Skip to main content

Week 17

Before it's time to post about Week 18, let me quickly think back to some moments from the week before, at the very start of November:

Well, firstly, we realised that it was November and that the year was speeding on. Funny how, these South African kids (and their parents) start feeling the year-end slump even though we're away. J has a 2018 countdown calendar in almost every room!



The kids have also opened up a play shop.  Check out the price of Creme Soda...Must be the import tax! Without them realising it (quickly), Mom enjoyed shopping up a storm the other day, so that they could practise their addition and subtraction!


Halloween everywhere finally went away... and now everything is Christmas-sy plus the last of pumpkins, apple cider and spice overload.  (Even if I wasn't a Festive Season enthusiast, I'd be so happy for this.) I've noticed that some homes have put up trees already "...because one month just isn't enough!"


For a change, we didn't see a single fireworks display this 5 November - which is strange for us, because we are usually parked up on a hill in Camps Bay or on the beachfront in Milnerton with a bus full of family, all straining to see the colourful lights from the same few misted up passenger windows on the good side! To be fair, we had just missed the USA's 5 July celebration before we arrived, so it's not like they don't do it at all. This is definitely turning into the year of new date associations with freshly made memories.

With all 3 kids back in the home for bedtime since Pa's return, we thought that they would spread out to their respective bed/rooms. I mean, what luxury! While Baby likes the idea of sleeping in her own big bed, she just can't bring herself to do it at night and the older two simply gravitate towards each other at bedtime. I am quite excited to see how much reading is getting done - especially in this cold weather. J finally finished Benjamin West and his Cat Grimalkin - woohoo! I don't think their Dad cares much who's at the head and who's at the toes...as long as they're all at home. 




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Papu Comes to Visit 3

Since the last post we've had two more weeks of Papu visiting with us and then one very long week since we dropped him off at the airport. In mid-July we went to Burlington Airport en route to my final exam, and recreated what should have been his triumphant arrivals lounge experience in June. PJ took him to Lake Champlain and surrounds while they waited for me to complete the test and then treated me to "the test is done" lunch. We spent a rare hot afternoon at Silver Lake Park swimming with friends, we shopped 'til we dropped at The Vermont Spot, we were able to see the clean-up operations happening in flood-stricken Montpelier and even managed a quick stop at the Vermont State House.  We visited the Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe and enjoyed Ben and Jerry's ice cream at their factory. We took a drive around my old VTC campus in Randolph and Gifford Medical Center where I practiced this past year. We drove through the Dartmouth campus and the Boat House on the Conn
1 comment
Read more

Papu Comes to Visit

For the last 10 days we have been enjoying having Papu here with us so much that we completely forgot about the plan to post daily blog entries about his trip!  Yes, I considered this special visit the perfect reason to resurrect the blog and write more... Well, it turns out that when your Dad is visiting from overseas, you don't have much time for anything else besides trying to do 180924523093284 things, be in the moment, and take a photo of it! Here are a few photos of the first week-and-a-bit: Day one. The equivalent of driving to Plettenberg Bay I'm told! We experienced smooth open roads in some parts, midday congestion in and out of Boston, heavy downpour with flash flood warnings towards Burlington, and some interesting GPS navigation. But the passenger and his luggage reached us safely at the end of a long day. At last he was able to wrap his arms around Papu! Ethan and Adrienne arrived back from their trip to Lake George the day after Papu arrived and have been doing
1 comment
Read more

Papu Comes to Visit 2

 It's been another 10 or so days of Papu in Vermont with us, and he's experienced more heat, severe flooding, Summer holiday camps, a long-awaited touristy activity, and many, many late dinners!  We returned safely from Plymouth VT just before mudslides, flooding and road erosion caused all major routes between there and home to be closed. It's been raining nonstop some days! The snack shack that we visited in Papu's first week suffered flooding similar to what they experienced in 2011's Hurricane Irene, and many more surrounding towns have been struggling to get on top of water diversion and mopping up efforts. We are fortunate to be safe and able to access necessities, and bar one wild drive in a thunderstorm last Thursday, we are trying to time outings around extreme weather forecasts. Of course, this means that we haven't been out much! Last Saturday, however, the sun was shining, and PJ took the crew into Boston for a bit of sightseeing. They visited Fenway
1 comment
Read more