Live, Life and Scrap

Something crafty...

2008-08-29T14:40:00.003+01:00

At last....

I made this layout a while ago. Pictures where taken while we were on holiday in France in April. I have a load of photos to scrap, but happy to say i have done quite a bit in the last week or so.

I made this word book for my mom as part of her birthday parcel. It has photos in it of my 2 babas from 2004 -2008. I hope the package makes it safely to SA and I hope my mom likes it. I have to say i was amazed at how much the 2 have changed over the years.

Mwah
Wx

Day trippers!!!

2008-08-22T12:39:00.014+01:00

Hello!!!

We made a day trip out to Longleat Safari park on Sunday. That was our only planned destination... On the way there Lola, out satnav, had other ideas. We discovered that we will be going past Stonehenge.

I have been to Stonehenge before on my visit to the UK in 2003, but Pierre and the kids have not yet experienced it. I know that Pierre always wanted to see the stones, so this was a good call to make a stop on the way to Longleat. I think Stonehenge is just one of those places that have something mysterious and magical about and no matter how often you see it, it still remains so special. It was quite windy, just like I remember it. We even got some Japanese tourists asking us to take a photo of them, in their very limited English we understood what they wanted. Hey at least they tried, I wouldn't be able to speak even one word of Chinese. In return they also took a family photo of us. I think the 2 youngsters saw that Pierre was carrying around his Canon, just like theirs and thought this man would know how to operate the camera. All I can say is Stonehenge absolutely Rocks!!

On our way out of Stonehenge we decided to join the English heritage and invested in an annual pass. With over 400 sites to go and see free, it will really be worth our while. I think it will be £73 well spend.

About another 35min drive and we made it to Longleat Safari park. I have to say it is one thing that I really miss about SA, is the fact that you can go and see wildlife in their natural habitat. This was the closest that we could find and we had an absolute ball! We received a cd to play in the car, that tells you a bit about each section of the park. Very cute and entertaining!

We started off in the East African Game reserve. Spoilt for choice we saw so many Giraffes and there were quite a lot of young ones too! They are supper cute animals. You cant help but to love their posture. Pierre also took an amazing head shot of one of the Zebras.

Next up was the flamingo Valley, I really would have like to have been able to get out of the car to get a closer look at these birdies. They also had the African Spoonbill and Sacred Ibis.

From there you move onto the Venue which is home to the vultures. I wasn't totally blown away by this, but that is because we were actually inside a cage with vultures last year in SA. We saw so many different types of species then.

On to some monkey business! These little creatures were most entertaining! We all loved them. They are such curious little creatures. These ones were no exception, they would climb on top of cars, buses and vans! If it was moving, they were on it to hitch a ride.

Pierre took some great shots of one in particular. This little fellow got hold of a piece of a cardboard container and he was just munching away. It makes me angry to think that some ill informed idiot left his rubbish behind, but nevertheless this one acted like he was first surprised then hiding it and then the little fellow got caught red handed. Wasn't me, wasn't me, I promise!

It is now wonder that you are warned to keep you windows closed.

In this enclosure they also had the Water buffalo and the Black Buck.

On to the Big Game park! Here we saw our beloved White Rhino. They are just such incredible looking animals.
We also came across some Ankole. Now I have never seen these animals and they were most impressive. Ankole have the largest horns of any cattle which can reach nearly 2m across, they are also known as Watussi.

O Deer.... that was not a sp mistake tee hee. It was the Deer park.

The deers have been on the estate since the 16th century. This is also the only reserve where you can buy food to feed the deer. That was such an experience! Most of the party enjoyed it, Waldo was not impressed to let the deer lick his hand to eat.

We also saw some Bactrian Camel. Now, there are fewer than 1000 camels left in the wild.

The Scimitar Horned Oryx had such impressive horns. They are also listed as endangered. Bongo Bongo .... sounds like song doesn't it??
Tee hee, but actually these animals live in heavily forested areas which suits their personality. They are known to be quite shy but we were really lucky, they were just there next to the side of the road.

Our old time favourite... the Common Eland. What would a safari be without the pelican. They have been able to breed very successful in this park.

Tiger Territory.... I have never been this close to these incredible animals.
The Amur tigers are the largest of all the big cats and they are the only cats that like water. There was a tiny little incidence in the enclosure... a coach overheated! Can you imagine being stuck in the tiger enclosure. Eventually they got the coach out of the enclosure and i am sure that they had a couple of very tens tourists on that coach. The worse part wasn't over yet for them, because to get out of the park they still had to go through the wolf and 2 lion enclosures.

The lion country, well the lions as all cats do, were sleeping.
Well most of them anyways.
It looked like they were well adjusted and soaking up the sun rays.

Wolf wood... I don't know about you, but to me, the wolfs have always been a bit of a mysterious animal. Mystical creatures. The alpha male and the alpha female usually mate for life and form the nucleus of the pack. Subordinate females do not mate, they are the nannies of the pack.

Unfortunately we didn't get to do the water safari. We could have, but they only had one boat in operation. The ques were from here to Timbuktu.

We did get to experience the Longleat Manor house and gardens. Absolutely superb. The gardens were my favourite. The smell of the roses in the lovers maze garden was just so memorable. Its one of those moments that you wish you could just bottle the smell and then every once in while just open it and take it all in again.

A trip would not be trip without the 2 crazy daisies not pulling a funny face for a photo. Check out the cool dude. When did that happen???

We had such a wonderful day! It was a long day, but so worth it. We were absolutely knackered by the time we got home. It was a good tired.

Wx

Barcelona trip

2008-08-18T10:56:00.006+01:00

Hello!!!

Its been a month since i have returned from Barcelona and i have only now found the time to try and put down the experience in writing. Due to the fact that it was a school trip and so many of my photos contained kids in them, i can only put in the bare minimum photos.

Well where do you start.....

