The Real Jenty

I took the kids to see Toy Story 3 in 3D today at Clearwater Mall.  It was a cool movie, I really enjoyed it and so did the kids… and it was the first time the kids had been to see a 3D movie… and they were quite excited about the prospect of watching the movie with the glasses.

There were a few things I learnt today about my kids and 3D movies:

• Even though Connor’s head is big, the glasses just didn’t fit him and he kept having to hold them against his face to keep them up.  Nu Metro should really make kids sizes available especially considering you actually have to pay for the damn things!
• As a result of the holding up… the glasses were full of sticky fingerprints within the first 5 minutes… in fact before the movie even started.
• This meant that he actually couldn’t see through them properly
• So he gave up on the glasses idea within 5 minutes of the movie starting.  This meant he watched the rest of the movie with blurred vision.
• After about an hour, Bradley started complaining that his eyes were sore.  This was the second time I’d seen a 3D movie, and I must say that my eyes didn’t get as tired today as they had with Avatar.
• Both kids had headaches by the end and complained about feeling nauseous. FABULOUS!

So even though the movie was good, the experience was not so good.

And before you ask, my kids don’t get motion sick (I’ve read an article somewhere about the fact that people who get motion sick get ill after watching a 3D movie)

Nice idea, the 3D thing, but in my mind it’s just a gimmick.  Until they find a way of showing a 3D movie where you don’t need the blasted glasses, I won’t be seeing another one in a hurry.

The only thing that worries me about that stand point is the number of movies getting released in 3D now… and not to mention the gimmicky 3D Sony TV that’s on the market now.  Surely with the TV you don’t have to watch everything in 3D… and then if you buy one you won’t be able to ever invite friends over to watch a game or something if they get motion sick.

Some marketer is going to have a hard job convincing me that it’s not a gimmick.

Over dinner a few months ago, Madi and I started chatting about how nice it would be to have a day without the kids and other people, and spend some time at a spa. Well, she’s so organised that within the next few days, she’d found a well priced spa not far from home and we booked the day away!

My word, the Body Sense Day Spa in Chartwell was amazing!

It’s not often that a place is actually nicer than the photos on their website! We didn’t spend ANY time outside, mind you, because the weather was so miserable and cold… and inside it was nice and toasty and warm with fireplaces and heaters in every room.

We both opted for the Stress Relief Half Day package (half day because both of us don’t like full day spa packages… I get a migraine).

It started with a yummy breakfast of muesli, joghurt, honey and fresh fruit; and that was followed by croissants.

Then the treatments started… a back, shoulder and neck massage (and it was good so very good), then a facial, then an indian head massage (which was the first time I’d actually enjoyed that kind of treatment).  We then had paraffin manicures and pedicures… ooh and I got green varnish on my toes

It was awesome!!   The perfect way to spend a public holiday. Well worth the money! And we’re definitely going again

Only problem… didn’t take my camera, so there are no photos

Going to a spa with Madi for half the day

Jealous much?

I cannot wait!

We had organised it close to Mother’s Day so that the men could pay for it… but oh well… I actually forgot to tell Lance that little part.  LOL! Guess I’ll have to do without that new pair of shoes that I needed.

It was Lance’s 40th birthday yesterday, and I bought tickets to see the Shaolin Monk show at Montecasino as part of his gift.

Just the two of us, mind you.  Even though Bradley would have enjoyed it, Connor is too small to sit through a 2 hour show and it wasn’t fair to take only one child.

The reason we went… Lance has had a thing about any kind of martial arts forever, and he’s always wanted to see them.

The not-so-good…

• The show started with a story, which carried on until after the intermission.  It was ok, but not wow.  Thinking about it now, the only reason it wasn’t wow was because I felt it lacked emotion.  The story was quite sad, explaining the history of the monks, but it wasn’t emotional enough, so it was difficult to get into.
• The first half was not mindblowing

The good…

• The kids in the show were AMAZING! They were seriously impressive doing head stands for 10 minute stretches and a weird balancing act balancing on one foot with the other foot hooked behind their ears… for 10 minutes!!
• You should have seen the little dudes doing flick flacks across the floor using their heads!
• A guy actually walked over a stand covered in long blades!
• A guy lay down on top of a bed of blades, then a bed of nails was sandwiched between him and another dude, and a concrete slab was put on top of the other dude… before being smashed by another dude wielding a sledge hammer!
• The second half was mindblowing
• The suppleness of all of them was just incredible

I’m glad we got seats close to the front, I think if we’d sat at the back the effects would have been lost.

