Kirstenbosch with (some) Powries

We wanted to take Joshua for a picnic as Kirstenbosch, but Andrew and I didn't feel up to doing it on our own... So we hauled Richard and Shawn off with us to get them out of the house and burn up some energy. My dad then also joined the party. It was a nice cool day, just like our other picnic day at Kirstenbosch.


Joshua has this fear of walking over gaps in the ground. So he was very cautious over this grate.

A family of Egyptian geese on the way to our picnic spot.

Joshua couldn't even wait for us to be settled! He had to start chasing something!


For those who remember the climbing tree/umbrella tree, this is the result of a major storm a few years back. Apparently it will grow a canopy over again given a long time...


And then the chasing began in earnest... But for anyone who's been around guinea fowl, you'll know that the only good thing to do with them is try to get them to fly!





Then the boys did their general messing around.



And then the comical highlight of the afternoon! I don't know if it was Shawn's or Richard's idea, but they wanted to try and catch a guinea fowl by tempting it with a chip... I cracked up laughing all over again looking at these photos!





I could have told you it wasn't going to work! ;o)

But they had to try again...

So LOTS of energy got burned up in the end. And I think this was probably one of the highlights of our holiday time.

Visits to the beach

During December we got to visit the beach quite a few times.

We had a picnic for Shawn's birthday.


Boys never get too old to play on the jungle gym!





Joshua really enjoyed the water at first... Unfortunately a small wave, but big for him, came and knocked him over. But he enjoyed it while it lasted!


Then another day we took my mom and gran to the beach. Joshua loved digging in the sand!




This vessel was stranded off the beach in about September last year, and it's still being worked on. Hopefully at some point it will be removed. But it makes for interesting scenery in the mean time.


I think this was about the beginning of Josh's fascination with kites!


Some of the sunsets we enjoyed as well:

Kirstenbosch with the Herberts

We went to Kirstenbosch for a picnic with Andrew's family during the December holidays. It ended up being a pleasantly cool day...



Sarah being a daredevil



Clint... Need I say more ;o)

One of those "don't ask" moments for Josh

Wanting so badly to be big like his cousins!


And "Oh, now I really wish I was big like Sarah!"

Joshua moments - January 2010

January was a holiday month in many ways. Such a fun time of year!

We joined Andrew's family at a braai - and of course Joshua just loved any ball he could find!

This was also a break through event with his swimming. Up till this time he was very hesitant to get back in the water nicely after winter. But check out the photos to come!

Joshua has a couple favourite books at Granny's house - Thomas the Tank Engine and Fireman Sam. And within those favourite books there are certain pages which are absolute favourites! Here he was telling Granny all about some of the pictures.

So back to his swimming... After starting off the season on a very hesitant note, he had a good time at the braai and then he just loved the water after that!


Once he started trying to jump into the water all the time I made the instant decision that he had to go back for swimming lessons!



So he's being going to swimming lessons since January again, and after an initial fight he is now swimming really well! Just one more lesson before we break for winter.

But back to January. Like I've mentioned before my child is Barney crazy! Barney had to be doing everything that Josh was doing at one point, including eating and drinking his milk!


Little grown up ;o)


While my gran was down we took another 4 generation photo.

In preparation for setting up his new room we got a table and chair set for Joshua. It was an instant hit, and of course Barney had to have his own chair. To this day Barney always sits on the green chair and Joshua sits on the red chair!