Merry Christmas to everyone. We were in St Francis with ouma and oupa for Christmas. The kids were up at 5:30am but had to wait until 8am for oumies to wake up, then breakfast, then only presents.
The kids were spoilt rotten again. We all got great presents.
After an extremely large Christmas lunch in the afternoon most of us ended up having a prolonged nap!
A great day was had by all.
We took the kids ice skating at the Boardwalk this morning. Been at least 25 years since I had been on the ice and got a rude reintroduction. Didn't take too long to get back into the swing of things. Was a bit of a rustic rink, very bumpy on places.
The kids only went around the edges until Shirley got them some ‘seals’. Basically an aid to get them skating. Worked wonders, they could even sit on them while mom and dad pushed them around.
Dad even managed a double pirouette spilt over a kid that fell while pushing Jorja around way too fast!
Going to be sore tomorrow! But a great hour session was had by all.
After much wiggling and pulling Kayra managed to get her first front tooth out. We, of course, were not allowed to help at all.
The other one is slightly wiggly, but it looks lie a long time off.
At least she can sing ‘All I want for Christmas is my one front tooth’!
The kids tried to help some of the chickens that got stuck underneath the trampoline. Well Robin Hood did not like it at all! He attacked them viciously. Jorja bore the brunt of it. She got a big peck mark and some bad scratches. Kayra got mostly scratches.
The chicks were freed and Robing almost ended in the pot!
Our newest Budgie addition ‘Blue’ is out of the nest. He/she/it flies quite well. Its a light blue for now, I am sure more colour will come through later.
Shirley joined me for a surf at Millers this morning. She took out an old Boogie Board. After being flushed down the line she managed to get out behind the break and eventually up to me at the usual take-off point. Only to inform me that she was stuffed and was going out.
After a few weeks of no or bum surf, it was nice to get out again for a paddle. I will be a bit sore tonight, but not nearly as sore as Shirley!
So the kids are on holiday and they were put to good use this morning, harvesting turnips. We ended up with about 70 of them, guess what we are having for supper?
The chicks were finally allowed out onto the stoep this morning and then out into the garden. Marion was always checking them and teaching them new things, like ruffling their feathers in dirt.
Of course Lola was always around making sure nobody caused the chicks harm. She even snapped at the kids at one stage when they were too close!
I had to build a little set of steps for them to get up onto the stoep again. It took a bit of coaxing from the kids, Lola, the parents and me. But once they were up they didn't have a problem using them again.
The chicks were allowed just out for a little bit by Marion. As soon as the dogs were around they were chased back in.
So there were five chicks after all. Possibly 3 hens and 2 cocks, but we will have to wait and see. Kids and Lola are in love with them and we have a job keeping them away from the chicks.
The chicks are eating and drinking and walking around, but mommy only allows then up to the door, no further. She gets quite agitated with them when the don't stay close to her!
Robin is very defensive as well, the dogs get attacked when they go out for a pee. Poor Amy got a good beating last night, sounded like she was being slaughtered!
I could have sworn on Wednesday I heard chicks peeping but couldn't see anything. Well this morning the kids were so excited when the saw the chicks for the 1st time. I saw three, they say there are four, at most there can be five.
Now to wait and see their sexes. Females will stay to lay eggs, males are off to a free-range poultry farm in Colchester to boost their genetic stock. Image all you have to do all day is keep the hens happy, what a life!
After two years the budgies have finally worked out how to make babies. We have one very ugly small budgie in one of the nesting boxes. Hopefully this is not the start of a budgie population explosion!
The kids had outgrown their small kiddie bikes a while back. Shirley had been threatening for a while to buy new bikes. Well she got her way on Tuesday and we surprised the kids with 2 boxes when they got home.
It took much longer than expected to put the bikes together, especially with no instruction manual. The 1st one took about 1.5 hours. The second went quicker until I discovered that the back cog was skew and the bearing were buggered. Murphy’s law!
So early Wednesday it was back to the shops to change the bike. The replacement had no problems, other than the hour it took me to assemble it.
When Shirley got back for university in the afternoon we took the kids and the bikes to the beach. Took a while to find a way to fit the bikes into the car!