The coach trip to Barcelona:

O my goodness, if i knew that the coach trip would be that bad i probably would have not gone on this trip. My feet swelled so much! Or like i called them: My Fugly kankles! My feet and ankles were just one big mass and it was really sore! It took our coach all of 26 hours to get to Spain. I suppose we could count ourselves lucky because the other coach wasn't as lucky. Poor things.

We were about an hour and a half into our trip when the other coach experienced some engine problems. Both coaches pulled off on the side of the motorway, not the safest place to be in rush hour traffic. The driver got out, they opened the back the of the engine and this huge puff of smoke came out! I mean it was huge!

They had to wait for a replacement coach to come and fetch them and our coach set off to Dover in hopes that we would make the ferry on time. Once we reached Dover we had a change of drivers. Well this is where the fun started with the coach driver. This extremely overweight man got on the bus. He introduced himself and his co-driver to us. He was Billy and the co-driver was Mick. Now, this is where it gets interesting. He lays down the law for the trip, goes through all the safety requirements etc etc. The he says: " For the next week I will be god on this coach" Well that didn't go down too well with me and some others. I found a comment like that very offending. This man from the word go, just irritated the living daylights out of me! Imagine being at his mercy for the next 24 hours!

In the meantime the other coach headed back to Heathrow with a replacement bus to collect their new coach that would take them to Spain. Eventually they make it into France and at that stage they were about 2 hours behind us. Not too bad taking everything into consideration.

Billy tell the boys that 11:30 it is lights out and everything must be quiet until 7 the next morning because he needs to get some sleep while Mick does the driving. I am thinking to myself, 7 is a bit ambitious for boys who are extremely excited about the trip, but never mind. As I thought, the boys were starting to move about 6 ish. I was awake too, but just tried to relax quietly. The boys were starting to whisper to one another, and only a few i might add. The usual suspects you know, the backseat divas. The next minute this man Billy jumps up, waddles his way to the back shouts at the boys at the top of his voice, wakes every sleeping soul on the coach. He then still expects everybody that he woke up to stay quiet. This was not going to happen. Then Billy in his wisdom decided to put on the most horrific horror movie classical music on full blast. I was so not impressed!

The day started with a bang!! Literally! Slowly the temperature started rising and it was a hot day! We stopped several times. The other coach stopped at one of the services, had a drink and meal. Got back on the coach and guess what??? The coach wouldn't start at all! They were then too far into France to get a coach from UK. Replacement coach had to be arranged from France. The poor boys and staff were stuck at the services for 3 hours in the boiling sun! They looked like little lobsters by the time they met up with us at the hotel. We arrived at the hotel about 5:30pm the other coach only got there close to about 10 pm!

The Hotel:

The Hotel was situated in a little town called Blanes. Cute little town.

Now when the name of the hotel is Hotel Esplendid, you just know it is not going to be very splendid at all! And it wasn't! I would be the last person to complain about bad accommodation or food for that matter, but this hotel was horrendous! I went through the whole week eating very little meat.
Added to the problem was the fact that at the time the hotel housed about 5 schools in total. It makes our job just so much harder. Boys and their hormones add to that a Girl school, well yes you can imagine.

Each room had its own little porch, but it was so easy to climb over onto the other rooms porches. They drove us bananas! Try keeping the boys in their own rooms away from friends, was just an absolute nightmare.

Day trip to Barcelona:

Barcelona was about an hour and a bits drive away from our hotel. We set off to Nou camp! The boys were very excited by this prospect. We saw very little of Barcelona it self, because our tour at Nou Camp took longer than expected. I would have loved to see a bit more of the City itself.

The tour finished we all grouped back together ready to enjoy our packed lunches from the hotel. Well its only then that we discovered that only 2 of the 3 crates with lunches made it onto the coaches. This translates into about a third of the boys not getting lunches. Sigh.... thank goodness for contingency money. Bought the boys meals and we were set. Not that they missed anything from the packed lunches, but never mind.

From there we went to spend the rest of the afternoon at a water park. First to find the water park was a mission on its own. Eventually found it and went in. We had an absolute ball!!! There were so many water rides. I had a whale of a time. I just love water rides and slides.
I made my way to the top of one of these rides. When you get to the top you can choose a tunnel. The boys tell me not to take the second one as it is quiet extreme. Bless them for trying to protect me, but i don't back down from things like this. The more extreme the better. It looked all ok to me from where i was standing, but every now and again i would here the person going down yelling so loudly.... My turn and i found out why! I went down and about 3m into the ride there is such sheer drop! It felt like my one leg went North and the other South. I must have been a dreadful sight when i got out of that one. We made our way to the wave pool. Some how everybody decided to join at the pool. The boys had such good spirits. They were seeing together and chanting, all in good fun. Some of the Spanish joined in, I don't know whether they understood it all, but they were having a ball with our boys.

Porta Aventura:

If you ever have the opportunity to visit this theme park you should definitely give it a go! It was just awesome! We spent most of the day here and had an absolute blast!

The evening we took the boys bowling.

A day of Water sport:

The next morning we had a free morning to do a bit of shopping in the town and then at noon we set off to a little beach resort where we could do all sorts of water sport. You could snorkel, sea kayak, boat trips and a banana boat ride. Me and 3 other staff members decided to try out the banana boat ride. Man this was fun being pulled on this inflatable banana behind an extremely powerful motorboat out in the deep blue sea. The driver tried her best to get us to fall off. She succeeded not once but twice for the girls and 3 times for men. Try getting back onto this very slippery device is not the easiest of tasks let me tell you. I was totally knackered by the time we got back.

The night before we came home:

This is preferably one that i don't want to remember. We all had our hall duties etc to do. While i am doing my area i hear this extremely loud bang! You know the kind of bang that you just know is not a good one! People shouting, me running down the passage trying to figure out from which room did this noise came from. Somebody shouts 280! I knock on the door and the boy opens the door.... What a gruesome bloody sight. He dashed through a sliding door. His mates where out on the porch they couldn't get to him, the door mas not made of shatterproof glass at all! Poor boy, the first thing he says: I am so sorry and i promise that i wasn't drinking. He looked extremely sober to me at that point. There was glass and blood every where. Paramedics took him away with his group leader. He was so lucky! He only got 6 stitches above his ear, 2 in his wrist and one on a finger. He had some smaller cuts on his chest, but nothing too serious! How lucky was he?

