Our Holiday in New England

We loaded our new little car and headed off to Mystic. We packed a picnic and found some benches alongside the river. Good timing as we saw the draw bridge. The weather was not great but hey its holiday and you away from home so it was fine.

 The kids will always find something to climb on and jump off.

 Still need to see the Julia Roberts movie "Mystic". We now have the photo which helps.

 Next stop was Newport in Rhode Island. The rain was bucketing down. We had to all buy umbrellas. Rain means find a quite spot and settle down to a cold beer. It was an Irish pub.

 Always ready for a laugh. Feels great to be away. Its been quite busy lately.

 We stayed in motels which are reasonably priced and not bad value. I did have a twist in my stomach after watching all the movies and motels. Murders, shot outs, drug addicts. OK maybe I watch too much TV. Anyway the motel was fine and served its purpose.

 Mexican restaurant in Newport. We had crumbed avocado chips which was a first.

 The famous Vanderbilt's summer cottage. It was amazing to see how some people lived.

 There is a 5km walk along the Newport rugged  cliffs and it is great to have a good look at all mansions. Local fishermen preserved public access to the trail by going to court when wealthy mansion owners tried to have it closed. Its beautiful

 Found another pub.

 Our motel in Hyannis, Massachusetts.

In plymouth we headed out to the Plimoth Plantation. The plantation is a living history museum of the English Colonists and Native Americans

 Happy families


Lots of fun cars. Caroline it reminds me of Nascar. Special times together.



 Especially for my dad. One day dad we will take a ride in a fun car like this.


The Mayflower



 Salem which is famous for its witch trials in 1692. The museum was such a let down. Not worth a single cent.

 The late nights finally caught up. Eating out all the time is not a favorite for all of us. One good things is we had Wagamama in Boston. Its was earth moving it was so delicious.

 We headed out on a boat cruise to see the whales. Well no whales were seen. Shame Kara and Leon and half of the rest of the boat were so sick. The crew were walking around handing out sick bags.

 Boston, Charles street. Boston is a really beautiful city.

 The tour buses are Land and Water buses.

Boston has the most beautiful bridges.

Great holiday

For Granny Lu

The whole of kindergarten had a beach party. Victoria's class 

All the mommy's and kiddies



Mommy loves you lots and lots




The sun was too hot so GP took shelter




Kara and GP baking lemon drizzle cupcakes. They were so yummy. GP taught Kara you have to clean up afterwards too. So good cooking. Victoria's one on one next time.




USB hired the whole of Rye playland. It was fantastic. Everything was free




Leon took the kids on a horror ride. The deal was he was waking up at night if there were any problems. No sleep problems thank goodness.




The huge water ride





The kids ate toffee apples. You could order any food your heart desired. The kids went for burger king.




Kara in her school play. She was one of the leading roles. What a fantastic role and so proud of seeing how Kara performed in front of quite a big audience. Huge concentration. Well done actor fancy lady




School is out. All the kids had to wear ties to school because Mr Butley the princpal has retired.




Never fear GP is HERE.





For granny LU. Lobster roll at the UBS playland.




Salmon fillet cooked on maple wood for flavour



Gp arrives

We are coming to the end of the school year and it just blows my mind that the kids have completed a whole school year in America. To see how they have integrated into the whole American way of life is amazing. They sure have gone from strength to strength and seem like well rounded normal kids. Happy kids which makes Leon and myself happy.

So schools out on Wednesday 22 June till September. Its a long one. Most kids have been booked into camp but we will fill our days with exploring.

Leon's dad is here for 4 weeks and down one week already. Its been busy. My work has also started slowing down. There is so much work around for private lessons but the lack and expense of child care makes it not possible at the moment. I will do the odd lesson.

I was offered a job to do a children's birthday party at a ladies house. I was so excited because a nice easy $120.00 for 2 hours. I had in my mind planned the whole party with games, toys. Then the bubble was burst big time. If anything happened while I had the kids in my care I could be sued. I have no personnel insurance to cover me. I felt so silly and so sad not taking the job. various American friends strongly advised me not to take the job for a mere $120.00. When its not part of your make up it feels wrong. As they say when in Rome do as the Romans. I was also asked to teach swimming in private pools. cant do it. Its a project to look into the insurance.

I have been given some more private lessons. An adult who has never been in the water. Also a disabled little boy named Cole who clung on so tight and was quite nervous. This is a real challenge.

Well Leon's dad(GP) has been looking and looking and looking again. He hits the food shops and checks out all the goodies that you cant get in South Africa.

The kids have been soaking up having a grandparent around and are having great fun. They were spoilt rotten with all the presents from South Africa. Pick up sticks are played before the bus arrives, when they come home, after supper. Pick up sticks mad. We do have two little cheats, lots debates and very often the rules change daily. All good fun.




Chop stick fun as I call it or pick up sticks

We have been doing lots of trips to the school which has been fantastic for Victoria to experience. She is normal and does have grandparents like other children in her class

When the kids have a birthday the parents come into the class and provide cupcakes, chips and they sing Happy birthday.

 

Friday nights we generally head off to the beach for a braai and its a great way to start the weekend. We have a commonwealth braai on the beach. South African, Canadian, New Zealand and English





Victoria's class having the birthday party.

We made some boerewors with GP. Well I think we almost got it. The texture was good and the taste great. Leon fired up the braai and we had a real South African feast. We made apple boerwors and chili. The kids gobbled it right up. Nice to sit as a family together.

Pick up stick mad lady

I have been wanting to have a meal at a local restaurant in Norwalk for a while but never quite got there. So GP and i went to Sugar and Olive for lunch. Its was great. Megan I could imagine your kitchen been like the one in the picture. It had a Andre and Megan feel. The menu was presented to us on an iPad which was pretty impressive.

The scallops which are so expensive in South Africa

I had jerk chicken with winter veg and watermelon

Victoria finishes school at 1.00pm on a Monday and Friday. I like to do something special with her on her short days. We bought a salad and headed down to earth place and sat by the river. This is one of my special places to visit.