End of the year

Only 11 days left of the school year. How did time go by so quickly? I am sure the 4th term just started, but already I am going to end of year plays and packing sports clothes for the last time. Tomorrow is the last day of school swim practice and the last day of homework for the year. At least the bag will be pretty light each day.

Yesterday we went to watch Z in her end of year school play. She was a monkey and a very adorable one. I can't believe how much she has changed in one year. At the start of the year she hardly spoke and tended to play on her own. Now she was singing loudly and doing all the actions with her friends. She is ready to start Grade 000 now and I know she will have a wonderful time. She has had the most amazing teacher this year. Miss M has loved those kids as though they were her own. Z runs into school every morning to give Miss M a cuddle. I know that her next teacher will be lovely but I am so glad that her school career started with someone as wonderful as Miss M. Such as change from the awful start that E had.

E is getting really excited about the end of the year and the move to Grade 2. I just can't believe how fast he is growing up. He still gives me big cuddles and wants to sit on my lap when he is sad. I know these moments are coming to an end so I treasure every one of them. He tells me that he will still give me cuddles all the time and that he will always love me above every one else. I know that will change and I am okay with it but for now I am going to enjoy every cuddle and sweet word.

This last weekend we went to the Cherry Festival in Ficksburg. I was probably not in the right mood for it but I hated every moment. The R100 entrance fee per adult and R50 per child is really not worth it. I had told E that we would find interesting cherry based food to try. Not true. They have cherry liqueurs and a few cherry jams but that was it. The majority of the stuff for sale was cheap plastic toys. I hate these things and the kids begging for them. They had a police dog show that was vaguely entertaining and the usual very expensive and badly maintained rides that pitch up at all country fairs. It was extremely hot and you have to park miles away and walk past a selection of hawkers, while dodging potholes and trying to look after two kids. I was not happy by the time we got to the entrance so you can imagine how thrilled I was by the plastic and rides. We ended up in a beer tent with loud music playing. It was awful. We left after buying a few boxes of cherries.

The weekend improved in Clarens at the lovely Clarens Brewery. They had yummy cherry juice for the kids and interesting craft ciders and beers for the adults. It was so nice to relax in the cool around the town square.

We did have another sour note with dinner. The German restaurant has lovely views and a nice play area....BUT it took almost two hours for our food to arrive. We got there at six. Kids food arrived at 6:30. Everybody is happy and we watched the kids play together. All great but after a long day in the sun, waiting another 90 minutes for our food was not great. My meal was pretty awful. Bland and badly cooked. The majority of the 8 adults at the table had issues with their meals. So after all that waiting the majority of food was left behind and we grabbed tired children for the drive back to the campsite.

Golden Gate campsite is very pretty. Lush green grass and large trees make a for a lovely camping site. My only objection is the busy road right next to the camp ground. It gets loud at night and we had bikers arriving late into the night. However the views make up for that. Waking up with the mountains towering above you was a great start to the day.

The highlight of the weekend was stopping at Piggly Wiggly in the Midlands. We really need to go there on a more regular basis. The kids had fun on the playground and enjoyed exploring the shops. A yummy lunch at the restaurant followed by a train ride = happy kids.

So what did you do this weekend past?