Going back home:

Another coach trip! We made our way back and on the way our coach was involved in a minor accident. A car with a caravan pulled in in front of us. The bloke was driving as if there was no caravan! Driver to our coach slams on breaks just in a nick of time! At that moment the co-driver was making his way down the stairs and landed head over heals at the bottom of the stairs. The caravan clipped our coaches wing mirror and didn't stop either. Our coach driver then thinks it is a good idea to try and force the bloke to stop! It was just nerve wrecking! Eventually we tell the driver to rather just stop at the border post and report it, the other car couldn't turn off any where. Another hour at the border post and we were off! Going back home at last!

I have never seen my family that glad to see me. The kids jumped on me! Kayla looked like a little monkey, bless her. It was o so good to be back home!

Will i do this again??? I would say i had fun about 90% of the time, but i wouldn't venture out that far again with a coach. I will put this down as an experience and probably the longest road trip ever!

Mwah
Wx

Its carnival time!

2008-07-07T16:37:00.004+01:00

On Saturday we had the Crowthorne Carnival. Its a bi-annual event, where all the different schools, pre-schools, youth clubs etc design a float around a theme. This year Hatch Ride had a Secret Garden theme.

The kids where all dressed up. Little girls where flowers and fairies. The boys where gnomes. My son reaching an age where these type of things are no longer cool actually did quite well. He did try to dodge the headteacher and her face painting. He needs to work on the dodging skills, because she did get hold of him and he had 2 nice shiny red cheeks once she was done with him. Kayla being a girly girl, did mind the fuss at all.

The Reading Scottish Bagpipe band walked in front of us. Stunning outfits and gorgeous music!

It was a great day out and even i managed to get snap shot with a clown.

Happy days!
Wx

Beauty in our back garden

2008-07-04T16:42:00.003+01:00

Sometimes beauty is right in front of you, you just need to look closer. Pierre took these photos early one morning . The firs one is a spider web that collected the raindrops.
My beautiful lilies in the back garden. All clean and sparkly after the rain.Wx

Its my Life!!!!

2008-07-02T16:38:00.007+01:00

I am slowly but surely trying to catch up with the latest happenings in my life, not that it is that exciting...

Since we have moved to the UK, Pierre and I made a decision that we would see at least 1 life concert a year. Its just such a nice way to spend the day together, just the 2 of us enjoying good music and good company.

The first year 2006, we went to see Westlife. My poor hubby was the token male there. Guilty as charged, that was all my fault. Then last year we went to see the legend Rod Stewart and it was just bucketing down with rain. We were in stands and stayed dry, but the trip home was an absolute nightmare.

This year it was Bon Jovi!
These are unfortunately the best shots we took. Pierre couldn't take the biggest lens with, so he had to make do with the other one. The security already uhmd and ahhd at the gate about what we brought with.

It was truly spectacular. They are just such a talented bunch of men. Needless to say, Jon is very easy on the eyes too. Yummeee. The are many songs that stood out, but my favourite moment was when the crowds just all joined in "Its my life..." I have to say, I am a rock chick at heart.

It was the last concert in his tour and a great time was had by all. The beer was nice too. Nothing like good music and a nice beer on a hot summers day. We took this photo with Pierre's phone camera. I look a bit tipsy in this one. We had such a laugh.

Although I dreaded the trip home, it was pretty painless this time around. We got home just after 12. Not too bad.

Mwah
Chat soon.
Wx

Something small

2008-07-01T16:43:00.004+01:00

I made this little minibook for my mom in South Africa. It shows some sweet moments in my son's life from one birthday to the next.
We celebrated his 8th birthday in South Africa with my mom and i thought it would be a great idea to share with her small things to remember in the last year up until his 9th birthday. She really misses her grand kids, so i hope this helps.

She has loved all the other things i have made and posted to her. She says she feels like a child before Christmas when she knows there is a parcel on its way. Bless her.
C ya later.
Wx

I am still here...

2008-06-30T16:24:00.007+01:00

Phew....

I really need to get myself more organised and keep this blog up to date. I will try my best, promise.

So what has happened in the last month or so??

We had a trip to Wales at the beginning of June. We visited Monica and Conroy at their lovely home in Denbigh. The kids made friends with their cat, Diesel. Its times like these that I can see just how much they miss having a pet in the house.

The photo below was taken in the early hours of the morning. Pierre took a short walk and came back with some beautiful pics.

We made our way down to the beach and we were so blessed with lovely weather and excellent company. Waldo and Monica played a round of badminton. It was just so relaxed and just nice.

Two beach babes most definitely!!! It was just so nice to reconnect after such a long time and it felt like no time has passed since the last time we chatted.

We visited an old Castle ruins. The kids just loved it, they could run around. People were having picnics in the courtyard area. Such a relaxed atmosphere and the Ex pats made the most of the sun and soaked up every last ounce of sun. Little lizards in the sun.

The men in my life! They were play wrestling and just having fun.Our little madam, always ready to strike a pose.On Sunday we made our way back home. Conroy worked out a scenic route for us. It was just magical. Took us ages to get home, but it was so worth it!

I cant remember the last time I have seen sooooo many sheep together. They were just scattered all over the place.

We made a short stop at the Convy Falls. This reminded me so much of the Rainforest at God's Window in South Africa.A truly magical weekend filled with lots of laughter and Merlot.
Its been Just too short, but we will be back to explore more of this beautiful part of England.

Catch later babes!
Wx

Lets get active....

2008-05-10T10:27:00.004+01:00

Ok, 2 posts in 2 days! Too good to be true!

On Wednesday, Ruth and I took our year 11 Cope boys to the Oakwood Challenge Centre for the day. It was an absolutely fantastic day out with the lads!

We were blessed with wonderful weather!

