It's A City Life

The last few weeks have been interesting. Most of our blog readers know that Molly has been waiting - very patiently - for some new hair for the last couple of months, after hers all fell out in April.

She's managed ok so far. She's mastered the no-hair look brilliantly and for colder days she is gathering quite an impressive collection of head scarves and hats. Some look sillier than others.

Unfortunately we received some sad, bad news a couple of weeks ago - after months of hard manual work making Molly a custom-fitted wig, it had been stolen by some scumbags in Chinese Customs just before it left to come to NZ (along with 8 others. Why????)

Anyway, thanks to our very very lovely hair consultant we've managed to borrow a loan wig while they start from scratch making Molly another one. The loan one is not custom made to fit Molly and it's made with artificial hair.....but check out how good it looks!!!

Molly's choosing to wear it 50% of the time, but the rest of the time she sticks to a hat or nothing. She likes being able to change things around.

Other news....At the end of July we celebrated our Wedding Anniversary with a takeaway. Such excitement.

Well actually it wasn't our real wedding anniversary. The real one is in February, but for one reason or
another we chose to get married right in the middle of the busiest couple of weeks of our lives, and it's the same every year. It falls within the first week or two of school term, in the middle of both kids' birthdays, the peak of summer, etc etc. So far we've found every year that we're too busy to celebrate it.

We can't see this changing, so we've decided instead to celebrate 29th July instead, the date we originally got together!

Meanwhile work's going well for each of us. Jake's starting to get addicted to checking his sales figures now, it's very reminiscent of our days at BTW. And I've got some nice clients who are keeping me busy. An older relative remarked the other day on how interesting it is to see that my desk is pretty much paperless. True. In fact, my desk most definitely resembles the modern world these days, usually with two screens and an iPhone on the go at the same time.

Having said that, for someone who supposedly works from home, my job has been taking me into the city a lot lately. I've had networking events, courses and meetings to attend which have kept me away from my desk and walking around our beautiful capital. Sometimes I think seriously, just how photogenic can a city be??

We've changed things around a bit in our garden recently. We've had our big Pohutakawa tree thinned out a bit to allow more light into the garden and into the house. We've pulled out some horrors (like giant daisies and privet), leaving the natives to flourish and we've bought some new pots.

We've also cut down a dead Pittosporum tree that was blocking the light to our lounge room and used the wood to create a new play area for the kids. It's kept them occupied for hours. Who would have thought you could have so much fun with pieces of wood!

Hatepe

Oh, New Zealand on a sunny winter holiday, how we love you! 

We spent the last part of the school holidays up at Hatepe, a small settlement on the shores of Lake Taupo. 

Lake Taupo's not a small lake. In fact, it's the size of Singapore. This means it *almost* has the feel of being by the ocean - but not quite.

 On a clear day (which we had plenty of) it's just stunning in the winter, as there are snow capped mountains all around. This means you get to do that weird thing (which I've only ever done in New Zealand) where you can play in the warm sun on the beach while you're looking at snow all around you.

So we did just that. Although we'd originally had great plans to go skiing, we abandoned that idea on the first day and instead we spent hours and hours on the beach by our bach, watching the colours and generally relaxing while the kids did cartwheels, made sandcastles, dug holes and made piles of pumice stones. 

We were so happy that Mark and Sam joined us for part of the trip, thanks for coming guys! They helped me escape to a bar in Taupo for a couple of beers one afternoon...;)

They also spent time on the beach with us collecting "stuff".

There was great excitement by the river, as a) the owners of a riverside bach had a shiny black helicopter that kept taking off and landing and b) a man swam his horse up the river and rode it along the beach.

The kids were so, so happy and relaxed while we were away. Lots of smiles and laughter and happiness....it was so special...

In fact, so did all of us!

More School Holidays

Anyone who knows me well knows how much I cherish the school holidays and how fiercely I protect my time off with the kids. The current school holidays have been no exception.

Although arguably, the July school holidays are usually the least exciting ones! After a winter term that's usually full of coughs and colds and other viruses, this is the one holiday that all Kiwi kids seem to need a complete rest and plenty of quiet downtime.

So this year we've done just that! I've been working reduced hours during these holidays so they've been at the School Holiday Club 50% of the time and home with me 50% of the time. On their time with me, I've given them the choice between a day out somewhere exciting or time at home, and both children have chosen to stay at home every single time. I guess this term wore them out!

It's been lovely to see them relax into things and enjoy pottering around. They've done a lot of art. And made countless rainbow loom bands of course!

There's been some iPad time too. I'm guessing this is true of many kids these days, but ours rarely watch TV at all, unless it's a family movie night. In my early days of parenting I remember all the advice to keep TV time under 2 hours a day, but honestly, I just can't imagine mine wanting to watch 2 hours a day. Give Alfie an iPad though, and it's a different story!

