Is It All In My Head

Fiji…oh, wait, no, Australia

bettylu — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 10:40:21 +0000

This Easter we had planned to go to Fiji, taking the girls out of school a few days early and enjoying a nice relaxing tropical holiday, lots of cocktails by the pool and the girls tucked away at the kids club. Alas, mother nature had a different plan, and Fiji was stuck by catastrophic floods, and an impending cyclone. We made new plans, and headed for Broadbeach, just south of Brisbane.

Sandcastle on Broadbeach

We found a great hotel with a big pool for the girls, and were about three minutes walk from Broadbeach, which is a lovely – yes, broad – beach, although it does have quite a big surf so only Madeleine and Andrew ventured in. Broadbeach has a huge number of places to eat and the weather was wonderful, so we went for a walk in the balmy evening air each night and found a new place for dinner.

Post-dinner walk at Broadbeach

The hotel also had a private cinema that we booked for an afternoon to introduce the girls to The Lion King (not having watched it for ten years I’d forgotten how wonderful it is), and a pool table, so the girls had their first game with mixed success, but they did both sink some balls.

But the big drawcard was the theme parks, for which the Gold Coast is famous, and we spent two days at Dreamworld and White Water World. Each day started with Dreamworld, and when we had our fill of being spun, thrown, dropped, twisted, soaked, bounced and swung to pieces, we went to White Water World and did it all again in togs. I took almost no pictures of our time at either park, mostly because it isn’t easy to take photos when you’re hanging upside down, flying through the air, being dropped from a great height, in a pool, or sitting with your head in your hands trying not to vomit.

Dreamworld

Tattooed girls

We also visited Burleigh Heads, and spent a bit of time in Brisbane visiting friends. It was definitely not the quiet little island holiday we had planned , but the weather was amazing and we had a fantastic time.

Burleigh Heads

Madagascar & girls

Chloe!!

bettylu — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 09:34:26 +0000

This weekend we finally decided it was time to bring a new dog into the family. We’ve really missed having a dog, and we’re very excited to have Chloe. She is a cavoodle – half cavalier king charles and half poodle – and is currently seven weeks old. She is a lovely apricot and white colour, with floppy little cavalier ears and a slightly curly poodle coat.

She is truly a little baby – sleeps a lot during the day, cries all night, and wees all the time. Mostly outside, because the girls take her outside ALL the time (any excuse to carry her around for a few minutes), but occasionally indoors. Still, she’s doing very well for a seven week old.

The girls couldn’t be more excited, they had been pleading with us for months to get a new puppy. We’ve learned from experience that there is a right way and a wrong way to bring up a dog, and we’re hoping that this time we’ll get it right, and have her with us for many happy years.

Excited new Chloe owners

Chloe, 7 weeks

Going to the zoo zoo zoo

bettylu — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 07:53:04 +0000

To see the baby giraffe! And to put my children into some meerkat holes! All had a great time.

Baby and Mum

Finally, a way to contain the girls!

Giraffe Family

Afternoon at the beach

bettylu — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 07:48:39 +0000

The summer of 2011/12 will go down in New Zealand history as the summer that wasn’t. Rainy, windy, and cold, we waited and waited for the good weather, and every time we had a warm sunny day, we got all excited and thought, at last – summer has arrived! By half way through February, we realised it really wasn’t coming. So if we did have a good day, we’ve really tried to make the most of it. The sun came out last Monday so after school we went straight to the beach. The girls had a fantastic time exploring the rock pools at St Heliers Bay, and running around the shallows of the ocean as the tide raced in. Days like this remind me of how wonderful Auckland really is, and how lucky we are in New Zealand to have almost universal access to clean safe beaches. Paradise.

Girls at St Heliers Beach

More photos after the jump.

Madeleine investigating a rock pool

Lucia gets her feet wet

More water sports

bettylu — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 06:12:32 +0000

Madeleine has been having a very wet term so far, with swimming sports almost every day. She’s been heavily in training for school swimming sports, which were held last week, and she came up trumps with two second places in her heats. She’s also joined a Flippa Ball team and plays every week against local primary school teams. She absolutely loves it, even though they lose as often as they win. Here are a couple of pics of her in water sports mode.

