The Black Ninjas Win!

Last week the summer soccer season came to a close :(

I always love the summer soccer season. Friday afternoons standing pitchside at Ian Galloway Park in the sun, mountains all around us, while us mums scream and shout and jump up and down on the side of the pitch. Seriously! The boys have become really good this year, they've had some very tense matches, and we've all loved watching them play.

The Ninjas have had an amazing season, no doubt improved due to their daily playground soccer practise and January's soccer bootcamp. They won almost every game this season, with a couple of draws, even beating Germany in the semi finals. Germany were previously unbeaten! (Germany! What kind of 7 year old team names themselves Germany??) 

So anyway, last Friday we were in the finals against the Crofton Cruisers. Here are the Black Ninjas getting ready for the game...

The game was GREAT, they played SO hard, and thanks in part to Alfie's two goals we managed to take out the game, with a final score of 3-1 to the Ninjas. What clever boys!!!


Here's the team with their trophies!  There were a few hot, red faces!

After prize giving, we followed last year's tradition and went across the road to the park for some pizza and a play to celebrate the end of the season.

Several dads played hookie from work (plus one cousin - thanks for coming Dan!) so after pizza we ended up with another soccer game - the dads (and Dan) against the kids!

By about 6pm most of the boys were about to fall asleep standing. Actually I think Jake was too ;) A great afternoon, roll on the next season and WELL DONE BLACK NINJAS!!!

The Rest of the Summer

Officially the summer is over now, and we're into Autumn. Unofficially, March usually has the most settled weather of the year, with lots of sun and very little wind or rain. I like March!!!

However..... I say "usually"! Because for the last few days we've been battered by the tail end of Cyclone Pam which has caused complete devastation in Vanuatu and has damaged parts of NZ quite badly too.

The Chatham Islands have declared a state of emergency and people living in Gisborne & the East Cape have had to evacuate. For Wellington it's meant a cold snap with black skies and unbelievable rainfall, with parts of the motorway closed due to flooding. At least the farmers are happy (we were officially pre-draught, with a hosepipe ban last week), and we were relatively lucky in Wellington, but there's going to be a huge clean-up necessary for alot of people. 

But aside from this week's dramatic weather, the weather has mostly been typical for March - ie stunning! The norm at this time of year is for our backyard to look like this much of the time.... swimming togs have been hanging on the line to dry almost every night over the last couple of months, due to impromptu after-school visits to the outdoor pool and evenings at the beach. 

 

A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to be a parent help on one of Alfie's (many!) school trips. They went down to the Marine Education Centre in Island Bay - which we often go to as a family at the weekend. The school visits they organise are amazing! Alfie got to feed turtles, touch an octopus, and much more, and then they took them all outside rockpooling. Here they are getting their instructions....

Alfie and his buddies had a blast, catching crabs, glass shrimps (one had eggs in her tummy!), starfish and stuff, and they must have been really enjoying themselves as they forgot all about the fact that it was nearly 1pm and they hadn't eaten since breakfast!

He clearly enjoyed it alot because then he's begged us to go rock pooling and/or fishing every weekend - and we've found ourselves indulging him often as it's really quite fun!!

Other stuff that's been happening lately...Mark and Sam came to visit for a weekend, and Alfie made them a carrot cake...

The following weekend Molly had her friend Ella over for a sleepover and the girls persuaded me to take them to the supermarket and let them make dessert that night. OMG it was a sugar fest!

Molly also did something very special a couple of weeks ago. She took part in an Open Ballet Class run by the Royal New Zealand Ballet. It was taught by Clytie Campbell who has the lead role in the current production of Don Quixote and she sure gave the girls a challenging class! 

Molly was the littlest one there, and probably one of the least experienced too, but she kept up fairly well and really enjoyed herself. Her signed poster of Clytie is now on her wall, and she got her autograph on her ballet bag too! Here's the class, with Clytie in the back row.

Other special things have happened for Molly lately too. Just before Christmas we met an amazing lady who does henna tattoos at all the local community galas.

