Our First Day

OK, there are just SO many photos to choose from and I had difficulty doing this post without adding too many. So much so, that this is one of two posts about our first day here....

On Saturday morning there was great excitement as the children got ready to leave on the Arctic Wolf Adventure Camp organised by my sisters husband. It was a simulated plane crash in the mountains on the farm and the children were the survivors. Children from the farm joined in as well as children from the surrounding towns. There were 15 in total, ranging from 6 to 14 years old. They were allowed to take a change of clothes, a towel and a blanket. Poor Z could not join in as he has to be careful with his collar bone for 6 weeks.

The girls were delighted to all be reunited as they have all been looking forward to being together on the farm.

The survivors set off, all piled in and onto the bakkie. It was a short drive from the cottage and then they were dumped on the farm road and their fun began. I was surprised that Eric chose to join in and spend the night with them. That left my sister and me with Z who was somewhat sad not to be going with all the other kiddies.

After tea and a chat at the main farm house we took him to see the foals. They are so beautiful!

We drove out into the orchards.....we saw the biggest dandelions ever and we picked and ate the juiciest white peaches straight from the tree....a taste that is indescribable! Z picked and ate them too and exclaimed that they were the best peaches he had ever had in his life (he has only ever eaten canned peaches!)

We picked and ate yellow desert peaches too. The trees are so laden with fruit that the branches are breaking under the weight of the fruit.

We stopped to admire the golden wheat which will soon be ready to harvest. The Free State sky was magnificent and the sun was beating down upon us....much later we measured a temperature of 33 degrees in the shade!

Before the sun became too much to handle we stopped for my sister to pick some apricots from the trees and for Z to see the baby marrows in the fields.

We came back to cottage for lunch and a dip in the neighbours kiddies pool. The two little girls that live there are just the sweetest little things! They frequently knock at the door of the cottage to see what is going on and seek out the company of my sisters children.

We decided that we needed to check on the survivors and that it would be good for Z to see where they were and what they were up to.....that requires another post of its own.

The journey

K helping me to close one of the cases.

We woke at 03h00 and loaded up the car and were gone by 04h00. The journey went well.We made a number of stops for coffee and at about 09h30 a stop for breakfast come lunch. The children coped really well with the journey .We played games, listened to some cds and enjoyed the story of the "The Horse and His Boy". It seemed as if we didnt stop eating all day with all the treats that we had for the journey.

Z looking like a fly with huge compound eyes!

The landscapes were amazing. The contrast between the Little Karroo and the Eastern Free State is huge. The land was dotted with windmills everywhere.The highlight of the journey was crossing the Orange River. We had read and learned about this major river in our studies earlier this year. It was amazing to see it....

A windmill at one of our loo stops.

The Orange River.

We got frequent calls from my sister to check where we were on our journey. Just after Hobhouse she said we had an hour and half to go.....I wanted to cry as I thought it was only 1 more hour. Thankfully it was just one more hour and we were welcomed by excited children who showed us the way to the cottage.It was amazing to finally be on the farm and at my sisters home. She prepared an amazing meal for us and we all flopped into bed for a well deserved sleep.

All Set

All the bags are packed and ready to go, the children are sleeping and so is hubby. The house sitter has the car and the house keys and Father Christmas has come in various forms to drop off gifts for the Woods all day....

We are about to set off on our cross country adventure! Thanks to my clever sister I have a bag full of tricks for the car. She has done long road trips many times and gave me a myriad of ideas. Ther are games to play, a map to mark the towns off with stickers, gifts to open thanks to Aunty Tam and yummy treats to eat thanks to Oma, stories to listen to on cd thanks to Aunty Tess. We know we have been covered in prayer too, thanks to my prayer warrior Mum and her hubby. There are cds with our old favourites like Abba and Lionel Ritchie and Casting Crowns and some of the kids and Erics favourites. We feel so loved by all those who have helped us to make this long car trip a pleasant one!

The countdown...

We counting down the days for our trip....seemingly endless to do lists are being worked through and the final plans and packing are about to happen....

J has diligently been finishing off his work and he wrote his final science test achieving an overall aggregate of 94% for his science course this year. He has a little reading to complete and then he is done! Z has some outings to record and K has a little research to do for her Kids Literature Club.Then it is all over and the holidays are truly here!

