We went on an arts and crafts spree last week when the boys were battling with fevers. Id seen a mesmerising video on instagram doing the rounds of the watercolours spreading through a “snowflake” and had been itching to give it a try. Continue reading “Craft fun – Raised Salt Painting”
Tag: in these stilettos
Settling your child into school
Every parent hopes their child will glide through the school gates, running to play with their friends, turning around to wave you goodbye with a huge smile on their face, but the reality is, it’s not so easy. Some children take a long time to adjust to the school environment, and separation anxiety is a Continue reading “Settling your child into school”
The best flat mop of 2018 – Review and Giveway of The Vertex Mop
“Don’t walk on the floor its wet” “Stay right there until it’s dry” how many times have you said this to your kids when trying to mop up the floor? How often have you gone around after mopping to find a lanky piece of grey “string” lying around that’s fallen off your mop? We all Continue reading “The best flat mop of 2018 – Review and Giveway of The Vertex Mop”
The one thing you need to save money in 2018: The Entertainer App! {Giveaway}
Any parent would know the moment you have your first child your life changes dramatically, not just your life rather, your lifestyle. Living in a city your lifestyle is typically centered around going out, whether its to eat, watch a movie or have a little weekend away, “BC” we used to go out a lot. Continue reading “The one thing you need to save money in 2018: The Entertainer App! {Giveaway}”
Easiest Salt Dough Recipe
We started a tradition in our house of making salt dough ornaments and keep sakes for Christmas to give out to family members and friends. What I love most about these Salt Dough ornaments is that they literally have 3 ingredients and you will definitely have everything in your kitchen ! Continue reading “Easiest Salt Dough Recipe”
My top educational gift list ideas
With Christmas coming up in less than 34 days I thought it was a great time to do a round-up of some of my favourite educational toys.
Personally I prefer gifting educational toys, not that my boys don’t have a ton of cars and remote control gadgets but I prefer toys that allow them to Continue reading “My top educational gift list ideas”
Living life through the eyes of my children
“If we could see the world through the eyes of a child, we would see the magic in everything…”
Every day when I wake up, feeling a little grumpy because my sleep was broken or not long enough, I look at my children in amazement. Every single day these tiny humans beg me to wake up and jump out of bed. It’s a new day, it’s a new day filled with promise and adventure for them. Continue reading “Living life through the eyes of my children”
Keeping little ones entertained in Johannesburg – my favourites list
I keep getting people asking me for tips on where to go and what to do with their kids. I’ve been trying to sit down and write a list for a while now but as any multi-tasking, working mum would know every day seems to escape me and my to do list just keeps getting longer.
After our move back to Johannesburg from Cape Town I was at a loss of what to do with my boys in a big city and struggled to find a mums group like I had in Cape Town. In Johannesburg I find most mums have less flexibility with their working hours …. Until a friend suggested a download the adventure clubs app and our lives changed forever 🙂 It’s opened up my eyes to a whole new Johannesburg, discovering hidden gems and unique places to take my boys. So thank you thank you thank you!
That being said, here’s my list, together with some of the places we have discovered with Adventure Clubs, of fun things to do, with your kids in the big city:
Lion and Safari Park (Lanseria Side) – New and improved, the recently re-opened Lion and Safari park is bigger, better and has a lot more interaction for kids.
Crocodile City (Just before Lanseria) – We had such a good time at our outing to Croc City. They boys got an educational talk on crocs, on how thick their skin is and got to hold and observe their eggs. They also house a number of reptiles and much to my horror my boys lined up to hold the snakes.. After a tour of the croc park the kids ran around counting and feeding as many tortoises as they could. The play area of course provided hours of entertainment.
Old MacDonald’s Farm Yard (The Fat Olive Restaurant) (Lanseria Side) – This is a true hidden gem. Home to the Fat Olive restaurant and a Beach bar, Old MacDonald’s has free roaming Zebras, geese, duck and a whole mini farmyard for kids to feed/interact with. It doubles up as a party venue as well as a restaurant. Theres even canoes to take out on a paddle on the small lake.
