Water slide

Today was a BIG day. Well, not really big, kind of a big little day. I didn’t split the atom or cure cancer, but Lucia did go on a water slide for the first time. I’m very proud.

Madeleine turns 9

And so, on 1/2/12, Madeleine turned 9.  This must be auspicious, for she was born on 1/2/03, another pleasingly easy to remember date.  We celebrated by going out for dinner and having the restaurant (our favourite Italian, NSP in Parnell) deliver a chocolate cake to the birthday girl.  Alas, this is the only photo I took the entire day, and its really not a very good one.

Madeleine turns 9

I did get another photo the next day when she  put on her some of the new clothes she got from her Nana for her birthday:

Madeleine's new clothes

Madeleine did have a great day, in spite of the fact it was also the first day of school for the year. (And yes, I did breath a huge sigh of relief when I was able to pull away from the school gate and then pull up at the door of a cafe, walk in, and sit down by myself.  Not the least because I am half way through radiation therapy and its not much fun for anyone to drag the girls along to that fun fair every morning.)

So, thats the blog up to date!  2012 has begun in pretty good form, and lets hope it only continues to improve.

Butterfly Creek & Rocket Ropes, January 2012

Another perennial holiday favourite for all Aucklanders with children is Butterfly Creek.  As well as the obligatory butterfly enclosure (which is kept at a very balmy tropical temperature and makes me feel rather faint within about 10 minutes) it has a great petting zoo, crocodiles, a minature train, and a cafe, and is next door to Rocket Ropes, an adventure rope-climbing type malarky.  I can’t explain.  There are photos below.

The girls were hugely excited when the butterflies started landing on them.  First, Madeleine attracted this little specimen:

Madeleine @ Butterfly Creek

But Lucia really attracted the big kahuna with her flower headband:

Lucia @ Butterfly Creek

We were about to leave the enclosure when it alighted on her again, this time on her arm, and we almost had to shoo it away so that we could leave: Read more of this post

School Holidays, January 2011

And so the holidays rolled on, with rain, rain and more bloody rain.  There were more sunny days in January than December, so we managed to go to the zoo, the Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT), and walk around the top of Mt Wellington (no we didn’t walk all the way up there, there is a perfectly good car park just below the summit and it seemed rude not to use it).

Girls at the zoo, January 2012

MOTAT January 2012

Mt Wellington trig station January 2012

We visited cafes, including the wonderful Catroux in Westmere:

Lucia the artist

Madeleine the artist

And the very innovative Kohu Road Cafe and Creamery in New Lynn.  Kohu Road makes gourmet ice-cream, and have possibly the only cafe in the world with a caravan in the corner.  The girls had a fantastic time playing inside it.

Kohu Road cafe caravan

Russell, January 2012

After leaving Lucia on the boat, the rest of us headed to the Russell Orongo Bay Holiday Park.  We had booked five days in a cabin, but alas within minutes of arriving I remembered why I hadn’t been camping for approximately ten years – I actually hate camping.  At least, in a concrete “cabin” that is about four meters square, filled only with four beds and a bar fridge.  With shared bathroom facilities and hordes of ernest, ukulele playing teenagers meters away from the door.

Surprisingly, Madeleine also had a bit of a meltdown upon leaving her sister.   Read more of this post

Beautiful Bay of Islands

After resting up at home post Christmas 2011, we headed north to the Bay of Islands for the first week of 2012.  Lucia was spending a few days with a friend onboard her family boat, and we joined her for the first night, then planned to head to a camping ground for another five nights.  Again, we were blessed with amazing weather, and didn’t see rain until our last morning in Russell.  I think it may have been the only sunny part of the entire country during that week, so we were delighted.

The Bay of Islands really are quite idyllic, in good weather and on a good boat.  The photo below does show some rather ominous looking clouds, but it was incredibly warm and the clouds didn’t do anything other than look menacing.

Bay of Islands, January 2012

The girls hadn’t been on a boat overnight before and were thrilled by the whole experience.  They went biscuiting, paddle boarding, swimming, had a picnic on a beach, and stayed up late – what more could two little girls ask for? Read more of this post

Taupo and tummy bugs

After Christmas in Bulls we spent a couple of nights in Taupo.  Luckily there was a swimming pool there too, so the girls rapidly turned into prunes each day soaking in the water.  We visited the ducks and swans lakeside, and the girls were delighted to find several of the hot water springs dotted around the lake front.

We visited Huka Falls, which we last visited three years ago, and it was interesting to find that the girls had almost no memory of that visit at all – Madeleine vaguely remembered it, Lucia not at all.

Me and the girls at Huka Falls

And here we are, three years ago. Read more of this post

Christmas 2011

The summer of 2011/12 might go down in history as the wettest in New Zealand, but the weather gods were smiling on Bulls on Christmas Day and Boxing Day (maybe the rest of New Zealand as well but I must confess I never checked the weather report that day), and we were lucky enough to have beautiful sunny weather.

Highgrove, Christmas 2011

In the sweltering heat we managed to unwrap presents, force down several sensational meals and many more snacks, and lie about reading books.   I think I was still purging my body of the last remaining chemotherapy drugs, or maybe it was the unexpected heat (at least thats the excuse I’m going to use) because I was about as lively as a porpoise taking a nap on a beach.  I shifted from couch to armchair to deckchair to bed, and then re-started the cycle from the top.  Needless to say all the grandchildren were very well spoiled, and as you can see the Christmas tree was well supported by stacks of presents.  Read more of this post

School Holidays, December 2011

And so, with a huge sigh of relief, the 2011 school year came to an end and the girls were released into the wild for nearly two whole months.  I had visions of endless trips to the beach, zoo, parks, and long exhausting walks around the city.  Alas, it rained for almost the entire holiday period.  We did manage to have some fun, but for pretty much all of December it was indoors.

To start with, I was happy to let them lie prone on the couch and catch up on cartoons for several hours a day, breaking it up with the odd trip to a parks in-between rain showers, and even a visit to the supermarket if my most persistent ferreting around the fridge couldn’t rustle up something for dinner.  We made our fun where we could find it.

Early Santa presents

We also visited the local cinema quite a lot more than usual, and in this picture the girls are imitating their McDonald’s Happy Meal toy, which I think is a character from Puss’n Boots.  Either that or they’ve really had too much sugar.  Read more of this post

Carol Service 2011

Dio held their annual carol service at the Parnell Cathedral in December 2011, and as a year 1 student Lucia was a part of a re-enactment of the nativity story. She was a shepherd and a very serious and responsible shepherd indeed.  Except for beforehand, when she pulled all sorts of faces and didn’t look like a shepherd at all.  Madeleine took her place with the rest of the girls and sang along heartily.  Christmas always feels much closer when you’ve heard a rousing rendition of Hark the Herald Angels Sing, even if it is played in a key so high only about 1/5 of the congregation can actually sing it.

Carol service 2011