Winter school holidays

It’s mid winter and school holidays. There’s a plethora of shows on in town, from the big ticket Starlight Express and Slava’s Snow Show to the moderately priced entertainment at Capital E and other local theatre companies.

Te Papa has a daily calendar of activities – but they come with a crowd that I’d personally avoid. My favourite time to visit the museum is after 3pm on a Thursday, when the museum is open till 9pm and is often a lot quieter (but don’t tell everyone!). A Formula One exhibition opens up next week and Te Papa’s Kids Store is running a competition based on the exhibition with the chance to win $200 in vouchers – worth taking a ‘Pit Stop’. We did venture to the museum on Monday morning, as I was in a vague haze of realization that it actually was the holidays and I had two children at home for a fortnight. I quickly realized the error of my thought process when entering a Discovery Station to be overwhelmed by shoulder to shoulder parents and children (urgh!). After an early lunch, to avoid the crowds (I gave myself some wise ‘Brownie’ points for that) we ditched the museum (stopping briefly to send postcards to Grandparents x) and headed off to Kilbirnie’s Recreation Centre for some fun on roller blades – ah, much easier! I actually had a chance to sit down and read the paper whilst the girls hooked up with friends and expended energy (yee ha!).

Tuesday I was wised up and we made the most of glorious sunshine by heading down Oriental Parade for a bike ride. The girls had a fabulous time (and so did I!) and the sun was welcomed to our bones with a Vampire like thirst after numerous cloudy days (yes, I am reading the Twilight Series). I got my essential coffee fix (which, for an exciting reason – soon to be revealed, has to be decaf at the moment!) at Kaffee Eis (and the girls got a quality ice-cream fix). It’s amazing that I still get a pick me up from decaf – just walking into a cafe, seeing and smelling those coffee beans gives me an instant energy boost. Plus, the coffee art is always sure to impress – oh yes, even on a take-out coffee there is a work of art hiding under the lid (check out Avalon’s blog post on Coffee Art).

Today, we only ventured out once for a scrumptious Yum Cha at Majestic Cuisine (so nice to ask for ‘table for four’ with Charli home) and then accompanied Dan on a flight simulator with ‘Flight Experience‘! To be honest, it wasn’t much fun for us passengers – the simulator didn’t actually move – though it had all the right sound affects and visuals – and the cockpit was authentic. Dan certainly enjoyed the experience (I bought him a voucher for his Birthday) and did a sterling job for a first time pilot – landing at Hong Kong (if only!). Charli had her Transformer friend, Bumblebee, with her and we managed to entertain ourselves by periodically popping him up in front of the camera, which was recording Dan’s flight experience for posterity.

So, there’s a ton of things on these school hols, but quite honestly (especially with the cold weather and number of nasty germs around), we are so enjoying chilling in our P-jays without any need to rush out the door. The girls are loving each other’s company and spending hours geeking out together on CBeebies or Nick Jr games on the computer, playing board games and, when the weather is fine, racing around in the garden and plotting in their cubby house. The paints and crafts are all go and wonderful activity magazines arrived from Grandma (thank you so much x). Ahhh, I’m enjoying these holidays immensely. Right, to bed for me – I’ve been falling asleep at 8pm most nights and missing blogging – but my body is not permitting me to indulge in my usual night owl antics – ah well, will all be worth it… x