20 December 2009

is it really Christmas on Friday?


Well this past week flew by.

On Monday I took the Boo and his buddy to the Waterfront for ice cream and to check out the boats, one of our favorite pastimes. We ended up stumbling into a carnival and I got conned in to taking two munchkins on a very rickety, but fun, roller-coaster. Goofy smiles at their best!

On Tuesday, was the SAAO year end staff picnic at a winery in the Nuy Valley.  Staff came down from the telescope at Sutherland and out from Cape Town and it was a great way to put faces to the names of people I had only heard of. 

We had a really great day.  I ended up playing a hilarious drunken game of Petanque (think Bocce ball with really dense metal balls) with some of the Sutherland staff. One of the resident dogs, who had a fascination with rocks, kept trying to run off with these really heavy balls.  Fortunately I held my own, and developed a dead eye in defensively knocking out our opponents shots, as my teammate was Tim's boss ;)  Wouldn't do to mess up that relationship!

The Boo at play on the winery grounds:  In the first shot the vineyards are just beyond the trees and stretch all the way to the base of the mountains in the background.

There were large concrete tubes on the winery grounds that the Boo had a ton of fun with.



Indications of a successful day:


On Wednesday, South Africa took the day off for Reconciliation Day.  The New York Times had an article on this but it didn't seem to mesh with our experience of the holiday in Cape Town.  The NYTimes article seemed to focus on the meaning of December 16th to the Afrikaaner portion of the white population but I learned of the holiday from the black staff on site who were staying home with their families to recognize "their day."  The history here is thick and recent and we are only just learning our way through it.

Since SAAO was closed, we did enjoy our day off, historically-loaded holiday or not.  I went for breakfast at the Millstone (cafe with the treehouse) with Minna, our favorite Finnish neighbor.  Her youngest daughter was at horse camp all week at the stables at Oude Molen Eco-Village and it was a great opportunity for her and I to steal a little adult time. 

When I got back onsite after a wonderful-as-always breakfast, the Boo and Tim met me at the trampoline just across from Minna's house.


Since it ain't a holiday in Cape Town if you don't go to the beach, we called up Benne and Robin and met up with them at the Dunes in Hout Bay.  This is the same place they took us to our first weekend in Cape Town, the one on the beach with an awesome playground in the sand.  We spent hours at the cafe as the Boo hit it off with a host of different South African kids.  We rounded out the day on the beach and then followed Benne and Robin home to their cool house for homemade lasagna and entertaining conversation.


Thursday and Friday followed suit, with lots of outdoor play and visiting with neighbors and friends.  Now I hear that Christmas is this Friday.  Was I supposed to do something about that?

10 December 2009

and on the last day of preschool...

the Lord said let there be singing:


Please excuse the grainy photo, the "big" camera is being put to good use at the telescope in Sutherland, so we-who-have-been-left-behind must muddle through with lesser technology. But hopefully the above shot gives you the sense of chaos and joy that is the under-6 set when it assembles for the last-day-of-school concert. The kids were asked to wear green and there was an international theme going on that I didn't quite have a good grasp of.

We've only been at this school for a little less then a month, but I was actually sad to hear that most of the Boo's best buddies would be moving up to Grade R (South African version of kindergarten) next year. The kids at this school never ceased to amaze Tim and I with how sweet and friendly they were. They also did a great job of making the Boo feel comfortable in his new environment. The Boo will be back for next year and I, faced with 5 weeks of no childcare, am definitely looking forward to it ;) (the Boo is too!)

Speaking of buddies who have graduated - here (for the Nanas) is a shot of two who loom large in the Boo's world:

Princess G is on the left and Princess E is on the right. Last week when I went to pick up the Boo at school, he was tailing Princess E around the playground asking her to marry him in a sing-song voice!?!! I learned a new word this week to describe my reaction to that little activity - "adorified" - I was somewhat 'horrified' by that 'adorable' behavior (the girl's mother was a bit ummm... surprised...)

