  I think he just likes having a pretty girl on his arm and the girls are so good to him.  Here's Abi with Jake in the pool...

 And Becky...

 The thing with the farm, is that the two boys are around Jake's age.  One is slightly older and one slightly younger.  Their names are Luke & Joel, but I can never remember which is which.  Their bedroom was full of interesting things and I think Jake was just about ready to move in...

 In addition to a hamster, they have a leopard gecko...

 Oh my gosh.  He's cute.  And not as squishy as you'd expect a gecko to be.  I didn't hold him, but I did stroke it.  Jake's added it to his birthday wish list...

 And I'd probably agree to it, if they didn't eat these guys and their larva...

 Have you ever seen a sheep with an undocked tail????  I'm all for it, but seriously - I would not have guessed a sheep could possibly have SUCH a tail!!  The kids had a ball looking for farm fresh chickens eggs, which Jake had made into French toast for his breakfast yesterday.  There are horses too, but they were packed away for the night...

 All the kids had fun trying their arm at archery.  Little Ruth's there with her hands on her head and her two brothers are the next two to the right.  Jake's cousin Becky's next to him, red-headed Peter (another cousin's child) is behind Jake, Abi's friend Marcus is next, then Abi and Grandad, who was supervising the archery...

 OK, so my horizon's horrendously skew, but check out the view!!!

 This is Hannah and Kayden.  Hannah's husband, David, is Jacques' cousin.  David's a politician, just seems like such a grown up job!  They're a lovely couple, a lovely family.  Little Kayden is the youngest member of the extended family and he's too cute.  Matthew's in the background, is in Grade 11, he's the oldest.  I went to his Christening and that makes me feel SO old!!  I was only a little older than him when he was born! 

 I didn't take any farm house photos, besides this gorgeous mirror.  And my photo doesn't do it any justice - I want it!  The house is beautiful, old and huge.  Anna and Andre have found themselves in the very fortunate position that he's been able to take some time (like a 2 year sabbatical) off work.  He supplies ships with bunker oil and has just gone global with this - he's very smart!  The kids will continue to be home schooled and they're thinking about doing some travelling towards the end of the year.  They are living the life.

 So cute...

 The wind howled yesterday, but I wanted to get out the house and do something nice.  We picked up mom and dad and headed down to Big Bay for a walk on the beach.  We arrived to see this absolutely gorgeous car.  The owner was there, you can't leave a car like this unattended, and he was happy for us to take a few pictures.  It is a brand spanking new McLaren, with just 600km on the clock.  My photos don't do justice to the rich beauty of the metallic red paint...

 My dad was chuffed...

As was Jake.  He asked the guy to go at full speed, but just to hear that car growl was enough for us all.  WOW.  He did do a very quick pull off, but I imagine that it's not really possible to do a slow one in a car like this.  The owner tells us that he's a sports car collector and his next favourite is his midnight blue Lamborghini...

 Despite the warm wind, we had a lovely walk on the beach.  Jake and my dad spent some time throwing stones and my mom and I ambled slowly along chatting...

 Jake's not so great at skimming rocks, but he likes chucking them...

 A pretty picture for those of you who live far away from home...

 Although the pictures show a fairly empty beach, it was pretty crowded, I just got a lucky gap.  The kite surfers were out in their multitudes too...

And that sums it up.  We ended our weekend off with pizzas and drinks at The Blue Peter.  It was always a favourite Sunday stop for Jake when he was a bit younger, but we haven't been for a while.  It was as good as ever.

Some good news to share, I've enrolled in a photography course.  The deposit is paid and the forms go in today.  I can hear some of you groaning - finally!!  I start on 15 April and I am very excited.  It's split up into various modules and, although I have done the basics before, I've decided to start right at the very beginning, with DSLR I.  After June, I'll be doing Photoshop and then DSLR II, with the potential to go on and do other courses in Black and White photography, Creative Processing, Creative Photography and Documentary Photography.  I am SUPER excited that I've FINALLY taken the first step into doing what I've always wanted to do.  Obviously it would be amazing to be able to make some money doing what I love, but for now, I'm just going to concentrate on learning as much as I possibly can to take better pictures!  Definitely learn how to get a straight horizon and hopefully improve my low-light photography too.  Watch this space, hopefully you'll see improvements soon.  I'll also share my assignments with you along the way and hopefully get your constructive criticisms too. I am SO excited about it, I get goosebumps just thinking about it.

Wishing you all a great week!!

Sue XXX