Athletics day

Today was athletics day at Ali's school. I popped in to cheer her on for a bit, she enjoyed the hurdles and high-jump but not the running (could be genetic). We thought that maybe a less floppy hat would be a good idea for next year.

Tomorrow we are going camping to Tawharanui. As I was packing the car this afternoon I noticed that the dog had packed himself - I guess he doesn't want to be left behind.

Marshmallow Nose

Lily was pretending to be a turtle this morning. When she was finished, we went with some Playcentre friends to Piroa Falls, not far from home. The girls puddled around in the water, throwing in stones, leaves and twigs, changed the course of the stream a little and snacked constantly.

Giggles

Lucky Ducky

Half way through dinner last night this duck came waddling down the driveway for a visit. It had a feed and a big drink then half an hour later headed off into the sunset. We hoped it might come back tonight but maybe we didn't have the right kind of bread:-)

Travel dates

Hi everyone, we have booked our flights for Christmas.

We arrive in Sydney Monday 14 Dec at 7pm. We will stay the night in Berry and then head out to Goulburn on the 15th.

We intend to head back to Berry on the 28th Dec and stay a couple of nights before we fly back to Akl departing at 6:30 pm on Wenesday 30 Dec.

The weeks news.

Those of you who know our neighbours Mel and Lorne (with the 4 kids in the shoebox house) will be glad to hear that their new house arrived on a truck this week. In the picture you can see it coming along our road. Needless to say they are all very excited to finally have it on site although it will take a few weeks to hook up services, build steps, get signed off by the council and actually move in!


Today we went fishing and Lily caught her first fish. Unfortunately it was the biggest fish of the day, but luckily our favourite neighbourhood fish man "Fishing Rod" who sell delicious smoked fish at the markets was in town today so we still got a feed. There were lots of teeny tiny ducklings at the park, Phil managed to reach down and pick some up for the kids to hold which was pretty special. No doubt next week they will be big enough to know to get out of the road but today they didn't seem to be afraid.


This one of Lily was from earlier in the week when she was pretending to be a puppy.

Piha

We went camping at Piha this weekend. It seems to have hardly changed since we moved from there 6 years ago. The kids enjoyed sleeping in the tent and exploring the wild west coast beach. They loved the feeling of the hot, black sand on their feet.

Phil rescued this snake eel that had washed up on the beach, another Steve Irwin moment:-)

On the way home we popped in to visit Opa and by a stroke of luck caught up with Oma and Karen's Aunty Taya as well. They all seemed tired and cheerful after a big trip out to Warkworth.

Buddy stayed with our neighbours Craig and Gina for the night. He made himself very comfortable at their house.