UK and South Africa Trip - May 6 - 28, 2011

So Vere and I are crazy and decided to take Cole to the other side of the planet on a 22 day long vacation to visit Vere's family in England and South Africa and to visit some of the youth development programs that Kits for Africa has been supporting. It was a great trip! The long haul flights however, not so great. We booked red eyes for all four of the 10-11 hour flights because we thought Cole would just sleep since it would be night time and he would be tired. We have never been so wrong!

The first part of our trip we visited Richard and Diana in the New Forest in the southern part of England. During our flight out, Cole took a few long naps which panned out to about 4 hours total. At the time, I didn't think it was very good, but that would turn out to be one of our best flights. Cole and I were also getting over a stomach bug the day we flew out, which we gave to Vere the day of our arrival :) Lucky for Vere, Cole slept a record 14 hours straight that first night and didn't wake up until 11 the next morning. And the stomach thing was pretty much a 24-36 hour bug. We really just relaxed on this part of the trip. We went into Portsmouth to visit the Historic Dockyard and toured the HMS Victory. We ate at lots of pubs, visited the horses and hung out in Richard and Diana's beautiful garden. 




HMS Victory

 

Cole with Daddy and Grandpa Richard

 

Cole with daddy on the Victory



Cole and Vere at The George on the River Avon



Me, Cole and Richard in front of the chalet at Richard and Diana's that we stay in.

 

Vere and Cole in the garden



Cole with Grandma Diana


Our next stop was South Africa to the Barker's house where Lucy, Anthony and the girls live in Gordon's Bay. I think Cole slept about 90 minutes on that flight. Vere and I, maybe 30 minutes. But once we got there, we had the best time! And Cole loved it! I seriously think Cole thought that that was his new home. We were there for 10 days and the Barkers could not have been better hosts! - THANK YOU! 

We were so busy during this part of our trip, I think I will just post all the pics and write captions...



The amazing view of False Bay from The Barker's house. 



Day 2: We took a drive to Hermanus.



Town of Hermanus



Cole with his Auntie Lucy!

Vere, Anthony and I at the Tavern. Lucy graciously volunteered to babysit. I guess you could say we had a good time. Anthony wanted to be the guy in motion and I thought it was very funny...

 

Vere and Charlie (one of our board members) with the kids from the Western Province Rugby Clinic. This was our first stop to visit the kids we've been supporting and it was the best experience. There were probably about 200 kids there and they did this whole presentation where different leaders in the community got up to speak encouraging words to the children. They even had Vere go up and say a few words.



I love this pic. Cole just thought he ruled the place. Cruising around not even caring that there were hundreds of big kids around.



And he just LOVED the rugby balls.



He spent forever just trying to pick one up. This was a proud moment.




obsessed...



At the end they presented Vere with some wines from their local winery as a thank you for our support. It was very cool.



Out next stop was to meet with Western Province Cricket Union. Here we are on the pitch.

 

This is us driving into one of the townships where the Kuyasa school was located...and we were all a bit nervous...




But then there was this awesome school that this amazing couple, Cassie and Jenny built.





Charlie with some of the Kuyasa kids.



The school was not only for kids but also adults to learn different trades. This guy was showing us how he makes brooms out of old plastic soda bottles.



I just thought this was so funny that Lucy called it "just a baby". Then proceeded to catch it in a jar and let it go. But I guess killing it would have been like killing a small rodent...




Drive to Franschhoek

 

View of Franschhoek from our drive.



Huguenot Monument in Franschhoek

Cole playing the drum with cousin Charlotte

 

This was the start of our crazy day where we decided to take a drive along the peninsula. Here is St. James beach in Muizenberg.




More Muizenberg



Top of Cape Point.



Cape Point where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans are supposed to meet.

 

Vere and Charlie at the top of Cape Point



Cole found his toes on the long drive...

Us in front of the beach of Stangkop. Vere and I took a picture in this exact spot about 5 years earlier.

 

Stop in Hout Bay for lunch.



Up the gondola to Table Mountain...



Cole on top of Table Mountain

Us on top of Table Mountain

View of Cape Town from Table Mountain



Table Mountain from the V and A



Us in front of Table Mountain at the V and A. Cole was such a trooper that day. We seriously took him on a crazy little road trip.



The following day we went great white shark cage diving. And Auntie Lucy once again babysat for us. Here we are in our seal suits.

 

One of the 8 sharks that were circling the boat that day.



Another...

Underwater camera pics...



Vere and I in the cage.



Another pic of the view from Lucy and Anthony's. Here is Charlie celebrating his 30th birthday with a cigar.



This day we visited the Helderberg football academy in the Nomzano township. We donated 30 boots and 8 kits (shirts, shorts and sock for 8 teams) for this group.

