Surrounded by iconic landmarks, probably the most eye-catching one in Noordhoek
is Longbeach. An appropriately named 8km expanse of white sand beach stretching from Noordhoek to Kommetjie and encompassing at least popular three surfing spots. But on this day, Luca and I decided to take his bike out for a spin along Chapman's Peak Drive, which has been closed for the past few months due to rock fa
lls, mudslides and the general effect of gravity on the steep slopes of the 
overhanging mountain. Sounded like a good idea... a wide empty paved road and a three-year old on his two-wheeler with training wheels. Only problem was that Luca isn't too keen on riding or even walking up hills for that matter, so it turned into a walk with me carrying boy and bicycle most of the way.
It's still spring here, but even though there is sometimes still a chill in the air it is still generally nice enough for a day at the beach with the kids. Over the last year we haven't had much time to get to the beach as we've had our hands full making the transition from one to two children, with all the time and attention that's require
d to get a newborn through totoddlerhood. But this month Nikolai turned one and he is chomping at the bit to try to do all the things that his big brother does.
He took his first steps a couple of weeks ago, but on the days leading up to his
birthday he actually started to make use of his walking skills as an actual mode of transportation rather just a novelty. That and he has started eating just about all the food that Luca does as well.
In fact it is just about impossible to stop him from eating Luca's food as he can be quite adamant that he doesn't want to miss out on any food that is on offer.
However, this week there was more than just food on offer as he got his first experience with birthday presents.
Ouma Ilse flew in from Port Elizabeth the night before his 
birthday and Anree went a bit overboard with buying birthday presents, so by the time the morning of N
ikolai's birthday came around the house looked like we were ready for Christmas. Once Nikolai figured out what was going on, he got right into the action and was busy opening up his presents and playing with all his new toys. This was quite a treat for him since up til now for the most part he has had to put up with Luca's hand-me-downs when it came to toys. 
Speaking o
f which, with the plethora of gifts for Nikolai we had to get Luca something and luckily we still had a Christmas present from Uncle Scott that we hadn't given him yet, so he was pretty chuffed with his new motorboat too.
His birthday fell on a Wednesday, so we delayed the actual party until Saturday. The highlight of the day was definitely when Jan and Marrizane arrived a couple of hours before the party, having taken a break from their overland odyssey from London to Perth to fly back to SA from Thailand to spend some time with the families.
In no time at all the boys had reconnected with them and were having a blast with their uncle and aunt. Almost instantly Jan became a bit of a hero to Luca and the two of them were climbing trees, jumping on the trampoline, playing frisbee and generally going off. 
As for Marizanne, Luca developed a crush on her, always wanting to sit with/on her and telling everyone who cared to listen how cute she was.The rest of the day was also a hit as all of Anree's party planning and preparation came off perfectly.
Since Nikolai was just one, we made the most of it to have a bit of party for the adults as well. 
The kids played on the trampoline and jungle gym, ate chips and had a giant chocolate cake 
with candies on it, while the adults hung out on the deck, sipping bubbly, munching on quiches and cheeses, and tucking into a couple of decadent cakes from Melissa's. Although the party started at 3pm, the last guests only left sometime after 10pm... which for us these days is a late one and by the time we turned in everyone was exhausted.
The next morning was another session of gifts, as Jan and Marrizane delivered a bunch of treasures they had brought back for us from their journey. 
All the more impressive if you consider that they have been backpacking for the past seven months and packing space and weight have been at a premium. 
After working up an appetite opening presents we headed down to the 
Foodbarn and had a long leisurely Sunday lunch, followed by a nap, a braai and an evening checking out some of the photos from across Europe, North Africa and Asia.
Monday morning we set up a picnic table beside the fish pond behind the house and chilled out in the spring sunshine.
I'm not really sure whether we should be calling it the fish pond, or the duck pond these days as a couple of white ducks have recently moved in and have decided to make it home. 
Luca has already named them Ladybug and Mambo and he takes great joy in taking them for "runs" every couple of hours throughout the day.
The ducks don't seem to mind too much as when he is finished chasing them, he usually feeds them a couple of slices of bread.
But this week the ducks got neglected a bit as Luca and Nikolai were fully absorbed playing with Jan, Marizanne and Ouma. 
Play was only interrupted a couple of times a day for naps and meals. Luca was spoiled for choice when it came to bath time and bed time as there were any number of volunteers keen to bath him and read his bedtime story. Life doesn’t get any better than that when you’re three.
Other than playing with the boys, we made time to go out for a few lunches, cook up some spectacular f
easts in the evenings and even get out for cock
tails at Cape to Cuba one afternoon.However all too f
ast the week came to an end and it was time to take Jan, Marizanne and 
Ilse to the airport and put them on a plane. The house feels pretty empty now and Luca has been asking about them a lot...
it doesn’t take long for people to become part of your daily routine to the point where it leaves a big hole when they’ve gone. But now the talk is all about when we’ll get on a plane and fly to Perth.