The girls started off on the grass. Jorja is a bit small still so she needs a helping hand to get going. They both gained confidence quickly. We then tried a bit if tar where they could do figure of eights. That went well so we braved the bike track.
There were a few falls, but nothing serious. They had a great time and we battled to get them home!
So Jorja has started doing summersaults on the trampoline. Need I say more!
She ends up on her bum because she cant get high enough. But I am sure in a day or two she will get it right.
The kids discovered that on of the dove eggs had hatched. We now have a new very small, very ugly dove chick!
Fiona the Kakariki died. We found her lying on the floor. She was getting old and frail. The customary burial was done this morning before school.
Kayra has been trying to read for a while. I bought some ‘Learning to read’ workbooks a while back, but she battled then. Well not any more. She is managing quite well, even if we have to help her. She is getting better by the day.
After the madness the last few months with my dad passing, getting the flat ready new tenants and getting Shirley and my businesses going we have had no time for ourselves.
The kids had been moaning for a while that they had never been to Addo. So we decided that life must stop for a bit so we can take them to Addo for the day.
We had a great relaxing day and the kids loved it. Shirley was a bit space out with all the medication she was taking for her sinus attack.
We had a nice braai at lunch time at the main camp and the usual boerewors rolls went down well.
We got back home about 6pm, tired any dusty, but well relaxed.
After a few weeks break, Marion has started laying eggs again. We have marked 4 that we will not remove. Shirley says she wants more hens. Any cocks will become lunch!
We get an egg a day. They are small eggs, but very tasty. The kids love them.
We harvested our 1st crop of small / baby potatoes from the new vegetable garden. Was quite messy getting them out, but it was worth the effort. Really good looking potatoes!
Kayra lost her second tooth on Sunday. She wanted to show the kids at school so we had to hide it away so the tooth fairy couldn't find it.
Last night the tooth fairy found it and left some money and pixie dust. Might be bankrupt at the end of this!
Kayra made her first soup. She picked the vegetables from the garden, cleaned them, cut them up and boiled them. Then I helped spicing it. She simmered it for 15 minutes, religiously stirring it. Then Shirley helped with the liquidiser.
The end result was a lovely vegetable soup.
Its that time of year again! Beachwood put on Peter Pan this year for the school concert. The kids have been practicing hard the last few months and it showed.
Kayra was Peter Pan, Britney her Shadow, Jodi was Tinkerbelle, Kayla and Emma were birds and Jorja was a star.
They all remembered their lines and dances and we had a great morning’s entertainment!
The kids wanted to know what happened to the silk worms so Shirley checked and some had hatched. So it was a mad rush in the rain before school to find some mulberry leaves. We will see how many make it. For now it looks promising.
The girls took part in the All Starz National champs at the opera house as novice group acro. Both their teams did well and got silvers.
All the Ibhayi Rhythmic gym groups did well. They we entertaining and the work Shantell put in showed.
As for the competition, it started half and hour late, ended almost two hours late, need I say more. At least the girls enjoyed themselves and the hard work and hours of training paid off.
The vegetable gardens that I dug out and made about three months ago are starting to produce nice vegetables. The kids love the peas, raw of course. The baby spinach gets used in all our salads. The turnips are coming on nicely and should be harvestable in a week. The potatoes, carrots and tomatoes are coming on nicely.
Thank goodness the drought is over!
After scattering George’s ashes we headed out to Schoenies to get some photos of the rocky shore zonation on the spring low. The girls were more interested playing on the rocks and the sand.
We got about 400 photos, don't know how many of them are usable. Watch the website for some new articles on zonation.
We went early to scatter George’s ashes on Humewood beach were Dora’s ashes were scattered in 2003. It was a beautiful morning and Taryn and Peter brought the girls after they had a sleep over with them the night before.
It was Jorja’s 5 and a half measuring time. She now is 1.105m tall and weights 19kg.
Our hen Marion has started laying eggs! We are getting one a day. They are small but taste fine. Kids have a great time every day looking for the egg!
Shirley decided that all the girl’s medals needed a prominent place to be displayed. So we now have a medal board up the stairs for them to display their medals.
