Scenes from a holiday - all about the beach

Of course, our holiday was mostly about the beach and we spent every morning and some afternoons there. At first The Boys were scared of the sea - and we settled at the tidal pool most days. By the end of the holiday they all enjoyed at least the pool and the beach. The Princess, well she was almost permanently in some form of water.

The daily trek to the beach - we are in walking/biking distance.

Playing with friends at TO beach.

Twin moments.

Taking to the water, at last.

Daddy and his darling.

Water baby.

Late afternoon at Uvongo beach.

Our last morning was cold and windy - perfect kite weather.

While others just stuck to playing with the current favourite -giant spades.

Airport musings

Joy of joys, our flight has been delayed with two hours. I have already had quite a bit of time to kill @ OR Tambo as I had to take a lift with a collegue at a time that suits him, so I have been hanging around for a while already.

I just love people watching and have had ample oppertunity today. It seems that in order to fit in at the airport crowd you need to occupy yourself with at least two of the following at the same time:
Laptop/ notebook
Blackberry/E71/ iphone
ipod
Mail & Guardian/ The Times
Vuvuzela/soccer shirt/ Zakumi mascot
Several small children
Sunglasses perched on your head/ around your neck/ behind your head
A bottle of water
Coffee

It seems that the good old book or magazine is somewhat old fashioned.

Firday 16 April

Hosted by Cecily and Carrie

Hosted by Chris

Seeing that I have missed a week's 365 with our holiday, a little double dose for this Friday.
92/365:
2 April 2010:
I baked some of my choc chip cookies for our holiday.

93/365:
3 April 2010:
Taken minutes before midnight whe I remember I have not taken a picture yet. She knows she is not going along on this holiday....

94/365:
4 April 2010:
Roadside cosmos.

95/365:
5 April 2010:
Early morning sibling love - the light was so soft.

96/365:
6 April 2010:
Mommy, take a picture of me! My most willing model at present.

97/365:
7 April 2010:

The old tree at "our" San lameer villa.

98/365:
8 April 2010:

Autumn abundance in the tree on th eother side of the patio.

99/365:
9 April 2010:

I love the lines in this picture - the Lil Miss late afternoon at Uvongo beach in her new dress.

100/365:
10 April 2010:
Kite joy! Not so much for the picture quality but the joy in those little bodies.

101/365:
11 April 2010:
Travel joy: DVD on, pestering little brothers asleep and arbitrary kiddies toy from junk food outlet on lap.

102/365:
12 April 2010:
I had a canvas printed on Monday and took this shot of one of the restaurants in the shopping centre.

103/365:
13 April 2010:
My kids love sweet peppers - we eat a lot of them.

104/365:
14 April 2010:
I bought these dresses on holiday at Emithini art wear for the Lil Miss and our friend's 3 daughters. Each one unique and hand painted.

105/365:
15 April 2010:
The Boys got these for their first birthday and are still building towers with them.

Jet setters.

You might be excused to think we are jet setters of note, because frankly, it sounds like it. We have just returned on Sunday from a glorious holiday on the Natal South Coast and tomorrow afternoon we are zipping away by plane to Port Elizabeth for a weekend. For this, I am really putting my big girl panties on - and Hunter his big boy ones, I guess.

Gasp! We are leaving our kids for the very first time in someone else's care to go away for a weekend.I know, I know, most people do this regularly and sooner, but we really lack a proper support system to do this often and frankly, we like being with our kids, even if I sometimes get a bit edgy. And maybe we are both control freaks - ok, I admit it, I certainly am and Hunter is maybe borderline. When the Lill Miss was 10 months old we left her with my mom and Lucy for a weekend - I won a 5 star game lodge weekend on the web and it sort of nudged us in the direction to do it. It was great - did wonders for us. After that, not once. Never. Maybe because 3 kids are more difficult to handle than 1, maybe because The Boys were sick so often, or just maybe because we were not ready yet.

I have a suspicion that if the situation did not get somewhat forced on us, we would not have done this. But with ticket prices skyrocketing this year, it is simply not possible to fly the whole family out. Driving down with 3 kids for 11hours for a wedding that they will not even attend - and then we have to find a babysitter there as my In laws are also going to the wedding - not an option. Not attending is not an option for Hunter - it's his best bud from 4 years old.

So we are doing it - I was so brave when I booked the tickets, and now, although I am looking forward to it, I find myself at the same time excited, but also a bit sad. I will miss those 3 little bodies for the two days we are gone. But I am looking forward to time alone with my hubby and some time with the in-laws. We also have not been in PE for more than a year so I am looking forward at dipping my toes in the water at Saardinia bay on Saturday. I am also looking forward to meeting someone special there - it's a secret! I'll tell you on Monday if it all panned out.

And good luck to my mom and cousins Ananda and Karla who no doubt, will have their work cut out for them. The Lil Miss, thank goodness, is seeing this as one big adventure. The Boys, hard to tell if they understand what I am telling them, but at least their beloved Oumie will be with them.

Wish us all luck!

Scenes from a holiday - sunrise and sunset.

I actually have so many mnay pictures form the holiday that I will bore you to death - even if I have to do a day at a time. So I have sorted out in a few catgories and will still bore you over time. So let's just call this one "Sunrise and sunset" and save you from my kids for the day.

Sunrise from our patio.

