They've arrived!

For those of you who have been waiting with baited breath for Trixie's puppies to arrive, and even for those of you who haven't, they all arrived safely from 12:30am onwards, on Wed 29 July. We woke the kids up for the great event (well, it wasn't so great for Trixie, I don't think!), and we all watched, agog, with the wonder of mother nature, and the miracle of life that unfolded before us! Trixie was the consummate mother and did everything just perfectly, as did her pups. And they didn't even have a hand book/website/gyne/paediatrician to consult. It does make one pause to wonder, if, with all our information and modernisation, we humans have completely lost the natural instinct of having children?

The two boys (Carl and Ali) faded after pup number 2, as there was nearly a 2 hr wait between #2 and #3, and I think the boys just ran out of enthusiasm! Megan and I sat patiently waiting it out. # 3 and #4 arrived only 7 minutes apart, and, on seeing how peaceful Trixie was, we declared 'show over' and went to bed (about 3:30am). Only to wake up the next morning to not 4 but 6 beautiful and perfect little pups!! Well done Trixie!

They have now all been named and are weighed on a daily basis. Two have already put on 50% of their birth weights. Their names, in birth order, are: Tracker (male); Wesidudla (female - meaning 'hey, fatty' in Zulu! Carl calls me that, he's dead!!); Thathu (male - meaning three, as he was born third, and happens to have 3 spots on his back!); Jigsaw (male - named after a jigsaw shaped spot on him); Ntombi (female, meaning 'girl' in Zulu) and lastly Gemma (female, after a diamond shaped spot on her head).
Aren't we the luckiest family?

Skiing - Africa style!

We have just returned from a fabulous weekend skiing in Lesotho.

For those of you who have never been to Lesotho, may I suggest that you add it to your list of '50 things to do before I die'. Lesotho is known as the Mountain Kingdom, and the drive into the resort is one of the most spectacular (and nerve wracking!!) I have ever had! Lesotho is also a classic example of rural Africa (at its best and worst) and I am pleased to report that the resort itself, is slightly more sophisticated than the huts pictured below!

We were also lucky enough to be joined by Carl's folks (yes, I am serious - I've got great in-laws!) who joined us from the Natal side - driving up Sani Pass and into Lesotho from that direction. For those of you who had a trip like that planned on your list of '50 things to do before you die', I suggest you remove it asap, unless, of course, you would like to change your list to: 'the last thing I did before I died'!!! By all accounts, the road was absolutely dreadful and completely isolated. Carl was about to get into the car and go searching for them because they took so long to arrive. And, of course, no cell phone signal! Fortunately, they arrived safely, but had the wisdom to exit Lesotho in the North which, while further in distance, was a much safer and quicker drive.

We also had with us the daughter of family friends of ours, Fhionna, who is out from Scotland on a holiday, and we invited her to join us.

Lesotho does not have enough snow to ski on (plenty all around) but is cold enough to keep it, so the snow on the ski slope itself is made from snow cannons. Which is just as good as the real thing.

Other than a serious problem with our accommodation (the agent double booked our chalet, but fortunately there was a spare one, so we weren't forced to camp in sub-zero temps!!), we had the time of our lives! Saturday was very busy so we had long waits at the T-bar. 20 mins wait to ascend, 1 min descent. Sad hey? On Sunday the crowds thinned, and by Monday we skied straight to the front of the queue and headed back up.

Fhionna, being 22, sampled the night life of Afri-ski and made some good friends along the way. Somehow she managed to get herself free snowboarding lessons while we were there, and was then invited to stay on with these friends until Thursday. Carl and I felt like over-protective parents and haven't stopped worrying since we drove away on Monday. However, she is a young adult, and I don't think such a fabulous opportunity comes knocking everyday. Oh to be young and live spontaneously!

It was such a super time! But, back to reality with a bump. We now excitedly await Trixie's puppies which are due any time now.

Good news!

If you recall a few articles ago, I mentioned that we were hoping to have a litter of puppies with our Jack Russell, Trixie. I'm pleased to announce that Trixie is with child(ren). We returned home from our half-term break, and discovered a very chubby, slightly subdued little Trixie! We're thrilled, but I'm not sure she knows what she's in for! However, she's getting lots of love and attention from us, and I don't hear her complaining!
Will keep you posted - due date is about the 28th July!

Megan's Contribution...

