E - Vida

Remember that SA TV ad about Douglas Green? People are asking for directions and the arrows are at opposite ends? Oh what confusion! I'm kind of feeling in that 'in between' space right now... Like the moment I had yesterday, before red grape juice spills all over your clothes at a lunch outing and you’d think you know better than to give it to the 2-year old balancing precariously on your lap, but you gave it to her anyway, pretty much fortold the mishap in your mind and then had to clean up, embarrassed and sit in stained clothes for the rest of the day...   (I've seen many people post messages about 2018 being about lessons. I should really learn that grape juice one!) There's so much pressure on NYE. To be reminiscent to the point of philosophical, be driven, be prepared, be on point. Gosh! I can remember having to coax my older sister into getting dressed up on NYE, every year during high school ...just in case we found (and were invited to join) ...

This was a full week for the family. On Saturday, Dear Husband and I celebrated our 12th Wedding Anniversary with a day trip to Boston, Massachusetts. We were so looking forward to the 2 hour drive and a taste of the City again...and of course, some kid-free time! Our gracious babysitter received the kids at 10:00 and we were off! The trip up was a little longer and detour-ish than expected but we weren't losing steam (neither did we hit default and start talking about the kids)! Our ramp into the City was a little hair-raising - multiple lanes, hu-uuu-uge intersections and traffic! Fortunately we found parking pretty quickly and then set off on foot to the markets. Instead of lunch, we shared a Boston Creme Pie (no less) and spent more time exploring - after all, we were child-free! On the road home, we stopped by an Outlet Mall (Husband's fave hangout!) and then resumed the dark and fairly foreign drive back. We arrived back by 20:00 to three cheery childr...

It's just not funny, the way the weeks are rolling by now! It's past mid-December and the kids are still doing some school work even though their friends back home have been holidaying for almost 2 weeks already. What they don't know won't hurt them , she whispers to herself as they are productively preoccupied for at least 4 hours of the day... Last Friday we visited Enfield - a town not too far away in next door, New Hampshire. There we found La Salette - a little Christmas village on a hill - with lights, nativity displays, live organ music and a cute hot chocolate spot. We arrived just before the lights were turned on, and watched as the kids screeched in delight when the fields lit up. Here's an old article with some clear pictures . Just to the right of the lights, was an International Nativity Sets exhibit. Wow! The kids did a (not-so-quick) quiz where they had to find certain sets based on clues provided and then run their answers back to the main building...

In no apparent order, some of the highlights of the last week have been: Carolling around a log fire with a Yankee Swap, cookies, coffee and new friends Last Friday evening we set off for somewhere near Norwich for our Adult Bible Fellowship (ABF) Christmas party. As visitors to the church, there's already an element of insecurity...now to be heading into someone's home, as Dear Husband would say, "socially awkward levels were at an all time high" - Was the gifts we brought to swap suitable? What was a Yankee Swap anyways? Could you bring something besides sugar cookies to share? Do you have to take off your shoes at the front door? Are you allowed to park people in when the alternative is further up an un-lit, ice covered hill? There were so many unknowns! But once I saw the wood burning in the fireplace I relaxed a lot . Yankee swap was fun! DH was no. 2 to pick a gift, and landed a torch  umm...flashlight, as the locals call it , and it looked as though h...

The call came quite early on Saturday morning: A cow in labour! In my excitement, I almost ran out without the kids! We arrived up at the Farm and found that she wasn't progressing, because she was being bothered by two pesky piglets. We spent some time admiring the other new calfs and counting the pigs before some of the 'spectator farmers' tried their best to capture the unwelcome visitors in the maternity ward. Finally they caught one! After about an hour, we still weren't seeing anything and the temperature was plummeting. We decided to head home again and wait to hear the birth announcement by text message instead. Bummer. Fortunately, we still had a Sledding Party to look forward to after lunch, to bribe the kids into the car with :) Then on our way back from the Farm, we pulled into the sales lot down the road and picked out our first REAL Christmas tree. Balsam, to be exact. It was the beginning of a very Christmassy rest of the day... Th...

Losing track a little as the year spirals to a festive close! Schools in Cape Town are rounding up and there were Carol Services at our SA Church and School that we were a little sad to miss. Up on this end though... ...We finally finished the last of the turkey in delicious croquettes! Baby shocked us with her appetite for them. After all was said and done though, no hard feelings to see the end of that bird. ...We went for a walk down Quechee Gorge and surprise! surprise! It looks  quite  different in Winter. There were only a few of us on the path - and probably all non-locals! We had to do an emergency toilet stop for Baby on the way home, and she saw someone that (we agree) looked like  Aunty Yommin  back in Cape Town, and then she screamed blue murder for a solid few minutes, insisting that we turn around to go and fetch her! ...We drove through a little bit of a snow storm on Tuesday and in hindsight, it was a little too adventurous for my liking...