Skip to main content

Final and First week

It is almost a distant memory...but some parts are particularly vivid!

Like, I can still hear Baby shouting as we hauled the Christmas tree out the back door and packed the decorations away. "It must stay up! It must stay up!" she wailed. But, what we lost in the festive look of the lounge, we gained in the form of a packing conveyor belt. Once our dinner guests had left on the Sunday night, we were all stations go on the final pack.

Goodbye Tree! 

On Monday morning we hit the road to New York. Our 5 plus SIL, her son and Ma. Excitement levels, barakat levels and petrol levels were well high. We only started to panic a little when our GPS decided to take us on a route that would avoid all highways and we travelled through what we called "Little Italy" because of the narrow, cobblestone, windy roads. Fortunately, we rectified this setting before dark but by then our best laid plans of seeing the City by daylight had past. Instead we saw an (almost) pitch black Central Park, some beautifully designed buildings, bustling 5th Avenue, illuminated Times Square and many, many yellow taxis...all from the 2nd last row of the 12-seater hire vehicle. We did look a bit like Scooby Doo and the Gang minus the flower power paint job. By the time we arrived at the airport hotel, we were exhausted. We ordered fried chicken and coleslaw from the establishment that promised the fasted delivery and when it arrived, we wolfed it down, sitting on the room floor and surrounded by suitcases. Phew! You'd think we would've just fallen into bed after that...but you know...travel jitters.

Ready for a roadtrip

Down at the Breakfast Bar at 5am on Tuesday, some of us were more doe eyed than bright eyed. Apparently, sleep deprivation doesn't mess up the appetites of my children! E had eggs, sausage and the works while J still had the capacity to make her own blueberry waffle. I promised myself that I'd eat something lekker once we had passed all the check-in counters and security checks!

Never too early for waffles

We took the band-aid approach to the goodbyes and one last selfie for good measure. Maybe the time of day helped us not fully comprehend the action. Maybe we were all just running on the hope that we will see each other again - soon!

Once seated at the Boarding Gate, we could relax and enjoy some calm. J and I even walked around duty free like the rich and famous. Baby was finally ready to eat and we found some ridiculously priced fruit at Dunkin Donuts for her dining pleasure. We would pay for that same fruit with explosive projectile vomitting just as we touched down in Joburg though. Talk about  money's worth.

--------

Once we'd entertained the onlookers with our swift wet wipe clean up action and checked that Baby was ready to move, we disembarked with apologies and joined the passport queue. Onward to the baggage carousel and then a zig zag through domestic check in and dash to our next gate. We were overheating and just slightly out of breath when we realised that E's ukelele was sitting in the overhead compartment still :(  Too close for comfort, we made a few calls and hope to arrange collection in the next week or two. I can't wait to hear him 'jam' again and bring his island vibes smiles to the family!

And now that we're back...

We are so happy to see familiar faces and give long hugs in person
We realise how much tan we lost being covered up these past few months and hope to recover some colour plus haircuts for all!
We breathe in the sea air until our lungs hurt

Peyton showing Baby how it's done

We enjoyed a Christmas in January with all the Cape Town family, complete with dinner meal, Secret Santa and family photo

Catching up with some of the sisters

We are hot, hot, hot and need to keep reminding everyone to wear sunblock
We are back to work and school after taking a few slow days while our bodies adjusted

The 'lag' in full effect

Comments

  1. 💖💖💖In good time all will work for good!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A home-made birthday

Due to the fact that we celebrated Jorja's birthday with the Weber and Wilcox families in the UK last year - over a few days and in various styles - we were a bit out of practice. In fact, if Jorja had not brought it to my attention with just two weeks to spare, I must confess that I would not have expected it to arrive for another few more weeks! But Moms could never let that seem to be the case, so we got cracking on 5th birthday celebration arrangements... On the night before, I set out every baking ingredient, apparatus and accessory that I could find and hoped that we would make it work! Aunty Robyn and Aunty Ilana arrived just in time to help us bake off the first round of vanilla cake pops and cookies with sprinkles. At this point, there was no turning back, our kitchen was already in a state of bake! The biscuit batch baked beautifully (and bountifully) and Jorja was well pleased with her assisted effort. As she head to bed on the eve of her birthday, I popped the...

The week that has been...

"Life as we see it", right? My time so far at the cycle tour office is reminding me of just how demanding life in this age can be - a time seeking instant solution and gratification: We want it now! We won't wait! This is what makes a relaxing, easy going activity seem so rewarding! We've always been fortunate enough to cook with pleasure - obviously more for mine! And since returning from BA, we've also found great enjoyment from leisurely strolls in the neighbourhood or at Sea Point promenade. Take time for this! Here's what we've been a part of this past week: We were encouraged to see a group of students from Bishops come out (even in the rain) and join with the FBC team in painting a mural on the school's new diningroom and kitchen wall. For news and updates visit: http://www.fbcschool.org.za/ We joined over 15 000 walkers in a quest to feed the hungry children in the Western Cape, by participaing in the Blisters for Bread walk on Sunday. We tackl...

Day 5

P-J left early this morning to help offload the hay bales into storage and then came back to fetch us (giving me time to blog!). When we got to the farm, I realised that my Tomi Takkies were not designed for farm fashion... and that pretty much determined my day. I was on indoor duty - filling water bottles, changing nappies, supervising indoor play ... and enjoying the air-conditioning in the 34 degree heat. What a perfect day for a fashion faux pas! Before being labeled a City Snob, let me just say that I was part of the team that moved the sheep to their new pasture (although I did not help with separating the cows and the sheep, or erecting what P-J called Insta-fence in the blazing heat, prior to the migration). The new fence was opened up and the rest of us worked our way up from the bottom of the field saying "Come girls, move up. Come on" and hoped the flock would follow suit. We met Tutu (after Ethan insisted my sheep, my sheep ) and the boys showed Ethan ho...