Ek gaan see toe!!

"Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air…"

Erik did all this on his first visit to the sea - 15 to 22 January 2010 at Amanzimtoti, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa with me, Fred, Ouma Daleen and Oupa Willie.

And he LOVED it!!!

Daddy were on the ball with the whole blogging as you go; so I will add on to his blog about this memorable time rather than to start from the beginning. His blog for those who don't know yet: www.fredsenekal.net

One of Erik's first footsteps on a beach.

This was taken after unloading all our stuff when we went for a stroll on the beach about 15:30 on Friday 15 January 2010.
I love the smile and excitement on my little boy's face when he ran with his little feet on the beach sand for the first time towards the water. No fear, just wanting to explore everything new. The sand, the water, and everything small he saw.

Shells

And even an orange.

And soon after arriving he could say "see" when asked where he was.

Saturday 16 January

Two new words Erik learned while playing on the beach were "bou" and "sand". He loved digging holes with "Pappa", climbing into it and hiding their feet.

"Bou!!"

"Sand!!"

And when playing in the waves he would shout "nog nog" when the water pulls back.

Here are some more photos of Erik on the beach, taken Sunday 17 January.
We thought its going to be a struggle to get Erik to put on a hat as he always pulls everything off in seconds. We started "training" him at home when we swam. And it seemed to have worked...

Erik and his hat

He even started practising for his rugby days, imagining how he will score a try like Habanna.

Tuesday 19 January

Other than the fun in the sun, Erik also played his first tenpin bowling. He could not resist playing with the balls during our first game, so we asked for his own lane during our second game. He had a great time staring at the rolling ball towards the pins. And he even had a better score than me!!! (thanks to the bars off course)

Erik's excitement while we were rolling the ball towards each other

Erik playing tenpin bowling

Erik's first tenpin bowling score

On Wednesday 20 January it rained most of the day. Later it stopped and we could braai the evening when my cousin living in Toti came to visit.

Weather wise, the last day on the beach (Thursday 21 January) were the best. Sunshine the whole day and no wind (most days were overcast and the rain Wednesday). Most of the days, after a while on the beach, the wind will start blowing. This would blow up the sand against you, which Erik did not like at all.

The morning of our last day on the beach we however did not take photos - to my disappointment. (We forgot the memory card in the laptop after downloading the photos.) This I only found out when I wanted to take photos of the jelly fish that washed out onto the beach.

On this day Erik did not ask my or Fred's hand to "stap" because he got a liking in two 12 year old girls (twins, and quite something for the eye) to "stap" with him. He sat in the water with them, passing on hands full of sand, not even a worry about the waves. He played until he got quiet, his eyelids heavy but happy sitting next to the girls.

Luckaly there were still some jelly fish on the beach later the day when we went for a final walk and some picking up small shells before we went out for dinner and the big packing up.

Jelly fish

Picking up shells

We were also very lucky to see Oom Piet (the flat building's 'opsigter') catch a small Stingray.


What was very funny was when it flapped (like a bird would do) Erik made the sound he associates Hadidas with. And then suddenly said "Haai!". And could I kick myself for stopping the video recording just before that. (I wanted to post the video, but had some trouble with the uploading)



Afterward while walking back to the stairs, we asked him who thought him that it was a "Haai".
To our amaze his reply: "Tjiff Tjaff".

For those unknown to Tjiff and Tjaff, they are 2 green characters on the satellite's Afrikaans children channel.

He usually loved watching them, until he found the big purple guy (now also available in Afrikaans) called Barney.


Just as you come down the stairs from the flats towards the beach on your left hand side (I think Fred's blogg has a photo of the stairs) there are a little boat that tickled Erik's curiosity. He loved to sit, stand and climbing on the boat.

Fun in the boat

And then we took our last photos of Erik on beach for the last time this holiday before we walked back to the flat.

And we ponderred if we should not stay one more day. But unfortunally all good things have to come to an end. For the Monday again was the beginning of a new working day for Fred. We will however come again soon.

The end
~.~