Sometimes they've had playmates over, sometimes they've played imaginative games together, and sometimes they've played alone (at Molly's insistence because Alfie isn't so good at time alone!).

Their favourite game so far has been the Harry Potter one, which has been going on for days, on and off, with the help of some magic staves and a red scar drawn on Alfie's forehead...

If it sounds like it's been a very lazy time, that's probably because it has been! In fact, sometimes they've felt so lazy they've stayed in their pyjamas until lunchtime! Molly even spent a whole entire day in a onesie last week, even going out to the Mall wearing it to watch a magic show and eat Sushi!

All this quiet at-home time has been lovely for me too! As well as keeping on top of my work, I've been able to commit the ultimate crime (in Jake's eyes anyway ;) !) and RELAX with a cuppa and a book while the kids play..... not just once but twice!!

They do still have plenty of energy to burn of course. The trampoline put together by Grandad during the last holidays is seeing plenty of action - partly from the kids and also from the kittens too who love playing rough & tumble on it! (Thanks Grandad :) !)

And we've hit the playpark more than once as well...

But all up, these holidays have been just what the doctor ordered, and very special. We're into the second week now, so fingers crossed that the rest is just as good....!

A Sunny Winter

It may be the middle of winter here, but that doesn't stop us from enjoying the outdoors (and the indoors too!). We're lucky to have fairly mild winters here - often the mornings are pretty chilly but daytime temperatures usually get up to double digits and often well into the teens with plenty of warm sunshine. 

This suits us just fine. It means we can still get out and about and do all the things we love to do, and then once the sun disappears over the mountains and the temperature drops we can come home and cozy up for the evening. 

So there's been plenty of larking around at the beach over the last few weekends! 

We've discovered some new walking tracks recently too. The tracks at Butterfly Creek over in the Hutt Valley kept us occupied for most of the day last Sunday. The kids have got to a stage now where they don't need bribery to keep them walking; instead they ran ahead, collected sticks, squealed a lot and jumped in as much mud as possible. Bags of energy and lots of fun!

Back at home, we've been enjoying the sun trap in our garden that makes it possible to be outside in t-shirts (or less if you're Alfie!) even at this time of year. Jake & I often try to enjoy a peaceful cup of tea with the newspaper on a Saturday afternoon, but the worldwide Loom Band craze has hit Wellington too, and we've ended up reading nothing and making bands with the kids more than once or twice!

Thanks to the good weather, we're eating lunch outside most weekends at the moment. Now the kids are older they like to make it for us sometimes (yikes!) - their specialty is beans on toast and scrambled eggs. Long may this continue! (and I might throw a few recipe books their way too!) 

The garden table has been used at night recently too! Thanks to a big focus at school each year, Matariki (Maori New Year) has become a significant time of the year for our children. As a result, celebrating it is becoming a bit of a family tradition for all of us. Last year we went to a school celebration; this year we skipped it (bad parenting?) and baked cookies together instead, then ate them outside with warm milk while the kids taught me about the stars. They certainly knew their stuff - thanks for the lesson, kids!

But the difference for us in winter is that most evenings we are cozied up indoors. Evening life has changed for us enormously over the last few months, as Molly has clearly entered the next phase of sleephood. For a while this completely stumped us and we struggled every evening to force her to fall asleep at the same time as Alfie. Cue lots of frustration from all parties.

When the penny finally dropped, life became much easier!

Her bedtime has now shifted back by about an hour and a half compared to this time last year. We've finally got into a nice routine of putting Alfie to bed, and then we enjoy lovely chats, sometimes TV, but more often some reading time with Molly before we snuggle up in some of our own favourite places in the house.

A Day In The Life of a Cat

As Bear and Ninja have become a very important part of our family, we feel they now warrant their own blog posts.

So we thought we'd begin with a day in the life of Ninja, which generally goes something like this....

Ninja's day usually starts off in the middle of a warm and comfy snooze, as he lies curled up with his sister on some pink cushions and blankets...."ahhhh, this is the life", thinks Ninja as he snores (loudly).

 But sadly you live in our house Ninj. It means your life is not so easy.

Generally what happens is this..... All of a sudden the sun comes up, the humans in the house get up, and you are rudely awakened by Alfie (always Alfie) who carries you off somewhere for a sleepy morning cuddle...

You are a very tolerant cat - for that we thank you!

When us humans leave the house to go to school/work, you and your sister usually dash out of the house, race around the garden like crazy things, and then you take up your regular position on the garden table, ready to hiss at the next door neighbour's cat if he dares to come over the fence.










During the day when I'm working from home, Ninja likes to come in and out, in and out, in and out (thank goodness we're having a cat flap installed later this week!), miaowing loudly all the time. I think it's his way of chatting. My peaceful working environment is never so peaceful these days.... but I do love your company Ninja!

