Prize Giving

ANother night of excitement. The children were up for about 15 awards in total.

Reuben was first runner up in Non Fiction Book of the Year for the Trojan thief ( against lots of amazing Year 6's and his sister). He was runner up in Basic Facts Year four and received his distinctions from the Australasian Exams.

Caitlin performed her winning Idol song- and probably gave an even better rendition of it if that is possible.

She won:-
Performing Arts award
Most improved player in netball
Research Assignment for the Story behind the Green Sign
Huia Museum Historical Research Award.

She has a haul of four trophies and 18 certificates.

We are so so so very proud of them both.

Oh and Daddy got the biggest trophy of all- the SPOT PRIZE!!!

Still on a high

Caitlin is still on a high from Friday's events. She has hardly slept this weekend and has carried her trophy everywhere, including through the mall on Saturday so we could get it engraved with her name. I'm sure she thought if she didn't they could take it away from her!

She really has no idea how good she is. She refuses to watch the videos and when she caught a snippet just heard the faults.


She is such a star!!!

Caitlin Ashcroft- Superstar!!

We have a superstar in the house. Caitlin's performance at Laingholm Idol blew them away. We are so proud of our little girl.

Well, see for yourself.

Thanks to Jos Evans for this movie. He videoed the whole thing and still found time to email me this version




Chris' video of Caitlin's performance. This includes Graham's comments after the performance.





WHAT HE SAID!!!!!! The judge came from St Cuthberts, he looked and sounded like a rockstar.




And finally, the moment just after the winner was announced, courtesy of Chris




WE ARE SO PROUD OF OUR LITTLE GIRL!!!!!!!

Nomination update

Caitlin today received a very important nomination- all round student of the year. I have a feeling it may go to one of the more sporty kids but you never know.

Another day of triumphs in the Ashcroft household.

On December 16th, 2008 Laingholm School will be holding their first prize giving in the new School Hall. The nominations were handed out today so the children know which awards they are shortlisted for.

Reuben has been nominated in:

Best Non Fiction book of the year ( for his retelling of the story of Troy- no I don’t think it’s a non fiction book either)

Best Wallchart for the ‘European badger’

Top three placing in the Basics facts championship ( year4)

Role Model of the year (year 4)


Caitlin has been nominated in:

Non fiction book of the year ( The Takahe)

Best single piece of writing ( My teacher rocks)

Role Model of the year ( Year 6)

Best Wallchart ( micro organisms in NZ streams)

Research assignment ( Behind the Green sign)

Performing Arts award ( for drama and music)

Top three placing in Basic facts ( year 6)

Best piece of ICT ( Streams video and interview- created with Ruby Le Marquand)

She has of course also placed second in the speech finals and general knowledge finals which also get her a mention, and who knows she may even get a netball prize as well!!!

Oh dear, last year the Hart family did rather well….

Another success

From Blogger Pictures

Recently Caitlin and her mum went to the Waitakere City Council chambers for the award presentation for the 'J T Diamond' essay competition. This is a competition which aims to increase awareness of the history of West Auckland through individual research. There were about 40 entries, only eight adults and the rest children. Laingholm had entered about 10 essays and most were rewarded with something. Caitlin and her friend Chloe ( in the photo- who also has plates) came joint third in the historical research section. Caitlin was mentioned in the opening speech too. The presenter commented on how many of the children had used their own experiences to choose their topic, ' like the girl who wrote about what happened behind a sign down her road!' At that point we knew she had won something!!

We are so proud of her, and she is proud of herself too. And at least she didn't come second!!!!!

Super Springy

Roo went off to the Inter Schools Athletics Competition at the Don Buck Stadium in Henderson, in the shadow of the Trust Stadium. He had to wait till the afternoon session to compete, and had eaten all his lunch by about 10.30.


The day was wet and overcast, although the rain held off for his event. He successfully jumped his first three heights but then the length of his legs became more important than his technique. The winning height was about 1.20m, rather high for a nine year old. Still Roo is about the 9th best high jumper for his age in West Auckland.


Well done him.

My new obsession

I have just discovered a little program called WORDLE, which takes an ordinary piece of text and creates a piece of art using the frequency of the words within the text. We are thinking of making some posters about each of the family to put on the wall.

I didn't ask Anton to contribute to Molly's. It might have looked a little different!

I suppose I should mention the week since my birthday

OK so the countdown to my 40th birthday has disappeared. I guess that means I must be forty... but no!!!!

From party

We had the most spiffingly delightful party on the 8th of November, 12 to dinner, cocktails, 5 courses, music by Noel Coward, a mixture of toffs and gangsters ( not sure how they got in) and a good time had by all! Anton was remarkable. He cooked and served almost every course- I can just about manage pea soup and the cheese board! He mixed cocktails. He looked like the lord of the manor. He auditioned for a part as a juggling dad and still managed to pull everything off!


