This past weekend we had the opportunity to stay on a marae courtesy of the Playcentre Association. We packed up all our stuff for the weekend and headed off on Friday night when we (the manuhiri) were officially welcomed onto the marae, complete with karanga, korero and waiata (speeches and singing). After a big dinner we settled in for the night in the big sleeping house with everyone else. Needless to say with 30 adults and about the same number of kids in the same room there was not a great deal of sleep to be had. On Saturday we were up early for breakfast and then workshops on flax weaving and making poi and then in the afternoon some more weaving and a talk on the history of the area. After another big dinner there was kapa haka from the local primary school (singing and dancing) which our kids really loved. Saturday night the kids were all pretty tired so everyone got a bit more sleep. Sunday we packed up and headed home. We managed to pick up a pet lamb for Lily on the way home from the same kind people where we got Lovey. Mooney has settled in well, the girls are calling him MooMoo for short.... perhaps we should have got a calf?
Hooray for the holidays. It's great to hang out with the kids at home for a bit.
Arohanui (lots of love) to everyone!
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