After school he only comes inside if there aren't any friends coming back for a play. He doesn't like too many kids around (two are noisy enough!).

Sometimes Ninja, you help Alfie with his homework and sometimes you are forced to sit and watch the kids playing..... here you are watching them doing a Fashion Show.

Although he is a very good helper and a very tolerant companion, Ninja also likes to be naughty.

For example, he knows he isn't allowed in the bedrooms, but given half a chance he legs it into the nearest bedroom and onto the bed to snuggle up. Caught here with a very guilty look on his face!

Sometimes he likes to get up to mischief in other rooms too. The bathroom is a particular favourite - what IS it about the bath and the shower Ninja??

Winter in Wellington

Apart from the fact that there's been no sign of quieter times yet for Jake in his new job, this year's Winter so far has been good, full of fresh air and cozy evenings. 

We've had our fair share of sunshine and fine days and have been really enjoying adventuring up into the hills where we live. 

I love walking the tracks behind our house. You get views of the city one way, of the Hutt Valley the other way, the sea all around, and when it's clear you can see all the way to the South Island as well (in the photo that's the part covered in a thin white strip of cloud!).

The kids have taken to regularly bringing home interesting "items" they've found deep in the bush every time we go out, and we're accumulating quite a collection of old wheels, broken pottery, unidentified metal things, rocks, and sticks which they sharpen and try to create fire with.

There may be a big collection of rubbish in the garden now, but luckily it's still looking pretty stunning, despite the time of year. I love that in New Zealand we don't get the bare, brown, empty look in the winter (not many deciduous plants/trees here) and it's always lush. I also love the first year in a new house, as you discover which plants flower and what changes over the seasons.

Meanwhile, my washing machine is being kept on all the time as Alfie currently comes home every day from school completely covered in mud from lunchtime soccer games.


It's not only Alfie. Apparently the teacher has banned the boys from sitting down anywhere in class except for on a plastic sheet that he lays out on the floor for them.


Alfie also took part in his first rugby tournament last week. His team, The Sharks, played SIX games of rugby and it went on all afternoon and evening. Needless to say he was a complete hungry and tired wreck by the end of it, but he enjoyed himself!

Playing in the dark under the floodlights was pretty cool, but cooler still was when his team got into the semi-finals..... and then the FINALS!!

They were playing a team that was a year or two older than them, so they lost out in the final game but gave the winners a good challenge. GREAT EFFORT ALFIE!!

While Jake's been away a lot lately - partly for work and partly up in Auckland to support the All Blacks, oops I mean England - the 3 of us left at home have developed a nice little tradition of taking the bikes out on a Sunday morning, exploring the local bush and ending up at our local cafe.

Molly and I had a great evening out recently  at Annie, The Musical. Wellington may be a small capital city by international standards, but a big plus of this is that we get to enjoy the international arts scene very easily. No crowds or long travelling times.

Molly and I have been to the theatre quite a few times now and this was probably our best so far - Annie was great (especially the real dog who licked his bum on stage), and we couldn't help coming out with big smiles on our faces. (Not just at the dog, the rest of the show was good too).

The rest of our winter evenings have been spent tucked up and cozy in our home - which is not so new now, I can't believe it's almost been a year since we moved in!

The Big Man Turns 40 - Part 2

A few days before Jake's birthday, we were getting ready for our trip to Ohakune during (another) very busy phase of life - I have multiple work projects on the go, we're busy with billions of specialist appointments for Molly, and Jake is 4 weeks in to a new and very busy job which so far has consistently required approx 60 hour working weeks. (And that's not even the half of it!)

You can imagine how I felt when Jake suddenly announced: "For my birthday I want more than just a family weekend away. I want you to organise me a party for next week".

To be fair, I probably should have thought of this before, but life has been a little bit challenging lately and I had instead just been trying to get through everything, quietly congratulating myself on actually managing to buy birthday presents and organise a weekend away in amongst all the other general day-to-day bedlam.

Anyway, I love a challenge ;)

So organise a party I did.

Not many people these days can necessarily attend a party with only a week's notice, but despite the lack of proper planning we managed to gather together a lovely group of Wellington friends for a drinks party at our house.

A couple of cases of wine were ordered, and some nibbles were prepared. And it's Jake we're talking about so of course there had to be a cake as well.

While I prepared the food, the kids were in charge of party decorations. I gave them about an hour or so to decorate the house - and they managed to blow up 3 balloons ;)

(NB If you look closely at the last photo you will see that yes, Jake wore slippers to his 40th birthday party).

Both children stayed up late and were in charge of photos! (I think they need a little practise!)

Alfie hit the pillow at 9pm and Molly followed on at nearly 11pm (!) and after that the music was turned up, more wine was got out, and the party continued.....until 3AM!!

That's the first time we've done a 3am party in a very long time, and we're still recovering!