Next morning, however, he collapsed ( and not just at the sight of the washing up, oh no, I had already done that!). Heart palpitations, difficulty breathing, dizziness, uncontrollable shuddering, enough to force me to get an ambulance. So my 40th was spent in A&E at Waitakere, lunch was a big mac ( hang the diet) at the McD's up the road from A&E, and tea was toast and peanut butter at Elaine's where the kids and I spent the night! Ho hum!

The hospital thought heart attack, then they thought hangover ( he had been rushing around so much that he had hardly had anything to drink) so they discharged him. We started to think it through and came up with LYME DISEASE again. SO the GP has listened and gone "Well I don't know! Here are some antibiotics and a doctor's note for a week off", the anthroposophic doctor has said 'Tell me about your childhood, oh and Mrs Ashcroft here is a syringe so you can inject this out of date remedy into your husband. Come back in four days if he's not dead!'

In the meantime, Anton has spent a lot of time on the sofa, watching Top Gear and trying to write his book. Teddy the cat seems to have become empathic and won't leave him alone.

On top of all of this Caitlin has got purple glittery plates in her mouth to straighten her teeth so she is very hot and bothered about that.

If this is what 40 is like, I think I shall stay 39! We have all agreed that Sunday November 9th never happened! So I am not 40. In NZ years I am TWO. I think I like that better than 40!

The Trojan Thief by Reuben Ashcroft

Reuben has been working on this narrative at school. I have never seen him work so hard or with such enthusiasm. It's a shame his illustrations aren't here as they are fab too. Roo is having a good time at the moment. He came 2nd in the high jump and 3rd in the Long jump out of all the 9 year olds ( year fours and year fives), he's playing t-ball (like baseball) and cricket and still doing gym and kung fu. Phew! And he still finds time to be gorgeous and lovely!


The Trojan Thief


Sparta was the most powerful city in Greece in 1180BC. In the great palace of Sparta, Menelaus and Helen are sitting on the throne. Ok, now you know how good Sparta is.

Now we can meet Menelaus and Helen.

Menelaus was a middle-aged king and was huge compared to a normal man. That is why he won battles. Helen was the queen of Sparta and was said to be the daughter of a God because of her beauty. She was soon to be very famous.

Now to the story.

Menelaus wanted to make peace with their long time enemy Troy, so he got together all the Trojan princes including Paris and Hector. Hector was a kind prince but could be very dangerous when he needed to be. Paris was a handsome prince but had never been in battle, but he could not take his eyes off Helen. They all went off to their beds except for Paris and Helen. They stayed for what felt like hours. Then Helen broke the silence.

‘You need your rest’, said Helen. ‘What do you want with me?’

‘Everything’, answered Paris.

‘Why?’ asked Helen. ‘Are you blind to reason?’

‘I’m only blinded by your beauty’, said Paris

‘It’s late. You need to go to bed’ Helen told Paris.

Paris couldn’t sleep. Most of the night he was thinking about Helen and in the middle of the night he had an idea. A light bulb lit up in his mind.

‘I will take her’.

The next morning Helen and the other princes were gone. Menelaus was furious.
‘Where is she?’ screamed Menelaus. ‘I’m going to kill her!’
Then one of the Generals came in and said: ‘A local fisherman saw her board one of the Trojan ships’.

‘Our peace with Troy is broken.’ said Menelaus. ‘Get my brother and ask all the Greek kings how we get her back’.

So on that very day they got all the Greet ships and sailed to Troy. Meanwhile on the Trojan ship… ‘You did what?’ screamed Hector.

Paris had just shown him Helen, who was under the Ship. ‘You stole the king’s wife’.

‘I will take her to Troy’, said Paris sternly.

‘Menelaus will never forget you. He will remember you as the Trojan thief’.

Meanwhile, at the Spartan docks….

‘Get together, we are setting sail’, shouted Menelaus.

In one week they got to the beach of Troy. Achilles was the first to get there, but Troy had put up the fences. Achilles was fast, strong and he was the best fighter in the army. It was said that he couldn’t die.

Next was Ajax. He was massive compared to even Menelaus. He held a huge weapon. They fought very well. Soon every ship was on the sand and they had overpowered the defenders.

‘Set up camp. We will be here for a long time.’ shouted Menelaus.

‘No. Don’t. We will take Troy in a day.’ shouted Agamemnon.

Agamemnon was Menelaus’ brother. He was very greedy. He wanted Troy all for himself. ‘We fight now!’ screamed Agamemnon. So the army got together and went to Troy’s walls.

The Trojan army was waiting for them. Paris and Hector were in the front. Paris stepped forward. ‘I will fight your best warrior.’ announced Paris.

‘I will fight you, you Trojan thief.’ said Menelaus.

As Paris came between the Trojan army and the Greeks, he stumbled on a rock. Menelaus just smirked at his feebleness.

‘You idiot,’ whispered Hector to himself.

Paris threw his spear at Menelaus, but he dodged it expertly. Menelaus was the first to strike. He lunged at Paris with his sword held for a head strike. Paris ducked, but his helmet flew off onto the battlefield. Paris tried the same movement, but he was not as strong, but his sword bounced off Menelaus’ helmet. Paris tried to punch him, but Menelaus blocked the blow and punched him back. Paris crawled back to Hector.