Crazy Kids Farmyard (Randburg) – A diamond in the middle of a bustling city. Crazy Kids has also recently had a bit of a refresh with some new animals (including another pony and a friendly pig). It is literally smack bang in the middle of a residential area in Randburg. It has a huge variety of play equipment for kids, a ton of bikes to ride around and an epic sandpit. This is a winner, everyday of the week.
Bird Garden – Monte Casino (Fourways) – We have been going here since the boys were small. The only bird park of its kind in Africa and perfect for all ages! Take a stroll through the gardens and aviary and see a wide variety of bird life, reptiles, and other exotic animals. It also has a café and a cute kids play area.
Clay Café (Irene) – About twenty minutes out of Johannesburg Clay Café is opposite the iconic Red Barn in Irene. Kids can choose from a large variety of ceramics to paint with lots of accessories to add patterns/ shapes to their masterpieces.
The Irene Dairy Farm – Every child’s dream, right on our doorstep! A working dairy farm situated right in the heart of Gauteng. Kids can enjoy seeing the cows being milked, ride on one of the numerous tractors and enjoy an ice cream underneath the beautiful shady trees. We were lucky enough to go when the construction was still occurring, it was every little boys dream, with tractors, trucks and diggers to watch!
Pappachinos – No Johannesburg list would be complete without one – Broadacres seems like the biggest, Clearwater mall also has a bike track)
Lori Park Zoo (Midrand) – Holds a nice variety of crocodiles, predator birds and of course lions/ leopards – though I do feel for the bigger cats as their enclosures are very, very small.
The Johannesburg Zoo – A timeless classic and always good for a family day out.
Delta Park – Probably holds the best play area out of all Joburg parks. It also has glorious walking paths with gigantic trees shading them.
Lonehill Park – Between Lonehill Park and Angelo’s Restaurant you are guaranteed a good time with the kids. Lonehill Park has a beautiful enclosed play area for kids and Angelo’s Kitchen borders onto the park with additional jungle gyms, bike tracks and games for kids.
Mushroom Park – Our go to park for mid week fun. Mushroom park is a little piece of green forest in amongst Sandton’s high rise buildings. It has the perfect tracks for kids to ride their bikes on and has over 5 jungle gyms and a large sandpit area. Perfect for soaking up the winter sun, and when it is in operation, also holds the Hyundai Hot Air Balloon.
Raspberry Picking at Fieldberry Farm (When in Season) – A morning spent in the fields at Fieldberry farm is a morning well spent. A beautiful day out for the entire family, kids will have an amazing time selecting and picking the juiciest berries to pick. After all their hard work mum and dad can relax on hay bales around the play area while sipping on a handmade smoothie. My boys had sooo much fun. Raspberry season typically ends around April.
Alliepad Alpakkas – A bit of a drive out of Johannesburg, Alliepad Alpakkas is just before Magaliesburg and has the most adorable fluffy Alpacas to go crazy over. Make it a weekend drive or wait for one of their festival days when you can get a tour around the farm, learn more about how they get wool and feed the Alpacas.
Willow Feather Farm (Pretoria) – Originally started off as an Indigenous tree farm, Willow Feather now hosts a nursery, tea garden and awesome Farmyard for kids. They have a number of interactive activities for kids and the number of animals in the Farmyard is exceptional. Alpacas, pigs, bunnies, cows. Kids can get up close and personal to the animals and of course participate in feeding. There’s also a wonderful kiddies play area to keep little ones busy while mums can enjoy hot tea and scones.
Two Trees Bakery (Mulbarton) – Under the shade of blue gum trees, this gem is in the South of Joburg. It possibly has the biggest selection of climbing equipment, monkey swings and zip lines that I’ve seen in a restaurant. They specialise in pizza’s, burgers, and yummy baked goods. Super friendly staff and a mass to do with the kids, my boys cried when they left!
TreeTop Adventures (Riversands) – Situated in amongst an old pine forest, Treetops have constructed different obstacles at varying heights catering from about 2 years of age right through to an adult course! Kids can climb through the trees, complete an obstacle course, and if brave enough (my 4 year old was), zipline across the river!
Yeesh for Kids in Woodmead is a favourite of ours on down days or in colder weather. With a huge soft kids play area, Yeesh goes the extra mile by hosting cupcake/cookie decorating sessions, as well as an art corner where kids can paint a range of items ranging from t-shirts to canvas to ceramic ornaments.
