Danny's actual birthday

I like it when the party isn't actually on the actual birthday, especially if we can spend the day together doing something fun. Daniel's birthday fell on a Saturday this year and his party was on the Sunday. So it gave us plenty of time to spoil him rotten. First he got a banana pancakes for breakfast (fast becoming a hard-to-break tradition in our little family). After a little sing-song the boys, almost all on their own, demolished that stack of pancakes!

After an outing to London Town to watch the Trooping of the Colour there was a whole heap of presents waiting for our little guy at home. He had great fun ripping off all the wrapping paper to reveal his treasures inside. Big Brother Nick offered a helping, and surprisingly caring, hand. And Danny felt ever so important because they were 'MINE' presents!

Warmup Party

We had a warm up birthday celebration with Claire and her gang to give Danny a bit of practice. The boys and I had loads of fun baking and decorating the cupcakes. It was very hard for them to wait for our guests to arrive before tucking in. Danny did the whole singing, blowing, hooraying and eating thing very well!

Oh yes, Nicholas made the birthday hat for Daniel at Peques,
apparently it was all his own idea because everyone needs a birthday crown!

Trooping of the Colour

As part of Daniel's birthday celebrations we went on a surprise outing to watch the Trooping of the Colour. It was a real special treat. The boys loved the spectacle of horses, soldiers, brass bands and the royal procession!

Oupa and Ouma

June was a very busy month for us, not only was Daniel's second birthday a huge highlight, but we also had Oupa and Ouma visiting us for 3 whole weeks. Both boys loved spending time with their grandparents and thoroughly enjoyed - and benefitted - from all the extra love and attention that were showered on them all the time. Thank you for everything, Oupa and Ouma, we're missing you and can't wait to see you again!

I also enjoyed a bit of freedom - doing the school/activity run with only the appropriate child, shopping in peace, going to the dentist and the hairdresser, a birthday party and a house warming party and of course out for dinner with my better half - without worrying about the kids. I didn't get to do much blogging though. Hopefully I'll be successful at catching up over next few weeks!

Danny Boy's Birthday

I find it hard to believe that our baby turned 2 exactly a week ago. I couldn't help staring at him as he slept thinking about the day he was born and how he has enriched our lives over the past 2 years. We love this intelligent, charming, gregarious, funny, loving, precious little guy of ours more and more each day. Happy Birthday Danny Boy!

Lots lots more to follow ...

Love Letters

As I've mentioned before Nicholas loves drawing, doodling and writing. He produced these two works of art all on his own. I'm sure you can imagine that I'm feeling like the luckiest mom in the world. They are definitely the best love letters I've ever received!

Nick givin flais to Fay - I luv uoo mom

Luv uoo mom - the reb flar is for uoo

Roots and Bones

The other day we went to Oxford to meet our favourite friends from Lincoln College. It was great to have (almost) the whole crowd together after a long long time. On our way to meet everyone we walked past the Natural History Museum which had a irresistable display, Ghost Forest, on the lawns outside. Now all Nicholas wants to do is go on an expedition to Ghana!

Then we spotted the dinosaur footprints. They are casts taken from real footprints of a Megalosaurus found at an archeaological dig just outside Oxford. The footprints were basically the same size as Nicholas and he got only just managed to jump from one print into the next!

We couldn't resist the temptation to go inside and, let me tell you, it was well worth it. What a fantastic museum (get a taste from this virtual tour). They have a very impressive collection of dinosaur skeletons not to mention all sorts of other animals too. We'll definitely go back there next time we're in Oxford!

Who will win a fight between a velociraptor and a t-rex?

And the winner is ... the t-rex!

They even have a replica of the Taung Skull which tugs at my heart strings because it was discovered at Buxton near Magogong. Strange to think that creatures like this were roaming around my home town so many years ago. There are a lot of interesting images and reading around the topic eg: Who killed the Taung Child?. It makes me want to go home to do some exploring!

Talking about heads, a dark and cluttered hall behind the Natural History Museum houses the fabulous Pitt Rivers Museum, it contains the most wonderful collection of artifacts accumulated from around the world by a nutty explorer. We used to love browsing around there when we lived in Oxford so we gave in to temptation and thought we'd quickly show the boys the Shrunken Heads. We took one look at them and decided best to wait until they are a bit older. Luckily there's more than enough other interesting things on display to distract them with. Even more inspiration to go on an adventure. I think we're cultivating some intrepid travellers!

Writing this post has given me a serious case of itchy feet ...