A Winter Weekend in Wellington

We managed to completely stuff up our plans for a fun Sunday today, by not thinking straight yesterday: we took the kids for a massive swimming session and then out to a dinner party in the evening.

They did well, despite being incredibly tired from the swimming, but we made the mistake of forgetting to look at the time. 10pm came and went and other people (with much older kids) were heading home to put them to bed, and we suddenly realised that ours were pretty much standing up with their eyes closed and it was really way too late for our 4 and 6 year old to be up.

So we rushed home and put them to bed, but unfortunately then came a sleepless night (itchy eczema from the swimming pool), which resulted in everyone getting up late this morning and Alfie missing his weekly rugby practise.

(Alfie wasn’t bothered – he was too busy being grumpy from a lack of sleep).

But we also missed the conservation work we had planned to do this morning (helping plant Rata trees), which seriously upset Molly. 

So we ended up going for a walk in Otari-Wilton Bush, to try to compensate. We’re so lucky to have this on our doorstep. I just love the Maori carvings at the entrance, and there are seemingly endless walking tracks and heaps of native trees, ferns, plants and birds.

Molly brought her “New Zealand Birds” book and practised looking up all the birds she saw using the Index (it was slow going!). Alfie began well by helping spot the birds, but within half an hour he’d lost all energy and was on Jake’s shoulders.

Meanwhile Molly managed to find fantails, Kererus, sparrows, blackbirds, Tuis and an un-identified orange bird. She was one very happy girl! 

Jake then lost energy too (hardly surprising, given the extra 18.5kgs he was lugging around), so we dragged ourselves back to the roadside and into a great nearby cafe, which manages to keep a very peaceful atmosphere (despite a large number of children), and does very good coffee and lolly cake for the kids. 

Lolly Cake is a bit of a New Zealand institution – the simplest recipe ever and kids love it. I haven't made it for years but watching our two devouring it this afternoon has inspired me to buy a pack of malt biscuits and a pack of Eskimos this week and make a roll!