who says housework is dull?

not really hungry

we were running a little late today, so Braeden had to finish his lunch in the car while Dylan was returning library books

but he wasn't feeling very hungry

so he decided to make it a bit more interesting

this piece of toast became a gun which was used for taking potshots at passer-bys

then he saw someone walking along with a cigarette and decided to copy them (!)

i got the message at this point ;o)

fire

we saw a fire today

it was a clothing factory about 5 km from where we live

the firemen were having a difficult time because the water supply was very intermittant

we drove by again about 2 hours later and they were still struggling to extinguish the flames

on the road

wherever we travel, we tend to take much longer than most people to arrive at our destination, because we usually get wonderfully side-tracked along the way!

this was a dramatic fire we saw next to the road while travelling between Rosendal and Bethlehem

we drove up one of the 'off-shoot' roads in the Golden Gate Nature Reserve in the Free State, got the bikes off the car and road all the way down. what a setting!

butterflies

there is a lovely place in pietermaritzburg called 'butterflies for africa' ...

although they are not indigenous butterflies - it was exciting for the boys to see, first-hand, each stage of the life-cycle of the butterfly

they were shown the eggs on the leaves by such an enthusiastic and highly knowledgable guide at the facility

there weren't too many caterpillars the day we were there - but we found a few :o)

however there were lots of examples of the pupa stage, and here our guide shows us some of the pupa in various stages of development.

this one's wings were still damp

we also learnt about the food which attracts them ...

see if you can spot the camouflaged butterfly!

here is a closer look. his wings look exactly like a dried leaf from the outside, but when he opens them they are a brilliant orange. this butterfly is known as the pearl charaxes

we found this beauty in amongst the bird seed :o)

the boys were amazed at how unafraid the butterflies were of us

that was ticklish! :o)

what an amazing feeling!

we will be back!

sugar cane juice

on sunday's cycling trip, we stopped at a new African fusion restaurant called Moyo, which has a juice bar with a difference! Freshly squeezed sugar cane juice!

Braeden and his friend were entranced

And I couldn't resist a close-up shot of these beach-sand coated little feet :o)

The juice was devoured very quickly and proclaimed 'yummy!'
their faces had been painted Moyo style -see below
which was followed up with a 'monkey's-wedding' (basically jelly and custard) :o)

and the sugar-high which followed had to be worked off!

a gorgeous lady with a gorgeous headdress painted their faces so beautifully