it was a secret ...

I've had this post saved in drafts for a while now, I couldn't post about the holiday 'cause some people that read this were on the receiving end of a surprise visit from me, LOL!!!

So, Gids has got STRICT instructions on how to publish this, AFTER the 11th of February, as by then, both girls will know that I'm in SA. Ooooohhhhh Giggles!!!!

My mom and I had such a relaxing time, went to the shops when we felt like it, mostly we just stayed at home.

I really wanted to take my mom camping and we thought this past weekend the perfect time, as it was Gideon's off Saturday, which meant that we could leave Friday arvie, sleep over and come back Saturday round about lunch time. Or so we thought, on Wednesday Gideon said he heard on the radio something about and impending sandstorm, we checked on the local paper's web site and sure enough, high winds, low temperatures and a specific note that any outdoor activities would be highly unpleasant. We decided to not tempt mother nature and decided not to go, a bit disappointing none the less. However, we were not going to miss anything so decided to drive to the beach, to get a look at the rough seas and high winds ... The wind was unpleasant enough, but you have to giggle at the high seas, though in fairness, this really is quite rough by UAE standards, it usually looks like a dam:

 

The K-man off course had a blast:

and for some bizarre reason his daddy wouldn't let him crawl right into the ocean LOL!!! (ok, it's a good reason, I didn't pack any dry clothes, K-man doesn't actually care or understand, LOL!!)

And then my mom spotted the Dude, off course Gideon had to rescue him, we're not sure if he made it back into the ocean safely, but hey, we tried:

So, in the next week we'll go do some last minute shopping, I seriously don't understand why we do this, leave stuff to the last minute that is. And by the time Gideon publishes this for me, the K-man and I will be in sunny Pretoria :-). It's going to be a busy holiday, we're in Gauteng for about a week, then off to Plett to visit my in-laws, then to Cape Town to visit Genevieve & Sheldon and meet up with some online friends and then back to Pretoria for the last week ... I may not do this again soon, I get exhausted just reading it! LOL!!!

So, while typing this, the wind is still blowing a week later and it's still flippen COLD, by UAE standards. I'm all packed and ready to go. The pressies are wrapped, the tickets and passports are ready, so to those of you in SA that I'll be seeing - I CAN'T wait and am SO looking forward to seeing everybody!!

A quick funny: As you know by now, we share the house with another couple and because we share the kitchen as well, we're on a rotating schedule as far as dinner is concerned. Which means that I only have to worry about dinner every second night, it's just marvelous let me tell you. Not so much for Gids though, now that I'll be gone. So, the other night while we were chatting, he asked me, a little desperately: "what will I feed the people"? I'm slightly amused by the comment as the other people are two adults!! I replied, well, you know how to cook, you've seen me in the kitchen ... he says, (slightly more panicky by now), ja, but I don't actually KNOW how to make pasta or rice or mac and cheese .... I just giggled and said well, when it's your turn, phone me and i'll give you the recipe and instructions :ROTFL ... so I told the other lady of the house the story .... she agreed to let him suffer for a few nights ... aaahhhh, it's GOOD to let them be on their own for a little sometimes I'm still hugely amused.

So, here I am, on the eve of leaving for home, totally excited and yet a little sad, I'm going to miss the non-chef so much, I'm going to miss not having him around to help and I'm sad that he's going to miss a whole month out of Kaydin's life ... I am also however tremendously excited about seeing everybody, about the totally cool surprise I planned for Bea and Gia-Michelle, about going to Grabouw and spending copious special days with G and Shelly. About being able to spend precious time with the other Ouma and Oupa, so that they can also have some K-man time .... Hugely excited about seeing my sisters, giddy in fact LOL!!!

So, to all of you that we'll be seeing soon - YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Darling Gideon - I love you more than I can possibly ever say. I'm so thankful and so very grateful. Thanks my love, for this holiday, we'll miss you so very much and we'll speak to you as often as possible ... remember to call about that mac and cheese recipe, hey?

and finally! the birthday party!!

Took us long enough to get there, lol!!!

I just have to tell you about buying the ingredients for this ever so important birthday cake. You'd think that you can walk into a big supermarket and there would be a place where they group all the baking goodies together? Hmmm, not so much. They do have the flour and icing sugar together with the baking soda and cake-in-a-box mixes, however, no goodies to decorate the cake with. The candles, oh yes, upstairs with all the party paraphernalia (ok, that makes a little bit of sense). The multi-coloured sprinkle thingy's that you'd put on the icing ... no, they don't have those. The silver ball thingy's that you'd put on the icing to decorate with .... nope. Liquorice sticks, ah yes, with the sweeties and you can only get the rolled-up ones. Oh, and coconut flakes, ah yes but off course you'd think to go look for it where the breadcrumbs are, makes total sense.  This little exercise took me about an hour!

We were going to have the party last weekend, then the K-man got sick and I decided nope, not a good idea so we postponed to this weekend. Which turned out to be just fine, with my mom here it was so special to share his party with her!