Princess G is Princess E's best friend and was really not interested in sharing, so quite a few of the Boo's stories from this week included him putting himself in timeout because of his behavior towards Princess G in what appeared to be a few scuffles over who got to sit next to Princess E. Wow...preschool social life is getting a bit too complicated for me to follow. Sadly, I think the Boo is going to miss both of these munchkins when he returns to school next year, though at least I can put off the wedding planning for a while.

So before we knew it, we were back home and it was only 10:30am (the things we accomplish when we get up and out of the house early!!!) If I was going to feed the Boo at home, then somebody had to do the dishes first. Since the only somebody around was me, I decided that going out to celebrate the last day of preschool sounded like more fun then dish-duty. So while I texted Robin to see if she was up for lunch somewhere, the Boo's on-site 4 year-old partner-in-crime showed up. All four of us jumped in the car and headed off to the Millstone for lunch, and a little playing in the dirt and climbing of the treehouse.

The boys diggin' the dirt under the treehouse:


The cafe is situated within the Oude Molen Eco Village (Rachel, read the link about the Eco-Village, you'll love it!).  The Eco Village includes organic gardens that are used to sustain the village population with the surplus sold at the cafe and in the surrounding neighborhood for income.  The extensive gardens and the village's location backing up to the wetlands of the Black River give this urban area (we're 5 minutes from our house at the Observatory, 15 minutes from downtown Cape Town) a very 'country' feel. Additionally, there are micro-enterprises housed around the site and many of these are artistic in nature, so color and whimsy abound. Finally there are horse corrals and stables to go with our country theme.  Trail riding and lessons are available and the horses are very friendly.  The horses are cared for by older children who appear to live on site (there is a street kids educational/training program at the Village, but I'm not sure if the stables are part of this or not.)  All of this, plus the Waldorf school, and a few resident dogs and chickens, combine to keep bringing us back on a regular basis.  This is one very cool and very beautiful place.

The Boo and his buddy goofing around with a curious horse:





Well, that school year sure flew by! Now what to do with the next 5 weeks...

08 December 2009

we've been abandoned...


Let me rephrase, Timmy is up at the telescope doing great science and the Boo and I have been left behind to suffer through 4 Timmy-less days in Cape Town. Yeah, there are definitely worse places to suffer in (see tag for "complaining when you have nothing to complain about"...) so I know you are not feeling too sorry for us.

Anyways, since the routine was shot I figured a little more shake up wouldn't hurt anyone. So when I picked up the Boo from preschool instead of taking him right back home as was our usual plan, I told him we had a job to do. Nothing gets the Boo's attention like a job ;) The "job" was to finish up our Christmas shopping so we headed down in to the City Bowl.

The Boo suffered through the shopping with promises of playgrounds on the beach. So, once Santa was satisfied, we rolled on down the hill and landed at one of our favorite places - Mouille Point. Our opening photograph is the Mouille Point playground we touched on briefly in an earlier post with Signal Hill off to the left and the Boo in his orange shirt somewhere left of center.

We did some tree climbing:


We did some playground peeking:


We had ice cream (Mama had iced coffee...mmmm....South Africa's version of a frapuccino) at one of our favorite cafes, Cafe Neo, while we gazed at the lighthouse, blue water and large container ship off the coast:


We went back to play some more:

Eventually the Boo got tired and we were ready to go but it was now a little after 5pm. On a previous outing to this part of town we made the mistake of leaving right at 5pm and what should have been a 15 minute drive turned into an hour-long slog through less-then-fun traffic.  Again, we may be slow but we do learn, so instead of fighting traffic we hopped a little ways up the coast to the Waterfront, one of our favorite haunts.  There are many Boo-friendly eateries there and watching the boats come and go never gets old.

