I think I mentioned in yesterday’s post that we decided against the drive along the coast and instead to stay nearby. This area has plenty to do, why move on if we are enjoying it here?

We checked out of our Airbnb at 10 and went to brunch in downtown Stellenbosch. For a seemingly tiny town, everything is packed. Last night we got turned away from 2 restaurants because they were full, and breakfast felt equally busy.

From there we drove just 30 minutes to near Paarl. As I have on 100% of our drives in the cape, I ooh’d and ahh’d at the views. We stopped at a big play land thing. These seem to be called “soft play” everywhere but at home. Millie put on her grippy socks and ran off to explore. She lasted about an hour, jumping on trampolines, going down slides, and riding the zip line. Her playtime was cut short when she saw a kid with a giant cotton candy and got jealous that we wouldn’t get her one. Once again I struggled with if we are giving her more issues by not giving in to her intense sugar cravings than whatever minor harm the sugar intake would cause.

We broke her sadness cycle by offering to all play mini golf on the course outside. She had been asking to play again since we played a few days ago in Cape Town. Somehow this mini golf was prettier than the seaside one. Vineyards on one side, horses on the other, mountains in the back.

She did shockingly well. We didn’t go easy on her and she was holding her own against our scores. However, that didn’t stop her from having a complete freak out at hole 12 when she had some trouble. In a fit of frustration she threw her ball and it got lost in the tall grass, which sent her all the way over the edge. We tried it all: comforting her, ignoring her and just playing, a pep talk about practicing and not quitting, a gentle nudge to get over it and play, etc. None of it worked and the wailing continued. We decided to call it and leave. Despite being so much better than last time, she cried “I’m no good at golf, I want to quit! I’m never playing again.” How can you teach a kid confidence and resilience and anger management? Asking for a… me.

We went to a very nice supermarket (Checkers) to get some more food before checking into our Airbnb. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I love grocery stores. They had cute little carts for Millie and Judy. The bad mood remained.

We got to our new Airbnb which is on an unbelievably beautiful working farm & wedding venue. The owner showed us where the owls outside and nesting, where we can go for walks, the play area, and more. She lives next door. I can’t believe people just live here.

We unpacked and played a little bit before heading out to an early dinner at a brewery down the road. It felt like being home. Playground, simple food, good beer. Most of the patrons were other Americans. Millie made a friend named Ari from NYC and got more wiggles out. It started getting too cold for us to be outside.

We drove home as the sun was setting. Are you sick of me saying it’s beautiful yet? Because look at this view we were greeted with as we pulled into our carport.

We had a cozy evening. Lit a fire (Nick), started a necklace (Millie), and wrote this post (me).