The Chocolate Frog cafe at Palmer’s Garden Centre in Miramar, Wellington, just gets better! In the play area (on the opposite side of the garden centre to the actual cafe) is a sign that means the world to parents… And for dog-owners… a dedicated area to ‘park’ your dog, complete with fresh water bowls! It […]
Charlotte
Seasonally Unpredictable
I’m no meteorologist and if I was then I could explain the seasonally unpredictable weather we’ve been experiencing lately. Wellington, in particular, goes crazy in the Spring – and it’s approaching – with signs from ‘Mother Nature’ and changes in the fashion outlets window displays. I came across a fascinating read on the Met Service […]
An Olympian in the making?!
The girls have been very excited about the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Charli’s school are incorporating the games into their classes over the next two-week’s and she came home very excited yesterday. We got on-line and found tons of great print-offs and ideas; from learning the history of the games to modern day events. We’ve been […]
Little Kiwi making wise choices
This little Kiwi has been spending time at Te Papa’s Nature Discovery Centre learning how to make some wise choices on her packed lunch… Doing well… She followed up by showing disgrace at the over-packaging of boxed lunches in Te Papa’s cafeteria, commenting to one of the staff, ‘That’s not good for the environment!’. When […]
A little ray of sunshine
This week (and it’s only Tuesday) has been all smiles and no tears (except from Sophie when her bicycle helmet unfortunately caught her chin as the strap clicked shut – ouch!). Charli has been thriving at school and I’m so relieved to pick her up and see all smiles. Her teacher is so wonderful and […]
Top Family Time and an All Black’s Victory!
Settling into school life is not without emotion at Chez Lee and this weekend couldn’t have come fast enough. Charli was so tired and weepy on Friday pick-up; but she’s definitely enjoying 85% of school-life and on the whole she’s thriving. Nevertheless, I take the rough bits to heart and my health is suffering with […]
Little steps in a big, new environment!
Charli is well into her third week of school. She’s loving the school, her teacher and the environment. However, she’s extremely tired and quite emotional in the late afternoon. I’ve been really open with many parents and am reassured to hear that this is all very normal. I’ve heard stories of children taking a year […]
Beads Frustration!
Some toys are sent to test a parent and child’s powers of persistence, determination and patience. ‘Beados’ are just that test! Last week, my good friends Stephanie and Francis popped round (Stephanie used to nanny for me when Sophie was a baby and I really needed an extra pair of hands!). They very generously bought […]
One Happy School Girl!
The week before term-break didn’t really feel like Charli’s first week at school. It felt more like a ‘taster’ before a two-week break of reflection and wondering about the future. I had so many vivid dreams of my childhood and schooling, as well as a few strange ones of being within Charli’s body in her […]
Last week of the school hols
This past week has been one of mostly simple pleasures at home. The girls have played together better than ever and taken over every corner of the house to play in (including the garage – with the car now out on the driveway!). There was some beautiful weather in between the showers and we spent […]
Maxing it out on a Sunday – and the rest!
Last Sunday was a ‘beaut! The temperatures reached 19 degrees and this is the middle of winter! Days like this are sent to us in Welly to keep us sane in the midst of frequent southerly blasts from the Antarctic. Within a day we managed horse riding, vertical bungy (see earlier posts – here and […]
Rainbows and Parties
It’s rainbow and party season at the moment. After a lovely morning to myself at the hairdressers, drinking coffee and catching up on all the gossip, I met up with Dan and the girls (who’d taken the bus into town and braved Te Papa on a rainy Saturday) for ‘Yum Cha’ at Big Thumb. We […]
Loving the school holidays
It’s such a relief not to be rushing out the door every morning. The girls are loving having time together and we’ve having lovely first week of the school holidays, despite the loss of dear Simba. On Tuesday we took the bus into the city to visit Capital E, where we made princess crowns and […]
Bad luck comes in threes?
Well, we’ve had four lots of it and are hoping the tide turns soon! Simba still isn’t in the all clear and things seem to be getting worse. Poor boy isn’t eating now and blood tests have indicated a liver problem. He’s still at the vets and we’re missing him. The other week the dishwasher […]