Summer of rest

2018 was a tough year. We are still in the last throes of it, and 2019 are going to be tough as well. But, amidst it all, we are having a great rest and great times with family and friends. We even had three days of Christmas. How blessed is that?

Summer Coughs and Prospan - Giveaway

Prospan Cough Syrup

Is a summer cough normal? 

Apparently, summer comes with it's own challenges. That's why we are still struggling with runny noses and coughing at night. There's nothing more exasperating than those coughs that keeps a Little Miss awake! You would think that the heat and bright summer days would chase away all the bugs and that we would get a breather from the winter. But, no! We are struggling to put her to bed at night...
(Which means we do not get a wind-down time at night before going to bed ourselves! Which means we, the parents, are also more tired that usual!)

Prospan sent me a goody package, as well as the same giveaway package to give to one reader!

Some tips on how to treat a summer cough...

We had a good rest at Dikhololo

Dikhololo is a great place for families. It was just under a two-hour drive from Johannesburg, and we were in the Bush-veld on Friday this past weekend.

Of course we were still emotional about the loss in our family. Stew's death left us reeling! We had his funeral on Monday this week.
(I don't know if you ever get over the loss of a young family member? How do you smile when you know there are so much sadness?)

Little Miss did not stop swimming for the whole weekend. The best of all! We could watch her swimming from our chalet as all the chalet clusters are built around swimming pools. How cool to watch her swimming from the bed (while reading) or braai (barbecue) for the whole weekend!

We went exploring, water sliding (even me, and I loved it! Little Miss hated it!) and played tennis while we were there! We could have stayed MUCH longer, but a weekend is of course way too short! We did not even went to the indoor heated pool (it was too hot!), or drove around too much looking at the wildlife. The putt-putt also did not happen. Next time...

I am sure we are the only family that got lost from a viewpoint on our way to our car... But that was part of the adventure! My Dad with his in-built GPS could only shake his head when he heard about us walking around the hill searching.

We celebrated my Dad's birthday this weekend! How blessed we are to still be able to go on holidays together!
He is such an inspiration for always being active and on the go!

Thanks, Dad, for all the holiday fun!

This is life! Summer, the Bush-veld, a fire going, a swimming pool and a drink!

This was a good rest!

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?

Our weekend started with a doll and camping in the garden

It was a very low-down weekend here. The budget was low, and we chilled at home.

Luckily it started with a package delivered from Our Generations Dolls which I had won over on Blessed Barrenness' blog. Little Miss got Abrianna with a camping set! She could not wait to get home to open up the package. (That made our Friday afternoon drive much easier in traffic!)

That started a whole weekend of camping inside and out of the house. She even got me sleeping inside her tent on Friday night, and still believes we both slept there for the whole night!

Setting up the Our Generation Doll camp set

Her friends came over and they "camped" the whole of Saturday and Sunday. We usually have a rule that there is no playing inside houses and they had no issues playing outside this weekend!
It worked perfectly with this weather. It's summer here!

It's lovely summer again! (How I love Summer! I have to note it, again!)

Little Miss even complained when we went for an ice-cream at five today!
She still wanted to play!

But I got a smile from her, eventually...

How was you weekend?

A break in the Bushveld

Taking the mad rush to a screeching halt!

This is what happened this year...

It's been great taking a breather for a week!

We have been in the bush for a few days.

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! 

I love this time of year!

Are you going away for the holidays?

Glorious Summer

It seems we are skipping Spring this year, and jumping straight into summer! 

We've had high twenty degree temperatures for the past few weeks!

(There's not much else we can boast about here on the south point of Africa... 
Suffering from a bit of Monday bleh...)

We had a great weekend of outside braais (barbecues) and family and friends! 

After we finally got Little Miss to finish her weekly CMaths homework, we could still squeeze in an afternoon ride in the park. That was a perfect ending to a great weekend!

What did you do this past weekend!

Currently...

I found this on Cat's blog: Juggling Act of Life

Listening to: Hozier - Take me to the Church
And I love this ballet version




Reading: Library Advocacy Unshushed MOOC, but struggling to keep up...

Thinking about: My wonderful Hubby who made Valentine's special with a date and movie, and he even bought flowers for the girls!

Looking forward to: Our trip to Texas in the middle of the year. Very scary, but also very exciting!

Anticipating: A very good and busy year! We are doing it!

Planning: The overseas trip (well, we should be starting...!)

Wearing: Cool summer clothes. It is the best time of the year!

Drinking: Coffee. A bit too much!

Eating: A bit more healthy. I am kilojoule counting with My Fitness App on my iPhone 6. Loving it! It seems it is starting to work as well!

Thankful: For being invited to the first International iPad Summit in South Africa the previous two days. My head still spins with all the possibilities. I am also feeling a bit more optimistic about South Africa's educational future with all the bright teachers that attended the conference!

Wishing and praying: Always my children. But it seems they are sorted this year. Little Miss has settled in nicely at school, and waves us goodbye with smiles in the morning. The Student is also enjoying her business classes this year!

Not looking forward to: My birthday! (Getting too near a big number... AAArgh!)

Dreaming about: New possibilities! In my career, mostly!


What's happening currently with you?

Wordless Wednesday #254 - Summer swimming

My summer list

We went straight into summer this year, and of course it feels like everything is on fast forward by now...
Heather of One Step at a Time tagged me a while ago with this one.

1. What is your favourite thing about Summer?

The heat and the early sun and green grass and sitting outside and spending time outdoors... I love Summer!! It is my favourite season!

 2. Do you have a favourite Summer drink?

I have one favourite drink: Red Wine. In summer with a cube of ice!

