We had a week away near the snow in Turangi last week. It got off to a bit of a shaky start, as I was recovering from a nasty bout of the 'flu, but by the end of the week we were up for the mountain, and put the boys on skis as we did last year. The first day was fine, but the second day they just 'clicked' and had an awesome time! We were on the snow from 10am til nearly 4pm and they were little stars, skiing down the beginners slope with us running along to keep up, then back up the chairlift and off again! It was so cool, we are hoping to get back down for a couple more days in a few weeks time to give them another go, and who knows, this time Bruce and I might actually mange to get on some skis too! Here are a couple of pics...

Connor




















Little ski dudes cruising down the slopes
















Me running along beside Byron

BYRON'S 4!!

Byron had a 'skeleton party' for his 4th birthday at the beginning of August. Here are a few snaps of them during the setting up - I managed to find the skeleton pyjamas at the very last minute, having waded through a heap of shops and just about resigned to having to try and fashion some myself, I felt like I'd won the lottery when I saw them in the very last shop!!! Would have been much easier a bit closer to halloween I think...









































































Byron decided that he needed the training wheels off his bike before he was four...

Yes I know it's been a long time since I updated this, sorry!! I have actually tried, but had the thing time out on me at the last minute and not update, then got fed up with it. We are all really good, no winter ills yet apart from the odd mild cold (fingers crossed!). Connor is loving school and Byron and I are still at playcentre. I have rather a love/hate relationship with playcentre, as it takes up so much of my time, but is fantastic for Byron and we both have lots of great friends there. Only four weeks until the end of the term, I don't know where the time goes! Here are a couple of recent highlights:

At the end of April Bruce and I had a lovely weekend away in Queenstown, while the boys had fun with Nana and Poppa and the family in Auckland. It was the perfect time of year to go, the autumn colours were absolutely stunning and we had a lovely, relaxing time. Here is a photo of us in Arrowtown with those amazing colours behind us. It was overcast, but when the sun came out later it was incredible, like gold leaves shining in the sun.














Connor started playing football this term, and his team are all friends from school. At this age the games/teams are five a side and obviously they play on a much smaller pitch. It's pretty hilarious to watch, like a swarm of bees all chasing after the ball, but they have had a few games now and are improving every week. Connor absolutely loves it, and he and Byron (and Bruce and I sometimes) spend a lot of time kicking a small foam ball up and down our hallway into the 'goals' at either end.






























Connor got the 'player of the day' trophy in the second week, for scoring two goals. He was very proud!

OK so now I'm trying to put some more photos on, but the blogger is not letting me, this thing does drive me quite mad sometimes! Will try again when I can, but my other news is that I am no longer in my thirties (aarrgghhhh!!!). Yes, 40 came upon me last Thursday, but thankfully I didn't wake up and feel any different, so will just pretend I'm still 39 (well I would, if Bruce hadn't given me a card with an enormous glittery number 40 on it, which is sitting on the piano and reminding me every time I walk past!). I decided that rather than have one big celebration I would have a few little ones through the month, and try to catch up with everyone, especially those I haven't had a chance to see or talk to for a long time. That includes my friends overseas who I haven't talked to for ages, so if you are reading this then hopefully we will have a chance to chat very soon!

I had a lovely day on my birthday; Bruce took the day off work and we gave Connor the day off school. Went for morning tea with Dad, Pat and Bob, then off to the climbing wall for a few hours. It was great fun, and a big thanks to Pat and Bob, who came along and did the ropes for Byron and Connor while Bruce and I climbed, it's such great fun! Yesterday I had a really lovely day with all the family. We had arranged to go to a place in the forest where you can climb through ladders and ropes and things in the treetops (hard to describe, but looked really cool!), before going to lunch, but unfortunately the weather did not cooperate, and it was absolutely bucketing down and windy, so not at all good for doing that. As we had planned on doing something, we decided to have a game of ten pin bowling instead. I'm glad we did, as although it was disappointing not to go to the tree adventures place, and the bowling was not the most salubrious place (he he), it was fun to do something all together, the boys loved it, and we can still go to the tree adventures another time. Had a nice pub lunch afterwards and some lovely prezzies, I've been very spoilt, almost worth turning 40 for!!! :-).

TRIP TO THE FIRE STATION

On Friday we went for a Playcentre trip to our local firestation. I took Connor out of school for the day, as he had missed out the last two times we went there, and the boys loved it. They had a demonstation of a fireman putting on all his firefighting gear, then a tour around the truck, a sit in the truck. To top it all off, I think I'd be fairly accurate in saying everyone's favourite part was having a turn of the hose!








































I got to have a turn of the hose too, which was incredible. I hadn't realised quite how much force there was, as they had the pressure turned down when the children were having a turn, and were holding it with them. They turned the pressure up when I had a go, then slowly let go of the hose until I was holding it on my own, but I had to brace myself to hold it. Trying to walk with it was really tricky!




































