Every parent vividly and proudly recalls the day their offspring took those first, tentative steps. A whole new world suddenly opens up to a child (and the parent!). But, when walking becomes REAL walking, of the one to two hour, no complaints, hiking variety, there is real cause for rejoicing. In the past week Charlotte […]
Charlotte
Thank you Grandma and Grandad
Thank you for… All the cuddles, kisses, tickles and love; Grandma for gentle combing of tangled hair (a purple comb would be brilliant!); Grandad for his jokes, tickles and crazy fun in the swimming pool; Grandma for story telling and messages of love from the heart; Grandad for taking photographs of a nursery-web spider’s web […]
Why do I have to go to Kindi?
Charlotte really enjoys Kindi. She’s grown in confidence and independence. She’s making friends. She’s learning how to get along in a group environment. She would have done all of this, I strongly believe, with or without Kindi. She isn’t actually learning anything substantial at Kindi. Often she’s left to ‘play’ without enough adults to guide […]
Scorching Bay: Still as Magic as Ever
It’s been months since we visited Scorching Bay. The Chocolate Fish is no more, but Scorching Bay still holds its own special magic. Thankfully, there’s a little operation selling the essentials: ice-cream and coffee – what more could a parent wish for! The bay has also been given a smarten up by the City Council, […]
From Chinese NY to a Pasifika Festiva and Te Papa is 10!
Wellington Rocks! We’ve had a blast over the past couple of weekends. We dressed up in red with Grandma and Grandad to join in the Chinese NY celebrations last weekend. This weekend we rocked into town to dance to the beat of the Pasifika Festival on Saturday and join thousands of people to celebration Te […]
Queen Victoria Gets a Royal Welcome in Wellington
Wellington City put on a great show on Sunday to welcome The Queen Victoria on its maiden world-cruise. The city buzzed with the sound of helicopter rescue displays, tug-boat rides up to the cruise liner and a warm feeling of welcome. We enjoyed a fabulous day on the waterfront. Charlotte experienced a new first: dinghy […]
Having a blast – long may the summer roll!
It’s been a crazy few days of sunshine. We had a blast at ‘The Teddy Bear’s Picnic’ in the Botanical Gardens on Sunday (got some great video-clips, but no time to string it together tonight!). Charlotte loved singing along to the music and Sophie enjoyed wandering around the rose garden and riding on the ‘rocket’! […]
Over Breakfast
Sophie’s love of face-painting knows no bounds! Over breakfast this morning she was transformed into a butterfly. In the afternoon, after a lunch-time swim, the girls turned into a lion and a tiger and roamed wild in the garden. The sunflowers bring so much happiness. Whilst the girls continued to enjoy the sunshine and play […]
Late Nights and Lazy Mornings
Summer nights and the girls are usually asleep around 9 o’clock. Thankfully, they sleep till nearly 9 in the morning, so hubbie’s been having to set the alarm clock for work – for the first time in nearly 5 years! We’re really loving the evenings and the stress free mornings. There’s such a sense of […]
Visiting Silverstream
Good friends, Marrisa, Michael and Bethany moved to Silverstream, in the Hutt Valley, set in beautiful rural surrounds. It’s another stage in their new life in New Zealand and today we visited them. It was so wonderful to see them making their new home their own. All their belongings have arrived from the UK and […]
Welcome Back Good Friends!
Our dear friends, Avril (left) and Lucy (right), have both recently returned to Aotearoa after a few year’s working in Australia. We have missed them so much and having them back is the best news. We spent Sunday afternoon catching up and enjoying the stunning sunshine and blissful warmth. After a mammoth BBQ we walked […]
A Blogging Break: Tons to Report!
Chez Lee has enjoyed a blogging break due to good weather, no Kindi, the arrival of our beloved pianos (resulting in lots of late night jamming sessions!) and making the most of the light evenings. It’s so brilliant not having to be out the door by a predetermined time and family harmony is so much […]
Whilst hubbie’s away :(
It’s not often Dan’s had to go away on business since the girls were born; but times are a changing and thankfully they don’t give me too much trouble these days. He’s in Sydney for a few nights and so we went for a family breakfast in town before he headed off. The girls went […]
Jamming all weekend… and for a lifetime!
We can’t thank my dearly departed Grandmother enough. She’s brought music to our home in a way we could only have dreamed about. Our pianos arrived on Friday – a classical upright to fulfill my love of the traditional; and for Dan a digital piano with all the bizz for him to compose a masterpiece! […]