Yes, this! #redwine #capetown #shiraz #Cloof

A photo posted by Karen Du Toit (@karentoittoit) on Oct 10, 2014 at 11:33am PDT

3. Is there a location you like to go to each Summer?
Any place that's not home, but I prefer the beach!

Next time I am doing this, Cape Town! @ Garden Court De Waal pic.twitter.com/gA8b123pVO
— Karen du Toit (@karentoittoit) October 9, 2014

4. Is there a location you like to go to each Summer?
No, sometimes we go to the bush veld, and sometimes to the coast.
And sometimes we go camping. It does not matter!

5. Dresses or skirts?
Pants

6. Sandals or ballet pumps!
Sandals

7. Do you prefer to wear your hair up or down for Summer?
Always down

8. Deep smoky eyes or bold lips?
No, light make-up on both my eyes and lips.

9. Favourite perfume for Summer?
The perfume I have on my dressing table. It is different each time I get a new one!

10. Last but not least, favourite music for Summer?

It is an old song, but it has been remixed. Love this!




Please feel free to tag along!

Slush Puppy blues

We have summer here!
We jumped pass Spring right into Summer!

This past weekend was back to outdoors and cool ice drinks and braais outdoors.

Little Missy was extremely excited to discover that one of our favourite places now offer Slush Puppies as well. She had two of those while we were waiting for a haircut on Saturday.

Slush Puppy fun

Blue teeth

Her second haircut went really well, and the hair is definitely more manageable!

At Maddy Magoo

But Little Missy got a stomach bug, and kept us busy through Saturday night and early Sunday morning. We suspect it might have been the Slush Puppies (Bad mother for buying the second one), and today she is is still not feeling 100%.

Luckily she could stay with Dad today! And sleep it off!

Photo by Dad this morning

Feeling a little bit better already...

Dragon face
(Photo by Dad)

How was your weekend?

Wordless Wednesday #208 - Sunshine days

Lazy days of summer

Halftone 2

We are enjoying thus summer at home! We had an early vacation in the bush in the beginning of December. Now we are totally lazy getting the much needed rest at home!

This year I welcome it. The previous years I felt a bit depressed staying at home over the festive period, but it has been so relaxing to sleep late each day and just chill.

We also love spending time with family and friends!

And deciding on a whim each day to do some of the fun stuff here in Johannesburg...

We went on a drive to Maropeng today, but landed in a loop on the Kromdraai road. (I can see my dad and sister shaking their heads, because they have excellent direction, but even my iPad maps took us to the wrong place!)

It felt like a drive in the countryside and we did not mind. We will definitely go to Maropeng this coming week!

We took a detour to a fabourite place, Maggie's Farm, and of course had pies for lunch.

The pIcture is created by the Halftone 2 app, a comic book creator. It is the free gift available to download today from the 12 Days of Gifts.

The 12 Days of Gifts from the iTunes store are great fun. There is a free fun app or music or game to download from iTunes each day. This is happening from the 26th of December until 6th January. It is definitely worth downloading!

Wordless Wednesday #195 - Summer play

Wordless Wednesday #159 - Toddlers summer fun

 

Posted with Blogsy

The Cradle Restaurant

What do you do on a Sunday morning when you want to get outside and the blue sky is beckoning?
Especially when the urban dwelling feels a bit stuffy in this heat.

The one thing that is great about living in Johannesburg in South Africa: We do not have to drive very far to get to the outdoors...

The Cradle Restaurant - sitting on the deck

One of the places we wanted to check out for a long time is The Cradle Restaurant at The Cradle of Humankind near Lanseria.

View from the deck

She prefers her sister's hot chocolate
"Funny Bunny!"

Table overlooking the view 

Downstairs seating area, with stones on display
(see below)

Stones on display

The ride to and from the restaurant in a golf cart was a definite highlight as well!

Just one note of caution: The breakfast buffet is fantastic, but it is a bit expensive!
(Especially when the budget is a bit low this time of the month... Ouch!)

Next time we will go a bit earlier to still get an option for the A La Carte Menu and to visit The Cradle of Humankind at Maropeng, which is nearby.


Which places do you recommend in the Johannesburg area if you want to get a bit of fresh air?

You know it is near the end of the year...

when...

- The Student is back home, finished with writing her exams. I am exhaling with her! It has been a tough year!

- The Toddler is busy with assessments at pre-primary, and not so keen going every day.

- The concert is done and dusted.

- The ballet concert is a few movie clips on my phone!

- The tiny gymnastics end-of-year is happening on Saturday.

- We are seeing Christmas decorations everywhere, but I think I will leave our own Christmas decorations for December. (It feels like it has been put up very early this year?)

- We are all beginning to look forward to the holidays, especially since we now have our own holiday to look forward to. I usually feel that holidays at home does not feel like holidays.

- I have compiled my list: What I want for Christmas. It is the first time I had drawn up a list so far in advance, thanks to Blogger Secret Santa by Stiletto Mum.

- I am beginning to contemplate my goals for next year. One of the main goals is looking at studying again. A lecturer told me to contemplate doing a longitudal study with my Masters that I did not finish. As I hate not completing it, it is something really worth considering!

- It is great weather for swimming here! (Sorry, Northern Hemisphere!)

 

I love this time of the year!

 

What are you planning for December?

Do you also like this time of the year?

 

Posted with Blogsy

Time for....

Sitting and dreaming next to water
Enjoying the sunsets
Getting out into nature
(Here at Rusty Hook)

Quality time with the Toddler

Gardening

Flowers and plants

Drives to new places
Playing

Braais (barbecues)

Salads and healthy eating
(My favourite salad at the moment: Cranberry & Spinach salad)

I love this time of the year!

Guess what we did this weekend?