And another.

Sunset over San lameer golf course.

Kite flying at sunset on Marina beach.

Sunset on Marina beach.

Sunset behind Uvongo beach.

God colours His world with so much beauty each and every day and so prominent at beginning and the end of it.

As always on a Wednesday, being wordful with Angie.

The drive down and first day.

In autumn driving in certain parts of South Africa, you are met by fields and fields of cosmos flowers. Hunter had to stop for some pictures - I almost stepped on a puffadder (I still get nauseous if I think about it).

The Easter bunny made a show at last on Monday morning when he never got the chance to pin us down while traveling on Sunday and hid some eggs throughout the villa as it was still raining early the morning.

The Easter bunny also brought some temporary tattoos and we all had so much fun with them (including mommy and daddy who sported some for the whole holiday).

Monday morning started out cloudy and drizzly but cleared up very soon and we had a great morning at the beach. After the usual lunch and nap we spent the afternoon at the pool.

This sand sculpture was huge.

One of the cute little "extras" at San lameer - the impala and bushbuck that roam the estate. The monkeys- not so much fun. You have to close all windows if you go out as they raid villas. But the kids love their antics.

We have just returned...

self portrait on the beach 

from what I can only describe as our best family holiday ever. It was truly a gift to us all. I can not really tell you what made it the best, but it could be:

That the little boys are just those 3 months older to make them easier - we understand them more, they understand us more.

That our princess was really into entertaining her brothers and helping us - she was incredibly sweet and easy to have around.

That we were in a little villa with all the comforts and not in a tent (although I love camping).

That San Lameer is truly a great resort.

That we had a lot of good family time, a bit of me time each and also a bit of us time.

That none of us felt that the other was doing more than you are - the workload was light, the enjoyment factor huge.

That we did some great things together which we have not done before - for instance we went rowing on the lagoon - all 5 of us.

That bar one day, we had the most perfect weather imaginable.

That we kept things simple, with the same basic routine.

Maybe, a bit of all of the above, or possibly just that we found our family dynamics on holiday - that we learned to really enjoy time together on holiday. It has been good for us as a family, it has been great for us as a couple. It has been a healing and we had a great rest. It was truly a time to remember.

It really makes my Monday.

Playing along with Cheryl.

Just popping in to tell you....

that we are having the greatest of holidays here at San lameer. The weather has been perfect and apart from the expected moments of unhappiness, the kids have been super. Sleeping well, eating well and having a ball. In fact I am having such a great time that I am not even blogging. Hugs to you all.

Second blogiversary

Today is my second bogiversary. It's been two years, 89 followers and 566 posts. More importantly, I have made many many good friends.

To celebrate, I leave you with some of my favorites to read:

Always a favorite - the 6 parts of "the story of us" in the right hand side bar.

My very first post: http://juggelingactoflife.blogspot.com/2008/04/this-is-me.html first post

My lesser known side: http://juggelingactoflife.blogspot.com/2008/12/5-things-thursday.html Adrenaline


My 40th birthday party: http://juggelingactoflife.blogspot.com/2008/12/swinging-into-40s.html

Something about my dad: http://juggelingactoflife.blogspot.com/2009/04/way-back-and-wordful-whensday_29.html pappa

Your body after twins: http://juggelingactoflife.blogspot.com/2009/04/incredible-case-of-vanishing-boobies.html

The most difficult thing about having twins - sleep!: http://juggelingactoflife.blogspot.com/2009/07/thing-about-sleep.html

My biggest hit post with Google (and consistently so since September 2009: http://juggelingactoflife.blogspot.com/2009/08/makes-my-monday-best-playdough-recipe.html

My 3 market day posts - we have great markets here in South Africa: (and if you live here, maybe you want to check this out)
http://juggelingactoflife.blogspot.com/2010/01/friday-22-january.html
http://juggelingactoflife.blogspot.com/2009/09/friday-photo-finish-fiesta-farmers.html
http://juggelingactoflife.blogspot.com/2009/10/irene-craft-market.html

Tomorrow morning very early we are leaving for a week long holiday break. Expect irregular if no posting and commenting. I will be reading on my reader on the phone.

Love and light to you all.

Friday 1 April 2010

Today as we celebrate the holiest of weekends and remember Christ on the cross, may your heart celebrate the greatness of the Lord . May the love of Jesus for you in person lighten this dark (and rainy in our case) Friday and may the resurrection on Sunday explode in your heart.

May you have a blessed Easter.

Hosted by Cecily and Carrie

Hosted by Chris

85/365:
26 March 2010:
Her report card from school came back with so many good remarks, she got a little reward. Learning to walk on her new stilts.

86/365:
27 March 2010:
Got a nice shot of the goat. Looked really cool in black and white.

87/365:
28 March 2010:
He woke up all unhappy and half asleep had a great cuddle with granny. Love the light and the colours.

88/365:
29 March 2010:
Izelle used to work for us before moving to another town. She came to show he little 6 week old.

89/365:
30 March 2010:
Crazy day. At 6:30 I remembered that I have not taken a picture. This is an on camera flash shot in the garden.

90/365:
31 March 2010:
Oh those ole blue eyes.

91/365:
1 April 2010:
For my last cross I chose the one I see the most. It is an Ethiopean silver  coptic cross - has been on all my sets of car keys from December 1989.