Jimmy Jungles party

One of my best friends had her party at Jimmy Jungles at Tygervalley. I had SUCH fun. Here are some photos from the party.

This is the birthday girl.


This is one of my other best friends.
And this is my third best friend.
Here's Nathan enjoying the toddler den. He's too little to come on the other things with me.

At the 'farm house'

[All buildings are 'houses' to Nellie. The 'farm house' refers to the From the Earth Expo at the CTICC, held this weekend.]

This morning we went to see the animals at the farm house. Mommy was very excited to see the Emu chicks. I was scared cos I thought they would peck me.

Then Daddy and I went for a bit of a walk around while Mommy stayed to play with the chicks. When we went back to find Mommy we found this man instead.

He didn't do a very good job because he cut the scissors too close and made the sheep bleed. After watching him, we all walked around a bit again and Mommy took me to go and practice how to milk a cow. It felt very weird. I didn't like getting my hands all wet with the milk.

There were lots of animals. I'd never seen these ones before. They're called Alpacas. They're cousins of the camel and the llama. The farmers in South Africa use them to protect the sheep from jackals. This is what they look like with all their wool on them.

And this is what they look like when it's all cut off.

Then Mommy saw a friend so she stopped to chat while we went to see the pigs. That's why there are no photos of the pigs. They were very cute. When Mommy came and found us we went to see all the other animals. There were lots of different types of goats, sheep and cows. There was also a very big horse feeding her baby. The daddy cows - what are they called again, Mommy? Bulls, my love. Oh yes, bulls! - the bulls were very big and I was scared of them. This one is called the Afrikaner and is one of the - what's that word again, Mommy? Indigenous. Oh yes, indigenous - cows. That means they have always lived here. Not like the other cows. The other cows didn't used to live here. They used to live far away and they had to come here by ship.

These ones had big horns that could hurt you, so I didn't touch them.

We also saw lots of baby animals - baby chicks, cows, sheep and a baby horse. Here are the baby sheep with their mommy. The daddy sheep wasn't there because he decided to stay on the farm.

There were also lots of little shops selling food like cheese and biltong. Mommy and Daddy had a lot of fun trying the food, but I wasn't hungry.

What a great day we had! I really like this farm house!

See - I can do it!

Yesterday Mommy and Daddy took me (and Nathan) to the biggest jungle gym IN THE WORLD. (Ed - not really, but apparently, that's what Grandma, Aunt Cath and Ariana call it.) It was the first time I went on a climbing wall all by myself. Mommy told me which foot and hand to put in which hole, but I did it ALL BY MYSELF. That's cos I'm the big sister and I'm getting big. Not as big as Mommy, but if I eat all my food then I'll grow as big as her, hey?

A visit from a sort-of cousin

Jessica is my sort-of cousin who lives in Spain. I don't know where that is, but Mommy says it's very far away. (Her mommy and my mommy are sort-of cousins.) Jess is 6 months younger than me, so I get to boss her around, which is nice. Usually I'm the one who gets bossed around.

Here we are throwing our toys to see who can throw the furthest.

Holidays

We had a fun holiday. First we went to stay with my cousins on Uncle Thane's farm. There were lots of dogs, so Baggins and Alyssa had lots of friends to play with too.

I saw cows, and War. War is my cousin's horse. He's very big, and black. I got to see the cows being milked. We also went to another farm to see piggies. They had just been born.

We swam lots. I didn't like swimming in the dam because it was too cold, but I did like swimming in the pool. Mommy and Daddy gave me a yibo (lilo, Ed.) just like Mommy's, and a hippo (inflatable hippo, Ed). I fall off the yibo, but I love my hippo. Daddy and my cousins had a lot of water fights. At first I was very scared, but then Mommy told me they were just playing.

We camped, and I got to sleep on my new air bed in the tent. Mommy found a scorpion in my bed one evening. She didn't show it to me, but she did show me the tok-tokkie (Dung beetle) that was outside our tent.

Father Christmas came and left lots of presents in my stocking - but he got confused and put all my presents in Daddy's stocking and all Daddy's presents in my stocking, so Mommy had to fix it for us.