‘Fight me you coward.’ shouted Menelaus. ‘I will kill you at your brother’s feet.’

He attempted this, but failed. Hector was too quick for him, and stabbed through the great king’s heart. ‘Nooooo’ screamed Agamemnon. ‘Charge!’

On Troy’s walls an archer let go of his arrow and it went flying towards Agamemnon, and went straight through his heart. The army was already advancing.

With the clash of shining swords, the battle began.

Odysseus, who was the king of Ithaca, and the most clever of the whole Greek army, was not fighting but watching, with Achilles.
‘Retreat.’ murmured Achilles. ‘They are retreating.’

Meanwhile, on the battlefield…

‘Back to camp.’ shouted the General.

Ten minutes later, they were back in their tents.

‘Why did you retreat?’ Achilles asked.

‘Why did you not fight’? asked the General.

‘I was seeing how you would do without me. Now it is your turn.’ replied Achilles.

‘Their archers were too many.’ Answered the General.

A couple of hours later, Achilles awoke to the sound of flying arrows.

‘We are under attack!’ He shouted.

Just after he said that, Achilles saw a ball of hay rolling down a sand dune, and fire arrows on the ground, just before the tents.

‘What is Troy doing?’ He wondered.
Then the ball caught fire and rolled into a tent. More and more balls followed it and they all made their mark. In the end there was only sixty-four tents left!

‘The people whose tent got destroyed should sleep in the ships.’ The General announced.

‘You are just a big show off.’ Achilles said. ‘I am going to my tent.’

Ten minutes later…

‘General.’ It was a Myrmidon. ‘We have captured a Priest, Sir.’

‘Bring her in’. Achilles told the Myrmidon.

Just then a priest came in. It looked like she was pushed.

‘What is your name?’ asked Achilles.

‘Nanda’. She replied.

‘That’s a nice name. Mine is Achilles.’ He said lightly. ‘You smell like royalty.’

‘Hector is my cousin.’ Nanda told him.

Then two guards came in and were about to take her away.

‘Who commanded you to do this?’ asked Achilles.

‘The General Sir’. answered one of the soldiers.

Then Achilles stormed into the General’s tent.

‘Why did you do that?’ asked Achilles.

‘We need to have a swap, our captured men for her’ answered the General.

‘No man would be good enough to be swapped for her.’ Achilles screamed.

‘Now we know how stupid the Trojans are.’ The General chuckled.

‘I will never fight for you ever again.’ shouted Achilles.

‘You are bluffing.’ The general replied.

Achilles lunged at him with his sword, but stopped before he struck the General. “You think I am bluffing. Watch me’, answered Achilles. Then he ran out of the tent.

‘He will fight.’ chuckled the General.

The next morning….

‘To the beach.’ shouted the General. The whole army of thousands lined up to protect their base. A dark shadow loomed across the battlefield. ‘Zeus is upon us!’ shouted the General. Then the general saw a black figure running up a sand dune.

‘It’s Achilles!’ shouted a soldier. ‘He is fighting for us!’

‘I knew he would.’ Murmured the General, under his breath.

‘Achilles’ went through the crowd, and charged into the army, with his sword swinging into the Trojan attackers. Hector came through the Trojan army and tried to duel with ‘Achilles’. Front jab here, jump swipe there. Then finally Hector used a neck swipe and Achilles took a direct hit and fell to his knees. On the fall, his helmet came off, and revealed ‘Achilles’ to be in reality Achilles’ cousin Patroclus.

A few minutes later Achilles heard a Myrmidon outside his tent. Then he came in.

‘Sir’. It looked like he was about to cry. ‘It’s Patroclus, Sir’. He paused. ‘ He’s dead’.

‘Who did this?’ Demanded Achilles.

‘Hector, Sir.’ Answered the Myrmidon.

‘I will kill them!’ Achilles screamed, as he rushed out of his tent. Five minutes later Achilles was ready for a one on one battle with Hector. He rode off to the duel. Five more minutes and he arrived at the walls of Troy. Close up the walls looked like they had withstood a battering from a Titan. Actually, it had.

‘Hector.’ shouted Achilles.

A few minutes later the gate of Troy opened and a figure stepped out onto the dry ground. Achilles was the first to move. He rushed at Hector and his sword hit deep into Hector’s knee. Achilles tried to hit Hector on the neck, just like Hector used to kill Patroclus, but Hector blocked this blow expertly. Hector spun around and his sword missed Achilles’ chest by millimetres. Hector tried this move again but swung too wildly and staggered backwards. The last thing Hector saw was a spear coming straight for him.

‘It is done.’ Achilles thought to himself. Achilles tied Hector to his chariot. Achilles then rode his chariot round Troy four times, dragging the dirty, lifeless body of Hector. Paris was watching all of this with disgust. Paris turned to Helen and said: ‘My brother deserves a hero’s burial. Only you would be safe in the Greek camp. Ask my father what we should offer for the body.’.