The following night we went to the annual lantern festival, which happens at a park in the city. It's a lovely night, with lots of amazing lanterns all over the place. My favourites are the ones hanging in the trees, it's really pretty. There's lots of entertainment as well, and the boys were transfixed by a marial arts display (complete with fake axes, swords and a 'don't try this at home' warning!!!).















The boys were very excited when Granddad bought them a lantern each to walk around with (they were really pretty, with a candle inside each).































Just in case anyone was wondering about the black eyes, the boys had been to a pirate themed birthday party that morning!

CAMPING AT WENDERHOLM

We just had a stunning weekend away camping at Wenderholm, which is about 35 mins north of Auckland. We went with friends who have boys the same age, and had a ball! The weather was absolutely beautiful, clear blue skies and hot. Spent the first day on the beach and Connor had a fantastic time with his friend Oscar, using his boogie board to catch some (rather little) waves and just hanging out in the water.















Byron enjoyed jumping the waves















Connor and Oscar, waiting to jump the next 'wave' (it was nearly flat!)















We built a huge fort with a channel for the sea to come up, but unfortunately were rather out in our calculations of where the tide would come in, and it ended up being a big lemon! The boys all enjoyed it though, as did plenty of other children on the beach the next day.




















The second day we went for a bush walk up along the coast. The scenery was fantastic and the boys did really well and walked the whole way. Connor can walk for miles and miles, but we were really impressed with Byron, who managed all the steep climbs, hundreds of steps and slippery gravel without fading. The view was amazing, I had forgotten what incredibly beautiful scenery we have on our doorstep, just over half an hour from home! It felt like being in the Bay of Islands. Can't wait to go back! We are absolutely loving our tent, so thanks to all the family who contributed to our Christmas present, and can't believe how lucky we've been with the weather for all our camping expeditions so far!

A DAY ON THE BOAT!

On Sunday we had an absolutely fantastic day out on the water with Debs and Dave on their boat. The weather was beautiful and we all enjoyed ourselves so much, the boys have been playing various different water themed games ever since.

Bruce and Byron enjoying the ride (with Connor behind them, up front next to Captain Dave).















The main purpose of the trip was to catch something for dinner. Although we caught lots of snapper, they were all undersized and had to be thrown back to grow bigger for another day.















Proud Connor with Uncle Dave and a fish he caught, before returning it to the sea















The boys were fascinated by the enormous starfish one of them managed to hook. Thankfully he was unharmed and enjoyed a leisurely float back to the bottom.















One of our favourite parts of the day was going for a 'float' off the back of the boat where we anchored for lunch. If was great jumping off in life jackets and just floating around! Connor was beside himself with excitement, he really loved it.

PAUANUI JAN 2010

We spent a lovely week at Pat and Bob (Bruce's folks') caravan in Pauanui, on the Coromandel Peninsula. The weather was so kind to us, it was beautiful the whole week until the day we left, which was so lucky! Pauanui is perfect for the boys as it has a surf beach and a calm, tidal estuary to play in. Here are some snaps:

We built a 'boat' for the boys, who had a great time running away from the waves and watching it being destroyed when the tide came in.



































The boys loved Bob's canoe, and Connor became very proficient at paddling it. At first he needed a bit of help from Bruce...















... but was soon paddling his little brother around with ease! The estuary is great because even at high tide it is only about a metre deep for miles out, so we could walk along behind the boys while they were playing in the canoe.















We took a day trip to a place called 'Waiau Water Works', which is near Coromandel Town (about an hour twenty from Pauanui). It is a park with lots of different interactive water features for the children (and adults!), plus a fantastic playground. Well worth the drive, we all had a great time.

One of Connor's favourite parts of the playground was the old gas tanks used as 'skittles', that you swing a giant barrel at to try and knock them over. If you aim correctly you're rewarded with lots of banging and crashing as the things go toppling over. Bruce and I got some good exercise standing them back up again each time!















Another favourite was the 'water cannons', three cannons that had a pump action handle at the side and a shield in front, so you could 'fire' at your opponents. Below the boys are enjoying giving Bruce a good soaking.















When Connor first got onto a cannon, there were two older boys giving him a good soaking, so I couldn't resist running over to try and give him a hand. It was such a hot day that it was a relief to cool down!















The boys weren't quite up to the flying fox speeding through the bush, but Bruce and I had a great time on it. It was really fast, and had a couple of nifty breaking devices at the end to slow you down quickly. The start went literally through the trees, felt like Tarzan it was great!




















Also couldn't resist the giant hamster wheel















Just as much fun for the adults as kids, Pat and Bob on the up and down and turning see saw.















The boys tried out the new fishing rods Debs and Dave gave them for the first time, and Connor was very proud of his first catch! I did the 'bonking' very reluctantly, but after throwing several back, Connor insisted we keep one. It's still in the freezer, apparently there is a bird lady somewhere around who has some sick penguins, so Connor is convinced that we are going to donate his fish to help them get better!


































We chose the perfect night for fish and chips on the beach. This was down on the estuary, which is a couple of minute's walk, just out the back of the campsite.