This year the boys had a combined party to celebrate their birthdays. After much debate they settled on a survival style party.

Pre-party silliness in their cool shark t-shirts from Gogo and Gramps

I made a campfire style cake, which was so much fun making. I tried a new cake recipe, an oreo vanilla cake which was super delicious!

Adam checking out the cake. He was a bit disappointed that the river didn’t flow around the whole cake but loved the candle in the campfire.

Duncan organised various obstacles with the boys. On arrival they all decorated sticks to make their own darts. Much fun was had adding feathers and wrapping them with insulation tape.

These two little dudes, Christian and Liam were the only two friends Adam wanted to come, so he was very happy they both could be there.

Duncan showing the kids how to do a Shear Lashing with their sticks!

Each child was given a bag to collect various scavenger hunt treasures!

After each obstacle they were given a bag with a tile in it.

No survival party would be complete without some rabbit droppings to eat!

Ziplining is always a hit

And a walk across the balance beam wasn’t as easy as it looked but all the kids kept at it until they succeeded!

I think besides the ziplining the garden darts was the most popular activity. They had to score 600 as a team.

To finish off they had to use their lashed sticks and make a plan to get the last bag out the tree. It was awesome seeing them working together and coming up with different ideas to knock the bag out the tree.

It was a great afternoon and fun was had by all! With all the tiles they had collected they had to decode the word “campfire”

We took Eli (and the siblings) to The Ropeyard for his birthday.

Decked out and ready to go

Mr super cute

First steps

Ads did the green course and Eli and Grace did the blue course…which was slightly higher than Grace was comfortable with.

Grace struggled a bit with some of the bits. She was excited before, but when she got up there she really started to struggle a bit. Even with the challenges she made it through with her summary, “Terrible but awesome.”

Eli just got on with it and had loads of fun.

And little Ads had a blast on his course and going down the zipline over and over.

We were lucky enough to go to Jamaka Organic Farm 2 years ago for a wedding. The kids loved being there and have asked on numerous occasions if we could go back.

In the beginning of the year we as a family spoke about saving for something together. After much discussion it was decided that a long weekend in the Cedarberg would be the goal, so we started saving. Each contributed in their own way with the kids giving 10% of their pocket money, me baking for people and everyone selling items no longer needed. It was fun watching the jar of money grow and us getting closer to our goal.

This weekend we got to enjoy the fruits of our labour and enjoyed a weekend at Jamaka again. It was what we all needed after a busy 3rd term and each enjoyed the quiet openness of the farm and the moment to be just present.

I love spending time with this human. He makes me laugh, feel safe and so loved.

Sitting outside our chalet soaking in the late afternoon sun on our arrival

Running together with their bright yellow and orange shoes!

A post supper walk to the river, watching to see whose stick wins the river race.

We woke up early on Saturday, and ate some breakfast. The kids really enjoyed walking independently between the mangoes and to the digger while Duncan and I lay in bed. Grace commented on the peace and quiet and how she loves being outside and in nature.

We headed off to the hiking trails on Saturday and walked the river trail. It was so beautiful and we all enjoyed it…Well until near the end when I was outvoted by Duncan, Grace and Eli and ended up on a longer route that headed straight through the river. Let’s just say I wasn’t dressed for a trip through knee deep water!

It was a weekend filled with yummy food and treats. When we were at Jamaka 2 years ago we had melted chocolate, marshmallow, strawberry cones on the braai and well I guess now that we have done it a second time it’s a tradition?

It was also a weekend of games and writing poetry. Poems that included titles such as “An Ode to a Fart”

Adam played his own little games while the rest of us played card games!

The highlight of the entire weekend was not this zipline in the photo below….Well not for the kids, for me it was definitely a highlight!!

Duncan decided to try the zipline first to make sure it was safe. I watched him from across the river wondering why he was still wearing his cap, glasses and t-shirt. Next minute he hopped off the perch flying across the river, feet hitting the water and water flying up around him, one very wet husband exited the zipline….wish I had videoed that moment! Watching Eli fly down and splat into the wall was also rather funny but since he did hurt himself I didn’t laugh too much!

This was the ultimate highlight for the kids. They loved this canoe and would have spent the entire weekend at this rock pool with the canoe if given the chance. They paddled and played life guard rescue games!

Walked to reception to get some toilet paper…the road was certainly long. Not sure how many times the toilet paper hit the road before getting to our chalet!

Our last day of the trip we headed to Clanwilliam to see if the flowers were still possibly blooming but we were too late, so after some adventuring we got some pizza and headed home feeling connected and relaxed and happy. I am super grateful for the time we had together.

Adam trying to photo bomb the photo by throwing the hat at me!

The celebration of Roald Dahl started four years ago when Grace was in grade 1. Grace has been a mouse, tortoise, Sophie and this year she was the girl from “The Magic Finger”.

This was Eli’s first year to dress up and he was very excited to finally get a chance to join in the fun. With a sack of pheasants on his back and a bag of raisins he was ready to sneak out of Mr Hazell’s woods and become “Danny the Champion of the World”

I love watching the special bond these three have. Yes they fight and drive each other crazy, but they also cuddle and read and play games together. They can often be heard laughing together and are always there to celebrate in each others victories.

My prayer for these three is that they will always have this bond, and continue to make happy memories together.

The kids rode in the Fedhealth MTB last year and had loads of fun, and this year Adam got to join in too. 500m for Adam, 5km for Grace and Eli, and happy faces all around.

The next day was my first MTB race – a 28km half marathon and my goal was top 100.

I managed to just make top 100 in the mens, with 20 in the veterans and 111 overall.

Also kept the heart rate up….

I really did enjoy it and am looking forward to my next race.

On a whim (and with beautiful weather) we headed out to Betty’s Bay to visit the botanical gardens.

It is a really beautiful reserve with two lovely gorges running through it and coming together.

Some bridges have been damaged by some bad fires that happened a few years ago.

But this crazy family had a beautiful and peaceful day hiking around.

And we ended with a short trip to the beach while waiting for our Ooskus fish and chips to be ready

Because some afternoons should be about sun, and catching tadpoles…..and just the two of us, while Duncan, Grace and Eli ride at school.

Grace started playing violin at the beginning of the year and has enjoyed learning to play an instrument and reading music. We have had our ups and downs with Grace not wanting to practice but after the Eisteddfod yesterday and seeing some other children play Grace is feeling inspired. As I sit and write this she is composing her own piece of music.

Waiting her turn with her friend Eva who is one of the reasons Grace started playing violin.

Grace played so well and after listening to her play her part without the piano it was lovely to hear it all together

She was very pleased with her gold

Back home, which means bicycles in the street and fun riding through some water after the rain