Slices of life | 18 – 28 July | #PhotoADayJuly

18 plate | 19 animal/pet/insect | 20 eyes | 21 9 o’clock | 22 upside down | 23 mirror | 24 a stranger | 25 heart | 26 sunshine | 27 on the road | 28 cup

18. Plate

The plates in our kitchen have seen a lot of pancakes of late (children on a growth spurt will do that). Full blog post with recipes for pancakes, pikelets and crepes here!

Pancakes

19. Animal/pet/insect

Seagulls – never far away here on the South Coast of Wellington!

Seagull

“Don’t believe what your eyes are telling you. All they show is limitation.
Look with your understanding. Find out what you already know and you will see the way to fly.”

― Richard Bach, Jonathan Livingston Seagull

20. Eyes

20. eyes

“Every child is born a naturalist. His eyes are, by nature,
open to the glories of the stars, the beauty of the flowers,
and the mystery of life.”
– R. Search

21. 9 o’clock

My oldest daughter’s interesting choice of bedtime reading! She’d arrived back from three nights away skiing on Mt Ruapehu with a friend. At the lodge where she stayed her book stirred up quite a conversation – a lady who’d published the book in the UK was staying there too – and it’s one of those books not easily forgotten!

21. 9 o'clock

22. Upside down

It’s normally my children hanging upside down at the playground, or half way off the couch with their legs in the air (or giggling in my arms as I toss the upside down over my shoulder and swing them by their ankles through my legs!). On this occasion rabbit had a turn.

22 upside down

23. Mirror

Alice found herself a trusty companion whilst her big sister was trying on some p-jays in town on Sunday 22nd – after our ride up the Wellington cable car.

23 mirror

24. A stranger

These little strangers appeared in our home on Tuesday evening! Amazing what fun can be had with a few shaped sticks from ‘Price Busters’.

stranger

25. Heart

We have some lovely ornamental hearts scattered around our home (all gifts from my lovely folks), but this is a photograph I took on the beach one special day (it was our Wedding Anniversary and one of the girls gave it to us as a symbol of love, aww!).

25. heart

26. Sunshine

Morning tea with a friend and a dog at the Chocolate Fish in Shelly Bay.

sunshine at shelly bay

Afternoon sunshine and fun with the garden hose giving the car a wash.

IMG_2105

Alice washing the car

27. On the road

I took this on Wednesday (25th) whilst Alice was taking a nap in the car (Dan and Sophie were tucking into a Yum Char lunch at Majestic Cuisine on Courtenay Place and Charlotte was at school).

IMG_2821

Our Friday was actually spent enjoying a quiet morning of games and puzzles at home (I’d spent Thursday doing a big reorganise, reshuffle and sort out of the toys – amazing what a little change of placement can do to ignite fresh interest in old toys!). The afternoon was out in the sunshine at wonderful Oriental Bay playground with friends. I took rather more photographs of Alice’s new climbing skills with her big sisters than roads!

Charlotte & Alice

And Sophie found a good tree to climb…

Sophie climbing a tree

Impossible not to smile on a winter Friday filled with sunshine.

Alice at Oriental Parade

Playground fun in the sun.

IMG_2140

28. Cup

This is my favourite source of fuel in a cup. I’ve been served latte with a milky heart of froth on top, a fern, a swirl and now a ghostie! Alice hid from the ghostie when my latte was served (at Picnic Cafe, in the Rose Gardens of Wellington’s Botanic Garden), saying, ‘Arrr, ghostie!’. I told her it was angel and she quickly recovered her composure.

28. cup

Feeling pumped up for action I spent the next hour racing around the rose gardens pretending to play hide and seek with Sophie and Alice (not many hiding places in a rose garden in winter).

Alice in the rose garden in winter

“Children have neither past nor future;
and that which seldom happens to us,
they rejoice in the present.”
– Jean de La Bruyere

The Truth: I didn’t actually visit the Botanical Garden on the 28th – but the 21st of July. I was busy watching the amazing opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympics on the screen instead – though I did get out for a coffee in the ‘avo – from a lovely little caravan opposite Shorland Park in Island Bay. I really should have drank a cup of tea from my Union Jack mug instead!

What an opening ceremony it was too!