It was just so nice to see the boys being just boys. Kids being kids! I don't think they often get the chance to do that. They were so relaxed and happy.

I did about 90% of the activities with the boys. Needless to say, i was as stiff as a board the next day. I tell you rock climbing must be the best exercise ever! Every muscle known to mankind was sore and stiff.

We did rock climbing inside and outside of the tower, archery, low ropes, high ropes (20ft).

The boys proceeded to do mountain boarding. I was not up for that one. That just looked painful. Great fun, but bruises is not my idea of fun. They loved it!!! It was all they could talk about on Thursday! Some have even done a bit more research about it and are thinking of taking it up as a hobby. Others where licking their wounds and bruises on Thursday. Let me tell you, they wore those bruises like a badge honour.

If want to take a look at the place we went to:

http://www.oakwoodyouth.co.uk/ActivitiesIndex.htm

Wx

Colourful moments

2008-05-09T17:52:00.005+01:00

I have to back date my blog just a tad. Before you know it the days just go by so quickly! On Sunday we took a nice drive out to the Seville gardens that are part of the Windsor parks. I must say if you ever have a chance to go, this is a must see. These gardens are truly breathtaking! There is just this peacefulness about these gardens. We spent a couple of hours here. This trip didn't really float the kids boat initially, but towards the end they warmed up to these gardens. I think they are under the impression that Pierre and I are growing old.

This tree just framed the flowers beautifully. The Azaleas are just so beautiful.

The picture below was taken by the boy. Check out the not so happy bunny in front of us. I think she wanted to take a photo as well with daddy's camera. Talk about being sulky. Tee hee
The water makes it so peaceful.
Around every little bend you would find something more interesting and more colourful.
Does this mean that I am now officially a tree hugger??? I thinks so.
Outside the gardens you could take a leisurely stroll in the park.
We came across this 100m totem pole, carved out of Red oak.
A tender moment between Kayla and Waldo. They were completely unaware of us taking this photo behind them. Aahh bless, they do love one another after all.
We made our way back to the car after a very long walk,(4 miles). The fresh air was just great and the weather behaved itself. Not a drop of rain in sight. Yay!

More to follow of this weeks happenings.

Wx

I cannot believe it!

2008-05-02T18:10:00.006+01:00

I am officially going to throw the pc out of the window. Its been playing up for the last 2 weeks. This afternoon I finished the whole blog entry up to the point of just inserting the photos and then it started all its funny business again. The whole entry lost!!! Nooooooo!

Anyways....

A couple of days after we came back from holiday Pierre went to Belgium on a business trip. As always he brought back some real special treats. A box of art is what i would like to call it. I got some really yummee Belgium chocolates. Each little chocolate is a work of art. I am really strict with myself. Only 1 or 2 a day. They are not only gorgeous to look at, but it is just the best chocolates ever!

Added onto that Pierre bought me the new Chanel Allure Sensual perfume. It is just such a beautiful fragrance. My 2 favourite treats in the world! Chocolates and perfume.

Last weekend was the UKS cyber crop. I thought I would have spent the weekend scrapping, but that was not to be. Just too many interruption. I at least manage to finish the circle journal i was working on and one online class. I really enjoyed the class. It took me way longer than the original 1 hour suggested to finish it, but i am very pleased with it. It will also be used as the first page of our holiday to France album.

This weekend is bank holiday weekend and fingers crossed for some lovely weather.

Wx

Its been a while...

2008-04-17T12:52:00.018+01:00

I must be the worlds worse blogger. This entry is also going to be one of the longest. A couple of chapters. So be warned. hehehe

We returned from our holiday to France on Sunday afternoon and boy did we have a good time. We just love the road trips. This was probably the longest one we have ever done. We did about a thousand miles easily.

The build up to our holiday was just a tad stressful to say the least. We struggled for 3 days to get hold of Pierre's brother. We were really worried but with a lot of help from one of Bil's friends we manage to get hold of him. My mom experiences a rather traumatic moment on the Wednesday. Smash and grab. Thank fully she is alright but is still taking a bit of strain to get over the emotional trauma. Our passports only arrived on the Thursday prior to our departure on the Friday. Cutting it fine my friend, cutting it fine......

Friday (4 April) we jumped in the car directly after school and the Grobler family was off!!!! We drove from Wokingham to Dover and then boarded the ferry. I do love boat trips. We spent the night at a hotel in Calais. Guess what??? We left something really important at home. My sons pj's. He was so not impressed. Last year we forgot Kayla's.

Saturday 5 April. Destination: Brehet
We enjoyed a lovely breakfast at the the hotel. This is where the language fun started. We took little pots of what we thought was yogurt. We now know that Pomme potte is actually some apple mouse. This caused a bit of a giggle.

We left for the Cottage. Made ourselves as comfortable as possible in the car, this was going to be a longgggg sit.

We choose not to do the toll roads and rather to take the scenic route. Did it turn out to be scenic. Our dearly beloved Lola (Tomtom) took a couple of odd turns every now and again. Pierre "almost" started to panic at one time. Bless him....

We got to the beautiful cottage in the late afternoon.Our lovely host were there to greet us and show us around. A lovely welcoming basket awaited us. With a lot of local treats, Brittany biscuits, wine, cheese, Crepe's, jam etc Really scrummy treats. Pierre and Kayla drove to the local butcher down the road. Here with the help of very limited language and a bit of charades he came home with some lovely sausages.

Sunday 5 April. Destination: Perros Guirec and Ploumenac'h.
We were greeted with the loveliest of lovely views from our bedroom window. The weather looked glorious.That changed very quickly. Temperatures dropped and the wind picked up.

We drove to our first destination. Perros-Guirec. A lovely view but it was bitterly cold and windy. This did not stop these crazy South Africans' of hitting the beach.
The wind started to settle and we drove out to Ploumanc'h for a nice long hike. This is Brittany's Pink Granite coast. The fine sandy shores are littered with strangely eroded, exotically tinted outcrops of granite. Many houses are build in the local stone, giving the town a mellow pink hue. We just had to have a photo of this enormous rock. The specs to the right is us.