Later that night, Achilles heard footsteps outside of his tent. Helen came in and told Achilles ‘I have come in secret. Paris and the whole of Troy want Hector’s body. The king is willing to give you Hector’s weight in gold.’ Achilles agreed to this because he had already weighed Hector himself, because he knew at some time or other they would ask him this.

At that exact time Odysseus was sitting at the camp with some of his soldiers. The soldier next to him was carving a horse out of marble. The soldier saw him staring. ‘For my child back home.’ Explained the soldier.
That gave Odysseus an idea. He instructed his soldiers to cut down as many trees as possible from the lush pine forest. He ordered all the boat builders to construct a structure by his design. Finally it was complete. A big, hollow, wooden horse.
Odysseus wanted Ajax in the horse but two people wouldn’t be enough to get the gate open. So he went to all the other Kings to go inside the horse. He finally went to the General and explained his plan. There was a ceasefire for 12 days for the hero’s burial. In twelve days, Odysseus’s plan was ready. It looked as if the Greeks had left. The people of Troy were very confused because the Greeks had left behind a big wooden horse. They thought it was a gift for Poseidon, the sea god. So they brought it to the temple of Poseidon. Luckily for the Greeks who were in the horse, that temple was near the gate. At midnight, the Greeks jumped down from a hatch they had made in the belly of the horse, The Greeks climbed up the walls. They slaughtered the Trojan defenders. The Greeks threw the bodies into a ditch running just below the wall. The Greek army came into view. It was massive. The gate opened and the army rushed in.

The alarm was raised but it was already too late. The Greeks poured over the streets. Some Trojans put up a fight, but still did not survive. Some Trojan families even threw themselves out of high windows rather than face the wrath of the Greeks.

Achilles (who was in the horse because Hector had killed his cousin) tried to find Nanda. He rushed through the crowds, not caring about the screaming families. Paris was doing the same thing, except for a different person. He was looking for Achilles. Paris was armed with his precious bow. He found Achilles with Nanda, Hector’s cousin. Paris confidently let go of his arrow. It hit Achilles’ spine.

‘No!’ Nanda shouted.

‘I have to.’ replied Paris. ‘For the good of Troy.’ He let go of another arrow and this time it hit Achilles’ heel. Paris only had one arrow left, but he used it willingly. This arrow hit Achilles’ heel again, and Achilles died. (That is how we got the phrase ‘an Achilles heel.)
The army rushed around the area. The General came up and viewed the scene, and just nodded. Achilles had a proper burial which lasted for one month. Ajax and Odysseus both wanted Achilles’ armour so they had a competition. Odysseus won.

With Troy destroyed, the Greek Kings held a celebration because they had avenged Helen’s kidnapping and Menaleus’ death. The Greeks then sailed for home, but that is another story……



THE END

Latest update

Reuben has insisted that I video him doing his latest tricks on the trampoline so here goes...



And Molly has had a haircut and looks like a really grown up girl. She goes swimming a lot in the creek and now dries off so much quicker

The story behind the green sign

Caitlin has entered the Jack T Diamond essay competition. It is a historical research task aiming to increase knowledge of West Auckland. She chose to look at the PIC Camp which is just round the corner from our house.

Here is her essay:


The Story Behind the Green Sign.

Have you ever wandered past that old, worn, green sign? That old worn green sign with the white lettering? The white lettering P.I.C.? I know you have, but the question is have you looked behind the sign and seen all the life gone by? Possibly a giggling Brownie or Scout? Have you heard the music, the noise, the laughter, the happiness, or to you, is it just a group of run down old buildings known as the P.I.C. Camp?

I live just around the corner from the P.I.C.Camp and drive past to school everyday. I have always wondered what stories its withered walls could tell. It was in the kitchen of a house in Parau that the story began to unfold before me. It was talking to Don and Val Rogerson, longstanding residents of Parau, who have seen many changes over the years and were involved in many of them. It was these two who enlightened me to the wonders of the P.I.C. Camp.

It is hard to believe that those once active fields used to just be private land. The land has been owned by five families, amongst them the Jowetts, Mr Dean (from the gardening programme) and Mr McMinoman. Only McMinoman actually lived there. Imagine one small bach on such beautiful, undeveloped land. The five titles covering the whole piece of land have never been combined into one. Perhaps, in the years to come, five families could once again take up ownership and call this part of Parau home.

From Mr McMinoman, the land passed into the hands of the St. John’s Ambulance Brigade. There were heated meetings of the Residents and Ratepayers Association, held in the Rogerson’s house, where many residents were worried about wild children running around, affecting property values in the area. Only three people were in favour, including Don and Val. Don stood up and said ‘Has anyone in this room ever been to a St. John’s Brigade camp?’ When they said no, he said, “Well, I have and they are run properly!” Over the next twelve months the residents watched as the camp took shape, even poring over a model in Don’s living room.

Many promises were made about the camp. They promised to put in a local sewerage treatment plant, which could have been hooked up to many neighbouring houses. This did not come to pass and the ‘biggest septic tank they could find’ was ‘completely useless’. Promises were also made about different clubs and groups using the hall. A youth club was held there, for free, for a few weeks but after a while, the camp demanded £30 a week and the youth club finished. £30 was a lot of money then. “This is St. John’s supposedly being a youth oriented group,” recalls Don.

