Kids school stuff

Recently there is lots going on at the kids school. Nina has been hard at work. First it was the outfits depicting their favorite character from a story. Emma chose Little Red Riding Hood and Dylan chose Peter Pan. Nina made all the outfits herself. The kids were very excited about their outfits.

Yesterday was spring day at the school and everyone had to bring their spring bonnets along. Nina also made all of the these. The kids were meant to paint their hats but they lost interest pretty quickly. They each chose their own decorations and assisted in putting the decorations on. Even though Emma was a bit sick still on Friday, she and Dylan were both extremely keen to go to school with their spring bonnets. Luckily yesterday was the warmest day since winter started abating. This weekend it is very cold again, however we should be heading back into spring by Monday.

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Emma the Red Riding Hood and Dylan Peter Pan

Dylan and Emma wearing their spring bonnets

Project: enclosed patio

We finally decided earlier this year that we should enclose our downstairs patio. After the successful project to enclose half of the top patio and turn this into a toy room for the kids more than a year ago, we have now started on the downstairs patio.

We decided to go for stacking doors and a sliding door. Then we looked at the pool fence. We have never liked it much, but we needed it for the safety of the kids. While trying to find someone to alter the pool fence to fit the new stacking doors, we figured out that we could install a glass fence around the pool. This is the option we are going with. This is not finished yet but should be done soon.

For now the stacking doors are in, with a new sliding door. We love it. Should have done it long ago.

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View with the doors open

First post this year: Cape Town mini holiday

Blog posts have not been very good this year. Middle of the year and this is the first one!

Anyway, we went to Cape Town in early July for long weekend to take the kids to see "Disney on Ice" which was in town that weekend. It showed at the Dome in Johannesburg, but that is not a great venue and we wanted to have a little holiday in the middle of the kids winter school holiday break anyway. We flew down on the Thursday and came back on the Sunday. The show was on the Friday morning. The kids were super excited as they have never been a live show before. They actually did not know what to expect. They just knew that Mickey and Minnie where going to be there and that was all they needed. They really did look forward to the show. Eventually the day came.

We started off struggling to find the actual entrance. We walked passed two of them. Eventually we found it. The kids chose to get new hats, Dylan a Mickey hat and Emma a Tinkerbell hat. Emma also got a huge tub of popcorn that she munched on for the whole show and shared with us. Our booked tickets ended up being almost behind the stage, so without us asking, a friendly man from Computicket came and moved us to new seats which had a great view.

The show was wonderful and the kids really enjoyed it. Half way through there was an interval. Just enough time to go to the loo and then have more fun. Dylan loved Peter Pan and Pirates at the end. Emma loved to see Minnie and the Little Mermaid.

The next day we went to Cape Point. It was a long drive but the kids managed alright. We drove up the funicular and then the kids climbed all the stairs to the lighthouse. That was really impressive. We did not have high hopes they would make it, especially not without complaints. Then we went down again and had a lovely lunch in the restaurant. There was a small incident where a baboon with her baby came into the restaurant. Going to the toilet after the baboon incident was a little nerve racking especially for the kids, since the toilet was outside the restaurant and required one to go through the door where the baboon had come through. The drive back was uneventful.

In the evening we met up with Anina's sister and brother in law for a nice dinner at the Waterfront. Sadly we forgot to take any pictures.

Click here to see the Holiday Pictures on Flickr
P.S. Thanks to Marissa Meyer working at Yahoo, they are finally starting to make improvements to Flickr, with great new way to view your pictures. I'm finally getting something for the money I pay them.

Just before the show. Mickey is standing in for Dylan.

Dylan loved watching the boats in the Harbor the day we arrived and had lunch immediately.
It was a lovely sunny winter's day in Cape Town

Emma, Mommy and Dylan at lunch at Cape Point

Christmas 2012

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. Emma and Dylan really start to understand all about Christmas. They have learnt a lot about baby Jesus and now know exactly who Marry and Joseph are. They were very good and never opened any of the Christmas presents that were under the tree.

On Christmas Eve they were keen to unwrap their presents and played with them very nicely.

On Christmas day I cooked the usual Christmas lunch of Fillet with Klöße (Thanks to Feli again for the recipe).

Dylan took some pictures with the LeapPad that he got for Christmas. I have included in them in the pictures.

As you can see from the pictures we were all spoilt rotten.

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Videos from Christmas:

Emma and Dylan helping to decorate the Christmas tree

Dylan and Emma opening their gifts

Dylan drawing on his Whiteboard he got from Udette.

Holiday fun: kids on rides

The kids finally finished their year at school. They have been on holiday since the 7 December. This has allowed them plenty of time to recover from all the school runny noses and the like. Initially they missed their class mates from school. We have had a busy holiday since I went on leave. We have been out with the kids most mornings apart from the days that we had to catch up on house chores.

While a year ago the kids were scared of rides that moved, they are now very eager riders and hence the collection of videos here of the various rides they have been on in the last week.

 

Emma and Dylan riding on the bugs in the Dora play area created for Christmas at Sandton City: (best in HD 720p or 1080p)

 

Emma on the swing at the Monte Casino Bird Park. She loved the flamingos.

 

Emma and Dylan riding on a helicopter at a play area known as Serendipity.

 

Emma and Dylan riding on the mini carousel at Cresta’s ride on play area for Christmas.

The kids first School Play

After many weeks of practice the big day arrived last week Tuesday that the kids finally got to be in their school play. The hall was full and everyone was very eager to see the play.
Mary and Joseph where played by older kids in a bigger class. There are three classes in Emma and Dylan’s grade 0000. The other two classes got to perform first.
Emma, who was a Village girl, got to perform first when the Village girls, got up on stage and danced for the first song. Then Dylan,who was one of three camels, came on stage together with the three wise men. They all then performed their rendition of “Alice the camel” (look at the Video). In the Video you will see that Dylan stood dead still for the whole song and refused to sing. This despite the fact that both Emma and Dylan practised this song many times in the bath and at home. They new it backwards. Dylan also refused to do his moves. That is just how he is. Emma did sing a bit and got more into it as the song went on. Then they went off the stage and then all the kids came back onto the stage together.
We were sitting on the side of the audience in the front row. Dylan only saw us when he came onto the stage for the second time. He was a lot happier when he knew where we were.
We left after having a couple of snacks as very proud parents. All the kids in the concert did really well and nobody cried or made a fuss. The school and some of the mothers really put in a huge effort to decorate the stage and dress the children. After that we collected the kids and they got to go home early.
See Pictures from the Concert

Alice the camel

Emma on stage:

Dylan the camel on stage:

Emma and Dylan go to a party

The last term of the year is in full swing. The kids have already both been sick once, but are both better again. Uncle Wolfi came to visit and we went for a nice ride on the Gautrain from Johannesburg Park Station to Hatfield.
Today the kids went to one of their class mates party. It was mainly a girls party but Dylan was also invited. They really enjoyed themselves.
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Emma at the party:

Dylan and Emma on the Seesaw: