That's what little boys are made of.

So I have decided I need to buy myself a shot gun.....yes, they are legal in Texas (I just googled it!). And no, I did not wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.

The reason for my sudden interest in the purchase of a fire-arm has been due to my (only recently turned) 6 year old son.

Now, now....before you all have the child protection unit showing up at my door, let me explain!

Since starting school in August, it seems my son has become quite the little ladies man!! Every few days he would return home talking about a lovely young lady in his class that seems to have befriended him. There was one, then another, and then another.

Then he would start asking us if one of these young ladies could come over to play. Now I was starting to get worried! He nagged and nagged.
Then I received an email from one of these girls' mother, asking if Connor could come and play one afternoon at her daughters house. He was to be the only boy with 3 girls.

This wasn't so funny any more. (I'm a mother, for crying out loud!)

Anyway, as it happens we already had plans to go to the childrens theatre, so he never ended up at the play date. Much to his consternation.

The other day, I got asked by him to buy a toy he'd seen on the TV recently, it was a girls toy, and before I started to get worried, he quickly informed me it was for the new friend he had made, so that when she came to play at our house, she would have a toy to play with.......he had rendered me speechless at this point!

And now, to top it all off, he arrived home from school, and promptly took a little scrap of paper out of his bag, and on it was a phone number, complete with the number 2's written backwards, mind you. It seemed he and his new friend had decided they were taking matters into their own hands, and were now swopping phone numbers!

Now....how do I go about acquiring a gun license....it seems I'll have need of one in a few years time, just to keep these girls at bay.....oh my!

Thanksgiving...the Koeksisters way!

Thanksgiving is next week Thursday. So it will be our first family thanksgiving holiday ever! And today I got a really good taste (literally and figuratively) of what thanksgiving is all about.

Because today was The Koeksisters thanksgiving lunch!

For my non-South African readers, let me first start of by explaining what a koeksister is. The actual koeksister (and not the wonderful bunch of ladies who meet here in The Woodlands), looks something like this.........

"A koeksister comes from the Dutch word koekje, the diminutive of
koek meaning "cake". It is a South African syrup-coated doughnut in a
twisted or braided shape (like a plait). It is prepared by deep-frying dough
in oil, then dipping the fried dough into cold sugar syrup. Best eaten cold,
koeksisters are very sticky and sweet and taste like honey. Koeksisters are
of Cape Malay origin. The Afrikaner version is much more syrupy and crispy
while the Cape Malay version's texture is more like that of a cake, spicier,
and usually covered in dried coconut. There is also a difference in
spelling, the latter generally referred to as koesister.. " :- Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.

Hope that helped .......(isn't it amazing what you can learn from reading this blog, you can't say I'm not educating y'all!)

Now, the Koeksisters that I have had the great delight in meeting, and who get together once a month, are a fantastic bunch of ladies who all hail from South Africa. They have been a great source of help and encouragement to me, and today was no exception.

A super time was had by all, we laughed, we shared what we were all thankful for, and we ate.....boy, did we eat! It was a veritable feast!

So, I finally remembered to take my camera along with me, and took a few shots of the occasion, I wasn't going to let this event pass by without sharing it with you all.

Here's a few photos, you can click on the collage to view them larger........

....oh....by the way....that long green stick-like-thing with the green-balls on... (bottom right corner) is actually a Brussel sprout stalk!! Go figure!!! I would never have known they grew like that.......like I said before, you never know what you'll learn on this here blog!!

So, thanks ladies - it was a great way to have my first thanksgiving experience!

Signs of life

I have taken to looking around my garden lately....with the fall taking it's toll on the leaves and trees, there is more nature lying on my drive way than on the branches. But it's such a beautiful time of year, the mornings here are crisp and cool, yet the sky is still bright blue. It's a treat to be able to take pictures like these, that shows that nature is still fighting the cold to put on one last display of beauty.....

And these were taken in Discovery Green park, in downtown Houston.

It's fast becoming one of my favourite parks, so much to look at with nature right in the midst of the buildings of concrete and glass .

And last week Wednesday was Veterans day, and even though we are not Americans, there was something really touching about waking up that morning to find that someone had put American flags on every lawn, on every street in our area. You couldn't help but feel a sense of pride, it was special.

Ferry to Crystal Beach

My, I've been away from my blog for what seems like forever, and now I've forgotten how to do things! And we have finally managed to kick out all the gremlins in my computer, and many tears and dollars later, have installed Windows 7 and peace reigns in my home once again! (I am miserable without my computer!)

Well, all that aside, let me share with y'all some pics from our ferry trip across the gulf waters from Galveston Island to Crystal beach. It was a lovely day, and we'd read about the ferry, so decided to try it for ourselves and do a bit of exploring.

It was great fun! We were fortunate not to have long queues, and were able to drive the car straight onto the ferry, the boys seemed rather intrigued by this idea, and as soon as all the cars were on board, we hopped out of the car and stood outside to check out the scenery. We passed the battleship and submarine museums that we decided we have to visit next time around. And were joined by some friendly dolphins who were playing very close to the waves around us, it was great, and the kids really loved it. It took about 20 minutes to get to the other side, and once there, we drove for a while till we came to Crystal beach. It wasn't as pretty as we'd thought it was going to be, but it was very quiet and peaceful! Naturally the kids moaned because we wouldn't let them swim, but we figured they would probably only last in the sea momentarily before moaning they were too cold!

(CLICK ON COLLAGE TO ENLARGE PHOTOS)

Then, it was time to hop back on the ferry and show my mother around Galveston some more. However, it seemed that we had timed our trip to coincide with a Halloween motorbike rally. We were convinced that every biker in Houston descended upon Galveston that day! And eventually it just became too much, getting around the town was a nightmare, and some of those bikers were just downright scary! We didn't fancy getting on the wrong side of some of those dudes, I can tell you. So we made our way out of there as soon as we could, and found ourselves in Kemah.

But that's tomorrows story...........

A.W.O.L.

Yes, I have been AWOL for the last few days, please accept my humble apologies. We have had a week of sick family members (myself included) and once again my computer has decided to take a few sick days of it's own. I am now thoroughly irritated with it, and my current answer is to throw the darn thing out the window!!

I'm sure sanity will prevail, however.

Or maybe not......

Anyway, computer woes aside, I am now quickly typing this to let y'all know I am alive and kicking, and will hopefully add more later. Got a lot to tell y'all about....out weekend trip Galveston, and Kemah. And my sons 6 birthday, and my last Koeksusters meeting.

So stay tuned.... I will be back!