It turned out she is a member of an international organisation called Henna Heals who create Henna Crowns for people experiencing hair loss. When we met her, she told us she'd love to do one for Molly and to get in touch with her when we were ready. So we did! And look at the results!!!

Molly is still a complete bookworm and in her (limited) spare time she can usually be found hanging out somewhere reading...in the back garden (Jake get that mower out!!!)...

....or in the front garden....

Meanwhile I've been getting my regular Zumba fix and also making the most of the weather by getting out and about for lots of walks in all the amazing reserves and parks we have on our doorstep. We live in a great place!

And Jake is still obsessed by outdoor sport. The other day I worked out that he's doing 10+ hours a week of running & biking at the moment. He claims it's only 3.5 hours and it's not enough, but we all know who got the better grades in Maths.

Sometimes he stops for a short break and he can be found sitting still! Not often, just occasionally...

Alfie on the other hand could teach his dad a few tricks, as he has learnt the knack of both running around alot....

....and then taking time out to meditate!!!!

My Birthday!

And then it was my own birthday - and I thought it should feature on this blog along with everyone else's! 

As I had a mid-week birthday, we followed tradition and celebrated at the weekend instead. I got to choose everything we did on Sunday...

We started with a wander through the lovely Sunday Food markets, and a scooter/walk around the waterfront. Alfie was a little tired so he used his scooter imaginatively! 

We ended up drinking green tea and smoothies at my favourite cafe, Beach Babylon in Oriental Bay. This is (yet another) one of my absolutely most favourite parts of the city. It's always buzzing.

After we finished, we discovered that the New Zealand Open Foot Volley championships were taking place right on the beach in front of us. So we sat for ages and watched them. It's an amazing game - beach volleyball with your feet & head, no hands!

When we'd had enough, we scootered some more and walked some more. And Alfie pulled some strange faces....

But despite the strange faces, it was a very lovely early birthday, so thank you very much to my family!

On the actual day of birthday, I took a day off work. (As I'm self-employed, this made it quite an expensive birthday for me, but I tried not to think about that part too much!). I had such a lovely day...

I started in a very similar way to Sunday with the family, with a walk around the waterfront. The morning was Fifty Shades of Grey, hot and humid... but I sat for a while and watched the ocean at Freyberg Beach....and then I sat for a while and watched the ocean at Oriental Bay too.

Then I went back to Beach Babylon on my own, got a coffee and a pile of magazines, and some peace and quiet to sit back and enjoy it all....

From here I wandered around to the City Art Gallery. Going to galleries is something I used to do a lot BK (before kids), but I hardly ever get the chance to do it anymore. It was therefore a real treat - although the photography exhibition that's on at the moment - Creamy Psychology by Yvonne Todd - is ermmmm... a bit "interesting"!

After I came out of the gallery the clouds had all lifted so I drove over to the Miramar Peninsula to drag Jake out of work, and we spent a very lovely hour at Scorching Bay. Walking, talking, and drinking the most wicked milkshake made of Peach Ice Cream and chocolate Crunchie Bars. And Jake pulled some funny faces....

I love Scorching Bay - it's another one of my favourite parts of Wellington!

That evening the plan was for Jake to cook me dinner. Those of you who know Jake well will understand that this is a real once-a-year-occasion. He'd told me what to buy, so I'd been out to the supermarket and everything was sitting ready in the fridge.

A couple of hours before he was due in the kitchen, Jake rang me from work and suggested we go out for dinner instead. He claims not to have been nervous at all about cooking, and that he simply thought it would be nicer for everyone. Really, Jake..? !

Anyway, he asked where I wanted to go. The Crab Shack on the waterfront, I said. Shall I book a table?

No, no, says Jake, leave it all with me.

So the kids and I set off to town to meet Jake after ballet, and had lots of fun posing along the waterfront!

And we arrived at the Crab Shack to be told we had no booking and there was a one hour wait for a table. JAKE!!!!!!

So we went for a pizza instead. Alfie probably appreciated it more than fish! And we finished off with a lovely sunset walk around the waterfront. I like birthdays. Thank you everyone!!!!