A rainy weekend

We haven't had a lot of rain over the last couple of months. I've even had to start watering the garden every day. Luckily my little boy's recent must-have purchase - a blue elephant watering can - has helped with this issue as it means he can take part in this task with me while his sister's at rehearsals. Cute hey?

This weekend though, I was able to take a break from the hosepipe as we finally had some rain, yay! So, in between gymnastics, piano lessons and WOW rehearsals, this is what we did on our rainy weekend...

Firstly, we cuddled the cats alot....

When they'd had enough of the cuddles they escaped outside. Even in the rain they managed to find dry spots. 

Meanwhile the kids played lots and lots of games. Lego, den building, farm games, Sylvanian families.... There wasn't much floor space left by the end of the day. 

On Saturday evening we had a street party, which was nice. One of our neighbours told us about a great walking track that leads from the end of our street through the bush and down to the next suburb, which we didn't even know about! How this happened I have no idea, but we checked it out yesterday. Lots of fun. 

Jake and I managed a night out on Saturday, for dinner at a local hotel and to an awesome play/comedy at a small theatre here, about a middle-aged man who takes up biking and wearing lycra. Seriously. It was very funny. 

We had a bit of TV time too this weekend. TV is something we've not done much of lately due to a general busy-ness and other stuff. Alfie has become obsessed with soccer....(note: STILL no TV cabinet. I'm not sure we'll ever own one). 

And we read lots....we've got Harry Potter on the go at the moment but it's giving Alfie nightmares so we have to only read it during the daytime and stick to gentler things at bedtime.

Yesterday morning I went out for breakfast with the girls while the kids pottered about in the wet garden and found a couple of lizards/skinks. When I got home I discovered that one had even made it into our kitchen with only 3 legs. This whole discovery was either super exciting, super interesting, or super gross - depending on who in the family you were speaking to.

Finally, we were going to cook a lovely dinner last night, but the oven caught fire (well, it is nearly 20 years old) and we have to wait a few days until Fisher & Paykal can come out to replace a part.  (So we got pizza takeaway instead and now we have lots of wasted food, grrrrrr....)

A sunny weekend

It's just a 7km bike ride - each way - from the end of the road up to Pencarrow Lighthouse. What a great track to go riding on with kids! (Until the last few kms....!)

We set off along the coastline and we rode.....

And we rode.....

And we rode....

(I'm not sure my helmet fitted properly??)

Anyway, when we got tired we stopped for a picnic lunch....

By the time we'd done the first 5 or 6 kms, we needed to put a few incentives were in place. The first one to see the lighthouse was going to get chocolate! And the second one too! Well done kids!!

We stopped for ages at the lighthouse and collected a pile of stones, shells and dead starfish....then we set off on the return journey....

It was much slower on the way back and we needed plenty more stops!

What we do during rehearsal time

For the last month Molly has been immersed in rehearsals for one of New Zealand's top fashion/arts/design shows. Anyone who lives in New Zealand will know all about it, but for those readers who don't live in New Zealand you can check it out here: http://worldofwearableart.com/ . 

Getting a part in it involved two rounds of auditions and is quite a big deal! For Molly, it means her world is now full of excitement and dance and costumes - and  secrecy. She's had to sign a confidentiality contract and isn't allowed to speak a word about what she's doing until opening night. For an 8 year old this is a hard task! But she's doing well and so far the rest of us know NOTHING at all. 

Despite not knowing anything, it's pretty much taken over our lives! The rehearsals are 3 times per week and take up about 10-12 hours of our time. Unfortunately this means it's not always possible for Alfie to do a lot of the things he wants to do this term, as he needs to chauffeur Molly around with me, but he's been a great support crew so far with only a very teeny bit of complaining. 

Wellington's not a big city and one of the perks of living here is that it usually takes no time to get anywhere. But as fate would have it, rehearsals are about as far away from our home as possible - a whole 15 kms away in Miramar. So rather than drive there and back and there and back every time, Alfie & I often just hang out on the Miramar Peninsula and enjoy a bit of time together. 

Sometimes we bring a soccer ball and hang at the beach.....

Sometimes we go to the local library and read books together, or to the garden centre where we've bought the occasional random item such as a blue elephant trunk watering can that Alfie was desperate for.

Sometimes we sit at one of the many cafes and treat ourselves to a hot chocolate while we do homework....

As luck would have it, rehearsals are on the same road as Dad's work, so we sometimes visit him in the office, check out the latest company prosthetics, pat the office dog and watch movies in the kitchen.

But at weekend rehearsals we have Dad with us so we get to play more soccer and hang out at the beach some more!



Thanks Alfie, my little chauffeur buddy - I'm loving our time together!