Well thankfully we’re not camping! This morning’s rain is torrential. Here’s the Pohutukawa tree in the garden, battling with horizontal rain in windy Wellington. The perfect tonic to a rainy morning was doughnuts freshly made before breakfast… and eaten with fresh coffee… Building with lego… Crafts… Beading… (Charlotte loves her ‘aqua beads’ from Aunty Sue […]
summer
4 Seasons: Summer Solstice a Washout
Today it is the Summer Solstice in New Zealand, but it felt far from summer this morning. Rain pelted down and winds funneled through the valleys making walking a challenge. Second day of the school holidays and not the best way to start, but the garden is grateful and so too are the birds. We […]
4 Seasons: Riding the first wave of summer
Officially the first day of summer in New Zealand is 1 December. This past week summer has come early. Normally we have a fair bit of unsettled spring weather all the way up to Christmas, but not this year. Calm, sunny skies have made for some primo beach visits. For the first time ever Charlotte […]
Free range Friday
It’s been a week of sunshine in Wellington. Summer officially starts on 1 December and the weather sure is hotting up in preparation. This past week we’ve been enjoying the fun of the season in the garden and at the beach. It’s also been busy with organising Christmas post to the UK and trying to […]
After school Monday at the beach
Summer is rolling towards us like a beach ball and today we enjoyed one (of hopefully many) impromptu after school trips to the beach. The back of the car is being transformed into a shrine of beach worship with all the essential ingredients for impromptu after school visits. Buckets, spades, towels, changes of clothing, hats, […]
Charlotte the Cicada Fanatic
Charlotte is fascinated with cicadas this summer. Ever since she’s watched ‘Bindi the Jungle Girl‘ Charlotte’s discovered a new level of confidence in handling creatures great and small. Cicadas are the sound of summer and this year we’ve had a few ‘pet’ cicadas accompany us out on various trips – in a well sealed and […]
An amazing few days
It is absolutely incredible to have Grandma and Granddad here! This week we’ve been blessed with warm weather and even the showers on Wednesday morning and Thursday weren’t enough to dampen our spirits. In fact we spent Thursday at Zealandia (previously known as Karori Wildlife Sanctuary) where we walked for over three hour’s through the […]
One wet summer Saturday
What to do on a wet and windy summer Saturday? Get out the paints and get messy! We spent two hour’s on Saturday morning stepping in plates of paint and then soaking our feet in buckets of warm, soapy water to create a huge ‘Welcome’ banner for Grandma and Granddad’s arrival from the UK tomorrow […]
Manic madness
The sun greeted Wellington for a change yesterday morning and pre-made plans to meet some girl-friends at the pool were laid to one side as the sun was just too good to miss. Just as well we grabbed the chance to enjoy it, since today is like a throw back to winter. As I write […]
Longest day 2009 – what a beauty!
The sun rose at 5.45am and set at 8.54pm and what a beautiful day it’s been. There’s such a holiday spirit in the air. At the beach this evening folk were kicking back and enjoying the most perfect time. The sound of the waves gently lapping on the shore at Princess Bay were met with […]
Zippity Zoo
They have all the fun at Kindi. This morning was Sophie’s Kindi Christmas Party. They had an awesome spread of party food (we were on sausage roll duty, which meant taking them out the freezer to defrost at 7am and getting them in the oven ready for the party). The entertainment was provided by the […]
Shades of Summer
Summer is really forging its way through in short, sharp bursts. This past week we’ve snapped every sun-filled opportunity to delight in our favourite pastimes that good weather allows for. After school last Monday I took the girls down the waterfront for a big ride on their bicycles and some time to view the world […]
Daddy looks after his girls in the sizzling, summer sun…
He takes them to blueberry heaven (and thinks that this might be his next business venture, as all his hard-earned dollars are being spent on blueberries – oh, but think of the antioxidants!): He digs holes in the sand for them to splash in and soaks up the sizzling sun at beautiful Days Bay in […]
Tranquil evenings watering the garden
The ground is so thirsty at the moment and every evening I delight in nurturing the garden with water and observing the growth. The girls have been out painting in their Birthday suits, making obstacle courses and creating potions in the paddling pool with food colouring and glitter. The cooker is redundant and the BBQ […]