Even the lighthouse was built out of these rocks.
We drove back to the little town in search of some much needed Pj's. We found some at a very exclusive childrens boutique. The boy now has some very cute pj's with French writing on the front and back. We had to dig out the dictionary to translate. Tee hee.

Monday, 7 April. Nine years ago on this day our boy was born. We decided to do something really special. We took a boat trip out to Ile de Brehat. Brehat consists of 2 tiny islands that lie like tattered butterfly wings pinned together by a 16th century bridge. Each of these low lying islands, measures less than a kilometer in length. It only has about 400 inhabitants. My kinda island. We have found our retirement home.There are no cars on this island. You can hire a bicycle or take a walk about. We did the last one. We saw the most amazing add for a bicycle hire. Right through the wall....Kayla is not yet at the stage of cycling on her own and besides this little island had way too many hills. We walked and walked. We got to the top a nice steep hill just to receive some unwanted sleet from above. With no where to hide we had to endure a couple of blows. This caused a lot of giggles.We had no map, but you cant really get lost on such a small island. Can you? We had to make our way back to the Ferry terminal by following some street signs. There were not many around. We now know that ferrie in French does not mean ferry in English. We followed the boards that said Ferrie and discovered some glass blowers on the island. What a treat.

Tuesday, 8 April. Destination: Mont-St-Michal and St Malo Mont-St-Michel is more than a church on a rock in a bay. The Mount has drawn pilgrims since AD708. The silhouette of the walled abbey rising from the mists was the very symbol of France and the French ingenuity long before the Eiffel tower. The fortified religious community, separated from the mainland by quicksands and tides, is a surreal sight. Never mind the aching calf muscles we continued to climbing the steps of the abbey and once we reached the summit the views from the top was just utterly amazing.

We were amazed at the huge treadmill in which prisoners once trudged to work a system pf pulleys to haul building materials up the side of the Mount. Words can not do this site justice. We were absolutely amazed. It was also the busiest place we visited.St Malo. Now this place caused a giggle or too.

This is Brittany's largest ferry port and a magnificent walled citadel. This being said to find parking in this place was a nightmare. We tried to find parking, saw some near the port. A car pulled in one parking area, got his ticked and we thought well we will try this one too. Me being on the left hand side of the car, I had to do all the pressing of button ( A Big Green one) to get a ticket. I pressed and pressed, but nothing. With urgent encouragement from hubby and backseat drivers. Press the button! I am pressing the button, but nothing is happening. A very helpful man came over and explained to us that Complet means its full (That's what i gathered from his explanation) No wonder we couldn't get a ticket. Anyways, eventually we got a parking spot by pressing said Green Button.

We enjoyed a lovely afternoon on the beach. Rock climbing, exploring the rock pools, walking and more walking. Pierre really pushed us to do a lot of walking. The kids could just run around and go slightly mad. We played Tag- your- it on the beach. It was just glorious. (Not the green button though)Wednesday, 9 April. Destination: Paimpol and Sables-d'or-les-Pins.

Paimpol is very much a working port. We visited the the ruins of the Abbey de Beauport. This was just full of atmosphere. It was so quiet and peaceful. We tried to do a steam locomotive trip as well, but unfortunately this only runs from May to August.

Sables had these long stretches of golden sand and verdant pines that give the resort its name.
We visited the beach and the kids just loved the soft sand. Sables is essentially an artificial resort- even the beach is a bottle blonde created from imported sand. Work began in the early 1920's but the project was abandoned before completion after the financial crash of 1929.

We discovered the town by using a beach buggy. We had so much fun. The giggles, mainly from me, could probably be heard for miles. You know that point that you reach of giggling so much, that you cant do anything else. That was me. On this trip we lost a strap to one of the backpacks that got caught in the wheel. I paddled along with Pierre for a little while. Waldo said he wanted to have a go. Who am i to stop him? Go ahead. Kayla and I played the role of some really demanding tourists. hehehe. Its just as well that we only had the buggy for half and hour, i don't think the boys legs could handle another 30 min. hehehe.

We then drove out to a look out point at Cap Frehel - the emerald coast. Another visit to a nearby beach so that the kids could just run around.

Thursday, 10 April. Destination: Lannion and back to Perros.

We decided to take things easy and do less driving and walking on this day. We all feeling just a tad tired.

Thursdays in Lannion is market day. Although there are supermarkets around, people still prefer to do their weekly shopping at the local market (marche). We were amazed at what you could buy at these markets. You could really buy anything!!! Streets are closed off to accommodate the market. There is just this buzz.

We drove back to the beach at Perros. It was much better weather than on the Sunday. A truly lazy day.

Friday, 11 April. Destination: Dinan the city of art and culture.

We discovered this city on foot. You guessed it, more walking. hehehe. This gorgeous fortified town at the head of the Rance is one of Brittany's best preserved medieval towns, with some the regions most characterful buildings and stunning views. The narrow, cobbled rue de Jerzual and its continuations, Rue du Petit-fort, wind down to the river from the heart of the old town. The town has loads of old half timbered homes that look like they are leaning over to the one side.
We climbed the bell tower for some spectacular views. The going up the tower wasn't as bad as the going down. The first set of steps back down is very steep and
almost like a ladder, no real place to hold on to. Kayla gave these steps one look and said: I am scared, I don't want to go down. O dear, the bell rings every 15 min. We had 2 min to get out of there before this huge bell was going to do its thing. Pierre went down first and did some sweet talking to his daughter. He convinced her that its ok and she will be fine. Never mind that Waldo and I were sweating blood behind her. I had no idea how loud this bell was going to ring. Luckily Waldo's new watch was 3 min ahead, so we made it down just in a nick of time.

Kayla and I say the most exquisite dress in a shop window. Kayla's response: O,lala! To great amusement to some French ladies. Unfortunately my hubby was not going to fork out 1500euros. hehehe. He was just being stroppy.