Youth oriented it may be but there were still some rowdy kids. Val has one memory of walking to her friends, when she met a couple of teenage girls walking in the middle of the road. She remembers saying ‘ you don’t walk in the middle. You’ll get knocked down’ to which they replied ‘Well we belong to the St. John’s Ambulance!’ As Val says, ‘that’s not much good if you are dead!’

Delinquents. That was another word that worried the residents and ratepayers. When a group of ‘glue sniffers’ arrived in the area, Don immediately rang the lady commander to make sure they would be properly supervised. “While they were out here, we never heard a word out of them! There were children from Otara and Otahuhu who had never been to a beach. They brought them out to Parau and they had one on one [supervision] and they hiked to the dam and the beach and from there they never stopped. She [the commander] said ‘We never let them stop. Come half past six, seven o’clock and they are fast asleep snoring.”

So would the next owners of the land be as responsible as the St. John’s? Would they be more willing to open their doors to the community? Well the Pacific Island Church of the Presbyterian Church Newton certainly didn’t charge any less for the use of the hall! Whilst local Samoans raised money around the markets and helped to clear the land, the man who finally signed the cheque did just that and then returned immediately to his pacific island. So he was hardly going to be interested in the local school groups using the hall for sports practice. There were some benefits though. When the P.I.C. camp was up and running you could hear the groups practicing their singing and dancing (which was rather lovely). Sadly this was sometimes at six o’clock in the morning.

Under new ownership, the P.I.C. Camp brought familiar worries. Teens would come down to the bus shelter for a good smoke or a good drink as Don recalls. “It was them who had the beer stash behind the bus stop.” I bet it reminds you of the stash behind the bike shed back in the good old days. When they cleared out an old dormitory someone decided that the best place to dump the old unwanted mattresses was on the nearby reserve, by the pine trees! Of course everyone noticed so the council made them clear it up again.

After all of this the P.I.C. camp slowly became deserted, unloved, disused, derelict and dangerous. The fire service worry that it is a fire hazard, that there would not be enough water pressure to douse the flames if it were to submit to a stray cigarette or lightning strike. It now has been not been used since it was a polling station in the election of 2004. All that remains of it now are the odd dormitory, the remains of a playground long since lost to time and the lonely hall that you can see from the road. This is all that’s left except the memories that will always live on in friends.

Some have memories of receiving a 5-year service medal from the fire brigade. Maybe some remember the ‘do’s’, dances and get togethers held in the hall. They might remember Val running back and forth to his house to check on the election results on the night of a dance. They might remember Tom Dodson and his truck. This was the truck, which would back up to the French doors on exactly the same level as the hall. This was the truck that served as a bar so any spillage was in the truck and not in the hall. It definitely made sure the hall did not reek of alcohol the next day. Or you may even remember an English teacher from Laingholm School up on stage prancing and dancing around singing” Dance around with your knickers in the air”(which certainly sounds like Laingholm to me!) Val and Don certainly remember.

There is a lasting reminder of the influence of the camp from its St. John’s days. The first New Zealand born Governor General, Sir Arthur Espie Porritt, visited Parau to open the St. Johns Brigade camp. The local children were excited, lining the freshly lain footpaths that stretched for 100 yards either side of the camp. Apparently it wouldn’t do for the Governor General to see dirt tracks. They may have been a little disappointed when ‘he didn’t even say boo’ but at least they had the new footpaths, which over the years have grown so long from their special beginnings.

So here we have a large patch of land with an interesting past, a sorrowful, unwanted present and an undecided future. Will the Presbyterian Church ever sell it? Will anyone raise enough money to encourage them to sell? Will the fields ever ring again with the laughter of children or the sound of music? Will it ever be home to more than the odd pukeko or tethered pony? Could it become a focal point for the community in Parau in a way that it never was in the past?



Bibliography


Interview


Rogerson, Don and Val. Long standing residents of Parau and P.I.C. Camp experts
Thursday 31st July 2008


Internet

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Porritt,_Baron_Porritt
Photograph of Governor General Sir Arthur Espie Porritt
August 2008

www.localhistoryonline.org.nz
(P.I.C. Camp, Western Leader 19th March 2004)
July 2008

My top ten things about our first year in NZ by CAITLIN

1. Ruby, Jess, Ashleigh, and Grace
2. Molly and Pets!
3. The beaches especially Bethells, Armour Bay, Katamatua. Kaitarakihi, Piha and Whatipu
4. School
5. Miss W ( she rocks)
6. Laingholm Idol and me getting into the final
7. Year six Camp
8. Farmers the department store and Spotlight the fabric shop
9. Eating burgers on Christmas day cooked on the bbq
10. Rotorua.
11. Chris and Debs! ( especially when they let us watch Dr Who at their house!)

The Year Six Camp!

