Life...

When I told you that we've been busy, I wasn't joking.  We've had lots of birthdays this month - I had intended to post proper wishes here, but ran out of time.  Congratulations to Josette on her 40th; Abi on becoming a teenager and Karen, Jake's granny on her birthday too.  Lots of celebrating.  Aside from that the fourth and final term of the school year is well under way - Jake seems to be swamped with tests and orals.  He's just handed in another 6 badges at cubs.  Throw in sport 4 times a week - there's little time for anything else.  Work has been so busy too, but it's all good and life fantastic.

On Friday evening, we went to the cubs & scouts camp fire at one of our neighbouring troops.  It was very entertaining to see the grown up scouts acting silly - I don't have a clue how bigger boys behave, looks like I'm in for lots of fun.  There was plenty of singing and skits and of course a very big fire too.

This is Jake and his best friend Michael on his right...

On Sunday we went with Marius and his boys up Devil's Peak.  Well not all the way to the top, just to the saddle, but believe me it was far enough.  I'll just say that I'm not very fit and Marius heard me whine for the first time.  I will do it again though and the kids loved it.

Michael checking out the view...

And not to be outdone by his big brother, Cam too...

A little way up, looking down towards the car park, over Lion's Head and Signal Hill...

A huge bonus for me is that it's spring time and because the sun was out, so were all the flowers...

Such a beautiful mix of colours, it was stunning...

I want these in my garden...

 I also really liked these...

 And tehse tiny little white ones bouncing in the breeze...

 Jake and Cameron ran ahead of us, there's only one path up, so there's no getting lost...

The air was cool, but the sun was warm - it was the perfect day for our little outing, really...

Looking back towards Table Mountain.  I've never seen it from this angle...

Michael hung out with Marius and I.  He told me that he likes walking with me, because I walk slowly... hahaha... compliment or insult?

He's a very entertaining child and he doesn't stop talking...

every now and then Jake and Cameron would stop for a little water break and we'd catch sight of them...

This was nearer to our highest point.  The path evened out nicely and I felt less inclined to vomit.  I don't like the stairs and my bum was very sore on Sunday evening.  I know it's good for me though..

Marius catching up wiht Cam...

And I got distracted all over again...

 Something prickly...

A real highlight for Jake on these "little" excursions is finding and drinking fresh mountain water.  There wasn't much, but they did find some...

Marius spent a lot of time waiting for me to take photos.  He's so patient and I'm so annoying...

then he took my camera away from me... hahaha... there's me...

And there's me and Jake.  This was our highest point...

And then Marius and the boys made me walk down again to get to a cave.  There was food in Marius' backpack though, so I had to go with them...

Splashes of purple...

This part of our walk was fun.  It was a little more dangerous - the dropoff was steep, but made it fun for the boys to do something a little more challenging.  And yes, I was lagging behind again...

Hugging the cliffs...

Jake checking to see that I'm following...

One wrong foot and down you'll go...

A little lizard baking in the sun...

Spring is my favourite time of the year.  Not too hot, not too cold and all these beautiful colours...

Finally!  It was time for food.  We were all hungry after our hike.  Marius found us a little "cave" to sit in and we all enjoy our chicken burgers.  Cam...

Michael...

Jake...

3 little monkeys...

Feeding kids gave me more time for flowers...

Once our tummies were full and we'd all had something to drink, we started heading back...

Cam asked me to take a photo of him on "this naked lady's rock"...

It doesn't take long before the other two ruin the moment though...

Walking back up, so we can go down again...

By now, I'm sure everyone was frustrated with my photo-taking, but you have to admit - PRETTY...

Little green bugs...

Back at the top, the kids ran wild for a few minutes...

Look at all that yellow...

 These are the yellow flowers...

More views...

Sick of flowers yet?  I can't believe how many different kinds there are up there...

These feel like fake flowers...

After a lovely day of exercise and sunshine, we finally began our walk back home...