We visited the Castle keep. This place freaked me out. The rest of the party enjoyed it. I just got this very uneasy unexplained feeling while climbing the 308 steps ( yes, I counted them. Took my mind of the neck hair standing up) I have been in many old building, but this one was truly spooky.

Saturday, 11 April. Destination: Omaha beach and Calais.

We had to make our way back to the port in Calais and we decided to make a day of it
We decided to take the toll roads this time and discovered this amazing bridge on our way to Omaha beach.

We stopped at the American Cemetery and memorial, Omaha beach and the Museum at Omaha beach.

This was really such a significant visit for Pierre and I. We have been watching a lot of movies around the WW2. This gave new meaning to what happened. Nothing can describe this feeling that just hits you in the pit of your stomach when you see the 9387 headstones. When you see the beach at Omaha you can visualise what it must have been like for the soldiers. It was just so incredible!

Headed onwards to Calais to finish off our well deserved break. We walked on the beach at sunset, played chicken with the waves, chased a tissue(clean one) and just tried to make the most of every last minute. It was freezing but so worth every minute.

The French amaze me. During this week our French have definitely improved so much. We have also learn that Restaurants only serve from 12-2 (thank goodness for Mc Donalds) and then again from 7 at night, most shops are closed on a Monday, Crepes with peaches and cream are just the best and above all they have the best food ever. The 2kg that i have gained can testify to that.

If read all the way, I commend you!

Mwah
Wx

A boy, a book and a girl with a bike.

2008-02-25T15:24:00.003Z

During this last week we were home for half term. Just relaxing and recharging our batteries.

When Waldo got his camera for Christmas, he promised his Ouma that he would send her some of the photos he has taken. So, needless to say this has been on the boys mind. I made him a little mini book( got the instructions from Scrapdolly's blog), Daddy printed his photos for him and he did the rest. He had fun, choosing the paper and diving into my scrapbooking supplies. Once the book was assembled he did the journalling bits. It took us a couple of hours over a couple of days, but we are both chuffed to bits with the results. The book also has some hidden tags with heartfelt journalling. Sure Ouma is going to shed a tear or two.

The girl and her bike..... Well, this was round number 2 for us. We have been trying to learn the little diva how to cycle without the training wheels. O dear, what a struggle. I cant remember struggling this much with the boy. We were still holding onto the bike and she would lift her feet off the pedals, pulling the breaks etc. Patience was running very thin on Daddy's part. Mommy steps in, but i cant let go. Think I am as scared as she was. Running next to her bike was very tiring to say the least. Today the arm muscles are saying: "Hey you, yes you. The one who is turning around, get some more exercises!"

Saturday night the kids both had birthday parties to attend. Needless to say the 2 venues where no way near each other. The boy went snow tubbing and the girl had a party with Fred in the Shed. While they had their party, we had a fantastic Chicken Fajita meal, made by the remaining 2 Groblers. The food was hot and spicy just like we like it. My ears were glowing and the nose was running. I am sure that if you went onto Google earth you could have spotted the glow of my ears from outer space. hehehe. Pierre finished his drink, got desperate and grabbed my glass of Merlot. He took a nice big swig. For someone who doesn't drink wine, this was a very unpleasant surprise. His face was absolutely priceless.

Check out the boy's new look. Hey good looking...

Tomorrow its back to School we go....

Mwah
Wx

Home sweet home

2008-02-21T12:08:00.008Z

I have made my first acrylic album. Have to say, I really enjoyed playing with it. I had to get my head around planning 2 pages at the same time. What I did on the one side was going to affect what I did on the other. (Almost like life). I tried to overcome this by using double sided paper. 77 Buttons later and I am pleased (for once) with the end result.

I will be posting it off to my Mom in South Africa, just to share with her where we live, which parks we visit etc. Hopefully this album will reach its destination. I have made 3 in the past, neither made their appearance. It saddens me to think the unthinkable. Someone opened it and just chucked, it would be meaningless to them, but I assure you a lot of hard work and love went into making them.

Undiscovered little gems.

2008-02-18T15:07:00.004Z

Valentine has come and gone. Needless to say, but I have been so spoilt. Our house is overflowing with flowers. Roses, Lilies and tulips. My 3 favourites... and don’t forget the lovely chocolates and beautiful card.

I bought Pierre a lovely cd, a huge Toblerone and card. When I bought the card I didn't realise it was a noisy card, so when I opened the card to write my message the card started to make some noise. Singing to me, it almost went flying. It was so funny, but I also knew that someone else was going to get a fright as well. hehehe. I can be such a minx sometimes.

My little boy was very generous and shared his cold with me. By Friday I felt like death warmed up, but I was determined not to be off the day before half term starts. The last 2 lessons of the day, I had barely a voice left.

I started a mini album for my mom about where we live. We headed out yesterday to take a couple of photos. On our way back we decided to take a little Sunday afternoon drive. It was so lovely. We drove past a woodland area and noticed a couple of cars parked along the side of the road. That was our queue to stop and investigate. This is on a road that we use so often, and we have never noticed this woodland area. What a nice walk and what a glorious view. I think it’s going to be even a better view in the summer. Tucked away behind a huge tree I noticed these daffies, totally hidden from the rest of the world. What a great find.

The creative juices flowed very well this weekend. I have been pondering on one layout the whole week and managed to finish it on Saturday. Started a second layout for the Scrapagogo sketch challenge and finished it on Saturday. 2 Completed layouts in one day must be a record for me.

I dreamt of a nice lay in this morning, it was not to be. The 2 bundle of joys in my life had other ideas. I suppose there is nothing wrong with dreaming hey?

Mwah
Wx

Catch up time.

2008-02-11T08:49:00.000Z

Wow, it’s been a while since I blogged. Life has just been so manic and crazy. I can’t believe we are so far into February already.

