Today we all woke up with that feeling of excitement…Well maybe the kids, I was still ticking off the list of things to do. After breakfast and the last of the packing we were off.

The first part of the journey we spend time listening to music and looking out the window with the eye on arriving at Ou Meul Riviersonderend where Duncan and I get some caffeine and the kids nibble on a treat.

When you try to take a photo

While the kids watched a movie, the caffeine clearly had no impact on me because this was me until Riversdale, not the most comfortable but hey I slept!

On our drive back last time we stopped at Timberlake Village and really enjoyed the space so we stopped there again giving the kids a chance to run around, zipline and refuel on some pizza, while we enjoyed some coffee at Pause Coffee Roastery

Grace savouring the pizza

And then when we see these windmills we know we have arrived in Jeffreys Bay. We are looking forward to being together as a family and having a chance to pause and breath and reflect.

Today my goal was to step into a space that can raise my blood pressure, make me spew like a volcano and stomp like an elephant,………..our playroom.

As a general rule I tidy it once a term and then avoid it at all costs, giving Duncan the task of checking if the kids have tidied it. I often do the big spring clean on my own but today the kids helped me. I’m hoping that if they put in the work they will be more inclined to keep it neat….ha ha who am I kidding.

Before we started I had to take down our beloved hammock of nearly 5 years. It had more holes than it should and was so threadbare it was probably a health and safety issue. To say goodbye we gave it a proper send off by each kid taking a little piece of it. Grace kindly helped Adam make superhero wings, with Eli and Grace settling for buffs and bandanas. Eli was heartbroken by having to say goodbye and cried saying “it was my best birthday present ” poor boy.

After that we got down to some tidying. Adam managed an hour before we needed a break for snacks and after that he was done. The other 2 helped me for another hour and then I was left to finish up. We did well and I always love the look and feel of a clean playroom

After the first hour!

Break- bonus when there is left over birthday party snacks!

After….Aaahhh so peaceful

Eli has been loving the fact that he can now play games like Cluedo and Monopoly Deal…Grace seems to think he may not be much of an opponent yet, but she is kind enough to train him up.

Today we celebrated Grace’s birthday with a few close friends at Jump4Joy, followed by some cake and treats and time together. Grace throughly enjoyed it and I must admit I loved the slow chilled pace of the party too.

Family photo before the jumping started. Eli and Adam enjoyed jumping again, with Eli saying that it was his favourite place.

Grace asked for a chocolate drip cake!

After the hour of jumping, eating was definitely next on the list of things to do!

The rest of the time was spent playing Cluedo, dancing and playing together.

All good parties in winter should end in front of a fire with a duvet and a Coco cat

Today we got to join the Monametsi’s at the Scratch Patch in Simon’s Town to celebrate George’s 3rd birthday. We all had a fun time scratching and playing cave golf and eating yummy food.

I baked George’s cake for her. She requested pink and bunnies so this is what I made.

Scratching for gemstones, so many choices

Adam enjoyed the process, he would fill his bag and then throw the stones out and start again.

These 3 took there time figuring out exactly what they wanted weighing up colour and size. They came to this dark corner in hope of finding something more rare.

George showing mommy her treasure

Second term is over and all 3 kids have had a good term with many highs. Eli got to go to school in his pajamas today, eat popcorn and watch Matilda which made for one very happy boy.

Grace and Anna have been working on a bears and koala’s project for most of the term and got to present it to the class today, with apparently lots of appropriate oohing and aahing from the class.

And Adam came home having eaten pizza and having his nails painted pink and purple by Nee Nah (Nina). It doesn’t matter how many times you tell him her name is Nina, he insists it’s Nee Nah.

The first afternoon of the holidays started with a nap for Ads which he very much needed followed by him and eli playing together all afternoon. I love watching them playing their made up games

Grace has been wanting to make some lime cupcakes and finally she got a chance this afternoon. Grace can be such an amazing teacher and show such patience. Adam helped her make them and she kindly and patiently showed him how to grate the rind of the lime.

