Little Miss Independent - an update

Little Miss has grown so much in recent weeks! This year has been tough with changing schools and getting into the swing of a new school, with new rules and new friends. I am proud of her for the way she has handled the changes.

I am doing this update to remind us of  her specialness right now! This time and age passes too quickly as well, and I don't do enough updates!

- Little Miss seems to love maths more than languages, and the spelling is a pain. But she loves reading. One of the best things we are doing right now, is taking her regularly to the library, and letting her read in the evenings to us. She begs us to go to the library every two weeks, and starts reading in the car on our way home! She also picks her books from the Teenage Reading section, and not the beginner readers anymore!

- She still loves a few favourite outfits that she wears time-and-time again. I try to hide it in her cupboard, but she always finds it! The grey leggings and the crocodile t-shirt (size 3-4) is still the absolute bomb!

- She still struggles with making new friends, but somehow she manages to keep on telling us about a few girls at school that she plays with! For an introvert that's not too bad! She has not found a very special friend, but maybe it is a good thing if she plays in a bundle?

- She loves dancing at school. There's a free class every week, and she can't wait! I had her signed up for a dancing school in the beginning of the year, but it clashed with Voortrekkers. I need to find another dance lesson for next semester.

- She has decided not to do netball, or choir, and the drama is a pain! I told her to discontinue drama at the end of this semester. I think it is better to find her feat first and then decide what she wants to do!

- She loves doing my and her sister's hair, and doing make-up! I have batches of photos of hairstyles on my phone. (If I do a search for "dogs", the hairstyles also pops up. But it's not an indication of the classiness of the hairstyles. ;-) iOS needs to work on an upgrade in photo search!)

- She loves rollerskating right now! We have promised her an outing during the holidays!

Little Miss is becoming very independent. I see it in the mornings when she asks for an extra hug or kiss, but then running away without looking back! I feel that I should cherish her still sitting on my lap, and asking for us to lay with her in the evenings!

When it's gone, it's gone!

Thanks so much for the adventures with you, Little Miss!

We are looking forward to a weekend with the Voortrekkers and camping during the holidays! (#thingsyoudoforyourchildren) It will perhaps be our last, but we have an arsenal of Voortrekker stories already built up because of you!
Next time she says she will be ready to go on her own! Little Miss Independent!

Walking for the owls at Delta Park - Voortrekkers

Delta Park views

Little Miss signed up to the *Voortrekkers at her new school. It is still one of the best ways to meet new friends in a new school.

The Voortrekkers had a fun walk at Delta Park on Saturday. The contributions of all entries (It was R10 each, but we were a big group) are going to upgrades of the owl boxes at the Delta Park Environment Centre. We were not even aware of the owls and owl boxes before this excursion.

Aptly dressed with an owl t-shirt

The children were extremely excited and ran ahead. We only caught up with them at the end. We did a 4km walk, not the total 5km of the Delta Park run. In the end the Eldest and I did not see any boxes or owls, but Little Miss was extremely excited about the owl box and the bat box that she was shown. Next time I will try to search for them again! 

(When you are unfit and just trying to keep up, then it does not work looking up in the trees the whole time...*sigh*)

Little Miss with her owl mask

What did you do that was exciting this past weekend?

*Similar to Boy Scouts/Girl Scouts


Related post: Fun Walk at Alberts Farm

Bowling with the kids

I don't know why we haven't gone bowling before, but this is a great activity to do with the children! We went bowling three weeks back at Northcliff Bowling with the Voortrekkers. The kids had a ball! (Pun intended! Sorry! ;-) )

For only R30 a kid they kept themselves busy for more than an hour playing a game with a group of 4-5. The bowling alley put up barriers to keep the ball from going into the trenches, which makes it much easier for the children to get into the game!

We are going to be at home for most of the holidays, and  I am starting to think of all the fun and inexpensive ways to make the holidays fun! This is going to be one of the activities!

What suggestions do you have for activities with the children during the holidays that does not cost an arm and a leg?

Grab the summer!

Saturday was such a grab-worthy day!

The Voortrekkers had a day planned with water sports, and braai bread creations...
We were planning to go to the gymnastics at 11, but this was just a too good opportunity to not make use of everything that they had planned for the children. We are never disappointed with the Voortrekker (similar than Boy Scouts/Girl Scouts) activities!

(I can just imagine how much we would have enjoyed this when we were small!)

The children could not get enough of sliding down the water slide and playing in the water. All the parents had to "extract" their children, and it looks as if most of them were not happy to leave. The children also took part in a braai (barbecue) bread competition over fire. Little Miss and her Dad planned it for the week before the time!

Do you also sometimes skip a activity for another? Do you feel guilty about it, especially when you have paid?

Little Miss, I hope you remember this day?

Wordless Wednesday #308 - Hiking in the Vredefort Dome

In the Vredefort Dome

We spent the past weekend in the Vredefort Dome near Parys in the Free State. The meteorite made the biggest impact on earth of 300 km wide.

It is a lovely place to explore and we will definitely be going back. It is also not that far away from Johannesburg, and lovely to drive through for the weekend! I would love to go exploring and do more hiking in the area.

Venterskroon Camp

We went camping with the Voortrekkers (similar than Girl/Boy Scouts). We are still going with on the camping trips as they are still very young. Not one of the children in Little Miss' age group went on their own. The parents still tag along. (Not that the children appreciate it! "You can go now, Mom! I am fine!")