 

And once again Cole thought it was one big playground.





Pic from our drive through the Nomzano township.

Jack and Amber during their busy day.



Yup, 10 days with these two... GOOD TIMES! Thanks Lucy and Anthony for an amazing trip!



On our last day, we had breakfast with one of Vere's best friend, John and his family Justine, Leo and Joshua.



Then lunch at Blues Restaurant to celebrate Jessi's birthday!



 

Cole started dancing during the trip and hasn't stopped since! Here is a little taste...



Cole with his beautiful cousins Charlotte, Katie and Jessi



 

The following morning we headed back to the UK. Cole was coming down with a cold that he eventually passed on to Vere and I so we were sick in England once again. Cole hardly slept on the plane and Vere and I didn't sleep at all. In fact, Vere was feeling so bad when we got there that I had to drive from Manchester airport to Stockton-on-Tees on the wrong side of the road, on the wrong side of the car, driving stick... with zero sleep. Somehow we made it in one piece and managed to get a lot of sight seeing done in those four days. 



Views from the top of tower at Durham Cathedral



Cole with Gran in front of Durham Cathedral



Crathorne Hall (where we stayed) has the most beautiful gardens and Cole was enjoying taking a walk and pulling up all the flowers.

And eating the pine cones...



And just running around!




I thought this sign was funny...seriously? We passed this sign every time we drove from our hotel to Eva's house.



York Minster pics...

Town of York



Clifford's Tower in York



Dinner at Crathorne Hall (from top left clockwise: Me, David, Rosemary, Vere, Eva, Emma and Russell)



Cole, Vere and Eva at what remains of Hadrian's Wall




Hexham Abbey



Hugs from Gran!

Here are some nice pics Lucy took from our trip...

Oh ya... Cole fell and scraped his nose. And then 2 days later he fell and scraped the scab off. Poor guy!

The Big ONE!

I have some serious catching up to do... 

So Cole turned ONE on April 29th! I really can't believe a year has passed already. We have both changed SO much. I remember being so excited when Cole realized that there was a ball lying next to him. Or when he finally figured out how to roll over. Now he's opening doors and cupboards and pulling things out. The other day I picked up a ball and he went into the kitchen to get the other one just like it that he had left there earlier. Yesterday I asked him where he put his bottle and he went and got it and brought it back to me. It's crazy! And a year ago, I was scared to leave the safety of the hospital and bring him home after he was born. And after we brought him home, I was scared to take him out of the house just to go to the store. It really amazing how much change can take place in one year.

We didn't have a big party or anything because let's face it, how could we possibly compete with the Royal Wedding? Honestly, things were just so hectic. I had a million things to do before we left for our big trip so we decided to just do a family celebration for his first birthday and I made sure I planned something fun for him each day the week of his birthday. The weekend before his birthday, Tutu and Grandpa came down. I made cupcakes and Tutu made cookies and we had his "first" 1st birthday celebration. We also went to see Bobby and Chelsey's Taiko group perform for a benefit for Japan.



1st Birthday Celebration - #1.
Of course as soon as I put the cupcakes in front of Cole he grabbed for them so one of the cupcakes didn't make it through the attack.

 

Yummy cookies that Tutu made for Cole.



First bite of cupcake. He actually didn't really like it and didn't eat anymore after that.



San Diego Taiko (Chelsey left and Bobby second to right)



What's that noise!?!?
I wasn't sure how Cole was going to feel about the loud drums but he was totally into it. 



Playing in the tunnel/tent set he got from Tutu and Grandpa for his bday.



He really loves this thing!



Everyone likes to play in it...

The scene: Cole was taking a nap, my Mom was on her iPhone and Vere and Dad were on iPads. And I was feeling very neglected...so I took a picture with my iPhone. We are Apple's perfect family :)

The next week was busy with activities I had planned for Cole's birthday week. I enrolled him in 2 classes at this baby/kids gym called JW Tumblers which he liked. Then, we visited the Flower Fields with our moms group and had lunch with Nissa.



Us at the Flower Fields. I just kept him in the ergo the entire time. There was too much potential for destruction.



Cole and Nissa

Finally it was Cole's actual birthday! Vere had been traveling all week so he planned on taking the day off for the Royal Wedding... I mean Cole's birthday... 


Cole started the morning opening up his presents and playing with his new toys.
Here is his truck book from Auntie KC, Uncle Erik, Kalia and Maya - thanks guys!

  

The wrapping paper was the best part of course.



And the packaging...

 

Then we were off to Seagrove Park



Swinging with daddy!

Beach with mommy!

Birthday lunch of fruit and snacks - his favorite!