Of course, best laid plans and all....the Boo fell asleep in the car and was pretty much down for the count.  Now, I would rather sit on the Waterfront then sit in traffic, so I muscled the sleeping child out of the carpark and up to the daylight.  And since I've always been more lucky then good, we walked right in to a free outdoor concert.  So while the Boo slept on my shoulder, I was able to get off my feet and enjoy an excellent concert by a band from Stellenbosch that played all sorts of different "traditional" songs as long as violin, accordion and percussion were involved in the tradition.  The amphitheater was packed and the crowd was really in to the music.


The Boo woke up about 10 minutes after the concert was over and we enjoyed our dinner overlooking the docks and the boats.  Right before we left, he hugged me and said, "Thank you for bringing me here, Mommy."  So a good time was had by all.... at least until we got home and the Boo realized Daddy was "having a sleepover at the telescope."  But that is a story for another day...

05 December 2009

whooops! we've been busy...

I haven't forgotten you. We've been busy with the arrival of all our stuff and the internet has been darn flaky every time I felt like sharing.

Our big shipment of stuff arrived as well as the five boxes of stuff we shipped from my brother's house in October. Everything is here now and well... I'd happily send half of it back. All this stuff is draining my energy. But then it isn't really about me....while I'm in clutter hell, the Boo is in toy heaven.

As you can see, Diego is as concerned as we are about the current toy takeover of the house.

While the Boo was enjoying school, I avoided our cluttered house (because you need to leave the de-clutter fairies plenty of time to do their work in peace...) by going motorcycle shopping with our favorite Quebecois astronomer, Bruno.  Buying a vehicle, whether two or four wheels, is a great way to see all sorts of different parts of Cape Town and meet a variety of very cool South Africans. I learned a lot about the diverse riding community in Cape Town and Bruno rode off into the sunset on a gorgeous BMW 800GS.  I may just have to work my way up to joining him.


We are now enjoying a gorgeous Cape Town weekend.  Kicked it off this morning with a Cape Crossfit workout on the beach.  Timmy and the Boo got up in time to join me and while they soaked up the sand and the surf, I "worked out."  But really, nothing that fun is really work.   Sorry, no pictures (next time)...but envision yourself getting superfit while frolicking on the sand in Malibu with an excellent cafe right across the street ready to serve you a yummy breakfast post-workout.  Oh, and don't forget the excellent company ;) and gorgeous weather. Well, that's what it was like, only instead of Southern California it was Camp's Bay, South Africa and even better ;)

The only reason we left was because the Boo's social calendar is starting to fill.  We had 2 birthday parties to go to today (in opposite directions from home...).  But we had to do a little social triage and pick one which was a bit of a no-brainer since the princess turning 5 today was none other then the little girl that basically took the Boo by the hand and introduced him to everyone and everything on his first day at his new school.  Plus her party had a slip and slide (the other party had monkeys, but ummm... don't tell the Boo that ;)

Get ready, get set, go:

Slide:

Splash:

Smile:

Repeat:

29 November 2009

some days it pays to be slow

So it was Saturday and since I have switched to working out in the mornings, it was time to sleep in.  Consequently, we got a late start to our day.  I know, quite shocking! (for those of you who don't know us well, we are late on a legendary scale...)  First order of business was to get the Boo a haircut.  Once that was accomplished it was time to eat.  We ended up at the Millstone, the cafe with the awesome treehouse we spoke of in a previous post.  It also had this very cool swing and lots of other great outdoor places to play.  Consequently, brunch went on for hours, which suited us just fine.

Since it was a gorgeous day with little to no wind, we thought a sojourn to the beach would work just fine.  By now it's late in the afternoon and the Boo didn't get a ton of sleep the night before.  He passes out in the car as we are trying to figure out which beach to go to.  Since we want him to nap a bit we decide a beach a bit further away would be a good idea giving the Boo plenty of time to sleep in transit, plus we knew our friends Bruno and Antoine were at Boulders Beach checking out the penguins.

When we were at Boulders last weekend we had lamely forgotten to bring our beach gear.  Now we may be slow but we do learn, so we figured we could do Boulders Beach round 2, only this time we were ready to swim and play.  So off we went to Boulders.

