A bumpy ride...

My mind keeps drifting off to Paul and TJ today; I don't really know how my sister is getting any work done at all!!!

Yesterday was a really tough day for them and it really took it's toll on the boys (I think we can call them men after this trip!) physically.  TJ ended up very nauseous and on a drip and Paul was feeling nauseous and not very hungry, so all in all it was a very hard day for them both.

Today's ride is longer than yesterday's, but the chart above shows a much longer,gradual incline (besides the first one) than yesterday's.  It's going to be tough - imagine climbing uphill all day!  I know that there is absolutely NO WAY that I could even attempt to do anything like this.  The cut off for today's ride is 11 hours and they started at 7am this morning, so they still have a looooong day ahead of them!

Paul and TJ knew ahead of the tour that it was going to be really tough and as well as pushing their bodies to the extreme, it's a mental ride too.  They certainly weren't expecting to win the race and are just happy to complete each stage without being eliminated.

We're so proud of you guys for getting on your bicycles again this morning to face this mountainous stage 2!  Keep peddling, we are all with you every single minute of the day.  Just keep focused on bragging rights you'll have by the end of the week!

Sue XXX

UPDATE: Paul and TJ hav passed the 76km mark.  They did it in 5hrs 19mins.  Means that they're still in with a chance of finishing this stage if they work hard for hte next bit.  Fingers and toes are crossed that the second half is better than the first!!  What a long day, my nerves are shattered!

Go Rabid Dogs Racing Brothers...

After months of hard work and lots of training, the time has finally arrived for Paul and his brother, TJ, to take part in the gruelling Cape Epic!

The tour is done over  8 days - a prologue ride, which was yesterday & 7 days touring.  The route takes them through some seriously tough (and very beautiful) terraine.  Today is stage 1 and the challenge is already well on.  They will be cycling 96km, with a 2350m climb!!  The total tour is around 800km.  It's a smart race though and they will be well taken care of along their journey.  They will sleep in camper vans (not tents) along the way and have masseurs to rub their aching muscles at the end of each day.  They will be well fed and their bikes will be serviced for them along the way too.  It's a very expensive race to enter and they are cycling with some of the world's very best cyclists, coming from 41 different countries!  There are only around 1200 cyclists so it's a really a dream come true for these two brothers.

I should've done this on Friday, when they could've seen my message, but I didn't... so...

To Paul-Wauly and TJ, we hope you have an amazing time together.  Enjoy your male bonding experience and look after yourselves.  Ride carefully, stay strong and come home in one piece, please!!  Your fan club back home is rooting for you all the way and we are following your trip as best we can!  Go Rabid Dogs!!

Sending tons of love,

Sue XXX

Sporty Summer Days...

 Last night was Jake's final cricket practise at our local cricket club.  He's learnt a lot in just a few weeks and has really enjoyed it.  He's very keen to join the main cricket club next summer, so hopefully this is the start of something good for him.  His friend Nick, above is cricket mad.  And boy can he bowl!  He's known as Quick Nick for a very good reason.  Nick's dream is to play for the Cape Cobras one day and he's well on his way. 

For last night's practise, they'd organised a Dads and Sons friendly.  Jake asked me to play and of course I was thrilled.  Not that I can play cricket, nor do I know much about the rules of the game.  Jake & I were on the team to field first and I managed to bowl in a straight line, the whole way down the wicket and even managed to get 2 kids out :o).  When it was our turn to bat, Jake & I were paired up and I even managed to score a 6.  Jake hit the ball right out the field, which lost us a few points, but we did well and managed to score a total of 9 runs and I was not bowled out!! HA!  Just shows what you can do if you try.  I think I missed my calling...

After the match, there was a little awards ceremony, which took all of about 2 minutes, but was what the boys were waiting for...

 For those of you who don't live in Cape Town, it was hot, even at nearly 6pm, we were all hot and sweaty after the game...

 Jake's team...

 He hasn't taken his medal off yet...

 This morning was the school swimming gala.  Our temperatures went from 35 degrees in the shade yesterday to a miserable 24 today, with plenty of drizzly rain.  Not so good for a gala.  Thank goodness I don't really care too much what happens to my hair.  Jake tells me that he chose not to swim in any of the races.  He was short listed to swim breastroke & free, but decided that he didn't actually want to race them, so swam slowly.  He really did want to swim back stroke (oh he has a gorgeous back stroke, that boy does!), but someone swam into him and he put his feet down, so was disqualified in the qualifier.  Anyway... next time.  The grade 3s are responsible for doing the opening ceremony and Jake has been super excited about it for weeks.  They've practised every day for the last 2 weeks and all their hard work certainly paid off. 

Corky came to watch too before he went to school.  Is that actually some affection I see between 

 those two??

Getting ready to do his thing and pretending he can't hear me howling his name...

 The pool is cold, very cold!  The guy next to me told me I need to feed Jake more, you can see all his ribs, but in fairness, he was sucking everything in, it was that cold...

 And juding from all the pulled up shoulders, everyone was cold...

 Their theme song was "I like to move it" and their little squence was great...

 Showing off their muscles - the boys were doing something different to the girls...

 Nice straight arms, Jake...

 There was a teacher in front prompting them, you can see them all looking at her...

 Giving some attitude for the end.  Check how Jake makes sure he keeps as much of himself out of the water as possible...

 The kids had to sit in the drizzle, but were all very festive and happily cheering for their teams...

