100 Happy Days - Day 1: A trip down memory lane

I have signed up for the #100HappyDays challenge! To find out more follow the link, but the gist of it is that each day for 100 days you take a photo of a moment that made you happy and upload it using the #100HappyDays tag. The thought behind it is that one will take a moment out of one's busy schedule to appreciate the small happy moments in one's day, and as one goes on this accumulates to an appreciation of not only the small moments, but the happiness they bring.

"The ability to appreciate the moment, the environment and yourself in it, is the base for the bridge towards long term happiness of any human being."

 My main motivation for joining was to remind myself about all the incredible, happy times the kids and I have here at home together. Some days it seems to get lost in the busyness, humdrum of just getting through the day and yes the whining and tantruming - myself not excluded :). Also, I have been meaning to blog and record life as it happens for over 3 years now, but somehow when (and if) I get to it it seems pointless and mundane. But looking back, I wish I had those blog posts on what it was like for me as a first time parent, what my baby boy was like and his milestones, etc., life as a parent of two under two, what kind of a baby my girl was, and so on... And now that there are two munchkins there just never seems to be the time. Well I'm hoping that this challenge will restart the blogging and recording of the small things that are so important in my and our lives. It really is over before you know it - my boy is turning three in a day's time!

Today marked the first day of the challenge, and the first challenge I found was to decide on which of the moments to include! Each has its own specialness... perhaps I am just an overly sentimental person!

My photo is based on nostalgia... In my years of driving the 50km between Pretoria and Johannesburg and back again commuting to work, out of sheer boredom driving the same roads in the same peak traffic, I started taking photos of my surrounds, and eventually, myself. It soon turned into "my thing" and I amused myself that way and spent many happy moments on the road snapping pics.
The kids and I went on a little adventure together today, basically transporting a humungous plastic sandpit in my tiny Renault Clio, complete with two car seats. It was also a momentous occasion as Amélie decided she wanted to sit in Arnan's forward facing seat instead of her rear facing "baby seat". On the way back from Westpack I realised that this was a pretty happy yet quirky moment and snapped a few pics. To say that the kids were in no mood to cooperate with me is an understatement, but somehow I got all three of us, and the giant yellow sunflower sandpit, into one photo. Now that's how memories are made!