April 2013

EASTER

Easter was very exciting once again, as we all tramped off on our annual Easter Hunt.  This year the Easter Bunny' s clues were based on the song 'The Gambler'.  "It was a warm autumn evening... you've got to know where to find them, know how to eat them..."  

Who knew the Easter Bunny loved that song!

  

  

Easter Sunday evening and playing with the trains.

QUEENSTOWN

Easter Monday we headed to Queenstown for a day of adventure. 

 It was a beautiful day and we all had fun at the luge.

LILLIANA

Lilliana had a special dedication ceremony and we had a lovely day celebrating with them.

 

 KATE

Kate's flash hair style.

 

  

 THE BIKE TRACK

We discovered a bike track at Wallacetown which was a great challenge for all and quite an adventure to take Grandma on.  Grandma stayed with us for a whole week and we loved having her.  The kids really enjoyed showing her all their tricks and what they do in their week and Mum loved her company.  Tho it seems that Grandma took all the photos on her camera (these are hers), and we don't have a single one of her.  Silly Mummy.

 

 

 

Flynn provided Grandma with continuous amusement.  She has renamed him Sir Edmund and promises to buy him crampons and an ice pick for his birthday, after finding him climbing to the top of the pantry using the shelves as a ladder. Flynn loves to climb everything, and run, and jump and do forward rolls and hang off monkey bars...  He keeps us all on our toes that's for sure.

 

AUNTY SARAH, MACKENZIE AND ALEX

We were so lucky to have lots of new, wonderful visitors when Grandma moved onto visit with Emma, Max and Lilliana.  

We all had many adventures with Aunty Sarah, Mackenzie and Alex.

We took them to Te Anau and did all our favourite things there, scootering, biking, the playground, mini golf, pancakes, walks...  Grandma and Emma came and joined us for a day too.  It was fantastic.

 

 

HANGING OUT WITH GOOD GOOD FRIENDS!

Tom gave Kate a braiding book at Christmas time, so Mum got to practice lots of new hair styles for the girls.

 

 

Alex and Lachie loved to dress up and play.  Lachie taught Mackenzie and Alex all about Cats and Alex taught Lachie about Peter Pan, which is his new favourite!

Sam is 6! And March 2013

We headed to Te Anau to celebrate Sam's 6th birthday. 

 Nana and Grandad came too and we had an absolute ball!

On Saturday we took a boat cruise on the lake which included a short tramp to see one of the hidden lakes.

 

Lachie very diligently checked every hole, big and small for sleeping kiwis,

 

Flynn showed us once again that he can do it all by himself, thanks all the same...

Flynn adores Nana!

 Sunday was Sam's birthday.  Sam didn't keep us all waiting too long on the morning of his special day.  He was up at about 8am.  And every present was a highlight.  A 'Where's Wally book from Kate', Ernie toy from Flynn, a CD from Lachie, lego from Nana and Grandad and a big boys watch from Grandma.  He was a very very happy big boy!

 And then a new bike!  Wow!

 We all headed out for a delicious breakfast of pancakes at 'The Fat Duck'.  Here is the crew arriving.  Grandad couldn't squeeze Mum's helmet onto his head, much to Lachie's distress.

 It was a stunning day.  We got to play some mini golf, go out biking on this bike (what an adventure that was - who chose the route with all the hills????), play in the park, have lunch at 'The Moose', bike/scooter/walk along the lake front and even have a quick undie dip in the water!!

Later, in the evening, there was even a game of Pass the Parcel.  

Grandad was so pleased to get a turn too!

 

An Angry Birds prize!  Yee ha!

 And then there was the Grover cake.

 And a relaxing cruise outside on the bikes and scooter before bed.  Sam's bike is named R2D2!  Kate is very proud of her scooter too.  She saved up all of her pocket money and was able to buy it herself!

 Everybody slept very well that night exhausted from activity, sunshine and excitement.

What a magical day for us all.

Over the weekend we also got two trips to the skate park which was just a block away from our house.  The kids (big and small) loved it, and learnt lots of new tricks.

 Everyone at the top...

 And going down...

 And while that was all happening Lachie practiced his own cool new trick!  Riding Neo, his new 16" bike (thanks Sam)  without training wheels.  Way to go Lachie!

 Run faster Mum!  Everybody was so proud of Lachie.

 We saw the Takahe at the Wildlife reserve on the way home

 and stopped at Manapouri to check out the stunning views too.

The long weekend away was just amazing.  

Thank you to Nana and Grandad for coming along and sharing it with us.  Te Anau is one of our families favourite places to be and we think we converted Nana and Grandad too.

Back to school, kindy and normal activity.

And Lachie is still dancing to 'CATS', with Flynn joining in.