On the 16 of September (yes our Year anniversary.)all the year 6’s in the school went to year 6 camp. We went to a place called Kokako lodge and it took an hour and a half to get there. The people at the back of the bus (including me) managed to get from 99 bottles of beer on the wall to 0 Bottles of beer on the wall and it took almost the entire journey!! When we finally got to the lodge we stopped to have morning tea.
We did not do any of the activities that day but we did do something that was called the Hunua Hunt (because Kokako lodge is in the Hunua Ranges) and which team was the winner of the Hunua Hunt would be announced on Skit Night. By the way all the year 6 were put into different teams. The Adventures, The Explorers, The Conquerors, The Challengers and finally TEAM EXTREME (my team)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My top ten things about our first year in NZ by REUBEN

1. Our house
2. Laingholm School
3. My distinctions ( and getting the computer games Spore and Thrillville as a present!)
4. The trampoline
5. Going to Gymnastics
6. All the pets ( Molly, Teddy, Tabitha and Touchy)
7. West Wave swimming pool
8. Beaches
9. Wendy's ice cream, in fact ice cream in general!
10. The family being happy ( hopefully)

MY DISTINCTIONS by Reuben

I have been doing lots of exams (they were called Australasian exams) and on 2 of them I got (what do you think… guess) A DISTINCTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
One in maths and one in english. This means I am in the top 10% in Australasia

Science Day and Roo's birthday

Science Day

On Monday 7th July, the day before Roo’s birthday we went to the Incredible Science Day at Auckland University. We listened to four lectures about Tsunamis, Adelie Penguins, ‘do jelly beans look like bacteria?’ and “optical illusions and why we have two eyes”. We had a great time and when we were there we got given a bag with a map post-it notes a pen and sheet with lots of questions. If you got 10 questions right you got a degree. We answered twelve questions correctly and got our degree certificate. Mommy was a bit miffed because it took her three years to get her degree and we got ours in three hours. Amongst other things we made slime by mixing borax and pva with water. We made blue slime, pink slime, and vomit coloured slime! Roo put his in the freezer to see what would happen to it ( not much). Overall we had a great day.


By Caitlin


My birthday by Reuben.

I had a good birthday. For breakfast we went to McDonalds and I had pancakes. Then we went to Henderson to see ‘Prince Caspian”. I thought the film was really, really, really, really, really cool! Next we went to buy two fish. I have called them Twitch and Hammer, because one of them has big eyes and he looks like a hammer head shark and the other one has a twitch in his tail.
Then we went home and set up the fish tank.
I got lots of presents like ArchAngel and Snake head, the Alex Rider books, some clothes from Nanny and a walking robot from Caitlin. I also got some money which I spent on a Wii game called ‘Pokemon Battle revolution which I have been playing on all day!
Mommy and Daddy found me a drum kit on TradeMe. It is really really really really
really really really awesome.
Mommy made me some cupcakes instead of a cake. They had chocolate chips and chocolate icing an done had 9 candles in it. That was mine.



P.S. Molly has been to the vet's for her (whispers) operation. She is very dopey (what's new?) and wearing a very fetching pink t shirt.

Poetry

I am so proud of Reuben today. He was in the poetry final and although he was unplaced he did a brilliant job. I'll post the video when I have a moment. In the meantime here is a photo.



And here is the video

Always the bridesmaid

C came second in the speech finals in yet another contraversial decision. The winner was not the best speech,or the best delivery. In fact the girls who came second equal were far better but the marking scheme counted against them. Ho hum. I think there is a vendetta against her but as a member of staff I can't say a thing! I'll post the speech performance when I have a chance. Ineed to up the volume first so may take a while!

Our springy son

Laingholm Gym Team has successfully defended its title against all comers ( including Titirangi school, Glen eden Primary and Woodlands Park.
All eyes were on the youngest of the Ashcroft family competing in his first event. His vaulting was exemplary, his floor work elegant and his bar work sound.

He placed third in his age group and his team won their group.

So he has a bronze a gold and a share of a huge trophy

and a beaming smile of course.



Not to be outdone, Caitlin addressed the Board of Trustees last night on the subject of the vision map as part of her role on the Enviro Council. She has received rather a lot of praise for her presentation. You can imagine!!!!!!!

We should hear about whether she has made the speech final on Monday...


Oh and by the way C's play was superb. I'll get her to post this weekend about it but here are some photos.

Revenge is sweet

Finally the general knowledge result is avenged. Last night was the Friends of the School Friday 13th quiz. A makeshift team of teachers, partners and anyone who didn't say no fast enough made up the last team. Dressed in sarong and hoola skirts, with palm leaves and pineapples for table decorations, we looked a little out of place amongst the goths, weird scientists, vampires and chainsaw wielding psychos ( yes real ones).

But we won!!!!!

By half a point!!!

Luckily the men on the team knew lots about rugby, I had entertainment covered, the teachers did well in reading writing and rithmetic and we survived a very tricky science round when we played our joker ( and shouldn't have)

And to put the cherry on top of the cake, I won the raffle too. A box of coffee, chocolate, tea, wine and a voucher for $100 for garden landscaping stuff...Ant might get the drive done yet. Not sure the $100 will do much, maybe a couple of metres of gravel but hey, every little helps!

