Some more Italy

It was only last month, but time got in the way and now it seems years ago...

After our 1,5 weeks at Il Tesoro, we packed up and drove 2 hours to Gabbice Monte, where we stayed at Hotel Posillipo.  This was a gorgeous surprise, on a hilltop, away from the action of the busy seaside resort of Gabicce Mare, a gorgeous hotel with amazing sea views from the room, restaurant, swimming pool...

The kids gave the sparkling pool one look and that was it - we spent the afternoon there annoying the adult guests who where looking longingly at the water but would rather endure the heat than take the plunge in the refreshing (i.e. chilly) pool.  Big Sissies I can say as I did take the plunge one day and swam with them and it was lovely.

We also spent a lot of time at the beach in Gabbice Mare - imagine playground, buckets and spades, umbrellas and sunbeds all on your stretch of beach - lovely!!  The kids spent hours hunting for clams and hermit crabs.  Breakfast at the hotel consisted of watermelon, kiwi, hot chocolate and cake (mostly) and on our little mountain was the best restaurant ever.  Imagine the most beautiful sea views while eating gnocchi with clams and prawns and drinking the local wine - yummy.  We should have spent more time here but it was really expensive staying in a hotel as we had to eat out the whole time, but it was magnificent.

Well that was our holiday in Italy, amazing but too long ago.  Where can we go next!!!

Otherwise I had I had a crappy Tuesday the 13th!!  It was Silke's sports day at pre-school and she didn't win a medal, which was a huge thing to her.  Only the biggest much older girl in her group won all the medals.  So my heart broke and my child cried and I crapped out the teachers.  Well sorry, I'm a mom I have to be protective of my little chick!!  But then I held my South African friend's newborn baby boy and it was so nice. 

And then when I fetched Mieke from a friend's house she told me that her teacher told her that she was so proud of her as she was doing so well!!  And she wrote the best piece ever about what she did yesterday at Fluffy Monday - so good in fact that her teacher showed it to the teacher who taught them on Fluffy about a certain artist and where he was from and the way he painted.  And she was also very impressed.  And Mieke got 3 stamps at school.  And that is one of the reasons why I love my blog because I can brag unashamedly!!!!

No more school ... boe hoe

We've had a few hair raising weeks with Werner being ill with flu, which suddenly turned into pneumonia, which caused him to be hospitalised and me spending days between home, school and hospital and nights sleepless with worry.

Thankfully he is much better now.

School closed for the loooonngg six week long summer holidays on Wednesday and even though I was complaining about how busy I was with school stuff like the year book and the PTA and organising gifts for the teachers now that its all over... I'm bored.

No urgent e-mails to read, no school runs, no yearbook to check, no minutes to write, no phone calls or meetings to attend. How sad... my whole life revolved around Mieke's school and now there is nothing. I really miss it. I miss her school, I miss her teacher who retired, I miss seeing the mums at pick up time. I think I might need a job.

Speaking of her teacher who retired - when I first heard Mieke was going to be in Miss Topping's class I wasn't really very happy as I was quite scared of her myself. She seemed strict and I've seen her yelling at the kids. After Mieke's first day I asked her how her day was and surprise surprise - she loved it and she found her new teacher extremely funny. And so she was. She kissed the kids on their hands when they did well and told them their bottoms were going to be in trouble if they are silly. She had a wonderful sense of humour and knew how to handle difficult boys with ease. Her class adored her and they flourished. On the last day of term when she came out for the last time with the children at home time all the parents clapped hands and cheered for her and I got tears in my eyes.

The greatest treasures in the world are found in the most unexpected places.

Eerste Dae

Hier is ons eerste paar weke in Engeland. Silkie soos 'n eskimo gewrap op 'n dagtrip London toe - dit was vrek koud, Silke & Mieke in haar skoolklere net voor die groot dag, Mieke se skool - Pewley Down Infant School, en sneeu!!!

Die skole lyk almal nie na veel van buite af nie, maar binne is dit baie nice - computers, kreatiewe areas, biblioteek ens. Maar sport is nie hoog op die lys nie, net die seuntjies speel sokker so nou en dan wanneer dit nie reen nie. Meer dikwels seker in die somer. Hulle doen darem weekliks PE en gaan selfs in die vriesende koue uit om te speel. Ek loer dikwels vir hulle oor die muur as ek op pad is dorp toe en hulle speel buite.

Dit was die beste van alles. Dit het al twee keer gesneeu vandat ons hier gekom het, maar dit hou net 'n ruk, so teen middag as Mieke se skool klaar is (drie uur) dan is die sneeu ook weg, wat haar nie baie impress het nie. Maar dit is beautiful... Jammer ek weet nog nie hoe om die foto regop te kry nie.