I got a beautiful bunch of roses last week. They were just gorgeous. My hubby really spoilt me. He also took some stunning photos for me of said flowers. He is really into this whole photography thing. He snaps and I scrap. I just can’t keep up with him. Hehehe. He really loves his Canon baby.
Last week Wednesday we had our first AGM for the Afterschool club. Pierre has been the Chairman and me the secretary. The previous financial year the club made a loss of £2100 and they were on the brink of closing it down. The new committee got elected and I am proud to say not only have we recovered the loss but made an outstanding profit of £2500. Yay! We did it!!!

We went cycling on Saturday. The weather was just so good that there was no ways we were not going to make the most of it. We went cycling at Dinton pastures. The kids prefer this park over the Look out. I think it’s because the route is more even. Easy cycling which meant we cycled further than usual. Needless to say the rear end felt a tad tender yesterday. Ouch... No pain no gain. The fresh air did us all good.
I think spring is in the air. (Or is that just wishful thinking????) The daffies started blooming in our garden. The weather is just gorgeous!

Pierre took our 2 and the 2 boys next door to play footie at the nearby park yesterday. It started out with just our 2 and the brood grew to 4. They had lots of fun. Pierre took some gorgeous portrait shots of our 2 yesterday. Today.... I am home with a poorly lad. When he was still sleeping at 6:45 I knew something was up. The poor little thing has a snot nose deluxe. Huffing, puffing, red ears and headache. My poor boy. I hate it when they are not well.

So that’s the latest news on this side of the world.

Mwah.
Wx

Simply Sunday

2008-01-27T18:57:00.000Z

We were blessed with a beautiful day. Clear blue skies!!! Yipppeee.

As promised I will share some of the lad's photos from Ufton Court. He was so chuffed with them. We were not allowed to touch the camera. He wanted to hold the camera and tell the story.

I had a nice creative weekend. One layout was from our SA holiday last year. The journal ling on the side, explains how these potholes were formed over so many centuries.

This lo was made with this months Scrapagogo kit. I used the sketch challenge. The photos were taken back in 2006 of Kayla playing in the garden with some bubbles. I did loads of hand stitching. Only cardstock and some embellies. That's a first for me.

Margarithe came to visit today. We had such a nice chat and meal. Nice to be home and relax. After lunch we introduced said friend to the playstation Singstar game. We even have photos of it. I am sure she will kill me though if i put them on the web. Hehehe.

Chin up for the next week.

The boy is back in town.

2008-01-25T16:37:00.000Z

What a strange week it was.

Waldo went on his first ever residential trip. They left on Wednesday morning. My heart was very sore to see the boy go. They stayed at Ufton court, an old Tudor house. Apparently also very spooky. What do expect of a 600 year old house. Loads of history there.

The house was so quiet.

Kayla said on Wednesday that she thinks she was going to cry that evening, because she misses her big brother. She did indeed. She was playing in the bath, singing away. The next minute we hear her sobbing. Daddy went to check on her. She cried, because she missed her brother.

To see his room dark, quiet and no boy is sight was so weird. I felt so out of sorts with him away. I really didn't think it would affect me this badly. It did.

The boy came back today. He did seem to be very glad to be home. The first thing he said: " Mom, I didn't wear all my clothes. I haven't bathed, nobody did in my room" What????? NOOOOOOO! He had such a cheeky grin on his face though when he told me. Apparently the bathrooms were really not nice. He says there were loads of mill dew and even moss growing in the bathrooms. Hehehe. Think i will take that with a bag of salt.

He took 25 photos while on the trip. I will try and upload some tomorrow.

The first think we did when he came back..... In the bath for a good old scrub.

mwah
Wx

Celebrate the Nerd within Me.

2008-01-20T15:14:00.000Z

In the spirit of this weeks blogging, I decided to celebrate being a Nerd. I did this weeks challenge on UKS. One of the requirements were that you had to use a Wizard of Oz quote. I took my quote from the movie. It pretty much sums me up. If it was 20 years ago, I probably would have denied the fact that I was a nerd. Now, I embrace it!

I did the journaling on the circles.

I hardly ever do layouts about me. Most of my Lo's are from places we have been, family or friends. It was good doing something just for me.

Waldo is going on his first residential trip this week. They are going to Ufton Court. They will be living in a 600 year old Tudor house. He is very excited and his mother very nervous. He is leaving on Wednesday and will be back on Friday afternoon. I know its only 3 days and 2 nights, but to me it's a big deal. Letting go is so hard!

I helped the lad pack his bag this afternoon. Its only Sunday, but my son is even more of a control freak than his mother. Packing his bags just didn't feel right. What a weird feeling.

Mwah
Wx

Celebrate life

2008-01-17T16:38:00.000Z

This has been one hectic week, but I just decided that I will celebrate the good things!

We had an after school club meeting on Tuesday and preparations are underway for the AGM at the beginning of February. The Chairman is very nervous, but he will be OK. His secretary will make sure of that. Hehehe. We got such good news from the Treasurer. We made a £2000 profit this year, in comparison with the last year where a loss was made. The club was run by a different committee the previous year. They made a £2000 loss, so not only have be managed to get the club out of debt, but also into a very favourable green. That was such good news. We really have worked hard to get the Club back on track. All the hard work paid off.

Pierre was away on a business trip for 2 days. They had their year start conference in Nottingham. The house was so quiet last night. Strange, but nice. I appreciated my Gogo kit that arrived and did a bit of reading too.

I read out of "Chicken soup for the Scrapbookers soul." This was a gift from hubby. What a nice gift. I can relate to every single entry in that book. I can really recommend it to all Scrapbookers.

A quote that i liked:

"The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate"
Oprah Winfrey.

That just really hit the spot for me. I love quotes and books with quotes. This has to be my favourite for this week.

Enough ramblings for now.

Mwah
W

Some creative time

2008-01-13T20:30:00.001Z

At last I managed to get to do some serious scrapping. I finished another layout today. Yippeee. I managed to finish this weeks challenge and I did another layout with my lovely Scrapagogo Kit. I used the sketch supplied in the kit booklet.

also managed to do some reorganising. I repacked the kids dressers and chucked out loads of odds and ends. I got hold of all my old Scrap booking magazine and I cut out only the layouts, sketches and techniques I liked. I then went about sticking them into a book. I hope to slowly but surely work my way through all the wonderful ideas and inspiration. I am no way near finish, with the amount of mags I have this might take longer than expected.

