A few things to do and see in our neighborhood & an update on Bunny Ben

On Saturday it was Open Streets in our little village of Observatory. What they do is close down Lower Main road so that all the families & residents can walk around the neighborhood without worrying about cars and things like that. People were cycling, kids were on bikes, moms pushed prams with abandon and everyone had a really good time. They set up giant scrabble sets, markets, boerie stands, jumping castles, water slides, musicians, performers, marching bands and other interesting things. The boys got to ride their black plastic bikes all around our neighborhood - it was heavenly. 

Its so sad that we grew up like this - riding our bikes and playing in the streets without concerns. We had to be home when the streetlights came on and our neighbours really cared, you know? Its just not like this anymore. I used to get sent to the shop a few blocks away to buy bread since I was a little kid - we played in the parks across our street without permission and everything was so FREE. We were so safe. I know that my boys will never experience this, so it was nice for them to get a little taste of the carefree life. 

We all walked down to our local shop after and bought a few things for dinner. We had a braai in the garden, pulled out their splash pool and listened to the music and drums coming from Lower Main all afternoon. I really wish that I could have given you guys the safe childhood that I had. I wish you could walk to school and back, that you could visit friends for hours without me worrying, that you could even play in the garden all afternoon without me keeping an eye. I wish you could go to sleep without me activating alarms and locking up our house like a vault. I know that you'll never know this life, but I'll tell you all about it one day. You'll think I'm so old and boring, but I wish I could take you guys back to my childhood with me. We'd have so much fun.

A quick note: We took Benjamin to the Ear Institute yesterday. His right ear is full of fluids and build-up, and his hearing has thus been compromised. His ENT said not to be too hard on you when you don't listen, because sometimes you can't hear us all that well. LUCKILY, we can fix this. You've been put on steroids for a week and we'll go back on the 4th to see if the fluid has drained. If not, you'll need some grommets which the parents of twitter assured me is not that bad - you're going to be fine. The Dr doesn't know if that was what was compromising your balance, but we're going to start here and see if anything improves. We love you, Bunny Bun.