My big cousin Jemma let me have some of her blue juice (Energade, Ed) and I liked it so much Mommy bought me my own bottle of it.

While we were at the farm, we drove home to visit Grannie to surprise her for her Happy Birthday. It was a long drive, but Grannie was very surprised and loved her presents.

Then we went to Willow Point with my cousin Ariana. She's still a baby and can't really play with me, but I like it when she smiles at me. We were going to camp there too, but then we didn't. We stayed in the bunkhouse instead. That was nice cos Mommy slept right next to me. Every morning I got to swim with Grandma and Tata in the lake. The lake was very salty. I got to jump off the raft when I said 'one, two, three, BLAST OFF'. That was a lot of fun.

We went to the river and the beach a few times, and ate supper on the beach one night. I made lots of sand castles and swam in the waves. I got to see jelly fish and blue bottles. Alyssa and Baggins had never seen a jelly fish before and didn't know what they were.

There was a big rain spider in one room, but Daddy put it in the garden so it couldn't hurt us.

We went for a very long drive one day, to go and see the birds and monkeys (at Birds of Eden, near Plett, Ed). I enjoyed that. The monkeys kept trying to grab my lunch!

The mozzies also tried to eat me up. Mommy said she counted nearly 40 bites on me! They were so itchy they would wake me up at night and Mommy would have to put itchy cream on me. Daddy got bitten by a tick and now is very sick. (He has tick bite fever, Ed.)

Mommy and I had our hair cut. Now I have short hair. Grandma says I look very grown up.

I found a new drink that I really like - Tizer (Grapetiser, Ed.). Mommy let me have some of hers and I liked it so much that now I ask for it all the time.

It was Grandma's happy birthday too. She got magic candles that wouldn't go out, so Daddy and Uncle Phil had to keep blowing them out till they stopped being magic.

Now our holiday is finished. When I go back to nursery, I'm going to Debbie's class because I'm a big girl now. Mommy says so, hey Mommy?

Party fun

Photos

It's been ages since Mommy put some photos of me up.

This was taken at Place of Play while my cousin Jessica was visiting us from Spain at the beginning of May. (Notice Leo in the back, Ed.)These are all taken at Butterfly World. This is a Duiker (smallest buck in SA, I think Mommy said).
Here I am trying to smile. And this is a little monkey that nearly came to sit on my shoulder until a nasty man who worked there stopped it.
During May it was also another of my cousin's birthday. I spent ages blowing this whistle toy.

Eat, play, sleep...

Playing with Daddy on the train at our nearest park. I like driving the train!

Playing at Grandma's house, with the dolls' house. There's a Mommy dolly with yellow hair and a pony tail just like my Mommy's hair. I spent the WHOLE night there on Saturday cos Mommy and Daddy went to a party.

Me, Leo and Riley-Puppy - we're sleeping. Riley-Puppy is Oupa and Ouma's dog. He likes to jump up on me. Then I tell him, "NO, Riley! DOWN!". Sometimes he likes to chase me, and I like to chase him, but I don't like his claws cos he scratches me when he jumps up on me.

Crocodiles at La Bonheur, Franschhoek

Mommy and Daddy took me to see the crocodiles. I called them dinosaurs cos they look like it. Here's Daddy with me walking with the babies. These ones are under 2 years old. They were more scared of us than we were of them. Mommy didn't want Daddy to take me in. I think she was scared that I would want to walk and that the crocodiles might think I was food, but I was very good. These are the big ones, and they're only 3-4 years old. Did you know that crocodiles don't eat at all in winter because they don't have a high enough body temperature to digest food, and that they can go for 2 YEARS between meals?? The man who told us all about them said that when you see them catching a buck, that will be the only meal they eat in several months, if not for the entire year. Imagine - no snacks at all for an entire year!
These funny crocodiles are Stumpy and Lumpy. They were born without tails. Since crocodiles only use their tails for swimming (and not their legs) they would drown if they went into the water too deeply. In nature, when their mother released them into the water they would drown.
While I enjoyed visiting the crocodiles, I enjoyed seeing the other animals at the farm more. There were goats and a big black pig, as well as a tortoise that was nearly as big as me!