So we have one quiz champnio ( thanks to Steve Wright) in the family.

Controversy at the Quiz

Officially C came second by one mark. We are so proud of her and she did so well. However, there is some debate about one of the questions regarding non native trees in NZ. Caitlin answered ' introduced' to the question "What is the word to describe trees which grow in NZ but are not native?". She gave the answer she had been taught in class. The answer they were looking for was 'exotic'. As we pointed out, an oak tree is hardly exotic! Two of the teachers have complained that that was the word they taught, and C was the only one to give any answer at all to it.

So by rights she was joint winner! And that's how we will always look upon her..OUR WINNER!!!!

Brain of Britain...or is that NZ?

Caitlin has qualified for the General Knowledge Quiz Finals at school. They are being held on Friday at 10am (11pm GMT) and we get to watch.

Roo has got into the gym team at school and is competing on the 20th of June...and we get to watch!




Will let you all know what happens!

A bit of an update

Ant is off being an FBI agent and the kids and I have just got back from 'Kelly Tarlton's', the Antarctic exhibition that Roo spent the night at . Personally I think the Blackpool Aquarium was more impressive; well it had bigger sharks anyway. Enjoyed the penguin bit, especially travelling in a snow cat. I took a video of the penguins and their enormous chicks but sadly I managed to delete it! Ho hum!

Speech competition

In years 5 and 6 the children have to write an informative speech in their creative writing lessons and then they go forward to the 'speech final'. Last year C came fourth with a persuasive speech on books. This year she has chosen a slightly different topic.

Introduction
The earth is an amazing place; lush valleys, crisp forests and friendly towns, but I doubt there are many places quite as beautiful as the Lake District. ‘Where is it?’ you may ask. Well this place is a small area in the North West of England. It is a breathtaking place and I shall tell you its story.

Paragraph one
Although there are many lakes in the Lake District, there is only technically one. This is called Bassenthwaite Lake. It is the only stretch of water with LAKE in its name. All the others are meres and waters, like Windermere, which is the biggest lake in England, and Ullswater.Almost all the visitors make the most of the water by taking a steam boat ride or hiring a rowing boat. Even with all the lakes, fells, towns and walks, the Lake District only covers 36 square miles.

Paragraph two
The Lake District may be small but it has been home to many of times greatest writers. William Wordsworth was like a second Shakespeare and wrote many famous poems like Daffodils.Beatrix Potter, legendry writer of ‘Peter Rabbit and Friends’ also lived in the Lake District. Both writers used the surrounding area and its inhabitants as inspiration for their work.

Paragraph three
The Lake District is a desired holiday destination for hill walkers and is famous for its hill top views. People have been known to holiday there just to see its beautiful surrounds and to tramp the Lakeland fells. Scarfell is a popular walk being the highest peak in England.The Lake District is also surprisingly famous for its treats. Kendal mint cake is famous around the world as an energy booster for trampers. All it is is mint and sugar in a chocolate shell, but never the less it is as tasty as any Saturday sweet. It is also what sir Edmund Hillary ate while on the summit of Everest in1953.

Conclusion
There are many reasons I love the Lake District but the main one is that it was home to me for 6 years of my live. The Lake District is a very important place to me so I made it my job to inform you of what I know to be true. I hope I have succeeded in giving you a taster of where I used to call home.


We shall have to wait and see if she makes the final this year

Doggy Training

Molly the dog has graduated from her Puppy Kindy, I'd like to say with flying colours but she always manages to disgrace herself. Tonight she took offence at a lady's furry boots. Took me a while to work out what she was barking at!

So in August she can go up to Dog obedience training. Heaven help us till then.

That said she has got really good at sit and down, is reasonable at fetch and is having fewer accidents in the house. She is teething so isn't eating much and is able to go all night without a toilet trip ( generally) but all night means 11-6!

Still I love her and Ant is tolerating her!

Sunday update

Another busy week in the Ashcroft household...

Jo is gutted that Chelsea lost in the Champions League final to THAT team!

Anton went jet skiing today as it was a really nice day, and C is annoyed that he keeps going on about it!

The netball team lost again, this time 13-8 to Sunnyvale Panthers, but played really really well, especially in the second quarter. Caitlin was awarded player of the week, so gets to be captain next week.

We went to see Indiana Jones and the kingdom of the crystal skulls on Thursday. 'It was funny but a bit.... '( Caitlin).' It was rubbish' ( Anton). It was great except for a few parts' (Roo). 'I liked the juxtaposition of the 1940's Indy character with the pristine and artificial recreation of the 1950's McCarthy era!' (Jo)!!! Actually it was a good romp but Lucas, Spielberg and Ford need to retire gracefully and never utter the words ' I have a bad feeling about this' ever again.

Caitlin went to her leadership conference, Anton auditioned for a New World advert, with speaking and everything!

