Holiday beaches

I choose this rainy day to start a few quick posts about the December holidays. They were just here, I swear I smelled them. They are now finished. Swoosh, just like that! Anticipation of Ouma and Oupa arriving, excitement at seeing cousin Cleoné and a few weeks later, those are already memories.

This year we actually managed a few outings to the beach (It is hard to get to the beach when you have a solar-heated pool at home ok!)

We (re)discovered Noordhoek beach (Phillip and I go there every 14 years).

Building sandmen

African dancing

Chased by the sea

Captivated by sand

A warm pool of cousins

Taming the untameable calm lagoon

A mother in the making

Irresistible grin

Deciding on the target

My favourite mopkop

We also visited Hout Bay beach. Kids love the dunes there.

National sport: dune-climbing

… I’m not sure what they’re doing, but it looks pretty cool

Life support. Holding hands.

Joyful

Ecstatic (Léa’s favourite word at the moment)

Joyful. 2

Proof: Killian and I were there.
Love the background.

 

Photos, photos, photos!!!

 

The impact cousins have on the french language…

When we visit my mum in France, my sister and her family who live 7 hours away usually make the trip to come and say hello. This time around, even though we went there in June i.e. during school term, they still made the long journey by car, with a 7 year old and a 6 year old, just for 3 days, just to see us!! It was short but it was goooooddd!!!

We went to one of our favorite place, the lake St Cassien!!  I’m always amazed at how well the kids so quickly get along. They see each other once every 2 or 3 years and yet Léa and Margot played together as if they had seen each other the previous week and the boys were fighting for Thomas’attention.

The best part about having the cousins around was that my conundrum about languages got resolved within a day. Why make the effort to speak french to mum when mum can speak english? Why make the effort to speak french to my granny when I only need the vocabulary for greetings and food. But if I need to play with the cousins…. ahah! By the end of the 3 days, my kids had seriously improved their fluency in French. And they sounded so cute!!!

So thank you my sister for coming all the way to say hello and touch base!!! We had a fun time!!! And thank you to my mum and Claude for moving out of their flat for one night to accommodate all of us!!! :–)

Forum Julii

aka Fréjus – France. Three years later…

A picture descriptive of our holidays!

We arrived on Saturday, white and tired. By Sunday, we were less tired, more red and very sandy. As always, our holidays in France are characterized by sun and beach. No time to waste!

It was Mother’s Day the first day after we arrived: the best gift I could give my mum! We spent the day at the beach Base Nature, all together, Goway (the dog) included!

We managed to get burned on our first day. I (stupidly) thought that the June sun is mild enough to go without any protection… ah ah! It set the tone for the rest of our time there! It also gave plenty of material to tease Phillip and his peeling state 🙂

On Fréjus, St-Raphaël, Ste-Maxime, St-Tropez…

 

Look at this map. Do you see St-Raphaël? Do you see Fréjus?

It’s not just a map with names. It might mean nothing to you, but to me, it’s my entire childhood, right into adulthood!! This is where we are going in exactly 9 days!!!!

**happy face**

 

And then zoom out…. and you get this:

In the foreground, the harbour, in the background the cathedral and all the intricate pedestrian streets where I have so many fond memories!

Now I thought I was excited at the idea of going!  But what I see in my children’s eyes when we start talking about the imminence of our trip is the delight of their own memories and what France means to them: the walks to the beach, Marineland, Luna Park, Mamie’s apartment and the big garden downstairs, the ice-creams, the evening outings, the plane trip (!!)…

And I’m excited at the idea of building more memories this year, with new places to enjoy. This time we’re even going to camp…

And I look at the countdown roster that they each made,

…and I know that we are ALL ready to go. Countdown 9. 8. 7. 6….

W-i-l-d!

Wild adventurous crowd, I tell you 🙂

Winter in July

                                                                            

Freezing times, falling times, quadbiking times, hiking times, picking-up-sticks times, laughing times, stuffing-our-faces-with M&Ms times, fighting-like-Ninjas times, resting times…

And these were our holidays in Klein Kariba 🙂

Les vacances…

Before I write about our first day at school, it is fitting to post some of my favourite pictures of the summer holidays.

C’est pour vous, la famille en France!! 🙂

C'est dur les vacances!

The browns and the whites!

Without the hands!!

I look cool because I AM cool!

Wild wild west, at Moyo

Hole building with Kate.

Wait for the wave, wait for it...

Overexcited friends, waiting for the wild wild horse to come!

Matt, professional wet sand surfer.

Outside the opera theater, pulling faces, bien sûr!

At the opera, no we don't have jaundice!

Peek-a-booh with Cleoné