What have we been up to? Whatipu!

Here are some very late pictures from Granny Rosies' birthday at Whatipu on the wild west coast just out of Auckland. All the cousins were there and we went for a big walk along the beach in some very doubtful weather. The boy lying in the grass is cousin Jordy.

Blah blah blah

When it's really wet and windy we like to go for a big walk on the beach with the local Forrest and Bird Society lady and look for dead creature to take a photo of :-)

When it's sunny we go picking mushrooms in the neighbour's paddock. Mum gets some exercise lifting the kids over the electric fence :-)

Oma and Opa John like to play tug-of-war with people much smaller and lighter than themselves, I think it helps them to feel fit and strong :-)



Ali and Lily enjoyed their haircuts. And snuggling up together in bed.


When it's raining you should always do your gardening in mismatching swimming togs!

Butterfly Time

Lily and Ali think the only reason butterflies hatch is so you can put them on your head and take photos like we did last year.

Sad news today

Grandma Sheila passed away yesterday morning at her home in Goulburn surrounded by her family. We send all our love to Sarah, Dave, Robyn, Emily and Ron at this difficult time.
We love you and miss you Grandma
Rest in Peace

Ali's first post

Alida - the highlight of the day was going to the fire station becas all got to have a tune quing the hose. wegot to hear the sirn one. one of them was the one that went up and down the other one was the police one.the other one was the Ambulance one I lovd going to the fire station.

Mum - Ali typed this all herself. It's about the school trip that they did yesterday to the local fire station. Unfortunately there are no photos but I'm sure she will be taking pictures for her next school trip.

Rain!

At last we have had some rain, followed by some fine days, and then some more rain. The garden looks likes spring as everything perks up, dew drops shine on cobwebs, the wax eyes clean up the last of the tomatoes, and clean washing flaps on the line (it is so nice to have water to wash and fine weather to dry it as well!) We took the opportunity in the weekend to plant some peppermint scented gums and a pohutukawa that have been sitting waiting for the rain for a while.
On Fridays Ali's school has choosing day and the kids are allowed to make or do what they choose. Since we got the guinea pigs every Friday Ali comes home with some new home or playground for them. Generally the piggles seem a little non-plussed by Ali's efforts but it's hard to tell with piggles.

Ali's friend Asher and her older brother popped by in the weekend, they played happily all afternoon and the four kids demolished a whole bucketful of little feijoas and saved me having to turn them into cake :-) the feijoas, not the kids.

Back to Blogger

It's been a busy few weeks of day to day stuff, school, laundry, groceries, kindy etc. There has still not been much rain to speak of and our kind neighbours brought up three 1000 litre tankfuls of water on the back of their tractor trailer last weekend and we all enjoyed the challenge and hilarity that ensued as we tried to pump the water into our house tank. The church in town has a sign up urging passersby to help the farmers - maybe it will work.
Ali has been doing lots of drawings of girls, butterflies and hearts lately. These ones were blutacked up in the kitchen for a week or so. If you click on the picture with the mouse it will blow up to full screen size so you can see a bit better.
Ali's hockey team got wiped out the last two games, but Ali has shown an aptitude for goal keeping and was awarded player of the day again this Saturday (This is going to cost a fortune in sweets!)
Lily's big news is that she has learned to swing herself on the swing. She is going through an extra-cute phase at the moment and I often find myself just staring at her and wondering how we got such a gorgeous little girl.