Friday, April 15, 2016

Five for Friday

A blogger that I have followed for years, Cat@juggling act of life recently started doing Five for Friday posts and I love the idea. If you have never read her blog, please go and check it out. She is awesome. So here is the first of my Five for Friday posts.

1. We have just finished the first week back at school for Term 2. Both kids are loving being back at school with all their friends. Seeing the joy on their faces at drop-off reinforces the fact that we made the right choice moving here. They are both so happy. I can't believe that E is in the second term of Grade 1. He will be 7 in a few weeks and I can't stand how fast my baby is growing up. The school year is flying by.

2. Today I feel really lucky to live in Ballito. As the rest of the country heads into winter, we can look forward to a continuation of balmy evenings and lovely days. I live for the warmth and I love Durban winters. A recent trip up North reminded me of how cold it already is in parts of the country. NO THANK YOU:)

3. E had his first chess club meeting at school on Tuesday. I have tried to teach him to play for years with no luck. Apparently one session with a teacher has him setting up the board correctly and starting to learn how the pieces move. I know she is a great coach but really, sometimes as a parent you just want to throw your hands in the air. Why can't they ever listen to us?!!! He is really loving it and can't wait for next week's meeting.

4. My Dad bought a Tangle Teaser brush for Z yesterday on Takealot. It will arrive on Monday and I will let you know next week if it works. Currently every morning involves tears as her hair knots really badly at night. I have tried tying her hair up to sleep but she wiggles so much that it comes loose and we have a fizzy and knot filled mess in the morning. The Organics Detangler spray is a life-saver but hopefully this brush will help get the knots out gently.

5. I know it may not seem a lot to you but today I managed an 8min/km. I actually ran the whole km at pace. In my world running constantly for 15 min before I slowed to a walk was a huge achievment. I have always hated running and swimming was my happy place but I have finally caught the running bug. I trail run/jog/walk twice a week on a 4km trail and hit the treadmill twice a week for a 20min session. Baby steps and all that.

Thursday, April 14, 2016

Kruger Trip

This Easter break we had a fantastic stroke of luck... all the government schools went back on the 5th April but our school only started on the 11th April. We had to take advantage of the chance to go on holiday out of the normal school break. We used to spend weeks in Kruger every year but our last trip was almost two years ago. It was time to go back.

A's sister has kids at a school that has its long holiday in April so they decided to join us on the trip. My in-laws recently purchased a new trailer/caravan from Bushwakka so they decided to join us and it became a camping holiday. This was new territory for me as we have always stayed in the standard bungalows in Kruger. I spent ages reading reviews of campsites on 4X4 forums and in the end I chose to spend the first two nights at Maroela and then three nights at Skukuza.

I drove up to Vryheid on the 1st April and had a relaxing weekend in Vryheid visiting old friends and celebrating kids birthdays. We packed the two vehicles and trailer on Sunday evening. Monday was a really long day. We left at 6am and drove up the through Nelspruit to Orpen gate. We did stop once to let the kids run around at Casterbridge in White River. A cute little spot with a jungle gym and some interesting shops. We had planned to eat there but father-in-law had made tons of sandwiches for the trip and everybody was fairly full. The restaurant there is called Gumtreez and it really looked very nice and had a play area. If I take that route again, I am sure we will stop there.

Orpen check-in was fairly easy but I don't think I would use the gate again. It lacks the sense of arrival in the park that you get from most of the gates. Maroela camp was fantastic. Really small with only 25 sites and at the time of our visit it was nearly empty. We camped alongside the dry Timbavati riverbed. The game viewing in camp was brilliant. At night we had hyena next to the fence and during the day we saw elephant, bushbuck and kudu. The camp has a really nice disabled bathroom which made camping far more comfortable for my mother-in-law. The ablutions were clean and modern. I was truly surprised by this little camp. The camp manager and his wife keep the place spotless and even help you to set up camp. I highly recommend this spot to everyone and I can't wait to go back there.