Cole watching Vere add the finishing touches to the cupcakes :)



1st Birthday Celebration - #2.  


Other cute pics of Cole...

Sporting his new shark towel from Bobby and Chelsey - thanks guys!



And finally able to fit into this cute onesie from Kimber - thanks Kimber!

Here are some of the Easter pics I got back from the photographer...



9 days till the BIG 1

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MOM AND DAD!

So I cannot believe Cole is going to be a year old next week. It's really crazy how time can fly! Looking back on the last year, he and I learned so many things together. When we were running errands the other day, I was thinking about how scared I felt when we first brought him home from the hospital. I just had no idea how to take care of him. And now, he's my little buddy and we do everything together.

Some funny things about Cole that still haven't changed after (almost) 12 months:

• He still hates getting his diaper changed. After all those diaper changes, it is still a fight every time.
• When he's tired, he still pulls at the hair on the top of his head.
• His naps still suck. 30 minutes on the dot (unless he falls asleep in the car)
• He still takes his best naps in the carseat

Cole has had a busy couple of weeks. He's learned how to open a closed door and the house is no longer safe. Toilet paper is sitting on the bathroom counters, the door to the garage must remain locked at all times and I have to the make sure he does not go into the office or the laundry room because those are serious danger zones. I have to re-babyproof the house which I had no idea I was going to have to do?!? He has also managed to open 2 babyproof bottles this week. One of vitamins and one of zyrtec. The next thing I know he'll be opening the childproof gate and going up and down the stairs himself. He is also busy moving things around the house. He likes to push the barstools around the island in the kitchen, move his highchair across the dining room and push his big toys from one room to the other. He's pretty funny. Vere says maybe he'll be an interior designer...

Cole goes through phases of sounds he likes to say over and over. Before it was ba ba ba or ra ra ra and at one point, ma ma ma. But right now he likes da da da. And Vere is loving it. He asks Cole "who do you love?" and of course Cole says "da". And of course Vere asks me every time if I heard it. But seriously... I think Cole's first official word was "HA!" He says it a lot and loud, like it has meaning. Today at the grocery store, he yelled it 4 times to the woman in front of us until she turned around and looked at him, then he stopped. She asked if he was mad and I told her no, he just likes to say HA! 

Cole also likes to put things in other things. He puts little toys in his stacking cups. He even puts the little cups into the bigger cups. He puts his toys in his toy bins, but not as many as he takes out of course. He likes to put his food in my hand or in my mouth. He just likes to see what happens I guess.



I thought his was funny. He lined up his rubber basketball with this other set of balls. Clever boy...


Last weekend was hot so we took him to the beach. I didn't even put him in swimmers because I know he doesn't like cold water. But he LOVED IT! He was splashing around for a long time. We had to hold both his hands because he was charging into the ocean! I was scared for him! He was waist deep and would have gone all the way in if we didn't stop him. At one point we were getting tired so we tried to go back to the beach for some rest, but Cole started to throw a tantrum because he didn't want to get out of the water so we stayed for a little bit more. It was crazy!


Happy for beach weather...finally!

  

He thought this big pile of seaweed was very interesting.



He even tried to take it home.

Enjoying the cold water. You can't see them in this video because they were so small. But there were hundreds (maybe thousands) of tiny creatures that kept burrowing into the sand. Cole was going crazy on them. They were disgusting. I've never seen them before but they were everywhere!

I am still struggling to feed Cole nutritious meals. He just doesn't like to try new foods. When I give him something new, he just picks it up and drops it on the floor. Sometimes I spend a lot of time making him something new to try and he just tosses it aside. We have had a couple of major breakthroughs this week. He finally ate pasta after about 25 tries. I don't know what happened that day and I don't know if it will happen again but it was a messy messy business. He also ate about 5 bites of baked beans and mashed potatoes today and a couple bites of a chicken nugget. Maybe things are looking up...

Pasta! His clothes are still soaking. I didn't have a bib on him at first because I didn't think he was actually going to eat it.

Today we had our Easter Egg Hunt with our moms group. 30 baby mamas RSVP'd for the event! Cole had fun. He was pretty excited that I was letting him wander around and just pick up these things that were on the ground. He kept walking around shaking an egg in his hand, then he would suddenly see another egg and drop the one he had to go over to the new one. I had to follow him around and put them in his basket for him. One of the moms knew a photographer so I signed Cole up for a photo session. I'll post the pics when I get them. For now, here are a few I took...



Eggs are cool!

 

Shake shake shake the eggs!


 

Looking for more eggs...


A few more pics of Cole...




Peanut butter!



A day at the park...

Guess he ate a sour grape. Notice how all of his carrots are pushed to the edge of his placemat. At least they didn't wind up on the floor.