What a Year!

I can remember many years ago wishing for a really quiet year and to be honest I'm still kind of waiting on that wish.

Despite that, 2012 goes down as one of the best years ever for me!

2011 was a true "annus horribilis" that started badly with just about everything that could go wrong going wrong.

Happy Birthday Eli!

Happy 7th birthday to our amazing boy!

Eli is such a joy and a total blessing to our family and we love him dearly.

Having had his party a couple of weeks ago, Eli's had a quiet day at home playing with his new toys and completing his 500 piece jigsaw. He's also very proud today of his brand new unicycle which has seen a bit of action today.

Now we're looking forward to our birthday tea at Eli's choice of restaurant tonight. So that'll be a massive bowl of spaghetti bolognese then!

School Of Unicycling

This morning I had the privilege of going into school with Eli's unicycle so that he could demonstrate how to ride it to his classmates for show & tell.

I get a real thrill out of seeing Eli riding his uni' but to see him ride it with a crowd really made my heart glow. It was great to hear Eli's classmates heaping praise and compliments on him, I think my favourite was hearing one of the lads telling the teacher "He makes it look so easy!".

In The Spirit Of Benny Hill

Late this afternoon we were playing about in the garage and used Paula's camera to record some unicycling. We put it on 'Miniature Effect' mode and this was the result. all that was needed was some classic music!

So here you have it, in the spirit of Benny Hill, less the sauce!

Eli Unicycling

Despite our absence from the blog we're well and really enjoying life but we're also really busy which probably explains the absence.

So here's a bit of fun to keep you going until we manage to post something over the weekend.

Enjoy Eli's latest exploits below...

Miles For Smiles

Eli and Joel had such a blast this morning at what has become their school's annual charity event.  They were so proud to ride for Operation Smile in their Miles for Smiles cycle ride.  They were particularly thrilled because the school is hoping to crack their target of raising R50,000 for much needed cleft palate operations for children this year and between them they have raised just under R2,000.  Thank you so much to all you who so generously sponsored the boys, it really made a difference.

Blogging From A To Z Challenge - U

U is for Unicycling

Just because this is one of my passions doesn't mean I'm very good at it and trust me, I'm not! I do enjoy it though.

It all began many moons ago when I asked Paula for a unicycle for my 30th birthday. I was really into juggling and wanted to try something different. I was blessed with a DM Ringmaster and despite several attempts to ride it it got neglected and largely forgotten. Then in 1999 we went to All Nations for a year and one of the students had his giraffe uni there and with a few tips I decided to invest in learning to ride my Ringmaster.

For My Next Trick...

Having done the Cape Epic in 2009 and achieved a few other goals on my bikes I feel it's time for another challenge.

So here it is, my Nimbus 36" unicycle. The plan is to get fit enough to ride it in the Cape Argus next year 2013 to raise money for Miles 4 Smiles, a charity supported by my boys' school.

I've got a mountain to climb in terms of getting uni' fit, I need to fully master getting on it, especially in front of a crowd and I need to develop my core and thigh muscles to take the strain.

So far the furthest I've ridden on my 36er is a few laps around the school car park which is a million miles from riding the thing up Chapman's Peak or Suikerbossie.

Regardless of how tough it is I'm going to have a lot of fun along the way!

26" Unicycle Anyone?

Does anybody have a 26" wheel unicycle they want to get rid off or know anyone who might have one they no longer want?

Please let me know, Ta

Emyezweni Christmas Party

It hardly seems possible that a year has slipped past since I last entertained the kids at the Emyezweni Christmas party in Lwandle, but that year has shot past and here we are posting about it again.

I really enjoy being asked to entertain the kids and count it a real privilege to invest a tiny amount in the lives of these kids.

As ever they were a fantastically appreciative audience and certainly know how to make one feel good! The simplest tricks continue to be the most appreciated. The fire juggling is a huge hit, but the unicycling and diabolo are also popular. Climb the string is the simplest of diabolo tricks but probably the most appreciated. Throwing the diabolo is also great, the higher the better! Each year I try to do something different, so last year I used my fire clubs for the first time and this year I used my juggling rings which went down very well. Next year could be a bit tricky.

Emyezweni Christmas Party

On Friday I had the privilege of entertaining the children at Emyezweni Pre-School in Lwandle. This seems to have become a bit of a tradition but it's a lot of fun and the children really appreciate it. This year I had my fire clubs fixed so I was able to juggle with fire too. As you could imagine it was a real hit and the children requested that I juggle fire again at the end.

Emyezweni Christmas Party

We were invited to attend the Emyezweni Christmas Party today, mainly so that Dean could entertain the kids again, but also because we try and support the work as much as possible, although in truth we don't do anywhere near as much as we'd like to for them.

As usual the Christmas party was a lot of fun, Debs, Rach' and the staff really do put a huge amount of work into it and the whole event is brilliant.

The photos tell their own story, so we hope you enjoy them..