San Diego Fun

We spent a few days in San Diego, cause I seriously needed to get out of Utah for a little while. It was definitely what I needed.

San Diego Zoo - Loved this place, and so did the Tazling.







Swimming at the hotel - Miss Madam LOVES water.


Sea World - At the Shamu show, they do this whole thing where you have to put your hands together and wave your arms up and down to make Shamu splash you. It was all smiles and giggles, till Shamu splashed our side of the auditorium. Would you believe that the splash came in a straight line and hit only one person in each row of seats. Its true, and guess who the one person in our row is who got doused - exactly! The person on my right was bone dry, and Mack had a few drops on his shoulder. I however looked like a drowned rat and had rivulets of water running from each butt cheek when I stood up. Good times, Good times!


(Mack feeding the seals - Taz did not appreciate the noise)

(Taz checking out the bat rays)

(The bat ray that touched Taz's foot and made her FREAK out!)




(The infamous Shamu splash - I still can't believe I was the one that got wet - Mack was the one that wanted to sit in the splash zone. I can still feel my damp jean clad thighs rubbing together. At least it was a nice warm day.)

Santa Monica Beach - we spent a couple of days in LA with Gillian.






Lego Land - We didn't have much fun here cause little missy was too small to go on any of the rides. We'll visit again when she's 5 or so - then she'll have a blast!


(she did not appreciate the coolness of being in the sharks mouth.)

(Moi looking super cool in a borrowed hat - I sunburnt my scalp the day before - looking like a dork was far better than getting a double burn.)

Summer Fruits

Tamsine LOVES fruit. I cut it up and put it in her little - no choke - fruit pouch thingy and away she goes. She particularly enjoys oranges and nectarines.

Figured It Out

I've been wondering about Tamsine and her screaming fits when we put her down for bed. It just didn't make sense that she would go down for her naps no problem, but that she would scream at night.

I've been wondering if it had something to do with the darkness. We always have a nightlight on, but her room is still pretty dark. So, tonight I put a single bulb lamp in her room which gave her a little more light, but still kept the room dim enough for her to know that its night.

AND, lo and behold.......NO TANTRUM!!!!! My little girl is afraid of the dark. That's why she's been freaking out at night. Poor kid. I feel so bad. But at least we figured it out and now we can both relax.

It Starts...

My mother told me that having a little redhead was God's way of getting me back for the grief I gave as a kid. AND Tamsine's hair gets redder by the day. Jeesh!

She isn't even 11 months old yet, but the battle of the wills has already started. Who will win? Right now that's anybodies guess. I know how stubborn I am, but I'm still learning how stubborn my offspring can be.

Nap times during the day are fine. She's tired, I put her in her cot, she lies and moans for a few minutes and then goes to sleep.

Going down for the night though is a COMPLETELY different story. She's tired, I give her a bottle, she about falls asleep drinking, she realizes that its bed time, she wakes herself up, she smiles coyly, she arches her little back and lets out a spine chilling screech, I put her in her cot, I turn on her lullaby music, she starts to wail, she pulls herself up and knaws on the side of her cot while wailing, I put her down, I put her dummy in her mouth, she rolls and squirms and screams, I pat her little bum and try to shush her, she slaps at my hand and screams some more, I start to mumble threats under my breath, she screams some more, I then walk out the room to see if she will cry herself to sleep, she goes into berserker mode, I listen to her scream for about 20 min, I walk into her room, I pick her up, I quiet her down, she rubs and rubs and rubs her little eyes, she pretends to be asleep, I put her in her crib, she arches her little back and screams, I mutter a few death threats (to or regarding no one in particular) and curse a little, she screams. 2 hrs later we're still doing the exact same thing, until I pick her up, she screams, arches her back, and promptly falls asleep.

WHAT THE???!!!!!???

I've wondered many things about what I might be doing wrong, if she's in pain, and on and on. The things is, that if I bring her out to the lounge she proceeds to smile and gurgle and act like the cutest happiest baby ever. I've realized, she just doesn't feel the need to go to bed at a normal hour and give me a little break. BRAT!

So as I said....The battle of the wills...It starts!

Now That's What I'm Talking About

I'm Melting

Taz and I have been enjoying the bike seat. It helps me get some exercise, and helps tucker Taz out so that she takes lovely long naps. We usually bike to a park where we have a little picnic lunch and then play on the swings and attempt climbing on the other equipment.

We were biking around the other day, and as I took a corner I said "weeeee", and the next thing I heard this little "weeeee", come out of my tiny passenger. It was so adorable!!!!

Now everytime we take a ride she sits and says, "weeeeee". When I hear her, I just melt.

Mouse in the House

We have alot of construction going on around our house, and also a really large open field behind it. Both of these factors contribute to there being an abundance of furry little critters being disturbed in their natural habitat. Add a very frisky Phoebe into the mix and...I think you can see where I'm going with this.

