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!!!!