We have The Beach in Gauteng! We are sorted this year! We don't even have to have FOMO when we see beach pictures on our feeds. This year we can also write the YOLO. It is summer and it is hot in Gauteng, but luckily The Mall of Africa has us sorted!
We were invited to The Beach at Waterfall Park at The Mall of Africa on Saturday. Our Miss did not want to leave. But we will go back! At the price of R25 entrance it is well worth going for a day (or more)!
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?
This year has been very short, but in terms of holidays it has been very long!
We did not have a mid-year break this year, and I am beginning to feel it!
It's still two months before December.
I cope by telling myself to take one day at a time, but it makes it feel that we are in "desperate measures"-mode!
For how long have I not yearned for that long weekend in the Cape?
To place it on my vision board and on my bucket list does not help at all!
The budget is too tight!
I know I should not complain, and that I should be grateful for everything I have!
The World with it's Wars; people fleeing their homes; children who are abandoned and fending for themselves,; #feesmustfall; dictatorships; rapes; killings; GAH...!
So much weighing in! Even though I try not to read/hear/listen too much, we are bombarded by it!
I can't ignore it either! That would be stupid!
I try to be positive, and to seek the positive in every situation!
(I know: Keep doing it!)
The Cat in the Hat
Little Miss has a little break from school this week, and the holiday school programme has a fun item planned for each day that keeps her entertained.
Here she is on Monday with her Cat in the Hat outfit! We got the hat on Saturday at Silverstar when we decided on a whim to go just to get out of the house.
Little Miss loved playing in the water in the Piazza area.
(We should be doing more of this!)
We have three weeks of school holidays during winter in South Africa!
It was back-to-school yesterday already, and we are back to reality!
Although we did not go away this year, it felt like a break for us as well!
We continued working and Little Miss had to go to Holiday School, but it was a break from the daily rat race!
Five reasons why school holidays give everybody a break
1. The traffic is tolerableand we get a break with regards the volume of the traffic and the time we need to get out of the house! Especially in winter where it is still dark at 6 am.
This alone gets all the marks for school holidays! My daily commute is a lot less stressful and shorter!
2. We can sleep in for a bit longer! I had 30 minutes more in bed each morning, and Little Miss could also get at least an hour more!
3. Wedon't have to rush home to do homework, and we can be more relaxed with bed-times.
4. We don't have to rush from one extra-mural activity to another!
5. At work it is also a more relaxed as many people are on holiday, and we have to give them time to get back in the office again. My calender was not as full as always!
I can have more of these, and you?
How was the holidays?
Ice Age Collision Course is the fifth instalment in the series. Can they dream up any more crazy? Yes, they do! Luckily we love animated movies just as much as Little Miss.
The plot is crazy!
While trying to bury his acorn, Scrat accidentally activates an abandoned alien ship that takes him into deep space, where he unwillingly sends several asteroids en route of collision with Earth. Meanwhile, Manny is worried about the imminent marriage between Peaches and her fiancé, Julian, while Sid is dumped by his girlfriend, Francine, just as he is about to propose to her. During Manny and Ellie's wedding anniversary party, some of the asteroids strike the place and the Herd barely escape with their lives. Meanwhile at the underground, Buck fights a trio of Dromaeosaurs to return a dinosaur egg to its mother and later discovers an ancient stone monument, which he takes to the surface, where he meets Manny and the others...
All the enjoyable characters are back from Ice Age Continental Drift (2012), including Sid, a ground sloth and his "Aunty Acid" granny!
There were some activations at Imax cinemas at a number of Ster Kinekor cinemas this past weekend. We only found the Ice sculpture, face painting and colouring stations after the movie at The Zone in Rosebank... (It was not on the same level.)
Little Miss had a ball!
Leopard face
Ice sculpture
Ice Age Collision Course is well worth the movies!
We had a fantastic time at Silverstar on Saturday. They have a great line-up for families during Easter, from 19 March to 3 April.
There are the kid's fun on the Square, with jumping castles, a kiddies' train, a Maze and the interactive water fountains. The Easter Bunny are going to make an appearance each day, with movies on the Square, and an Easter Market.
The best of all! The entertainment on the Square is FREE!
It is wise to also take an extra set of clothing and a towel. No kid can resist the water fountains, as well as the jumping castle with the slide into water!
So much fun!
Little Miss got me to go along into the Wind Castle-thing (see below)! It is very safe, and even the littlest enjoy going up... and DOWN! And up and DOWN again!
Hoots of fun! (Five times for Little Miss!)
The things you do for your child!
(Totally worth the screams! From me!)
There's also The Magic Company with arcade games, Laser Tag and Ten Pin Bowling that keeps them entertained. And movies! (Not for free!)
The Magic Company fun
This is a great way to spend the day with the family!
We will be going back! Disclaimer: The family got an invite for a breakfast at Vigour & Verve at Silverstar on Saturday, 30 tokens at The Magic Company, Easter eggs and hot dogs at the food stand on the Square!
The rest (and best fun!) was of course for free on the Square!
Little Miss has been swimming and riding her bike and we are watching sunsets.
We hired bikes and did a trail today. Little Miss did super for the first part, and all went well until she got very tired and we had to make a detour. Hubby and I continued with the bush trail, but his bike got punctures and we had to walk back until we found a ranger who gave us a lift back!
