Teddy's Birthday!

 On April 10 we celebrated Teddy's family birthday. He woke up to a school day but at least there was a big surprise waiting for him in the entryway!

He had to wait until after dinner (which he got to pick....eggs and bacon!) to open his presents. He saw this hat on the Easter trip and we said "no" and then secretly went back and bought it so he was pretty happy when he opened it up!

 The next Great Brain book to read together!

 Hey Sasha, it's Ted's B-day and I don't think he needs help with 3 candles.....

 One happy kid!

 Delish!

 And then.... there was the surprise mystery gift. He's wanted this for a looooong time!

 Love this pic. So much spontaneous joy!

 The next day he came home from school and got straight to work on this thing. The directions were 3 books long!!!

It's coming along!

 Working hard. I brought my friend's little girl Hannah home from school with us on this day and in the car she goes "so Ted, what do you want to do when we get to your house?" Teddy says: "I'll be working on my 4 headed dragon when we get home. And I do not want help."
Jeepers... nice host.

 So proud of how it's turning out!

 We had a few crazy weekends of events after that so he had to wait until April 27th for his party. This year we had a Judo party so we tried for Judo Jacket invitations and party favors. And this was the first year that Ted was able to help me out with a lot of the work! He helped me cut these out and assemble them. We had a blast doing the project together.

 I decided to make Disney-style rice crispy treat Judo Jackets as a party favor. "What could be easier" I thought.... "make the treats, cut them into judo jackets, dip 'em in white chocolate, tie on a piece of black licorice and you're done!" not so easy.... it turned into the 48 hour epic project. White chocolate kept clumping up, belts kept breaking, more research was needed. But we finally produced the treats!

 It turns out that he had his first belt test on the morning of his party. It was going to be a day FULL of Judo!

 And he earned not one but THREE yellow stripes toward his yellow belt! We were so proud of him!

 Proud boy:

 The same bakery that made Sasha's horse cake did Teddy's cake. I told them that it was a judo party and that he loved Lego Ninjago, especially the golden weapons. They pretty much hit it out of the park AGAIN! I mean that's an actual golden scythe on there.

Teddy spots his cake for the first time... WOW!

 Since he was the Birthday boy he got to wear Sensei Peter's Black Belt! Looks good on you Ted!

 The Judo guys did an amazing job with a crew of 7 and 8 year old boys. They played a million crazy games and had a blast. They were all chaucy little sweat-balls by the end of it. Boy sweat...yuck!

 Woohoo!

 Taking a break with juice and popcorn...

 Then it was time for presents. Um.... if you try real hard I'm sure you can get a few more boys on that couch you guys....

 One of his friends gave him a skateboard. It was such a hit!! Ted had to go right outside and try it and Sensei Peter was there to help.

 Then it was time to wrap it up. But first we had to have a final ceremony complete with Birthday push-ups!

 Medals for everyone!

 And then it was time for cake. Yum!

 After that it was definitely time to go home and find a bathtub. But it was a really great day filled with friends and fun!

Another 4x4 weekend!

Last weekend we went on another 4x4 group outing with other families from Jeff's company. We got there at dusk and set about the all-important task of getting the wood burning for the braai. Had a lovely evening with great food and good company.

The next morning we all assembled at the old Farm House to head out into the hills.

We did this last time and for me driving 3 hours to get to the place only to jump right into the car again the first morning to drive around some more was an epic fail. So I planned on doing the 4x4 trails on my mountain bike.

Group photo:

We headed out into the beautiful countryside:

The first part was a big climb so I lost the group. They took a rest at the top though and I was able to catch up.

 Taking a break:

Jeff and the kids. Looks like a car ad!

Amazing Day!

This road that we were following used to be the old pass over the mountains to civilization. That would have been a long way to go for groceries!

We went through all kinds of landscapes from mountains to forests:

And finally hit a turn-around spot at an old dam:

What's better than getting to ride waaaay out into the boondocks on your mountain bike and then hitching a ride back with the 4x4 brigade?

By the time we were almost back to the farm the kids were getting squirrly and wanted to run the last 1/4 mile.

We had a nice afternoon exploring the farm and getting to know the farm dogs:

 The guys went back out on another 4x4 trail and took some cool pics:

 Men getting their cars dirty for no apparent reason:

That night we all assembled back at the braai area. We had a potjie show-down.

The kids "braai'ed" marshmellows. They actually call it that. They don't say "roast"!

The next day most of the gang headed for home pretty early but we hung out for a while. The kids and I wanted to go mountain-biking. We rode up to a beautiful old church that the owner of the property had built years ago so that his workers could go to church. It's an exact replica of a church in Scotland.

 Exploring:

 My 2 biking buddies!

 Teddy owning a long hill!

 South African Sheep:

 We made it back to the farm!

On the way back we decided to take what looked like a major road on the map that went through the mountains to get down to the N2 (a major highway) we thought that taking the highway back would be a lot faster than traveling through the mountains the whole way. But when we got to our road, it was dirt!! Jeff and I looked at each other and we were both like "I'm game if you are!"

 The road wound through mountains and incredible scenery and then started following a river through a canyon.

 We had to stop at one point just to get out and explore!

 Teddy climbing down to the river:

 Can you imagine the work that went in to making this road?

 About 1.5 hours later we came across this place! Why the name we asked? "Because it's hard for men to find" the owner replied. Well I WAS the one driving and I certainly had no problem finding it.... just sayin'.

 This place looked like it had been there forever and had just grown, one creative project at a time. There were 4 things on the menu.

 Dining with a view!

 Teddy relaxing in the sun:

 Best table in the house!

 The place was full of characters and animals. One guy had a big white beard and a shirt that said "Tillamook Cheese" from Oregon. Small world!

 Sign leading to the bathroom:

 Contented kitten:

 We got back on the road an hour or 2 later and drove through some more incredible scenery:

 Finally we spotted the ocean and the N2 in the distance. It was quite a detour but we all decided it was spectacularly worth it!

We didn't get home until about 5pm but it had been a great week-end and a very cool day full of exploration and wonderful sights.