Sickness and sunshine

It's been so long since Mommy posted something about my life. That's because I've been very sick (so haven't done very much) and because Mommy is very busy at work.

I was sick for about a week with a very, very bad cold. I was so sick I didn't want to play with any of my toys. I didn't want to go to the park, or even swing on my swing at home. I didn't want to visit my granny, grandma or oupa. I didn't want to sleep, or eat. I was very, very miserable. So Mommy let me lie on the couch with a blanket and watch DVDs. I watched Ice Age. I love Ice Age. I watched it a lot. ["A lot" means what felt like 10 times back to back every day for an entire week. So much so that she, at age 2.5, now knows the entire script - if not word perfect, pretty near enough! Ed]

A little while ago Mommy and Daddy had a party and lots of people came. All my cousins came, and we had great fun playing. I'm a little bit scared of one of them, cos she's bigger than me and bosses me around, but I like having my friends to play. Mommy and Daddy also had a lot of friends who have children, so there were lots of children that I don't know. Mommy said I was very good at sharing my toys, and that she was very proud of me. I like making Mommy happy.

Last weekend we had MORE people come to visit. There was a little boy, Samuel, who came to play with me. I think his Mommy and Daddy are friends with my Mommy and Daddy. He also had a bath with me and we had great fun playing together. I got to race him on my bike up and down the driveway. Then the next day we went to Granny's house and Jessica was there. She's another cousin (I have a LOT of cousins)[she's not actually a cousin, but the family relationship is too complicated to explain to a 2yr old, so cousin will do, Ed]. She lives very far away [Spain. Ed] and is here on holiday. She's younger than me, but she's as big as me., and she can't talk yet. Mommy says that's because she's learning two languages at the same time. I don't know what a language is, but I don't mind that she can't talk cos it means I can talk a lot.

Jessica was lonely, so she came to play with me. We played together in the new fountain that Granny's got. I liked playing with her, but I didn't like sharing my toys that are at Granny's house. I got to show Jessica around the garden and we got to chase the pheasants that Granny feeds. That was a lot of fun, cos Schatzi the Dog chased us too!

This week I got to go to Monkeynastics. It's the first time I've ever been to Monkeynastics. I was so scared that I burst into tears, then the lady gave me a sticker and a T-shirt. [Monkeynastics is an age appropriate movement and music class for kids from 2yrs to 12 yrs. They come to the nursery once a week for a half hour class.] Big Kim sat with me for the whole session so that I wouldn't cry, and I got to watch the class. Maybe next week I'll join in.

Mommy and Daddy bought me a trampoline - a BIG one [only an 8ft one, but big enough that we can jump with her]. Today Jessica came to play at my house and we both jumped on the trampoline. Then we raced bikes on the driveway. We had supper together, and a bath together. I really liked playing with Jessica, except when she stole my Mommy [stole Mommy's attention would be closer to the truth, Ed]. Then I didn't like her at all and I cried, but that wasn't very often, so I still like her. I even let her borrow some of my clothes when she got hers all wet when we were watering Mommy's plants. I'm going to play with her again next week, and maybe next weekend too. I'm looking forward to that.

Mommy took a video of us jumping on the trampoline. If she has time tomorrow maybe she'll post it so you can see us. Here are some photos of me though, in the meantime...

This is how I travel to nursery most days. I like riding on the bike, except that I don't like it when the wind blows in my face too much.This is me and Mommy inside a fish tank at the kwarim [aquarium]. [The tank was built over a little tunnel that had a spyhole inside the tank, Ed.] The fish were Nemo fish, and when we were inside the tank they could swim right around us and over us. They were hungry and were looking for food. We had a lot of fun at the kwarim - we saw sharks and a turtle and a fish with wings that flew [a ray, Ed.]. But best of all I liked the Nemo fish.

Cousins come to play

Yesterday my cousins came to play. We had great fun, and Mommy said I played nicely and shared my toys nicely!