One sunny Sunday over these marvelously, long summer hols (which, sigh, are soon coming to a close… term starts back 4 February), we went to one of our favourite places, The Saddleback Cafe. Nestled in the rural Ohairu Valley, it is such a tranquil place to escape Wellington City (not that it’s really the kind […]
Month: January 2009
Blast from the past: Wet and Wild!
Whitewater rafting is a silly thing to be doing isn’t it? Well really, think about it. Six gullible fools sitting in nothing much more than an inflatable rubber dingy, going up against God and his almighty million gallons per second Zambezi style mega rivers, with nothing much than a paddle that wouldn’t look out of […]
Family fun at Staglands
The other week we stopped in at Staglands for a wonderful afternoon of family fun. Sophie delighted in riding the donkey. Charli was really taken with the rabbits. The black swan didn’t make a bee-line for Dan’s ankles on this occasion. I managed to avoid getting my bag nibbled by a goat. We had a […]
A surprisingly chilled week of dog sitting
A week ago my friend Kathy phoned me from holiday, in Perth visiting family, to ask a BIG favour. Due to sad circumstances her house and dog sitter had to return home and she was left without anyone to take care of her dog, Nina. There were two reasons for me feeling nervous at the […]
Walk down memory lane… our first home
Okay, it’s Thursday already, but here is my walk down memory lane for the week. Our First Home It was an overcast day when Dan and I visited the house, but no cloud could dampen my first impressions. The house sat proudly in the hills of Brooklyn, overlooking Wellington harbour and Mt. Victoria. The wooden, […]
Twinkle, twinkle in the night
Lights glittered through the trees and music throbbed in the warm, night air. Small hands fumbled with car-seat buckles. They couldn’t wait to escape the confines of the car and be amongst the music and lights. As soon as their feet touched the ground their bodies started moving to the music. Running down the fern […]
Eyes as fresh as a new dawn
Her smile rises before her eyelids have even opened. She feels the warmth of the new day filtering through the blinds and hears the melodic birds in the garden. Stretching out her arms, and letting out an involuntary sigh of peaceful happiness, she reaches over to her mother’s warm body. She’s there. Eyes bright and […]
Forget Me Not
Join me today as I share a very precious memory of my beloved Grandfather… The old man looked out to sea with a faraway look. The eyes, which once sparkled, were empty, but he retained something of his handsome youthful looks: His white hair swept gracefully over his head and his neatly clipped, white moustache […]
Medieval Knights and Jousting
On Sunday we stepped back in time at Harcourt Park, in Upper Hutt for the 2009 World Invitational Jousting Tournament. Watching the sword fighting we felt transported into the medieval world (apart from the sea of cameras and modern day attire of the onlookers). The swords were sharp and the fighting real enough to cause […]
New Year’s Day at Wellington Zoo
New Year’s Day was blazing and we spent a gorgeous time at our lovely, little, Zoo. Wellington Zoo has been working so hard to landscape and enhance the enclosures for the animals (and their updated website is pretty fabulous too!). There are many projects in progress too and it’s only going to get better. We […]
Driving into the sunset
New Year’s Eve itself was a quiet one for us, but we did enjoy a little countdown and fireworks with the girls. Our dear neighbour was home alone, so we joined her (or at least I did for a few chick flicks – Sound of Music and Runaway Bride!). Dan joined us at midnight and […]
Daddy looks after his girls in the sizzling, summer sun…
He takes them to blueberry heaven (and thinks that this might be his next business venture, as all his hard-earned dollars are being spent on blueberries – oh, but think of the antioxidants!): He digs holes in the sand for them to splash in and soaks up the sizzling sun at beautiful Days Bay in […]
Peapods and strawberries to lazy dayzs on the beach
Shortly after breakfast, with Sophie in her PJ’s, the girls teamed up and started moving their painting equipment out onto the driveway. When I asked what they were doing, they simply said, ‘Painting pea-pods!’. Here they are in action… I just love the way they are so creative and work so well together to come […]
Wet and windy walk on the wild side at Breaker Bay
On Friday we drove over to Seatoun to do one of our favourite short walks in Wellington; the Seatoun-Breaker Bay beach walk. There was a stiff northerly blowing in as we embarked on the walk and the girls were marvellous considering the conditions. They were rugged up warm, unlike Dan and I in our shorts […]