So Long, Somerset West

Our seven weeks of renting a garden flat in Somerset West came to an end last week, and it's been great. We've worked hard and our first school term is practically over. Here are a couple of photos taken during our stay.

We've been to the Strand's beach a couple of times, and got to know the neighborhood on our family walks.

Notice the way the wind is blowing the sand. 

The boys preferred to walk on the dry sand in order to collect 'treasures'. 

I prefer the wet sand (thanks for the picture, mom). 

Beach clouds. 

A delightful swing about halfway on our walking route. We stopped almost every time.

The palm tree where we stayed. Palm trees make really cool silhouettes. 

Weekends have been quite busy, and we've ticked a couple of activities and places off our bucket list (see some of the previous posts on these). Overall, it's been a necessary and productive two months. So long, Strand and Somerset!

My personal favorite picture from the Strand. 

Brotherly Birthdays

With both Theuns and Maarten's birthdays past (Theuns in late June and Maarten early August), here's what we did.

Theuns' birthday was celebrated by camping fun, with their 'best friends' (for now) Brendon and Breyton from the farm. His birthday was on the Saturday I was dropped off at 'Seejol', a Voortrekker camp in Hartenbos. We had cupcakes, drinks and fun on the beach.

After the beach they left for a night's camping in a forest next to a stream on a family's plot near Great Brak River. There they had some fun on a swing, ropes, setting up camp, making a fire and (of course) having a 'braai' (barbecue).

Despite wet wood from earlier rains (and lots of smoke as a result), they eventually got a campfire going. Hamburgers and hot chocolate for dinner and the 'campers' were off to bed (but not sleep..."did you hear that??").

Maarten shared a real kid's sweet (sugary) birthday party with Breyton..... Invited guests were mostly boys and they had some rough games while on the infamous sugar high.

Smile!

After his generosity, we remembered him saying a few weeks earlier that he would actually have liked to go to Spur for his birthday, and arrangements were made without him suspecting anything (which was actually very easy as Maarten is so scatterbrained; we love you anyway Maarten!!). Thus the following week we had a big surprise in store for him, and us and the Burgers had some amazing burgers at Spur in George.

Of course no one goes to Spur on their birthday just for the food - how can you forget the sparkles!

Later that night, we drove back home with the Burgers as my dad stayed in George for the week. It was a really big surprise for Maarten and he had an awesome day (as seen on his face).

Some of you might wonder about the washing machine on the right.....it had broken the week before, and we could conveniently pick it up after repairs on the same day we went to George for his birthday so the boys had to sit tight in the back of the bakkie on the way home.

Happy birthday to these two fun-filled, blue-eyed, interesting siblings of mine..... Thanks for reading!

Our Version of Homeschooling

So you know we homeschool, but did I mention we farmschool as well? Living on a farm, there are so many things to see and life experiences abound. Here follows what we've been doing 'school' wise lately...

My mom loves planning, and accordingly has formed a rough (changeable) plan for all our academical work until Grade 12 - quite an accomplishment considering we were still preschool then. But because we are now Grades 3, 6 and 9, the plan has adapted a bit and things are getting more individual-focused. At present we do an eclectic curriculum, and we know what we have to do every week to finish our term's work on time. We all have Afrikaans and English languages, Maths, Science, Biology, History and Geography, Economics and we can develop our personal interest area as well. We still follow our routine of having 2 months school, and then 1 month holiday to have time for all the fun learning!

Besides academical work, a lot of things happen which would not normally be classified as 'school', but definitely qualifies as learning (which is school's real purpose after all). With two very creative, dynamic brothers in the house, it doesn't take long for bottles of suspicious looking liquid to appear, lengths and lengths of baling twine end up under beds and in the corridor, and a miniature candy floss machine becoming the coolest thing ever.

A conspiracy. 

Because everyone has a certain day of the week on which all food/cooking is their responsibility (that's Life Skills), we've had some interesting things happen in (and around) the kitchen...

 Funny as this picture is, Maarten had an ingenious idea actually - he was cutting onions, had enough of burning eyes, and so decided to wear sunglasses to stop the chemicals from reaching his eyes.

A while ago Maarten was obsessed with how to 'survive in the wild' - he read books about it (even wrote his own little booklet all about Practical Survival Tips), and then of course had to try out some of the recipes.... Lunch was roots, leaves, and Cat's Tail.  He collected them himself, washed and cut it all himself and prepared it for us - all based on information he found in a book on Survival.  It didn't all work out the way he thought is should have, as wild roots of Cat's Tail do not cook soft in an hour only (warning: do not try at home unless you can identify the plants specifically, if you do don't blame me if someone is poisoned).

 They pulled the soft seeds out and added it to dough - the resulting (hairy) flapjacks was not too bad.

 The 'sun oven' we borrowed from the local farm school - the boys baked a miniature bread as well as boiling some carrots. It took the whole day though.

The infamous 'dead fly' experiment... Put the fly in the fridge for a few days, then remove and watch it 'come back to life'! Unfortunately this fly was forgotten, and so stayed in the fridge for a whole week or two... It died I think.  

 On the topic of insects....

They also made a gnat catcher as well as an ant attractor. I don't how how, I only discovered this picture later on (I do know they get a lot of ideas from this guy).

After the local pomegranate harvest, we picked a few to show the boys what it is. Maarten found out why a pomegranate is called a 'granaat' in Afrikaans. Literally translated back to English, it's a 'grenade'. Needless to say, it exploded.

Moving Furniture

With 10 days left, most of our furniture has been moved into our (former) TV room and only the basics (which we will move in the last day) remain. Gradually, we've been moving bookshelves, cupboards, and desks. Many hands make light work!

Moving the school bookshelves.

Inside the storage room.

Moving a cupboard.

A long, empty corridor. 

Sorting Stuff; Sentiment and Sadness

With the countdown of 10 weeks until our departure, we are beginning to sort out all our stuff: big and small, used and unused, sentimental and not so - all the 'things', one thing at a time, one or two things per day.  Recently, I took out my beloved (but not played with in a long time) dolls and Barbies, and sorted it into what I will keep (and store) and what will have to go.  It is good thing we have two little nieces who we could give it to. Mom also had to work through stuff, and realized things remind us somehow of occurrences in our lives - maybe that is why letting go is not so easy.

It's sad saying goodbye to stuff with memories attached to it, but it has to be done. After all, stuff is just stuff.

http://identitygirlsonline.com/2014/07/24/stuff-is-just-stuff/