I was not looking forward to the weekend because we had a "survival" weekend the previous year at Doornkloof in the Northern Free State. This time around it was not as cold (although Friday night was also very cold), and the food was good. We sorted out our blankets and the blankets for for the children on Saturday night, and heated up the electric warm water bottles which helped a lot! Luckily the days were sunny and hot! It's summer already!

Littler Miss had such a great time! They were taught how to make bread over fire, which we call "stokbrood" (stick bread?). They had a camp concert which they enjoyed tremendously and they hiked with vigour up the mountain without any complaints!

The dust and the cold did not make a dent in the children's experiences!

The Art Gallery in Venterskroon

Vredefort Dome Information Centre

Old Imperial Inn

Venterskroon Inn Pub/Restaurant/Accomodation

Venterskroon Inn Saloon

Venterskroon Inn Saloon

Venterskroon Inn Saloon

Hiking up the mountain with the Voortrekkers

What did you do with your weekend?

Why we should go more camping

We had a lovely weekend of camping! 

Of course it was too short, but this and the fact that it is so much hard work, should not deter us from going camping more often.

Reasons why we should do it regularly:

- It is a cheap holiday. We are able to afford it more often.

- We get to breath a bit of fresh air.

- As city dwellers we get to connect with nature. 

- Children love it. So does Little Miss!

- It is lovely to switch off for a whole weekend and get back to basics. Such as eating, sleeping, swimming, walking and reading! 

NOTHING better than this!

- It feels and is like an adventure each time, and we come back with "camping" stories! For example, this time we had a friendly helper who made setting up much easier, and helped with fixing a broken tent pole. Although we now have to fix a hole in the roof of the tent... (Luckily it did not rain this weekend, or it would have been another story to tell!)

- There is nothing that relaxes more than a camp fire! The best time of the day!

- The children can ride on their bikes and play near the river/beach/field in a relative safe"environment! 

Can you think of any more reasons why we should do it more often?

We should be planning the next camping holiday for next month already!

We were at Buffelspoort with the Voortrekkers this weekend! I can recommend their camping area, as we as all their facilities that they have available. 

Which is your favourite camping area?

She only slept for 1 minute and she could not find her toothbrush

That's the Voortrekkers, of course!

Little Miss had her first "camp" on Saturday in the school hall without her parents! 

I should not have bothered to pack a bag, because she came back in the same clothes. Next time all that is needed is to send a jacket with a tootbrush.

I tried to ignore my own birthday on Saturday (the number gets scarier each year), but I did not want to spend it in a sleeping bag in a hall full of giggling children... 

Little Miss was fine (she forgot about us as as soon as we arrived), and quite chuffed that she had to stay by herself!

She told us the next day that she slept for 1 minute during the night, because a parent was snoring. She also could not find her toothbrush or her flashlight. (I packed her suitcase with her help. *sigh*)

But she had a great time and that's all that matters!

Photo by Marlize.

Fun walk at Alberts Farm

We did a fun walk with the Voortrekkers at Alberts Farm on Saturday afternoon. We did a 3.5 km round-trip trail and picked up some rubbish along the way. The children loved it, and everybody got a bit of exercise.

There are some dodgy corners and smells, and I would not recommend going on your own. But it is still a lovely area of grassland in the middle of the city!
Apparently there is also a Parkrun on a Saturday.

Johannesburg's only artesian spring

It was a good weekend

It was a very uneventful weekend! Also NOT!

While telling Little Miss of all the things she must remember about the weekend for her weekly feedback in class, I realize that it was actually a very good weekend!

We started off the weekend with an unexpected date night! Little Miss was asked to a sleepover, and we suddenly had a night to ourselves. We had tapas at one of our favorite restaurants, Tei Avon in Victory Park. 

Little Miss really enjoyed her sleepover and it seems there were no melt-downs or problems. 

Little Miss also had her first Voortrekkers meeting of the year on Saturday which consisted of lots of water sport activities! 

Although it was a cloudy day, it was still very hot and perfect for a day of outdoor fun!

Little Miss took a long afternoon nap, and Hubby and I could catch up with a little bit of movie binge-watching on Saturday afternoon. 

We were able to braai (barbecue) on Saturday evening and enjoyed sitting outside for long before it started to rain later on. 

Little Miss entertained us with card tricks for the weekend. She picked up some pointers at the BFF. 

We also took the very excited dogs for a walk on Sunday after church. 

Little Miss told us that she was separated from her friend in Sunday School because they sang too loud. They were instructed to sang at their utmost, and when they did they were moved away from each other! We had a good giggle about it, thinking about Little Miss being in trouble for singing? 

And for the rest of the weekend we had creations like this going up everywhere in our house!  ?? 

But it kept her occupied!

This is what great weekends are made of. Lots of family time and rest!

I hope you had a great weekend too?

Wordless Wednesday #284 - Amateur Radio linking Voortrekkers on 17 October

A weekend in the Northern Free State #thingsyoudoforyourchildren

The things you do for your children...

We went "camping" with the Voortrekkers (something similar than girl scouts/boy scouts) at Doornkloof in the Northern Free State.

It was cold and dusty, without cellphone reception!

Little Miss loved it!
And that's all that counts!

Little Miss had a seat in the upper deck of the bus,
which was a real treat going there!

Our "Chalet" for the weekend
(It was much better than a tent, thank our lucky stars!)

Doornkloof is a place of history!
Grave of Sarel Cilliers, whose farm this was

One of the sessions with the Grade 1 Voortrekkers

First Aid lessons - not a real wound

The Grade 1 girls ready  for a night of discovery on the farm

A ride on a tractor

Exploring the indigenous people's housing

Such a beautiful place, even with the dry winter landscape.