In short… it was good, and we’re both glad we finally saw the show but we won’t go again… until the boys get older because I feel they need to see it at some stage.

Today was epic, and I am quite exhausted, but before I go to bed, here’s a rundown of what we did…

Newborn shoot at 8:30am so I had an early start and managed to cook egg breakfasts for the boys before I left home.  This was close to Fourways.

Then mad dash home to drop off my equipment and pile the kids in the car with toys to play with en-route.

Then mad dash across Jo’burg to meet up with Sharon, Sally, Louisa and Anglugs at the tweetup at Irene Country Lodge.  I had to make it so I could deliver Angel’s DVD of engagement photos to her!  What a cool place for the kids, and food was Ok too after fighting with the waitress who didn’t want to let me order from the menu because it was after midday! The kids got to fish in the dam, and feed the ducks and play on the grass and run around like lunatics for 2 hours!

Then bundle kids back in the car at 2pm to get to a party in Allen’s Nek that started at 2pm… spot the problem (not to mention the distance to get there)! En route, stop off at toy shop to buy birthday girl a pressie.  Finally get to said party at 3pm!!

Clamber Club entertained the kids, and OMW they had fun!  I didn’t actually take my camera but I was actually seeing all sorts of stunning shots of kids while I was watching… I’m quite sad that way!

I finally got home with the kids at 5pm!

Oh and then I spent the evening, once the kids went to sleep, upgrading my photoblog… and now it’s time for bed.

I got asked this morning when I spend time with the kids because I always seem on the go, and busy with all sorts of things if you look at my blog, and twitter and FB stream.  LOL, as you can see, apart from the photoshoots, my weekend is all about the kids!  Fear not, they’re getting attention too

I have tomorrow left.  That’s all.  I go back to work on Tuesday.

Talk about hitting the ground running after the holiday… I had the kids hair cut today, then went shopping for some replacement Gormitis (I’m Bradley’s hero again), and then had a newborn shoot.

And tomorrow I have a newborn shoot, then I’m taking Bradley ice-skating for the first time with a school friend, and then I’m going to try and fit in a haircut and colour for myself.

And then if I have time to breathe, I’m 3 shoots behind with editing!!

I’m already exhausted thinking about it all!

What do you think when you hear the word photowalk?

Does it sound like it means a chaperoned walk through a pretty place in a small orderly group?

Well, clearly to some people it does.

It doesn’t to me.

To me it means going somewhere with other people who love photography to take photos without being asked to do something else or being hurried along.  It means to make the best of a strange place and to FIND the beauty.  It means to get sore feet and find a spot in your camera bag to put a bottle of water because you know you’re going to get thirsty and there’ll be no time for coffee breaks and heaven forbid you actually find a loo.  It means to get out of your comfort zone and to learn from people that you wouldn’t ordinarily get the opportunity to be with.  And a whole lot more, but I’m sure you’re getting tired of this list by now.

The aim of this tirade is the following…

I’ve been sending information about the Worldwide photowalk to fellow photographers that I think would be interested in the event.    I’ve got quite a few people that have added themselves to the JHB list, and even got some guys in Cape Town and Durban to join those local walks too (via a tweet on Twitter).

Then, I thought… hmm… let me send it to the camera club’s chairlady and get her to send it to the rest of the club.  It would be a great opportunity for people to get out there in the city and to get shots for the monthly meets.  She did forward it, but not before sending me a mail telling me how she went last year and it was, in her words, “awful”.

I’m sorry, but how awful could it have been?  It was in Sandton early on a Saturday morning.  Hardly anyone around. What an amazing opportunity to get photos of the lines and angles etc in the city!  The only thing I can think of why it would have been awful was because of disorganisation.  But please, there’s 50 photographers! How organised can you be?  Who cared about that?  Just take photos!!  That’s what the aim is!