So last night I noticed the cat staring intently at the corner of Tamsine's room, I wondered about it, but was too tired to really care. Then, this morning I found mouse droppings and pee in the container we keep Taz's nappies in, in her top drawer of her chest of drawers. I was not amused, but had been witness to Phoebe's conquests before, so I started looking everywhere for the mouse carcass. Nowhere! Argh!!!! I have a baby in the house and need to know where to spray copious amounts of Lysol disinfectant. THEN, I noticed the cat completely fascinated with the hall cupboard where we keep the vacuum. I thought - Aha - so opened the cupboard expecting the cat to jump in there and pull out the mouse. Instead she attacked the vacuum. Our cat (let me correct that, ) Mack's cat is a strange one anyway, but I figured there was something to her taking a dislike to the vacuum suddenly.

On closer inspection, I found the mouse had crawled up the vacuum hose and died there. Now isn't that a considerate mouse. I wish they would all do that!

So now instead of having to douse the whole house in Lysol disinfectant and have it dripping from the ceilings, I can just spray in the area's that I figure the mouse went.

Sweet New Ride

As summer approaches and the days begin to warm, I have been overcome with the need to get out into the sunshine and capitalize on the great weather. I seem to suffer from seasonal dysfunctional disorder here and go into a complete depression during the last few months of winter in Utah (which feels like about 9, maybe 10 months of the year).

Anyway, I have always enjoyed a nice bike ride or two. You know the kind - the ones where the wind is always in your favour and there are no uphills anywhere to be seen. Yip thats my kind of bike ride. But, this year so far I have been unable to follow my whim of biking around my parking lot a couple of times because of the dear munchkin.

I started researching bike seats versus bike trailers (which I have found are hellishly expensive). I found the perfet bike seat for the little missy, one where I can talk to her, where she is safe, where she doesn't throw my center of balance off, where she doesn't have to look at my wobbling butt the whole ride, and where I can see if she's uncomfortable or not.

So to make a long story short - meet Tamsine's new ibert. Even though the weather wasn't the best today, we had to take it for a test run. She LOVED it.

So come on summer, Taz and I have some serious biking to do - I might even try a slight incline or two!

Taz all kitted out and ready to go!

Virgin voyage of the ibert.

Of course we had to stop off in the park so that..ummm, both my kids could play on the swings a bit.


Just look at that happy little face!

Good Times, Good Times

I have to write this down before it becomes a distant memory - mainly because its my favourite memory from this last trip to Cape Town.

This is how it happened. Jeremy, Taz, my Mom and I went to breakfast with some of my Mom's friends. We arrived back at my Aunts house and heard the most awful noise (sorry Alana) coming from her sunroom area. Confused and just a little concerned we walked into the house, and found my cousin Alana sitting cross legged on my Aunts couch singing at the top of her lungs along with a karaoke style game called Sing Star. My cousin Brenna and her boyfriend Alexandre were just as into the game. Surprisingly, Alana's favourite song to sing to was Dolly Parton's 9 to 5. I think Lana was chanelling her!

But, to make a long story short, it felt like old times back in Cape Town. The cousins all hanging out together acting stupid and not caring. After only a few minutes we were all haggling over who was going to sing which song, getting excited about beating one anothers score, and teasing each other. Jeremy was a little reticint at first, which was surprising because out of all of us, he has the best voice, but seriously with all of us together, excited, singing off key, it was only a matter of minutes before Jeremy was sucked into the thick of things. And boy was he sucked in! Alana was so addicted that she was late for a dinner appointment - her husband had to call 3 times to remind her she needed to make her way home.

Ahhh, the good old days. I miss you guys!

I Should be Sleeping...

Hanging with Dad

While in Mexico last year, we bought two chair hammocks for our balcony area. They really are super comfy, and if the sun would ever shine maybe we could use them more. We did have one sunny day this year so far though.

When Things Go Quiet...

I should have known better, but I was just so glad for a little peace while packing the groceries away. That's when I realised I should know better. When the house is void of little noises, it means that little noises are way too preoccupied doing something they shouldn't be doing. And that's when a mother turns around to find the cats water dish completely void of water, and this lurking under the dining table.

My Mom's Side of the Family

A very drooly Taz with her Uncle Jeremy and Ouma

All we're missing is Darren

My Mom and her siblings (Phinnie, Antoinette, Marie, Billy)

Ouma and her self confessed favourite grandchild (I say rude!)

Tamsine and her Oumagrootjie (big little grandmother)

Four generations

The Four Girls (Aunty Net, Ouma, Aunty Phinnie, My Mom)

Ouma and all four her children

My Mom, my child and my Ouma