Mind, body, soul

In the garden…

Busy bees (aka Charli & Sophie) have been exercising their green fingers in the garden. They’ve planted a wonderful assortment of sunflower seeds in every conceivable corner of the garden, from giants and teddy bears to dwarfs and a red petaled variety. At the end of the driveway, where our letterbox stands, they’ve also hidden some seeds tenderly in the ground. Summer will hopefully bring a few surprises and smiles! They’ve also planted lettuce, tomato plants, additional strawberry plants and are eagerly watching the baby blueberry bushes.

In the classroom…

Charli was superb in her school production last week. Two night’s of performances at a local intermediate school, where the children could experience performing on an elevated stage, with lights, ‘wings’ and all the glitz! The production was called ‘Tuatara and the Time Machine’ and traveled back in time, before human settlement in NZ. It then covered the extinction of various birds, such as the Moa, and how people changed the environment and landscape. It followed the history of the school being built in the 1930’s and a fire later on. It then finished with the modern day and how the school is reducing, reusing, recycling, planting natives in the valley and working to restore the ecological balance. It was absolutely fabulous with great singing and dancing from all. The efforts put in from teachers, parents and children really showed. We were all blown away. We took video footage, but as it has lots of other people’s children in it we won’t put it up on the Internet (but folks, a DVD will be winging its way to you shortly!).

Charli was understandably tired by Friday (as we all were!), but thankfully the school kindly said the children needn’t be in till 10.15am – so we enjoyed a slow start.

On the table…

This weekend we visited our favourite Yum Cha restaurant. Charli didn’t have much of an appetite, due to some virus she must have picked up last week, but Sophie ate enough for all of us! Sophie is game on for anything and will happily try curry and all things spicy (as long as a large glass of water is at hand). She loves Yum Cha and seriously ate more than Dan and I!

Sunday morning started slow for Dan – he’d watched the All Blacks victory and then stayed up till midnight to watch Burnley play a victory match in the English Premier League. The girls and I made him pancakes with maple syrup and fresh fruit for breakfast.

For our health…

Dan played a good session of tennis on Saturday morning. I did my pregnancy yoga and went lane swimming on Sunday. The girls burned off energy simply cycling round the house hundreds of times and jumping on anything soft in the house (including getting a spare mattress and sledging down the stairs!). Sophie also enjoyed a ride on Duchess on Sunday. Duchess was in a particularly frisky mood (must have been the red apple Sophie had lovingly fed her before the ride). Dan had a hard job keeping Duchess away from the fence, trees and people’s bags! There was a lot of trotting going on, which Sophie loved. But poor Dan didn’t half work up a sweat! We were glad to a chance to sit down and enjoy our lunch afterwards. Charli and I happily watched the action, with much hilarity and were glad to be on the safe side of the paddock!

For our minds…

Charli is currently playing various games on Dan’s i-Phone – which she hi-jacks at every opportunity. She’s also into ‘quest’ books, where there are several different endings to choose from, as well as ‘Captain Underpants’ (toilet humour, need I say more). Sophie is into everything from fairy books to Thomas the Tank Engine. She of course loves anything with horses too. Dan has enough to keep his mind busy with work and is keeping out of mischief and in pocket (just about – having three gals to feed, clothe and entertain isn’t easy!). As for me, I’m reading historical fiction, playing the piano at every spare opportunity and enjoying keeping fit and healthy as the pregnancy progresses (week 19!).

One more week till our Nelson holiday! We are all very much looking forward to it.