It was a lovely start to the holidays, now everyone must get healthy so we can make the most of our 3 weeks holiday.

Grace’s baking skills are pretty amazing but I do think she may need a few tips with piping to prevent it looking like turds

Grace took a long time before she decided to walk into school on her own and partly because of that we’ve always said that we would walk all of our kids to class (while in preschool) if they want us to.

Adam hasn’t shown any interest in walking in on his own, but every now and then I ask him if he would like to. He has been happy to make his way slowly to class. The last little while he has decided that running to class is good fun and has zooted off ahead of me, but I catch up and we do the usual goodbye hug, high five and “Bye daddy!” (with a wave) as I walk off.

Today we get to the gate and out of the blue he says that he’s going to walk in on his own. Blow me over with a feather. And off he goes….zoom.

Adam has been at home with me the last two days with some sort of virus. It has been good to have some alone time together and enjoy the little person he is becoming. I can feel us coming out of the threenagers and settling into a new phase.

He is the family clown in many ways and can diffuse a tense situation without even realising it. Yesterday in the car Grace was having a moment and taking it out on Eli. I was in the process of discussing the situation when out of the corner seat comes this voice ” look guys it’s 10C outside,” of course it wasn’t 10 degrees but the change in subject to the weather by the 3 year old was rather amusing and broke the tensions.

Today we built a whole Lego city with trains, planes and a house to live in.

Grace and Eli have been training, and today was their first Spur Schools MTB league race.

They both rode really well and it was great to see them going for it. They also made history as Newberry Montessori’s first entrants into the league.

Eli is in the Sub-Nipper category and they did 2x 1.6km laps. His legs were spinning fast (a bit too fast) in the first lap, but I could see him settle into it in the second lap.

Grace is in the Nipper category and they also do 2x 1.6km laps. She settled in nicely from the start and rode well, but then I could see she was running out of steam in the second lap. Afterwards she said her back was getting sore, so will need to check out her setup.

Eli loved it, wants to ride in the next one and thinks that was his best race ever.

Grace didn’t have the same experience. She first got separated from us and couldn’t find us before Eli’s race, which doesn’t help her fear of getting lost, and then was quite upset about someone who fell and everyone just rode past. She was coming down a path going the opposite way to the boy, but she felt bad that she didn’t stop to help him (even though she wasn’t quite where he was and there were adults on the way).

We did spend some time processing that and I think it was good to reflect on how people are more important than races. It is also always good to see our children having empathy for others. We’ll see how she feels when the next race comes around.

Adam was home with me yesterday. He seems to have the same virus Duncan has, and although he seems mostly fine he woke up with a rash on his face and well let’s face it schools are never keen to have a kid with some unknown rash. It was lovely to spend some alone time together. It feels with cooking classes and fetching Grace and Eli I have little one on one with Ads. We shopped and baked for a client and then made some masks.

Adam really is a joy and I have started thinking of him as my pudding. With Grace and Eli being the starter and the main.

I am so impressed with his colouring in skills. He sat for ages colouring in his mask.

We are so blessed to live in a beautiful area and neighborhood. Last weekend we went to a little forest near our house. Our kids love walking there, so we packed a picnic and headed out.

Enjoying climbing

Standing in a burnt out tree

Enjoying our picnic at the top of the hill.

We have all been enjoying the mountain biking track down the road from us. Adam is so much better than I am at going over the various obstacles, that he truly inspires me to give it a try.

Adam has upgraded to a bigger bike and looks so comfortable on it, go little dude

We have a lovely play park down the road which we like to go to if we need to get out the house for a bit. Grace has been working on walking the ranch fencing and succeeded in making it the whole way round and Eli has overcome his fear walking over the high balance beam.

https://youtu.be/Pk1gcDiIxIU