iJump gets a thumbs up!

It was Little Miss' birthday yesterday, and we took her to iJUMP as a special treat. We have been driving past the place and saying we should give it a try!

You pay per hour, and it seems that you can't do more than an hour of jumping around on the trampolines. Little Miss had a ball, but she was beat after the hour!

There is an iKidz area for the smaller kids, but Little Miss already qualified for the bigger area. Which she thoroughly enjoyed!

You can book parties for the kids with different party options, as well.

Photo from upstairs at the Sliders Restaurant

We had great hamburgers at the Sliders restaurant where you can make a choice of 3 between 12 burger options. The portions are smaller, but The Student and I could not finish all 3. We shared that with Little Miss who had more than enough!

Resting on the sidelines!

This place gets a thumbs up!
We will be back!


Address:


Clearwater Crossing
Corner Hendrik Potgieter and Christiaan de Wet
(Behind Makro)
Strubens Valley


Disclaimer: I was not asked to write this post, and we paid for ourselves!

Wordless Wednesday #98 - Toddlers making pizza at Papachinos

Taking the Toddler to work

You know it is going to be hectic, but you don’t know how much. Toddlers are extremely busy!

Taking a toddler to work really need some multitasking. Luckily we had a party and some rugby on for the day...

I had to think of a lot of stuff for a toddler to do in the enclosed space of a studio:

• Making a “tent “with a chair, a blanket and a jacket.

• Clearing my desk so she can swing underneath.

• Going on an "expedition" to the coffee shop.

• Going on an "expedition" to the toilets.

• Playing with my Peanuts figurines in my office.

• Lots of paper and crayons.

• Giving her my BlackBerry so she can colour in. It involves a colour switch every five seconds which I had to help her with!

• Lots of snacks to keep her busy for five... seconds!

• Making a bed underneath the desk. She spent a few second there as well!

• Pressing all the buttons in my studio.

• Giving her the t-shirt hanging n my wall as she insisted on wearing it (the 3^rd outfit for the day) 

• Playing with the water dispenser and getting herself wet.

I was totally beat after that! And Missy had a good sleep in the car on the way home... 

What do you do to keep the children occupied at the office?

Photo: Mieka in my office with Springbok headgear (Rugby World Cup fever while we were still in the game)

Montecasino Bird Gardens

We get so caught up in our daily suburbia life, that we sometimes have to make an effort to get out and get in touch with a bit of nature. Sad that we don't have waving grasslands and animals on our font porches anymore...

But luckily we have some places that helps us get in touch with a bit of nature. I have never been to the Montecasino Bird Gardens before, and it's a shame!

It is a great place to take the kids!

They have regular bird shows:

The Cape Vulture which is apparently very near to extinction (very sad!)

One of the locals

Snake!

The bird was looking for that sweet honey in the cups that people can feed them with...

Ice-cream,  a great way to end the day!

A little bit of children's heaven in our part of the valley

We got a Papachinos just around the corner, and it looks like children's heaven multiplied with 5 or something.
They opened up this week, and already they are fully booked. We were just lucky to get a place for breakfast on Saturday!

The pictures tell the story!

The service was not great, but it is still early days...
What is a little bit of waiting when your child can occupy herself for hours on end?


Now, when does she leaves us at our table and run off on her own? (Wink smile!)

Sunday night cupcake conundrum

Why do I always remember on a Sunday night of something that needs to be done or bought on a Monday morning? I totally forgot about buying (note: not making) those cupcakes for day care. They take turns in the classes to sell it to generate funds. I am sure the idea is for the mums to make to themselves... But I don't see anything wrong with Spar or Woolworths cupcakes. They are yummy as well, and my stress levels stay way down low...

When we went in search of the cupcakes, it turn out all the other mums have already done their cupcake shopping. I had to make do with bought muffins and my own homemade icing. The sprinkles really did the job, and Toddler helped me with putting it on. I think it looks really swell for a Sunday night fix! (I hope somebody like Shayne at Yummy Mummy Cupcake does not read this!)

It's the end of another weekend.We are missing the Teen who is now visiting my sister in London. It seems she is having a great time...

The Toddler kept us busy, and I was thinking tonight that they really teach you about resilience. If she wants something, she will keep at it. Again, and again, and again... "No!" does not have any effect. She wanted to play with a water spray toy, and although we kept telling her that it is evening already, she kept on asking. She did not get her wish, but we had to explain for over an hour that the sun has already gone to sleep...

The Toddler fell asleep in a shopping trolley and slept quite comfortably through most of the shopping trip to the mall on Saturday.

The Toddler was not impressed with the Easter Bunnies at the mall. I seems they are in the same untrustworthy league as the Red Beardy Man!

Good night, Weekend! It was a blink, but it was GRAND!

Related post:
Morning's first photo at day care #18 - Cupcakes

Bad parenting for survival

Do you sometimes retrace your steps at the end of the day and think: “I was a bad parent today! Tomorrow I will have to do better!?”

Days when:

• The Toddler falls asleep in my arms before she had her bath. I should have seen the signs earlier that she was tired and acted accordingly.

• The Toddler had more un-food to eat than the real thing. I realises that she did not have her 10 categories of food groups to eat. (I sometimes get excited about just one of the groups that she eats!)

• I give up about trying cutting her toe nails. The finger nails are already an issue; with lots of screaming. But the toe nails are just murder! I usually leave it for another day...

• I sometimes mostly allow the Toddler to eat a sweet or crisps while we have to run through the shops after I pick her up at day care in the afternoons. She’s hungry. I need to pick up a few things and need to do it at neck-breaking speed! We all know that it influences their eating behaviour on a major scale. (Refer back to point 2)

• We switch on the television or a DVD when we are too tired for running around or amusing The Toddler!

"Bad parent!" (Not even Powerwoman can make this look better!)
Tomorrow I will do better!

Please tell me you get days like these when you try to survive by being a bad less than exemplary parent?
Surviving what? Parenthood, of course!

Rain! on our public holiday

It’s been raining non-stop here since yesterday, and before that we had grizzly weather for longer than a week now. We love the rain, and welcome it! The earth needs it desperately!

But we go into complain mode when it seems that there is no end in sight. (We don’ know what we want, do we?)  I feel sorry for you in the Northern Hemisphere with the cold! Here we are used to long sunny days of sun during the December holidays and over Christmas!

We bought the toddler an umbrella yesterday, and she and Dad went out for a stroll in the rain this morning! It was a huge treat, and she did not want to come back in again... Love it when she enjoys something so much! She is taking an early morning nap now, which is a huge bonus! We are really chilling now...

Luckily it is a public holiday here today. One day less to worry about what to do with the toddler while working... And tomorrow is my last day. Whoohooo!

I love this time of the Year!
What are you doing with yourselves today?