Port Elizabeth has been blessed with a little swell of late. I have had 3 surfs in the last five days. Could hardly walk after the first one, partly because of 2 hours in 16 degree water and partly because of a fall on the way out over the rocks. Really getting an old fart!
On the plus side the feeling is coming back to me, my take offs are back to the usual late as possible and my carves are coming on.
Now its just the fitness that needs to improve a lot!
Well we were up early again for the championships in Uitenhage. Warm-up started at 8am, so we were up from 6am.
The girls did well again, especially Jorja this time. Jorja got a 3rd for free dance, 2nd for rope and 2nd overall for under 5 level 1. Kayra got a 4th overall for the under 7 level 1. Their friends Jodi and Kayla did very well, beating Kayra, so she will have to practice a bit harder!
We left at 6:30 for the Gamtoos Invitational Rhythmic Gymnastics Competition in Patensie. We had to pick up Sharon and Jodi and aunty Taryn. We got there by 8am for the warm-up and competition started on-time at 9am.
Jorja and Kayra competed at level 1 in free dance and rope. Jorja did well and ended up with a bronze overall for under 5s. Kayra did excellent and ended up with gold for free dance and rope and overall for under 7s.
Ouma and oupa also joined us and had a great time.
Next weekend its the Eastern Cape Champs in Uitenhage.
The funeral was at St John’s Methodist church at 2pm this afternoon. Kerryn had a great service, everyone commented that it was exactly what Dad would have wanted: short and sweet, no grandiose stories and happy memories.
Thanks to Taryn for putting together the slide show that brought back many memories. You can view it here.
Although the last few months were very trying for us as Dad’s health deteriorated, we will hopefully forget all the bad times and remember all the good times.
Rest in peace Dad, we all miss you!
My dad died peacefully at 12:45 today. He had been unresponsive for the last week. The last month had been very trying for him.
At least the suffering is all over for him.
Thanks to all the staff at Lapa Munnik who kept him comfortable in his last days.
Rest in peace Dad, you will be missed by all of us.
Its that time again so we had to measure Kayra, she is now 1.18m and weighs 23kg.
Grandpa George was in hospital for an emergency blood transfusion. His Hb was down to 5.6. He got three pints of blood is is looking much more rosy and alert.
We heard that they had managed to make a one lane gravel road to St Francis so we left in haste to pick the kids up before it was washed away again.
There was a lot of mist around the Gamtoos river, was quite spectacular.
The kids were thrilled to see us and ouma and oupa were thrilled to see the kids go! Sounds like they all had a great time, even though the weather didn't play with.
The kids are spending the week with ouma and oupa in St Francis. They are now stranded there. After some flooding the bridge over the sand river collapsed and was washed away. They are now stranded on the island of St Francis Bay!
You can see the video here
The last few weeks have been rather hectic as far as Grandpa George goes. He has a bad reaction to the last blood transfusion and has gone done rather quickly.
We ended up with day and night care-givers. They did help but they still took a lot of our time and supervision.
Of course George didn't want anything to do with them initially. Last week he actually admitted that he enjoyed all the help.
During this time we decided that the time had come for proper care, so the search began for a frail care facility. We managed to get him into Lapa Munnik, a part of the Echo Foundation.
Its going to take a while for all of us to get used to the new arrangement. But I am sure that it is in his best interests to be in a place that specialises in caring for frail people.
Any time you see Lola sprinting inside with her tail between her legs and a yelp or two, you know Robin Hood has attacked her.
Seems like Robin Hood doesn't like Lola’s herding instincts and occasionally take offence.
What a weird farm we have!
Well Robin Hood decided that crowing at 4am is normal. So for now the chickens are sleeping in a box in the trailer. The theory is that if he cant stand up he wont crow.
Ja right. He starts crowing as soon as he hears us moving around. I let them out at about 8am. So at least the neighbours don't get a 4am wakeup call!
So with the pending bad weather arriving we decided to take the afternoon off and move the last of the 2 tons of soil from in front of the garage into the back garden. Veggie garden # 3 is now complete.
Needless to say I am crocked moving 2 tons in a week. Hopefully the veggie patches provide us with great vegetables over the next few months.
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