Then I came down with a n-a-s-t-y tummy bug on Thursday arvie, but hey, I was a real trooper and managed to mix and bake the cupcakes for the birthday cake, then managed to mix the carrot cake for the grown-ups and just when that was in the oven, realised I wasn't gonna make it and asked my mom to please keep an eye on it for me. That was me, in bed and I didn't move until 11:00 on Friday morning! Gids very sweetly took Kaydin with to the desert and I got to sleep in and feel marginally better. The people came at about 15:00 and we had a blast. Gids and I both got all teary-eyed when we sang "happy birthday", I tried to hide behind my camera ... The K-man didn't quite know what to do with the cake and candle at first, but later on he realised that he can actually get himself all sticky and dirty and man was that fun.

 

ok, that's us for now

much love to all

it's raining, it's pouring!!!

For the last few days it's been raining on and off, so totally lovely! And such a big deal that it's making the headlines!! LOL! you KNOW you live in the desert when 16mm makes it to the headlines

http://www.gulfnews.com/nation/Environment/10182101.html

And here are some pics from last night, when it started to come down again:

and this morning:

Totally lekker!!

And in other news, the K-man's not been very well, all snotty and coughing, the poor guy slept most of yesterday but awoke to his old self this morning with his usual "wa-wa" sound and having serious discussions with the toys in his cot.

My mom's arriving for a visit tonight and the house is off course looking, well let's just say it's less than tidy. Thank goodness for the last minute as nothing would get done in this house if it wasn't for the last minute! Gids will therefore sort out my mom's room tonight when he's home from work and I'll be fetching her from the airport, now that's teamwork for you hey?

No other news, just wanted to share the rain thing.

much love to all

Happy birthday Kaydin!!!!

And off course I can't help to be just a little overwhelmed! I keep on thinking back to last year and keep on looking at the clock.

I'm quite in awe with just how far we've come. I'm so relieved that the year went by mostly without any hitches. I'm eternally grateful that we have such an easy going boy. I am totally humbled and immeasurably thankful for all the support and love everybody has shown us.

I'm actually just gob-smacked, mostly because I was convinced that I would have broken him by now.

So here's to you, our little fighter and companion, may the years ahead be more than you ever dreamed, we can't wait to share the rest of your life with you.

Once more for old times sake, Kaydin at birth:

and now:

much love to all, from all of us

we still do it ...

Get up at stupid-O'clock that is, and drive to parts unknown. This time we went to Fujeirah and more specifically Snoopy Island. We were going to go just for the day and at about 15:00 decided to see if they have rooms available, turns out they did, so we stayed over.

And herewith the whole story in pictures:

a map to show where we went:

Sunrise at stupid-O'clock:

Carpet shops on the side of the road, just before entering Fujeirah.

and here's Moi, a rare shot of me behind the camera

The nursery on the other side of the road:

And just to prove that Kaydin really does wake up with a smile:

Just before the resort you'll find Bidiya mosque. It's the UAE’s oldest place of worship and is known as the “Ottoman Mosque”. It is unique in design with four small domes held up by a massive central pillar. We drove past too quickly though and I didn't really get a nice shot and on our way back we were way too tired to stop. Will do next time though.

And now for the fun part, at the beach, off course we had to get the boy into the sea as fast as possible. He was totally adorable, not scared at all and seemed to enjoy it quite a bit. The only concern Kaydin had was that daddy just wouldn't let him crawl right into the sea! Dad's, such spoil sports sometimes, LOL!!

This would be Snoopy Island, yes it's something to do with the cartoon character and the rock looking like Snoopy lying on his back

A totally lovely day with the other people snorkelling and generally just having a merry good time, especially when we found out that we could in fact have a drink or two on the beach, which off course also greatly influenced the decision on staying over LOL!!

The view from our room's balcony and in the second picture a rare shot of some locals also enjoying the beach.

And because I'm such a curios person and because I didn't want to miss out on anything, I decided to try my hand at this snorkel-thing too. And because we all looked so cute in our wet suites, I asked for a family portrait, Gideon Schoeman obliged, thanks dude!

 

And that was it, now I'm hooked and Gids will in the very near future have to take me shopping, for gear off course. What an experience!! It felt like I was watching a National Geographic show, only I was IN it, totally awesomely brilliant experience! And with Gids & Chantel's help, I think I did ok for a rookie. A truly awesome moment was when I wanted to get slightly panicky, 'cause I didn't know where we were going, I reached out to Gideon's side and there he was, ready with a guiding hand, holding on to me, until I was ready to let go. It helps to do these things with someone you share a brain cell with LOL!!

And just to show, the village helping to raise Kaydin, Gideon & Chantel Schoeman our housemates and very dear friends:

here's to the new year

May it be blessed and exceed all our expectations. We had a rather quiet braai with friends on new years eve.

New years day brought with it some awesome weather and I hauled out the K-man's new water toy, he had fun the thing that kept him amused no end was the little fountain, he kept on pushing his face into it, too funny.

We subsequently had the best impromptu weekend away. More later, I'm still processing the pictures