We did get started fairly late in the morning but that was due to the size of the group and everyone having different plans. We still had amazing sightings. The weather was fairly warm the first two days but then the temperature plummeted. It was rainy and chilly as we drove to Skukuza. The thought of putting up the tent in the rain was fairly miserable. Luckily the skies cleared as we arrived and we managed to get the tents up before the next drizzle started. The ground at Skukuza is rock hard and we had fairly rough time pegging the tent. This was not helped by our tents age and state of disrepair. We got the tent up using ropes and rocks. So be warned that camping here takes a large amount of muscle or a handy tree to tie the tent to. After we had exchanged some "affectionate" words while putting up the tent and trying to string together poles with snapped elastic, we have decided to buy a roof top tent. Let me know if you have any advice in this regard.

Camping at Skukuza was not great. The camp is noisy at night. Trucks driving at all hours, people drinking and talking through the night and people starting to pack camp at 4am. It was a very different world to the bush sounds of Maroela. At Maroela I heard lion and hyena, now it was the sound of civilization. The camping is fairly crowded and as mentioned before the ground is very solid, so putting up your tent is not easy. Sadly the biggest camp in the park did not have disabled ablutions which made life fairly difficult for my mom-in-law. The only disabled toilet is near the shop, on the other side of the camp from the camping area and there are no showers or baths that cater to the physically disabled. Hopefully this is changed soon.

We did have incredible sightings around Skukuza including a sighting of 8 female lions and we were the only car there. By the time the lion had finished playing on the road and vanished into the bush another four cars had arrived. It was still the most incredible sighting and it was pure luck to arrive at that moment.

The five days of the trip went by so quickly but we really did have a great time. The cousins played constantly in the camp and Skukuza now has a jungle gym next to the main restaurant that the kids loved. Food has improved greatly in Kruger since our last trip. We only ate out on the Friday night to celebrate A and his sister's birthday but the food at the Cattle Baron was lovely and the decor fitted the setting. We had an ice-cream at the Wimpy at Pretoriuskop and amazingly they have even toned down their image to suit the bush setting.

A and I are going back at the end of September for our wedding anniversary and I really can't wait.


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Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Mommy Types

I know this is completely random and really shouldn't upset me BUT... On Facebook a few of my friends in this area posted one of those generic Tag posts. The idea was to post a pic that made you proud to be a Mommy and tag all of your friends that you think are great Mom's and would post a proud Mommy pic of their own.

Drum Roll....
Nobody tagged me.

Yes I know that Facebook is stupid and doesn't really matter in real life but still... sad face moment.

I have coffee dates with these women when I get a chance, so we do see each other on a fairly regular basis. I have hosted baby showers for them and bought presents for kids. We have spent numerous play dates together but I am still not really considered that type of Mommy. The one who would have proud Mommy moments.

It took me a while to think about the difference between myself and these women. I finally realised the truth and it wasn't pleasant. They are all stay-at-home Moms and everybody they tagged was a stay-at-home Mom. I am an evil work-from-home Mom. I can't imagine how much the full-time working Mom's are being judged.

As a point, I am not judging stay-at-home parents. If you are happy in your life I will not judge your choices. However, you are judging me and adding to the already over-whelming guilt I feel.

Yes, there are times I have to skip moments with my kid because of work projects. I won't always be there for them. I am working so that they can go to the best school I can afford, so they have a roof over their heads in a safe place, so that I can give them the best life that I can.

Then comes the crux, I work because I love it. If I didn't need another cent in my life, I would still write. I wouldn't write for anybody else. I would write for the pure joy it brings me.

So yes, I will miss out on moments when I have a deadline, I will stay up past midnight to get things done but none of that makes me a bad Mother.

I adore my kids and I am proud Mommy. They mean the world to me and if you think that my job means that I don't care as much, you are blind.

If you work a full-time job and still manage to juggle a family, I salute you and tag you to show a proud-mommy moment.

If you work from home and stay up all night to get a job done, here is your tag and please show your proud-mommy moment.

If you are a stay-at-home, please show your proud-mommy moment.

We are all proud of our little ones and doing the best we can. Let's not make things harder by judging each other.