Thanks for an awesome day out, honey.  Sorry I whined on the way up, I really did enjoy our outing.  Will you take me again?

I found a dung beetle with a ball of poo on our way down too.  I've never seen one before...

Back at Marius' house, the kids had carved pumpkins...

Cameron's...

Michael's...

And Jake's...

In other news, Jake has done really well in his grade's maths wizz competition.  It's a knock out competition and he was the only kid in his class to get full marks for both sections of the first round.  Only 5 children were selected from each class to go to round 2 and Jake was amongst them.  Out of 180 odd kids, that makes him in the top 30 for this competition.  His Auntie Tam has been working really hard with him on his maths and it's really paying off for Jake.  I'm thrilled that this has given him extra confidence in the classroom.  I'm such a proud mom!

On Monday morning, I went to watch them do round 2.  I could see that Jake was nervous waiting to start...

Seated with the other 4 kids from his class.  That's his teacher on the left...

My nervous boy...

But confidence when he knows he has his answer right...

The questions were tough and Jake managed to get 16 out 20 and I'm very proud to tell you that he has made it through to round 3!  That puts him amongst the top 20 in his grade.  I know it doesn't count for marks, but still.  The next round knocks 10 kids out and his competition will be stiff.  It really doesn't matter whether he goes any further or not, he's done fantastically and I'm so proud of him.  Go Jake!!!

And that brings you up to speed on all our news and photos for now.  I'm going away to Franschhoek for the weekend with Marius, so I'll have more photos for you next week.  Enjoy your weekend!!

Love,

Sue xXX

16.10.2013...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARIUS!!

 I am so lucky to have met you - I didn't know I could be this happy again.  I love the way you make me laugh and how relaxed we are together.  I hope that you have the wonderful birthday that you so deserve.  I can't wait for my sushi later!!  Thank you for everything you do for me (and Jake).  I'm crazy about you in every possible way.

Love,

Sue XXX

My little pumpkin...

 Last summer Jake managed to grow 2 pumpkins in our veggie patch.  The first we cut open immediately and were disappointed to find it was still green on the inside.  We were told to let the second one dry out a bit (what do I know about growing pumpkins??) and its been lying on our stoep ever since.  

On Friday after school, Jake decided to cut it open. I had suspected that after so long, it would be full of worms, so we were pleasantly surprised to find it was the brightest yellow on the inside.  A perfect pumpkin....

 And so pumpkin fritters were called for.  I'm sure I've shared this simple recipe with you somewhere here before and, to be honest, I don't have an exact recipe, I kinda just throw things together.  You start by cooking the pumpkin (I always cook it in the skin), moosh it up, add some self-raising flour, an egg or two, some sugar, some cinnamon...

 And then you shallow fry them...

  until they're golden brown and crispy around the edges...

 Dry them off on paper towels and sprinkle with castor sugar and cinnamon...

 Oh my - heaven on a plate.  I made pumpkin fritters, along with cauliflower & broccoli cheese, carrots, potato wedges and kassler chops and Jake opted for a plate full of pumpkin fritters instead.  Least he had some veggies, even if they are disguised as flapjacks...

 Our garden is looking great at the moment too, everything seems to be in bloom and I just love walking around and looking at everything.  It still needs a lot of work and we have so many snails and weeds I'm not sure what to do with them, but the garden seems to be flourishing regardless...

Pretty little flowers...

 Jake also had a little project to do at school recently.  It was a room in a box.  He had to collect all sorts of little boxes and convert them into furniture.  He had to make his own wall paper, using wax crayons and dye and weave his own carpet.  I was allowed to help with the bedding and curtain, but the rest was all pretty much his idea...

 Part of the project was to make their own light bulb to put into the room too.  check his TV...

 And a spider in the window - clearly not my house!!

 View of the bed...

 Jake was very chuffed with his box and he was thrilled with the little lamp that he'd made...

And this smile is JUST like his dad's...

With love,

Sue XXX