Tres Jolie (Ruimsig) – Traditionally thought of as more of a wedding venue, Tres Jolie actually is a littler wonder world for kids. They offer a touch and feel farmyard, giant sand pit, pony and camel rides, and a big jungle gym. You can bring your own food to feed the animals or buy packets at the Kiosk.
These are just some of the places I’ve explored with my boys and I know there are probably hundreds of more hidden gems waiting to be discovered. The list is on going, and ever expanding. Where are some of your favourite places to go?
Beautiful Botswana
One of the biggest things that I love about Africa is that you are never far from nature. Seriously, in Botswana you have to slow down on our “highway” for baboons and warthog to cross the road 🙂
For me, moving to the city from the “bush”, being with nature is probably something I miss the most. Things like having a proper garden, being surrounded by thick veld and waking up in the middle of the night because some bushbaby is making a weird noise 🙂 So every year I try and get back to that. (Even though it involves close encounters with Snakes and Scorpions 🙂 )
This Blog is owed to “Beautiful Botswana”. My Heart, my Life, My soul is with this dusty, heat filled country 🙂
This year I want to encourage all people that live in Botswana to also “keep it local”. So often with small towns, all you want to do for a holiday is make a break for it overseas or out of the country. I realised after speaking to so many expats living there how incredibly blessed we are in Botswana, and how much by living there you take it for granted. We have the Okavango Delta, Chobe National Park, Nxai Pans and even the vast emptiness of the Tuli Block we literally are spoilt for choice when it comes to “Bush Breaks”.
Nxai (the x= a clicking sound) Pan is 2500 square kilometer game reserve. It is a large area of very flat savannah/grasslands. I shockingly have never even been there myself!
In Botswana, typically in the rainy season you avoid going on “safari” as the bush gets too thick, but Nxai Pan blossoms. Thousands of Zebra migrate to the area with their young.
It is also the only place you will see both springbok and impala in the same area.
Nxai pan has many different species including: gemsbock, giraffe, impala, springbok, lions (lots of them) cheetahs, leopard, wildebeest, bat eared fox, jackals, honeybadgers, to name a few ! So for all the “mini-breaks” this year why not explore what we have? GOAL FOR THIS YEAR? GO CAMPING IN THE NXAI PANS! Anyone keen to join me?
I love Africa. I love Botswana.
Tuli Block is an area of land in the far Southeastern border of Botswana and South Africa. It acted a barrier between Bechuanaland (Botswana) and the South African Boer Farmers in 1895.In the Tuli block the Limpopo River and the Notwane River converge. Tuli today is made up of multiple private game reserves and private farms/residences. Little of the area is fences and the animals are allowed to roam . This is true Botswana, Red Soil, Miles of Thorn trees and random animals everywhere!
Chobe National Park. Chobe is over 11700 square kilometres of protected area and rated one of the best safaries in Africa it has the largest population of elephants about 120,000. Infact they are causing a bit of a problem in the area ! Its also a bird lovers’ paradise. You’ll also probably get to see the most Hippo’s out of water you have ever seen!
Every December we try to go to Chobe (Kasane). The Chobe River is the border between Botswana and Nambia. There is an island called Sidudu at the border between Botswana and Namibia where buffalos, impala, lechewe, Puku (if you are lucky) and elephants and Hippos graze. It honestly holds some of the most beautiful sunsets in the world.
Lets talk more about those skies, In Botswana there is not a single day that passes where we do not see an amazing sunrise or sunset.
During the day the sky is a crisp blue. Some days…..a clear blue sky that goes forever….Other days full of cute puffy cotton ball clouds.
The sky is even more amazing during rain. The thunderstorms here are AWESOME displays of lighting and thunder with enormous clouds looming and you see rain falling kilometers off in the distance.
So Keep it Local Guys, we are truly blessed to live in such a beautiful place. For those readers that have never been to Botswana, it will change your world forever 🙂 The people, the culture, the hot air. It gets under your skin and will never leave xx
PS: Two great websites about Botswana? www.gaboronecity.com and www.safaris-in-botswana.com