This gorgeous fantail found its way through my kitchen door, up the stairs and into my daughter’s bedroom. She loves nature and was enchanted by our little visitor. We often have birds coming into our home, living surrounded by trees and native bush, but they usually stay in the living room and don’t venture as […]
natural learning
Exploring the new Matairangi Nature Trail, Wellington
I first stumbled across the enticing play areas of the Matairangi Nature Trail, along the ridge line of Mt Victoria, on one of my long runs. I couldn’t wait to grab an opportunity to bring my two youngest children to explore, climb and play. I’ve always loved walking and running the town belt trails of […]
A day trip to Matiu-Somes Island, Wellington
In February I had the pleasure of taking a small ferry to Matiu/Somes Island, in the middle of Wellington’s harbour. Matiu/Somes Island is a predator-free scientific reserve. It is also a historic reserve with a rich multicultural history. I took my youngest daughter with me, and joined a group of Wellington Home Educators. It was a beautiful […]
Home in England & beating the jet-lag outdoors
We landed in London on Thursday, after three flights from Wellington, New Zealand, taking some serious flying hours! It’s just Alice and I on this trip, whilst my older two daughters are at home with their Daddy. Alice is such a happy and positive travel companion. We managed to get a good stint of sleep […]
Notes from our home learning journal on the Rio Olympics
There are certain events in history, such as the Olympics, that come as natural markers of time when raising a family. Every four years our television screen beams into our living room inspiring stories of courage, dedication and commitments. Each time our children are four years older and the host city is somewhere new. The […]
Autumnal delights before winter took hold – living, learning, loving and wondering.
It was such a mild Autumn that I wasn’t prepared for winter and its dark nights. I always struggle when there’s less hours of light in the day to play with. If I don’t get out for a day or two I feel like curling up in bed and not emerging till spring. It’s a […]
That day when a sick day required fresh air therapy – at Tawatawa Reserve Loop
I’m a great believer in gentle exercise helping to heal the body and a few weeks back, when my ten year old daughter was fighting off a long lingering chesty cough, with a dose of antibiotics, I took her out to explore a Wellington trail we’d not explored before. The walk, located in the hills […]
My little ‘Wellington Wild Thing’ | exploring the great outdoors
The weather in Wellington this summer school holidays has so far been very kind to us and it’s been perfect for getting outdoors and exploring the copious number of regional parks, town belts walks and nature centres. Having my parents to visit, all the way from the UK, has been an extra motivator to get […]
Mini Creations – now we have a sewing machine in the house!
I have friends that would be shocked at how a person could go through nearly 12 years of parenting without a sewing machine in the house. I have often held friends that can sew (or knit or crochet!) in high esteem, as well as being in awe of the amazing things they create. When I first […]
A magic moment at the city gallery in Wellington
An inspiring home-school, Mum, friend invited my two younger children and I to a shadow workshop at the City Gallery in Wellington last week. It was the perfect distraction from the troubled start to our week (I’ll get around to the ‘magic moment’ alluded to in the title of this post after a slight detour…!). […]
Parenting Moments to Love – whilst we lay low between travel adventures!
We’ve been very much home bodies after our exciting week away in San Francisco, with side trips to Santa Cruz and Monterey. It’s been nearly three weeks since we got back and we’ve been very self contained in the house we’re renting in Santa Barbara, till the end of August this year. The three girls are […]
Weekending It! All action!
Having the man of the house home at the weekend gives us family time to get out and really explore this place – and we certainly had an action packed weekend of it! Whilst the rest of us were barely awake he headed off for an early morning paddle board, returning back mid-morning for a […]
First impressions | School life in America
School commenced for two of our three children yesterday. Our ten year old has been attending school in New Zealand for five years and, apart from a somewhat dissatisfying, unchallenging experience in her first three years, she has pretty much excelled. She thrived at a private girls school she attended for the past two years […]
Things I’m Loving – Holiday memories connecting to our everyday lives…
⤠I’m slowly getting back into the groove of multi-tasking madness that is family life, but with plenty of post holiday memories still lingering on… It’s not only me that’s still reflecting on all we did – even young Alice is a chatter of her holiday memories. As we made our way downstairs the other […]