Autumn...

I really like March in New Zealand. It's actually my favourite month of the year.

The mornings are chilly. But the daytime weather is so much more settled, and warm, and sunny (usually). It's not too hot to do things, but it's still warm enough to be lazy and relaxed. We still get to sit outside and have ice creams sometimes!


 And hang out at the beach...

On the downside, the garden is starting to look a bit sorry for itself now. Luckily we don't lose leaves from many trees in NZ so it's all still very green. But the flowering season is well and truly over, and my veggies and strawberries are almost finished. However, we are getting some rather large pears off the tree!

Another downside - the camping season is pretty much over and we didn't get to camp at all this year! :( One night recently, Jake and Alfie put the tent up in our backyard and they were planning to sleep the night in it, but Alfie got a bit scared and by 9pm they were back in the house again. (I think Jake was secretly pleased). Anyway, never mind - we already have grand plans for next summer!

Meanwhile, the weather at this time of year is just perfect for hiking. Not too hot, not too cold. Molly still loves coming up the mountain with me, and I love having her as my hiking buddy.

Sports Mad

We have a sports mad little family here at the moment.

Firstly, last Friday was Alfie's school Athletics Day. He laughed and smiled and chatted and ran his way through the whole day. He came second in the running race, and he won the 3-legged race (twice!) - thanks to some careful team tactics discussions held at the start (see photo below).

Our Alfie is an EXTREMELY competitive little man. This sometimes approaches unhealthy levels, but is usually a good thing. He puts in an enormous amount of effort, which thankfully frequently pays off - and when it doesn't he learns some good life lessons and sometimes takes these lessons well!

Meanwhile, the summer soccer season is almost at an end - there are just two more games to go - and Alfie continues to LOVE playing with the Black Ninjas. They play officially every Friday afternoon, although generally every single lunchtime I believe the Ninjas get together at school for a game as well.

They're a characterful bunch of boys...!

And they certainly play well together!

Molly has continued with her horse riding lessons this month, and is loving every second of it! 

And today she took part in the Weetbix Try-athlon (pretty much 50% of her school took part in fact!), a nationwide series of kids triathlons. Molly decided to form a team with her friend Lucy, which meant Molly was the biker, Lucy was the swimmer, and they both ran together. Here's the "before" picture...

And the "after" picture...!  

Strangely enough, it's Jake who's been lacking in sports activities this month due to a lack of time - he's currently working 1.5 jobs (he's still at the Department of Conservation but is starting a new job next month and they've already got him attending meetings and preparing things in the evenings). 

And me, I'm just enjoying lots of walking up the mountains and around the coast this month. 

Two New Members of the Family

Meet the two new members of our family - introducing Bear and Ninja.....!

Bear (the tortoiseshell one) and Ninja (the ginger one) joined us last month, when they were just 11 weeks old. It's a long story as to how and why they came to live with us, a story which dates back almost 3 years. Let's just say Jake surpassed himself in his commitment and decision making skills this time and leave it at that. ;)

The kids are completely IN LOVE! They leap out of bed each morning without even letting us know they're up and rush off to find the kittens. They rush home from school each afternoon and go to play with the kittens. We can't get them to bed without letting them say goodnight (156 thousand times) to the kittens. And the kittens, bless them, tolerate this well...

So far they are housebound, until they've finished all their immunisations and other such things that the vet takes care of. Every night they go completely MENTAL, and demonstrate more energy than Alfie's entire soccer team - and that's saying something. Very entertaining to watch!

But overall they haven't caused us too much trouble yet. Just a smashed photo frame, some chewed up important paperwork, a half eaten box of Molly's homeopathic drops and an incident up the chimney.