The day began with the creation of the boys’ beaver nest. They worked together shockingly well and the battling was at a minimum during the construction and use of the nest. The number of pillows limited us to one nest otherwise it would have become a competition, as almost all things have become.

Then it was time of another day of home school. I got snack plates ready for each of them before we began to avoid the “I’m hungry” whining as soon as we sat down. It worked nicely for Lenny! He was as ready to go as he ever has been from the start.

Ollie penned one of his letters to Uncle AJ and Lenny is starting to get addition and subtraction thanks to this old cigar box filled with coins. He prefers to think of addition as stealing and subtraction as being stolen from. He also did great reading some words in a story about a sneaking wolf with a deep voice. Oh course Lenny wanted to try his deep wolf voice.

After maybe our most pleasant day yet of home school, Kayleen went to yoga and the boys and I went shopping at Checkers for beach snacks and food for dinner.

We packed a mini cooler (maybe just non American size) at home and got our swimsuits on before we went to pick up Kayleen. The boys have swim pants and long sleeve shirts! Quite the look but they are into it and it’s less sunscreen we have to fight to apply. Also hard to lose a kid in a full neon bodysuit!

We were off to Camps Bay to hit the large tidal pool they have right on the beach. We had spotted it on our bus tour a week ago and vowed to come back on a hot day. Only a 10 minute drive from our house. But first we needed to eat lunch. We ate at a little cafe called The Pottery a block from the beach. The boys were getting feral at the end, being forced to sit when they could see the ocean.

The tidal pool was great with the kids, no waves, though maybe only slighter warmer then the ocean. Best guess low to mid 60s so quite refreshing.

We started by making a sand fortress right on the waters edge, a real benefit of the no waves. It began with dueling fortresses but quickly the boys agreed to join forces to make one giant monster fortress. We connected it to the tidal pool so it would fill with water and there was even an island that Lenny declared as Lenny Island.

Ollie thought he was a funny guy splashing everyone with the chilly water, first with his hands then using our bucket. Eventually I caught him, and much to Lenny’s delight, gave him a taste of his own medicine.

We headed home for dinner and and I grilled while drinking a margarita that Kayleen made. No one calls it grilling in South Africa, it is called braai, pronounced ‘bry’. We found a new dessert for the boys to try, a braai cone. It’s a half cooked waffle cone that is stuffed with chocolate, marshmallow, and M&Ms with a tinfoil top. I put it on the braai for 10 minutes being careful to rotate it every few minutes to not scorch it. The kids took the tinfoil off, let it cool, and devoured it. Then off to bed…

March 27, 2025

March 28, 2025

March 26, 2025