Handbags

Recently she discovered how to carry a handbag and has been carrying around this small one of mine. This discovery came about because I was in a shop buying a bag, and slung it over my shoulder and looked in the mirror. I was carrying her at the time, and after I had put the bag down on the counter which was about her height, she reached out and took ahold of the bag and slung it over her shoulder, just as she had seen Mummy do!
When we got home she still wanted to carry my new bag, so we took out this old one for her to play with. It's just the right size for a small little fashionista.

I'm Mummy's Little Secretary

Me And My Friends

Serious little faces...



"Hello Sophie."



"You little girls sit down and keep quiet, okay?"



"Shhh.."

Like A Diamond In The Sky

Another Ferocious Animal

I Like Kit Kat

More New Words

Sophie is walking everywhere now. She also has a couple of new words just over the last day or two. She has added to her repertoire "Mummy", "No No" and "Baby".

New Words

Words I can say:

Papa
Mama
Where
There
Bah bye (bye bye)
Buh (bird)
Car
Pen (open)
Pease (please)
Bah (bath)
Deh (this/that)
Ter (water)
Woof Woof (dog)
Duck
Pikor pikor pikor (???)
Waaa...... (I am not happy)

Dancing Girl

Mummy, I'm A Tiger, "Roaaaarrr!"

Yet Another Swimsuit

This brings her swimwear total up to 5! 1 is too big and another too small, so she has 3 that she can fit. In my defense, let me say that I only bought 2, and one was very cheap. This one was a hand-me-down. It matches the shoes! She looks so stocky here..



She was banging on the bedroom door, calling Papa who was having a bath.

First Trip To Singapore Zoo

Taking the tiger trail with Daddy.



Don't we seem adventurous? It looks like we are venturing into the heart of the jungle to look for white tigers..

Btw, an adult tiger can jump 10m in one jump.

Swimming Again

Sophie was invited to Kayla's birthday party last Saturday. We were too busy eating to take any pictures in the hall, which was decorated so nicely. They really went to town on the decorations! There were helium balloons, cartoon cut outs, and everything was matching matching. The theme was Blue from the cartoon Blue's Clues.
Good thing this was after Sophie's own birthday party or we might have tried to live up to this standard!

After that we went swimming in the pool and took lots of pictures. Sophie could touch the ground with her feet and refused to sit in the 2 floats that her Daddy had painstakingly blown up for her!

Come Here!

This Is How I Do It

Hold on to my motorbike first, then try to swing one leg over the seat.



And I did it! Yay!

So Many Hairclips, So Little Time

So Many Shoes, So Little Time

Please note the little hand reaching out to grab the shoes away! At the moment, she can only fit into the little white minnie mouse shoes. She can actually fit into the crocs as well, but she tends to pull them off straight away.

Hi From The Washing Machine

Party Favours

We actually made these fridge magnets as favours for the couples who came for her party. The kids got little tins with sweeties in them, bought from Uncle Tidbits. But these... these were handmade by very tired parents who sacrificed precious sleep time for them!

Sophie's Birthday Party

In the end, we made a pretty big do out of Sophie's first birthday...



Those are handmade party decorations, ok! The theme was teddy bears so we had teddy bear decorations, cut out of wrapping paper as well as balloon. She was rather scared of the ballons when we were blowing them up, but didn't seem to mind them later on.



Teddy bear cake! It takes a lot more effort and time than it looks like it does!





Opening pressies... This box was almost as big as her!

Happy Birthday!

Sophie is one today! She started opening her pressies at the unearthly hour of 6:45am!

Posing

Safari Ostrich Farm

This farm was kinda a waste of time. It might have been interesting if we had stayed to the end to see the ostriches race. As it was we just saw 2 ostriches, heard a bit about them and went to the totally run down and almost empty ostrich museum.



This is Jack the Ripper.



His mate is Susan the Stripper.



This is to show how strong the eggshells are that they can withstand Calvin's weight!

Cango Caves

We decided to go to the caves in the end and see what all the fuss was about. It was impressive, but not fantastic enough to be the highlight of the trip. Still, we did enjoy it. The guide was humourous but told his jokes with a totally deadpan face so sometimes we took a while to appreciate them!

Cango Wildlife Ranch

The entrance to the Wildlife Ranch. Seems like a dodgy entrance! :)



We saw some sleepy crocodiles which wouldn't perform their stunts. They were supposed to jump into the air and grab a chunk of meat out of the trainer's hand. But they refused. You could also opt to swim with the crocs, in a metal cage, of course.



This white tiger (no, there are no tigers in Africa in the wild) was obliging enough to do his stunt. He climbed to the top of the pole to get the meat there. One could also go into the lion's and tiger's and cheetah's cages to touch them and get your picture taken. Talk about up close and personal. As long as it doesn't become 'up close and dinner!'



They had some ginger tiger cubs that were about 4 weeks old.



We also saw a wallaby (again, not an African animal!!), lorikeets, arowanas, lemurs (those were so active and funny), meerkats, vultures, Hilda and Henry the pygmy hippos, white lions etc.

Featherbed Nature Reserve Cont.

The view of Knysna with the sun glinting off the water of the lagoon.



Knysna Heads. This stretch of waters is so treacherous that apparently, Lloyds of London will not insure any ship that sails through there!



Sophie woke up when we reached the look out point because of the sun on her face.



Once she woke up, she went into this sling with her Daddy.



This part of the walk was so scary. It was a sheer drop on to the rocks below with no hand rail to hold on to! Plus carrying a wriggly Sophie....