Swimming sports glory

Maddy at Flippa Ball

Update – Madeleine won player of the day at the weekend, here she is with her trophy, and prize

Player of the Day! (and prize)

Water slide

bettylu — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 04:14:47 +0000

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 has merrily scaled the heights of many a municipal swimming pool water slide, and has yet to meet a slide that doesn’t take her fancy. Lucia, on the other hand, has always found them quite scary and begged off, saying she was “too small” and would have a go when she’s “a bit bigger”. But today, after watching her sister scream out of the tunnel and into the fast running pool at the bottom of the slide, she decided The Time Had Come.

We went back to the ticket desk, cash in hand, and got her a little neon orange wristband. Positively fizzing with excitement she went back to the slide, where Madeleine was awaiting her important task: to escort Lucia to the top of the slide for the first time.

I still thought she might chicken out – but I told her it was loads of fun and that she is braver than she thinks.

And sure enough, 60 seconds later it was Lucia hurtling out the bottom of the slide, grinning widely and totally thrilled with herself.

She and Madeleine spent over an hour speeding up the stairs to the top of the slide and hurtling down again, emerging at the bottom each time victorious and totally delighted. Eventually I had to drag them away, Lucia was so cold she was blue almost from head to toe, but I don’t think she would have stopped if she had a choice. Now she can’t wait to visit all the other water slides Madeleine has already conquered, and do it all again.

These photos are all taken at the bottom of the slide, which is quite high, but I didn’t actually take a photo of the outside. It looks like a big blue plastic spiral, about 20 metres high.

Happy sliders

Yes, they did break the No Running rule, and got told off by the lifeguard.

Madeleine slides

Lucia leaps

Madeleine turns 9

bettylu — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 08:28:47 +0000

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

bettylu — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 08:25:48 +0000

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:

Lucia @ Butterfly Creek 2

We moved on to the petting zoo – main attraction the bunnies, as Madeleine has always coveted her own rabbit. When we had dogs, I could use the excuse that the dogs would eat the rabbits. Now we have no dogs I say its so nice not having to find somewhere for the dogs to stay when we go on holiday, I’m not about to make life complicated again (after all, who takes bunnies in for the holidays? Are there bunny kennels?).

Madeleine and bunny @ Butterfly Creek

Lucia and bunny @ Butterfly Creek

Butterfly Creek resident

The following weekend, Andrew took the girls to Rocket Ropes for a climbing adventure.

Maddy & Lulu at the Ropes 1

Maddy & Lulu at the Ropes 2

School Holidays, January 2011

bettylu — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 07:38:04 +0000

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

bettylu — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 07:24:37 +0000

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. The prospect of spending a few days away from Lucia was actually very upsetting, which was a huge surprise to me, given the number of times she has complained to me in the past that she hated having a sister and, in fact, would like Lucia to go and live somewhere else please. There were tears, there were tantrums, there were long moping silences (I didn’t mind the silences so much). I reminded her how irritating she found Lucia sometimes. She vowed she would never find Lucia irritating again. We lavished her with attention, she complained that I was giving her too much attention.

A day or so into the forced separation, she cheered up and decided life wasn’t so bad after all. This photo was taken late one night when we escaped the kum-by-ah singing ukelele orchestra, who were working on my very last nerve and were about to have all their instruments confiscated and thrown into the nearby swamp. We went to the Duke of Marlborough in Russell for dessert and coffee. It was a beautiful evening and we watched the sun slowly sink into the sea, while Madeleine drew in her book and the yachts bob gently on the water.

Madeleine at the Duke of Marlborough

After three nights we decided we really didn’t feel like camping any more, and decamped to the Duke of Marlborough proper. Lucia joined us for the last two nights of the holiday, which were filled with cafes, beach trips and basking in the warm weather we were finally enjoying.

Lucia @ Russell pizza place

Russell is a lovely little historic town, indeed it was the first capital of New Zealand, and there are many signs around the town pointing out the historical significance of various buildings and sites. This was my favourite.

Russell

Lucia and I spent a very pleasant hour browsing the Russell graveyard, which is absolutely full of drowning victims. And small children. Quite sad really, but we made a game of trying to find the oldest grave, which was 1840, but some of the gravestones were unreadable so I’m sure some pre-dated that one. The church is incredibly pretty and has a lovely atmosphere.

On our last morning in Russell we woke to find that rain had blanketed the town, from our position right on the waterfront we couldn’t even see the harbour. It was definitely a good time to leave, but I do hope we will return sometime.