MIA

What have we all been up to? The last few days we've been staying in Warkworth because Phil is working down that way. We did lots of walking to the park, feeding ducks, playing at the playground and bubble baths. On Saturday we popped in to the Farmers market at Matakana which was a bit of a culture shock. It was chock full of well dressed Aucklanders sipping double decaf soy lattes and queuing for very expensive olive oil to drizzle on their organic rocket and buffalo milk mozzarella salad. We are a bit more used to the one in Whangarei where everyone just goes to buy their veges and then goes home. It was just as well we arrived early, when we left there was a 5 km stationary line of cars waiting to get in and fight for a carpark! Next we got lost and then found the donkey park where there was a lovely market with actual veges and fruit for sale, another playground, and the donkeys. Yesterday we went to a school fair at Leigh where we gorged on icecream and candy floss between showers. Ali's lost a second tooth which reminds me I must have a word to the tooth fairy. It took so long to fall out that the one replacing it has already grown in to mostly fill the gap :-)

Today we are home unpacking, gardening and generally puttering around. We planted some swan plants for the Monarch butterflies to take inside. There are five little caterpillars about 5mm long on the plants. I'll take another picture in a week or two. I included this picture of Ali's drawing especially for you Aunty Sarah.Last week we painted eggs ("igs" is what we call them in NZ). About half of them have already been broken. I might feed the chooks a bit more concrete before next Easter to make them stronger.

Lily liked the flowers we nicked from Oma Ali's garden when she wasn't home. She says they smell like honey