And this is why being slow pays off - not only were the crowds on their way home by the time we got there but large parts of the beach were now in shade AND as the people left and the sun dipped, the critters came out.


This curious penguin was just a meter or two from our beach towel and kept on eye on us for quite a while.  Eventually, he decided that things were safe and took a stroll across the beach.  The Boo gave chase though we did explain the difference between "watching" and "harassing" the penguin, and he backed off a bit.



As the penguins kept criss-crossing the beach singly and in pairs, we were visited by a small family of Eqyptian geese, a dassie and a large-spotted genet.







Finally, as sunset neared we thought it best to pack up and find a restaurant to enjoy the last rays of the day.  On our way out of Boulders Beach, we caught a couple of penguins making a break for it.







They hopped down to the asphalt and toddled off up the hill and away from the beach together, two for the road ;)

We headed back up the road a bit to Kalk Bay and our current favorite seaside restaurant the Brass Bell.  Where we enjoyed the sunset and I finally remembered to photograph the yummy, and beautifully presented, Cape Malay Curry (only this time Tim ordered it with chicken instead of the butternut and lentil I had previously.)





Love it when a full day at the beach can start at 4pm!

28 November 2009

Happy Birthday, Grandma Ellen!!



The Boo would like to wish his Grandma Ellen a very fun and festive Happy Birthday!!

Grandma Ellen (Tim's mom) is one of the inspirations for this blog as well as one of the Boo's most favorite people.  She is an accomplished watercolorist, makes the coolest handmade books and cards, and has one very sweet dog, Trevor.  The Boo loves to visit Grandma Ellen to play at her house with her supercool vintage toys (Fisher-Price circa 1970's - woo hoo!).  He also likes to iChat with her and keep her up to date on his very busy life.

Below is a picture of the Boo with his Grandma Ellen.  She helped him celebrate his 4th birthday this year in Arizona!



Happy Birthday, Grandma Ellen!

27 November 2009

about those baboons...

So to continue from the penguins...a little later that day, after our lovely lunch...we arrived in the parking area for Cape Point.

We wanted to go the lighthouse atop Cape Point, way up here:

But we have a 4.5 year old who has decided he's not much for walking.  Fortunately for us, we could take the Flying Dutchman funicular to the top.  Woo hoo!  The Boo loves anything related to a railway and the views going up were spectacular:
I was completely captivated by this lovely beach between Cape Point and Cape of Good Hope:


The view from the lighthouse to Cape Point made you feel as if you were at the end of the world.


Eventually, we went back down and headed to the Cape of Good Hope.  On the road we met up with a resident troupe of baboons, who we'll hear more from a bit later.  We also made the acquaintance of a young ostrich.




When we finally made it to the Cape of Good Hope (we were slow not because the distances were far, but because the wildlife was so fascinating...), the Boo loved practicing his rockhopper skills while telling the photographer (aka me) what to do and where to go ;)




We eventually tore ourselves from the view, chased the Boo off the rocks and reluctantly got back in the car to go home.  As we passed the now closed Buffelsfontein Visitor Centre, we met back up with our troupe of baboons.  The alpha male, who is quite intimidating and not to be trifled with (actually, no one should let their guard down around baboons and all of our photos were taken from the car), was no where in sight, but the females and younger baboons were grooming and playing on the grounds of the Centre.


We then got a complete acrobatic show courtesy of the younger members of the troupe.  They took over the deeply slanted roof of one of the out-buildings of the Visitor Centre and played what appeared to be the baboon version of King of the Hill.  As each young'un ascended the roof, the others already there would try to knock him off.  They sometimes succeeded and the newcomer would fall to the ground, bounce (literally!), shake himself off and head back up.  We watched this cycle over and over with a few variations for about 20+ minutes.









Oo-de-lally, Oo-de-lally
Golly, what a day!