We will call it an adventure, because it ended with a cold beer!
Next week we will be back at work, but luckily it will be slowing down!
It is a blend of the classic tale Le Petit Prince by by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, with an add-on story about a young girl who befriends her neighbour and also the elderly aviator of Le Petit Prince. The Avaitor is the narrator of the original story as the young girl tries to deal with her overbearing mother!
We really enjoyed the movie, the characters and the story line! They have done a stunning job with a classic tale, adapting it into a new classic tale that will be cherished by many!
Of course I shed a few tears as well.
Little Miss was enthralled, and even most of the younger kids stayed glued to their seats for the entire movie!
We read the Afrikaans version of the book, Die Klein Prinsie, to Little Miss last week. She knew part of the story, but she confidently told me in the car that the book is never the same as the movie! (It was not, but it kept to the original tale that was narrated by the Aviator.)
I give this movie a 10!
(You can confidently put this movie on your list of holiday activities to do this December.)
- She has to wear her pajamas for first day of vacation school during the holidays! (We had to assure her countless times that everybody is going to wear their pajamas!)
- She can't wear her slippers on it's own, because it scratches her!
- It was difficult to find the right socks to wear with the slippers, because most of her socks scratches her!
- When asked to smile at the camera, she told us that she does not feel very well!
- We could not get all her stuff in one bag to take to school. She is adamant that this bag should not be a school bag.
- When asked about what character she wants to be on Wednesday, we had a whole flood gate of tears, because her princess dress is too tight around the arms. We should go to the shops to get her a new outfit before Wednesday! (Most unlikely that that is going to happen!)
- The swim cap does not fit (it does!), and she is taking her toddler swimming cap today. (Luckily sorted yesterday already)
Mondays are difficult for a little girl!
Mondays are difficult for Mom and Dad with a little girl that struggles with a Monday!
Don't we all consider a personal loan one time or another? Or maybe it's just us?
But this year has been one of those years...
We first tried to get a student loan, but were caught in the catch-22 of a student loan. You first have to show your registration form from university before the student loan can be approved. We wanted to get the loan to be able to afford that first hefty registration fee...
We also had the wonderful holiday in San Antonio earlier, and we were really worried that we would not be able to afford everything that goes with a holiday with our Rand/Dollar exchange rates! I also shared this scenario before we went on our trip, and that we were seriously considering taking a personal loan...
I am glad to say that both times we were able to get by without going the route of a personal loan! Because it is still the best way to go! Not getting that personal loan!
The long weekend is done and dusted already. A weekend of three days is definitely not enough when going camping!
We had a great time, as always!
It is really such a schlep to pack your house, unpack it at the campsite, to pack and unpack in three days again.
But spending time with the family and with friends are worth the effort! Hiking and getting back to nature is worth the effort! Evenings around the campfire are worth it!
We camped at Mountain Sanctuary Park again. We love the big campsites, but not particularly the ablution facility. We are planning to phone regularly to enquire about the extra ablution blocks they are going to build. In the hope that they would start considering doing it...
But the hiking trails is what makes us going back and back!
Little Miss did 6 kilometers of hiking with us yesterday! She enjoyed it tremendously, and only complained to the end of the two hikes that she was getting tired. She picked up rocks, and we printed out a photo of her in front of the rocks which she is going to use at show-and-tell tomorrow! (Love it that she is as big as she is now, and enjoying it with us).
We did not get time to explore all the routes this time. The weekend was too short!
We were blown away by the Tutankhamun Expo at Silverstar. This international exhibition is the first time in Africa!
It is really worth to go for adults and kids!
The exhibition illustrates the fascinating story behind the exploration and excavation by British archaeologist, Howard Carter of the Tutankhamun Tomb, the history of Tutankhamun, and the culture of ancient Egypt.
It takes the visitor from the beginning of the search for Tutankhamun and how Carter found the tomb. It unpacks the tombs in the exhibition one by one. It is totally fascinating, and afterwards when we as family compared notes, we found that some of us missed some of the details.
I am only sharing some of my photos here, since it does not convey the splendour and intricacies of the exhibit. You really need to see it to appreciate it.
Make sure that the kids get the kiddies headsets. We did not know to ask for it, but Little Miss seemed fine with listening to the adult version.
I want to go back for more, especially since we spent too short a time in the first exhibition space and could not go back when we realised we missed some of the exhibits.
Kids under six go in for free, and luckily Little Miss just made it before her birthday next week!
We had a lovely week at the South Coast in Uvongo.
Of course the week went by in a flash! We were looking forward to it for such a long time, and we tried to fit in as much as possible each day.
The weather was cloudy for most of the time, but we actually preferred it to the blazing hot sun. The family could still swim and we spent most of the days on the beach.
The family swimming (There was no day it was hot enough for me to swim...)
It was the first time since I was very small that we explored this part of the South Coast. It is such a lovely place. We explored Uvongo, Ramsgate and St Michael's.
I can easily spent all my days here...
Little Miss loves the ocean! She spent most of the time very near to her Dad and directed him up and down and in and out of the waves.
It was bliss!! Just tooooo short!
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Today we are back into the grind again for the next two weeks before Christmas.
This is going to be difficult easy! Deep breaths!
Enjoy your holidays!
I am envious of those of you going now on your holidays! Where are you staying?
