Benny displays his passion, Ellie her class. The grandparents? Trying to behave themselves

It's been a while since we wrote about the kids and displayed their images on screen. It seems most of our output has been generated from other lands and mostly of mountains. Well, today we tried something new with Ellie and Benny. We headed for the glider port in San Diego, a place that has always been special for Jen and me. It's an area along the coast; a few hundred feet below is the ocean. The cliffs are a couple hundred feet high. It's used as a jump-off point for parasailing and hang-gliding. Although at relatively low altitude, the winds blow off the ocean, strike the cliff walls and create an updraft which allows 'human birds' to take to the air. Sunsets are extraordinary and the atmosphere, particularly outside of the high-season, is wonderful.

En route, Ellie wondered what we could do there. She expressed herself a little more forcefully while Benny sang a song that annoyed her. Therefore, it would have to be a special outing to re-bond the siblings that afternoon. Long story short—it was indeed. The kids loved the climbing, some tricky sandy sections thrilled them and it was all complemented with a picnic and finally, after a return from close to the nudist beach below, an ice-cream which seemed to go down well although traces were apparent on various parts of the body and clothing.

Ellie, using her agility developed in dance and gymnastics, and Ben using his bulk developed by...as well as a deep passion for being on the rather steep slopes, lost themselves in a dynamic afternoon of fun with only tiny spills. They truly showed their courage and enthusiasm for the activity—something that surprised us. Jen and I made comments to the walkers on the busy trail to-and-from the beach and Benny repeated such comments to the next group we allowed to pass or whom crossed our paths. The little guy has few inhibitions and his attitude ranges from fearless to fearful, in moments.

As a qualification, should you notice any snacks, ice-creams or such-likes in the pictures, kindly note these are only imitations of the real thing. They are in fact healthy items of food comprising products made from broccoli, spinach, carrots and other approved foods under the supervision of the supreme board of control, otherwise known as M.O.T.H.E.R.



We usually begin an activity with a 'healthy' snack. This was in fact lunch. Snacks precede lunch.



The team heads into the great unknown.



At that juncture, we were singing 'We are marching to Pretoria' which of course went down well with the locals.



A couple of tricky maneuvers to get us going.



Ellie shows her mettle.



Can he do it? Of course, he can.



Benny was particularly brave at this cliff edge, giving his 'papa' encouragement.



Looks, as everyone knows, can be deceiving. While it may look like ice-cream to a mother, it is of course a vegetable made to look attractive for kids.

Cheers,

Jenni and Jeffrey