Ma te wheturangi o Matariki, e tiaki mai, e manaaki mai i a koe, i a koutou ranei, mo te tau e taka mai ana. May the gentle light of Matariki guide and inspire you all this year. Traditionally, Maori were keen observers of the night sky, determining from the stars the time and seasons, […]
Author: BritMumInNZ
Extended Breastfeeding
In an age when often our first experience of breastfeeding is our own child at the breast, something that’s ‘natural’ isn’t always easy. In the western world we frequently grow up without the first hand opportunity to observe breastfeeding and learn. We don’t tend to walk around with our nipples bared, so the first onslaught […]
Inspiration + Education = Conservation
This afternoon we enjoyed getting close to some of the amazing sea creatures that inhabit Wellington’s rocky shores at the Island Bay Marine Education Centre. A resource consent for a new Marine Education Centre has been submitted and Family Lee is very excited at the prospect of having such an amazing facility within a ten-minute […]
A Top Day!
Today was perfect. Blue sky, awesome surf at Lyall Bay and everyone got out of bed on the right side. We stopped by Kindi this morning for Dan to mow the lawns (along with a few other Dad’s with ‘man tools’ for a working bee session). The surf at Lyall Bay was stunning and Dan […]
Antarctica Comes to Kindi!
A recent Antarctica presentation at Kindergarten has fuelled our home activities this week. The wonderful presentation (as I am told by Charlotte) has inspired her to examine wildlife from around the world. I understand the presenter was Australian, as some native animals from that continent have found their way out of the cupboard, along with […]
Dining Out with Chez Lee
Walks: Before and After
Life is always changing. Before children we’d walk further, faster and higher. That time will come again. Little footsteps will grow and out walk our own. Bodies of energy, enthusiasm and spirits eager to adventure. We used to walk and ponder, on times past and those to come. Always time to stop for a kiss. […]
Look Who’s 17 Month’s Old!
Sophie Jade is 17-month’s old and absolutely delicious! Sophie is 17-month’s going on two and adding new words to her vocabulary faster than we can keep up! Of course no one other than immediate family can really understand half her chatter, but it’s very cute nonetheless. Having an older sister around has helped Sophie to […]
Charlotte wins the Piston Cup
Charlotte’s finally learned to ride her pedal-bike after nearly a year of persevering. She got the bike for her third Birthday, but she was a little on the small side and lacking in muscle power to pedal it! Every other week she’d go off to the garage and wheel it out for a run. She’d […]
Esmeralda in Wellington
Esmeralda, a steel-hulled four-masted barquentine tall ship of the Chilean Navy and currently the second tallest and longest sailing ship in the world is in Wellington harbour. Charlotte and Sophie were mesmerized with it’s beauty and overwhelmed at having the opportunity to go onboard. Charlotte walked on by herself and when a kind sailor offered […]
Charlotte’s Rediscovered Confidence in Art
Charlotte was quite handy with any type of art until just before Sophie’s arrival and then she changed her focus to construction, cutting and pasting. Just when we were beginning to worry about her recession to scribbles she has bowled us over this week with a couple of ‘masterpieces’. Every parent must recall the first […]
Ecological Footprint: How Big is Yours?
Credit: Te Papa This was the question we were met with in Te Papa at the Nature Discovery Centre’s new interactive ‘toy’. Standing on monster-size, interactive, footprints we answered the questions as honestly as possible. The footprints respond to the answers, with green for good ecological behaviour and red for bad. With the wisdom of […]
Charli’s fully-clothed accidental dive into the bath!
Sophie and I were enjoying a relaxing bath, when along comes Charlotte, fully-clothed and leans over to scoop some bubbles off the surface of the water. After a few scoops (her mission seemed to be cleaning the bathroom cabinet) she leaned a little too far over… the next moment she went, head first, under the […]
Southern Right Whale (Tohora) Visits Wellington Harbour
Early settlers in Wellington used to complain that the noise of the Southern Right Whale (Tohora) blowing kept them awake at night. Nineteenth Century whaling hit these gentle giants hard and by 1936, when they were protected, they were on the verge of extinction. On the eve of our 8th Wedding Anniversary a Tohora made […]