[newspaper article]
BREAKING NEWS!!!!
Hamster steals bombs!
Apparently, a hamster called Pip, in the grade 4T class, Kings College and Preparatory School, Gauteng, South Africa, is illegally hiding tiny bombs in his toilet roll. It appears he is sneaking out of his cage at night, and robbing the local explosives store. Nobody knows why he is doing it, but we have some suggestions, like he is an evil mastermind, his cage is too small, so he is trying to blow it up to give himself more space, and, he thinks dynamite will make class more fun. We are still trying to find out why he is doing it. The whole of grades 4 and 5, are not allowed to go to school, in case the bombs are set off. Pips very words were: 'squeak, squeak, squeak!' We think he pleads 'not guilty'. You will be informed if we find out any more about this case.

By Megan
This article was inspired by the grade 4T's new class hamster, Pip.

Worst mother of the year....

That title has to go to me after today. I would challenge other mothers to beat this, but that would mean a whole lot of kids out there fearing for their lives!!!
I was de-scaling my iron in the kitchen while the kids were hanging around. I squirted with the squirty button and Ali responded with a 'hey, that's cool, mom'. And so, you will NOT BELIEVE what I then did..... I pointed the squirty thing at him and squeezed, thereby squirting a large amount of descaler right into his eyes! I have been known to do stupid things, but this one pretty much takes the cake (other than the time I let Ali, age 2 or 3, eat a hard boiled sweet, on which he choked and I thought he was going to die there and then - remember that Girls???).
So, once he started writhing in pain, and I realised what I had done, it was straight to the sink for some serious flushing. It didn't work so well with the water running, so I ran a sink and made him submerge his head and do a lot of underwater blinking. Problem was, that involved coming up for breath, so I went and got his snorkel, and there was Ali, bent double over the kitchen sink with his head underwater and breathing through his snorkel!
Bent double, as I'm sure you are with laughter at the picture of what was happening in my kitchen today!
Anyway, he seems OK now. The doctor said to monitor him and bring him in tomorrow if he is in pain.
Fortunately, I have Carl for a husband who made a comment along the lines of:
'oh well, at least the scales have fallen from his eyes!'.
I always warned Carl that things are most likely to go wrong on my watch!

Meg's Birthday

As mentioned in the post before this, Meg turned 10 last week. So, Saturday was the great party. I am delighted to report that as they get older, the parties get better and better. As in, fewer and fewer kids and the ability to do more interesting things with them. Hooray, no more enormous parties where catering for the moms is more stressful than having forty 3 year olds trashing your house!!!

Megan chose Sci Bono as her party venue of choice this year, which, over and above being a great venue, is FREE on weekends! For those who don't know, Sci bono is a hand's on science museum in Newtown (central JHB). The drive there is pretty dodgy, but once there, what a place! My folks joined us, and there were 8 kids in total ( so a 2:1 ratio of kids:adults - not bad!).

There are so many displays involving magnetism, electricity, sound, brain teasers etc etc. Carl felt that the kids didn't exactly get the ultimate learning experience out of each display (and said on more than one occasion that he can see why they make these displays tough!) but the kids had a blast. I'm going to let the pictures do the talking:

The squonky mirror is always a hit!

Ryan and Louise trying to get the stick from one end to the other without setting off the alarm.

The kids load testing the suspension bridge!

This picture looks weird, but Ali and Louise are playing 'virtual soccer'.

Marco making a picture out of magnets and the other trying to guess what it is.

The ultimate highlight! A Murray and Roberts house to build out of foam bricks and cement. Much co-operation was required and it was fun to watch the kids sort themselves out! Not much intervention required (except to stop blood being drawn, of course!).

I think fun was had by all!!

Ahhh, Rats!

My little girl has turned 10. You may suspect that at her age she may have asked for ..... a PlayStation? brat's doll? Ipod? Wii? No, no, no and no.

She asked for (and got!) A RAT!!!!

We now have a 6 week old white rat with pink eyes who goes by the lovely name of Penny. My apologies to all the Penny's out there that I know - I had nothing to do with choosing the name!

Megan is besotted, and even I am forced to admit that she is quite sweet, for now! I dread her getting big! My biggest concern is that 'Penny' may actually be 'Percy' and if anyone has ever seen a boy rat, you will know that it is not a pretty sight! Problem is that we can't exactly kill it off it when we see some 'you know what's' starting to appear!

Next problem is that Ali also wants a rat, and in a way, I agree as little Penny must be pretty lonely. However, if we end up with two of opposite sex, we all know where that will end up!

Oh dear, the things we let ourselves in for!