As we wont be seeing my brother and his wife over Christmas, they invited us to join them for a braai last night. We had a wonderful evening together.

He and his wife have such green fingers and whatever they grow just seems to do so well! These sunflowers are just magnificent! They have all sorts of vegetables growing too.

My tactile defensive boy did not enjoy the feeling of the wire head massager....it is the same face he pulled the first time he ate baby food.....I on the other hand could enjoy this treatment for hours!

We enjoyed a fantastic meal together in the garden and it was a real treat not to have to cook!

Christmas Carols

There is one thing I really enjoy at Christmas and that is going to carols by candlelight. Tonight we enjoyed a delicious picnic and carol service at St Luke's.

There is something special about this particular service and lighting of the massive tree.The lights are in remembrance of those who are no longer with us. I always think of my paternal grandparents and remember them fondly. This year we also remembered a good friend of ours who spent his last days here in 2005 as well as my friends son who died just 2 months ago.So though there may be sadness when remembering loved ones, we know that we are never without Gods light and love.

A large children's choir sang beautifully and some meaningful words were spoken. We were reminded to show our love to those that are with us and share our love with one another every day.

Mother and son enjoying the picnic.

Our children have fond memories of coming to the lighting of this tree.It is something we have done since J was about 2 or 3 but we missed the last couple of years.

The boys donned their Christmas hats and had a great time!

Our special friends.

Daddy and his girl

It is just amazing how brightly these lights shine! Just after dark, there is a count down to the turning on of the lights. The look on the little children's faces is priceless.

A relaxed enjoyable evening was had by all and a perfect start to the Christmas season!

End of year picnic

This afternoon we had our end of year picnic for Keepers. We were blessed with truly amazing weather and the girls had so much fun! We welcomed the Solomon family into our group as their two girls will be joining us in the new year.

K had a great time playing with the two littlest ladies in our group.

The girls spent most of their time in the pool and keeping themselves busy with games.

New friends were made.

Our gorgeous girls

The moms had a great time laughing, chatting and doing some forward planning for the new year. We have loved our time with these precious families and have all learned some great new skills together.Unbeknown to me, my sweet daughter surprised the moms with a "thank you" gift of a slab of chocolate each, tied with a golden ribbon. It brought a tear to my eye.

Getting somewhere...

It seems it has been a while since I have blogged. We have been busy and I so look forward to the pace slowing down and having a holiday on the farm with my beloved sister and her family. Mmm , wonder how many books I can read there....

K spent most of last week sewing felt hearts furiously as I read aloud to the children. She made them for a Christmas market that I was at last week.They are well made and I just love seeing her being creative.

We have managed to find a number of insects for the children's collection.... butterfly, bee, moth, dragonfly, beetle etc. K had a beetle that she thought was dead and tried to pin it onto the bug board..much to her horror, he was still alive so she set him free.

After being here for four years, we finally have our outside table and benches. What a difference it makes to our lives! The children and I have been having our lunch out at the table and we had a braai over the weekend to celebrate its arrival. I look forward to summer evening meals in the garden.

Poor Z broke his collar bone over the weekend so he has been a little under the weather this week. The pain seems to be well controlled but he is not his usual chirpy self. He needs a fair amount of help to do the usual things as he has to keep his left arm immobile. It is a good opportunity for the rest of the family to show him love and help him out. I am happy to see that his brother and sister are doing what they can to help him. It is also a good opportunity for him to practice determination and try his best to cope well with one hand.

We were very blessed when the whole accident happened as my dad was on his way to the hospital. It was Sunday and the emergency unit was jam packed. Thankfully, when Grandpa arrived and realised that Z's collar bone was broken, he was able to expedite Z's treatment. We were through to the X ray department in a flash and back to the emergency unit for pain killers and a sling in no time at all. It could have been a very long wait.

Despite the broken collar bone, we have needed to put in some time doing school work. I have kept it low key for Z but J and K are trying to finish up so we can still break for the holidays this Friday.

We finished up our animal classification yesterday with our echinoderm lap books, and today we did the last chapter of our zoology. It is great to come to the end and know that we will be well rested before we start again.