Chocolate Spread Sandwiches & Youtube

My 8-year olds latest request is to go and live with Nana for at least a year. What brought this on you might ask? Well I was threatening him with his life if he didn't eat the vegetables on his plate one evening when it all came out that Nana's house was way better and it would be so EPIC if he could stay there for at least a year because then he would be able to only eat chocolate spread sandwiches while watching Youtube… oooooh really I say, which is when big sister quickly tries to save the day by saying no mom he ate chocolate spread sandwiches and cucumber and carrots for supper! oh well then that's ok then says I. 

Naaannnnaaaaa! That's the last time she gets them for 3 weeks ;-) Only kidding Mom. What a godsend it was that they were able to stay with my mom this past holiday. 

We came down from the UK en-route to Zambia via SA. We spent a week with Clayton and the in-laws in the Kruger (surprise, surprise) and had an absolutely fantastic time and then made our way down to spend a few days with my mom, my sister and my gran at a lovely ladies beach house near Port Alfred in the Eastern Cape. Bearing in mind it was the middle of winter in SA, we had a fabulous time just spending time with each other and having lazy days. My gran has been very poorly over the last few months and we were so grateful to be able to spend the quality time with her. It was really important for me that my children have the opportunity to get to know her better as they were all quite small the last time we saw her. My favourite bits were her teaching them to play Checkers, building bloody difficult puzzles together and choosing the worst possible day to try dune surfing and body boarding!

Then the kids stayed with Nana and I headed back up to do some supervision of the renovation of our house in Pretoria. I really enjoyed it actually and think I did a reasonable job. The house's maintenance had been much neglected over the years and spare funds had prevented us from updating it but after much saving, a lot of discussions and a well connected bros-in-law we managed to make some valuable changes. 

In between all that though the kids came back and we spent a good 2 weeks with Granny & Grandpa. Jenna was by far the most excited by this part as it meant she got to spend more time with their cousins - Anika and Luke and as an extra bonus Anika's christening was while we were there and they got to see their Richard's Bay cousins too. 

Precious moments. 

We also spent time revisiting old haunts and discovering a few new ones. Gold Reef City was definitely a highlight (thanks cousin Andre). I'm not sure who had more fun - the kids or Granny….

Needless to say though that Owen's not getting his wish this year but maybe Nana can twist my arm and he'll have a few chocolate spread sandwiches more than normal when she comes to visit at Christmas time. 

Journey down south

Oh my goodness - did you just see that whirlwind that went through here???? Yup that was us the Reeves family trying to do it all again! What a few months it has been.. 

I'll start at the end shall I and try and work my way back as I have so much to fill you all in on. 

As I eluded to in my previous post - we're now nicely settled in our new home in Solwezi, Zambia. 

We are lucky enough and truly blessed to live on a golf estate just outside of the town and within 10 minutes from the mine for Clayton. The house itself is positively palatial in it's modernness compared to our Ouaga home. We're in a newly built section at the bottom of the golf course and our veranda and back garden overlook the 8th hole and 9th tee. What's even nicer is that the estate is stocked with wildlife who happily come and feast on the lovely green grass of the fairways and greens. We've seen Zebra, Sable Antelope, Impala, Puku Antelope, Lechwe Antelope, Oribi Antelope, many Yellow-Billed Kites and an unknown Frog.

#Estateliving so far is the bees knees. The kids have discovered their independence and certainly trying their best to encourage my feelings of redundancy :-) The boys are completely immersed in their new found love for fishing and it helps that there are at least 3 fully stocked dams within walking distance with fish it seems that are suckers for punishment! They operate a 'catch and release' scheme here but as Owen says - you only have to count to 5 and you have another fish on your hook mom! Maybe this kind of 'speed' fishing will entice their dad to try his hand at it too. Besides the fishing all three kids have made some lovely friends and spend their afternoons going for house to house in little people gangs. 

Robert, for now and Owen's school is on the estate - not quite walking distance although it can be done in a hurry if necessary, and the boys are loving it. They both have lovely teachers and the their classrooms are fab. It's a small school but their classes are slightly bigger than what the boys had at ISO. 

Jenna's school is a bus ride away and is in the most beautiful setting ever adjoining the mine's game reserve. It's a long day for her though as they set off here at 6.30am and only come back around 5pm. They have lessons until 1.20pm then a break for lunch and then compulsory after school activities until 4.15pm. Jen is doing hockey, netball and history club. Even so she is also loving it and so enjoying getting back into her sports.

Life hasn't been all roses though and we've had some teething issues. Our container has been ridiculously delayed and shows no sign of turning up soon. Getting our pets (Russell the dog and Morris the cat) here has turned into a nightmare and is only just this weekend (fingers and toes crossed) being sorted out as Clayton has travelled up to Ouaga to fetch them and is making his way back today. And then a few minor things like getting a car here is not as easy as it sounds and so on and so on. 

We're tying up all the bits and pieces now though and once december arrives we're looking forward to just kicking back and enjoying our time together as a family after so many years of going and froing! 

Oh and did I mention - the washing gets done by someone else :-)