Another hectic week ahead.

Mwah

Its a beautiful day.

2008-01-12T20:50:00.001Z

I woke up this morning, peep through the curtain. Low and behold, clear blue skies, again. Two weekends in a row. This is just to good to be true.

We know that when the weather is this good, you must make the best of it.

Got up, got the kids ready and off we went. We tried another cycle route at one of the other local parks. Dinton Pastures was a much easier ride than last weeks attempt. When I got back on the bike, my bottom reminded me of the aches from last week.

It is a very lovely park and the fact that there was just loads of puddles and mud made it very exciting for the youngest boy in the family. He ended up with a nice muddy stripe down his back. Hehehe.

As always, Pierre took loads of photos. Waldo made the comment when we stopped, (again), for more photos that this trip is going to take double the time. That made me laugh! He sometimes just can be so funny in such a dry way. The facial expressions were just priceless.

However, Pierre did take some beautiful photos. I will include some.

Swimming lessons started again today. I have to say how impressed I am with my babas. They really love swimming and it shows.

Ps. I finished this weeks challenge, at last. I will upload tomorrow.

She made the Newspaper.

2008-01-11T17:55:00.000Z

My little girl made our local newspaper. A couple of photos were published about their Christmas feast they had at school. She was in one of them. Not the small little things where you cant really see who is in the picture. She features in the biggest one of them all.

My comment to her was that she has made the paper. Her response: " No mamma, I didn't MAKE the paper" True I suppose. Bless her.

My new passport arrived today. I looked at the photo and thought that this is the worse one ever. Not that they were any good the last time. This time it looks like my photo was scanned and then put through one of those sketch me programmes. It really does not look like a photo at all.

Never mind. I will just be stuck for the next 10 years with this passport. Sigh.....

The old passport will be scrapped. It contains so many stamps in it and it just holds so many precious memories of trips in the past.

Now the whole process must start again for our Visas, but at least it will not take almost 4 months before we get the passports back.

We have plans to make a major road trip in France during the April holiday. Confirmation of our booking for the Cottage arrived yesterday. We love doing road trips.

I am so glad its weekend! Yay!

Mwah
W

What a nice surprise

2008-01-09T16:53:00.000Z

It didn't take long before I fell behind in my posts, did it?

Yesterday was just a manic day from start to finish.

The best part of yesterday.... I got home and there was a lovely surprise waiting for me. I parked the car and saw a purple box on my doorstep. The only items i am waiting form will never be in such a big box. 2 Zig 2 way glues will never come in such a big box. The kids got all excited. We opened it and inside it had lovely flowers and a box of chocolates. My very good friends (the T's), from SA , sent this to me with a quirky message inside. I was blown away. What a thoughtful act. I am blessed to have friends like that in my life.

Today has been a pretty uneventful day. That's good too, sometimes.

I am hoping to get a crack on with this weeks challenge.

Wx

Back to the salt mines

2008-01-07T19:52:00.000Z

I had to almost kick myself out of bed this morning. The alarm went of at 6:15, push the snooze button. It goes off again 6:21, ok now I am pushing my luck. Just 5 more minutes. Kayla and Waldo climbed into bed with me, we had such a good snuggle. What a great way to start your day.

My 2 little ones school had an inset training day today, I wasn't that lucky. Pierre was going to work from home today, but a meeting was scheduled on Friday for him to attend. What to do, what to do??? My darling neighbour, Francesca, offered to look after the 2 for us today. They loved it. Playing with Tola and Ntunu made their day. When I went to fetch them this afternoon, Tola was very disappointed that they had to go home. He has become such a good friend to my boy, he is like an older brother to him. Ntunu and Kayla can not get enough of one another. Both of them are very girly girly girls.

What does my head in on the first day back, is always the noise level. I have a headache of note tonight.

I had all the best intentions in the world, to do this weeks challenge... Well at least I have made a start. I printed off the requirements. Thinking cap on!!!

Off to put the kids to bed.

Mwah
Wx

Another year older....

2008-01-06T18:13:00.000Z

Hello and welcome to my Blog!

One of my New years resolutions were to start my own blog. Guess I can tick that one now. The next one is to post regularly.

Today is my birthday!!

Do I feel any older than when I were in my twenties. No way, and as long as I can colour all the little grey hair I will continue to try and look the part too. I might just have to add the little secret of loads of little pots of creams and moisturisers, but a girl has to do what a girl has to do.

I truly have had an absolutely fantastic day today. Just to have a day with clear blue skies is a good start already. I was spoilt with loads of excellent presents, gorgeous birthday cards and tons of lovely text messages from all my friends and family. Some where close and others had travel thousands of miles trough cyberspace.

We decided to go cycling on this very lovely day. We wrapped up warm, gloves, jumpers and even hats. We tried our hands at a mountain bike trail not to far away from home. We had so much fun!!! We laughed and joked, some complained about their fingers that were frozen (that's little madam). I know that I am going to be very stiff and sore tomorrow, but it was so worth it!

We had a lovely dinner, roast, baked potatoes, the whole nine yards. Finished it off with a birthday cake baked by my hubby.

The story about the cake.... Well Pierre was determined that I am not going to bake my own birthday cake and he will do it for me. He tried a recipe that we found on my new chocolate calender. It came out of the oven, the 2 layers were about 2 cm high. Oops... Next up was Auntie Nelly's trusted chocolate cake. That came out out at 3cm each. Never mind, just stack them on top of one another. Icing on top, loads of chocolate!!!! Just like I like it. The cake weighed in at 2kg. Yes, I weighed it. Pierre was not impressed, but hey it had loads of chocolate so i was very impressed. Waldo made the comment while we were eating: " Solid like a rock" Well, what can you do, other than laugh at a comment like that.

If you were able to read up to the end of this entry, I salute you!

Mwah