The grades one and two also did some fun races, before the serious ones, but I had to get to work.  Last year, Jake told me that it made him feel quite sad when I had to leave the gala and I had taken today off, but since he wasn't in any races, I decided it was best to get back to work anyway.  We are short of staff at the moment - our one partner was involved in a very serious motorbike accident yesterday.  He wrote off a brand new Harley Davidson that he was test driving, when someone decided to do a sudden U-turn in front of him - the Toyota Hilux is also a write off.  He was knocked unconscious when he flew over the top of the bike and landed on the pavement.  He's had surgery to fix up his badly broken wrist and arm and is going in today to have his badly smashed up ankle and leg fixed up to.  His leg bone was pushed through the bottom of his foot (makes me want to hurl just thinking about it).  He's alright though and he's alive, but will be in hospital for a while and will be very sore for longer.  Just puts everything back into perspective - some things (like worrying about paying my huge water account and Jake's pricey dentistry) just aren't important.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend.  Love what you have.

Love Sue XXX

The weekend...

 We had a really lovely weekend.  My dad's brother and his wife were visiting from Johannesburg and it gave us a good excuse to get together on Friday evening for dinner at my parents.  Knowing that I'm busy sorting out photos of everyone, especially the kids, it gave me a chance to get some updated photos.  One I really want of Connor is of him with all his "Thomas" trains.  He has a lot.  And he plays with them non-stop.

He's such a monkey, that boy...

 Bi often steals my shoes and toddles around the house in them, but not so often Corky...

 Heehee - needs his toes on the ground to help him balance...

 I did manage to get some serious pictures of him too.  I just need photoshop to lighten them up a little.  I love the lip...

 And it doesn't take long before he starts acting like a clown again...

 We had delicious home made pizzas for dinner - it was a long process, because there were so many of us, but it was well worth the wait.  And leftovers for breakfast the next moring were divine...

 Wally 1 and Wally 2... my dad (in black) and his brother cooking up a storm...

 The kids got to eat first, Jake had pineapple, bacon, chicken and cheese.  And garlic.  That boy LOVES garlic...

 Bi enjoyed her pizza too, especially the stringy mozzarella cheese...

 Hi Pretty Bi...

 Saturday was a very windy day.  Too windy.  My lips are chapped from standing in the sun and wind on Saturday to cheer Jake on as he took part in his 4th Junior Argus Cycle Tour.  What a boy!!  Looking at this photo, he's going to need a new bicycle soon too...

 We met up with some friends, one of who's involved with the Bumble Bee Fund.  Jake was supposed to register as one of their riders and get sponsors for his ride, but I was a bit disorganised this year.  He got a t-shirt to ride in anyway and I made a donation to their fund in lieu of his sponsor sheet...

 The Bumble Bee Fund raises money to help buy special chairs for kids with mobility problems.  It was so great to be a part of it and for next year's ride, we'll be collecting money from all of you!  It was great for our kids to see who they're helping and how.  It was also amazing for them to have the opportunity to meet the boys and girls and to be able to have a look, without being told to stop staring...

 The bumble bees...

 The guys from the Childhood Cancer fund were there too.  They were handing out balloons...

 But those udders, oh my... too funny...

 Finally, race time came.  Jake got into the line with the masses of other kids to wait for the starting gun, he was very excited...

 There were a lot of kids riding in Jake's race...

 The guys in front go all out.  They're the future pro-cyclists...

 Jake on the other hand is not.  He does the ride for the medal.  This was the first year that Jake rode on his own, he's always chosen to have a grown up doing it with him, but because he had so many friends riding as well, he wanted to do it alone.  My baby is growing up *sob*...

 After his first 2.5km lap, he was already looking tired...

 But still having fun!  It's so funny to see him get a surge of energy as he passed us cheering him on...

 By the time he'd finished his 2nd lap, he was starting to look a little hot and bothered...

The kids in their wheel chairs were also able to do the race - it was brilliant for our kids to see that they're not any different... 

 Waving to cheering fans...

 By the time Jake had finished his race, he was exhausted.  The wind was howling and the sun was hot and the ride was tough.  Even though it was only 7.5km this year...

 Hot and bothered, but so thrilled with that medal, certificate and goodie bag...

 Granny and Grandpa were there to support him, as always.  My folks had plans with my dad's brother, so couldn't make it this year.  And after having missed it last year for a wedding I really didn't want to go to, I was SO happy to have been there...

 We stopped by my parents for a braai on Saturday night, so just some updated pictures (not such good ones) of little Pip.  Next to Duracell, you can see how tiny he still is.  He's coming up for 7 weeks old already, so he is definitely going to be a teeny tiny dog when he's fully grown.  And he's going to be a total baby...

 Just more than a handful...

 Jake was thrilled to be braai'ing again...

 He will burn anything he can find...

 We had steak for supper and it was SO good...

 Sunday would've been my 12th wedding anniversary.  It's always a bit of a miserable day for me, but I was blessed to be surrounded by friends and family.  Jake and I rented a movie for the afternoon and we went to bed early.  Jake spent most of the morning after church trying to boil an egg over his little torch that he made at cubs.  He did pretty well and egg was fairly well cooked when we cracked it open...

Oh gosh, I love this kid SO much!!  And look how gorgeous our garden's looking (besides the lawn).  We love our garden, it's so pretty and it's all growing so well...

 So, too many photos, as always, but you'd be disappointed if I didn't share them, right?  I probably should've split them up over more than one post too, but if I don't do it now, you'll never see them!

Sending love,

Sue XXX