Then I reply, after I think about it carefully, saying that I’m hoping it’ll be good this year.  To which she responds “I hope so too, but I won’t be there!!!!!” Note how many exclamation marks!   I wasn’t asking her to go!  Silly woman.

Anyhoo, I think she needs to get a life.  Not all photo outings are about prettiness and organisation.

OK rant over.  This camera club is irritating me again.

LOL, guess I won’t be inviting any of them to our next inpromptu photo outings to arb places in Jo’burg hey?

I can’t believe that I forgot about bookclub tonight!

Marlise just phoned to find out where I was!! OMW! LOL!  Too late now, I’m sitting in my jarmies and drinking milo.  I need to go to bed early tonight, and a hangover will make tomorrow even worse than it’s going to be!

As for tomorrow, I tried to change the flight home to Sunday, but SAA wanted to charge me almost the price of the tickets!  So, we’re sticking to the original plan and flying to CT at 7, and flying home tomorrow evening. 

It’s actually mad, with all the travel time in the plane and the car, we’re going to only end up spending about 2 hours with my grandparents in Hermanus!  And what FUN it’s going to be with the 2 kids!  NOT! LOL! We’re mad!!

Anyhoo, I hope we’ll have time while we’re there to take a quick walk to the cliffs to try and spot some whales, so I hope to have pics for you tomorrow night

I can’t believe I have a headache from the wine I had at lunch yesterday! I’ve had this headache since last night for pete sake!  It’s definitely a sign of age

It’s not like I had a lot either, I only had about 3 glasses (if that!).  I think my excuse is that I was sitting in the sun! 

Oh and of course, that it wasn’t exactly the best bottle of wine, but it was very drinkable

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We went out for lunch to Ngwenya Glass Village to celebrate Fiona’s birthday (needless to say I didn’t even get a moment to look at the glass work and I was too scared to take the boys inside the shop).

It was wonderful! The kids had an absolute ball. I’m loving that Bradley is at the age that I don’t have to really worry about him, I just have to watch the little monster.

And OMW, did I have to watch him!!  We had barely sat down, when Connor climbed to the top of the jungle gym (which was higher than I am), and then tried to climb down the side that had no barrier, no slide and no steps!!  I JUST got there in time (after barrelling over tables, chairs and pushing people out the way).  It was very close.  If he’d fallen it would definitely have been a hospital trip – there was a wooden pole at the bottom that he would most definitely have either hit his back or head on.

I really needed a day like that… with excellent food, wine, friends and perfect winter weather.  Connor fell asleep before we even got to the main road

I didn’t feel like doing very much today.  When the weather is mizz for a while, like it’s been, I get so lethargic. 

So, when Bradley threw a tantrum this morning and refused point-blank to go horse-riding, I just relented for a change and SMS’ed Melody to cancel the lesson.  I was not in the mood to fight, and I thought that maybe it would teach him a lesson.  Not sure what that lesson would be though…. probably that I won’t force him to do it if he says no, but then he has to understand that he misses out on some fun.  My reasoning made sense this morning anyway. I don’t really want to force the horse-riding on him. If he really doesn’t want to carry on, I’d rather just stop it all together.  But in this instance, I think he was just seeing how far he could push me.

Anyhoo, I took the boys to Lemon Rose Farm later this morning for a playdate with some online friends.  I thoroughly enjoyed the day.  And the boys did too.  They’ve both been housebound for the whole week, so they both had a bit of cabin fever.  It was the best kind of day.  Friends, lots of food, lots and lots and lots of wine, talking, kids shouting and screaming.  And the only reason I went home at 4pm was because I didn’t take a bottle of milk with us.

It was bliss to see Bradley playing with friends without complaining about being itchy.  Connor had a ball playing with another baby… seeing who could eat more sand and leaves.   It was so nice to sit down with friends and chat about “stuff” for hours on end.  And the best was not really worrying about going anywhere at a specific time like I normally do (I decided this morning that it was OK for the house to look like a pigsty and it was OK that there’s no food in the house until tomorrow).  And Lance was at work so I didn’t have him to worry about either.  Bliss!