C Leadership Conference

On the 21st of may I went to a leadership conference.11 people from my school who had shown leadership skills were chosen to go to a conference in Manakau. At the start of the day we had to get up at 6.30, and had to be at school by 7.30. We got into the cars and started the drive that lasted for an hour that lead us to the auditorium in Manakau. When we got there we found our seats and sat down, and the rainbow balls came out! (big blow up balls that were thrown into the audience, and we had to hit them in different direction). The two hosts came out. They were called Danielle and Charlie. They brought out a person from the audience who was pretending to be the first speaker to see how loud the audience could clap. Then they brought on the first speaker, who was Nick Tuitasi- He was a police officer, one of the highest in Auckland. He received the person of the century award. He was interesting. Then came on Temepara George, who is a Silver Ferns netball player. She told us we should always go for our goals and never stop believing in ourselves. Then came Michael Chunn. He is a musician. He was a bit boring. My favourite was Michael Inglis. He was the first man to climb Everest with artificial legs. He was interesting and I learnt a lot about how he managed it. He told us he kept on trying. He told us that the best language is a smile.On the way back our driver told me alot about a school I might be going to,which was a bonus. This was a long story made short alot more happened but I don't know how to tell you so I told you my main points.

Schools

As Caitlin is in year 6 this year we are having to think about where she goes next. In NZ you spend two years at Intermediate school and then go to college. Seems a strange arrangement to me but there you go!

The local intermediates, Glen Eden and Green Bay are not terribly well regarded and Blockhouse Bay, which is seemingly fine, is rather further afield, is on no bus route and is considering bringing in a catchment area. Most of Caitlin's friends seem to be going to the first one, inspite of its reputation.

We had heard tell of a new independent school in Henderson, about 20 minutes away from here. One of Laingholm's teachers sends her daughter there and said academically it was great but that the sporting side left a little to be desired. If we wanted c to go there, she would have to take the scholarship exam and that was to be on the 28th of May. We'd missed their open day, due to netball commitments, so I decided to call in, having warned everyone that we might have an application form to fill in. I wanted to be impressed, and let's face it I knew what to look for.

I was so disappointed. The staff seemed surly, the Head's PA who offered begrudgingly to show me round didn't listen to the fact that my daughter was in Year 6 so showed me the primary end and not the senior school. Only one room contained children, doing ICT and they were silent. There was no noise anywhere, no smiles, no happy faces, hardly any children's work and it all seemed too much trouble. The PA said she was very busy, but as I was leaving she admitted she was going back to empty the dishwasher. No one asked my name, no one shook my hand, no one will ever know whether my daughter sat the entrance exam because they have no record of our interest.

They seriously need to get their marketing sorted out. They did nothing to sell the school to me today. That does mean that C will not have to spend her pocket money on uniform as she suggested she might have to, having seen the prospectus, and a blazer costing $270.

I really need to stick to my principles. I have always said I didn't hold with private education and I feel vindicated!

C is off to the Young Leaders conference tomorrow so has to be in school bright and early in her ' school' t shirt. I must remember to take a photograph

The greatest little school in the universe

Just so that you can see why the children love school so much, here is what the teachers get up to....







They usually try this at morning tea on a Friday, with a full staffroom!!!!

Some photos and a little bit of news!

Hope you like the photos. I don’t want to worry anyone unduly but I think Anton is about to resign. He reckons he has work from the UK guaranteed and his manager in the Dept of corrections thinks he may be able to work on a particular program or two.

It’ll be good to have my happy hubby back.

Watch this space!!!!

Another day on the beach ( imagine doing this in October in UK)

Three beaches, a dog, a carrot and a new haircut

Netball fever

Next term sees netball season begin at Laingholm. Unlike many teams here, the netball teams are arranged by age and not ability. Jo is coaching the Year 6 team including Caitlin on Monday nights. Luckily she has a great manager who can organise all the organising stuff and leave Jo with the fun part, coaching the kids. Our matches are played on Saturday mornings at Te Pai Place. There are about 20 courts all in one small space. Very intimidating!

We passed there yesterday on the way to the Trust Stadium to watch the local team Northern Mystics play in the Transtasman league. The Mystics have a few really good players ( Temepara George who just won Dancing with the Stars, Sheryl Scanlon ( a current Silver Fern) and Davu, who for a netball player is a BIG girl...there is hope for us all). Unfortunately Perth Fever were a better team, always about a metre ahead of our players. Our allegiances were torn as their WA plays for the English team and was Fantastic!!!

The kids enjoyed the match, or was that just the chips? Roo caught a cap thrown out at half time (for his sister) and C got everyone's autographs.

Cookie time

Today, or rather yesterday, was the day when theory was turned into practice- The cookie mixture, or at least some of it, has been tested on willing friends, and given the thumbs up, but today was the first time that Caitlin's Cookies was unleashed onto an unsuspecting public. The event was Lactic Turkey- a walking/running/orienteering event company. The day was windy and wet- Not an auspicious start- But 250 people were registered to be there. The family arrived at 12.00 to set up the stall- And quite professional it looked in the end, and the proprietor, namely Caitlin herself, was there to add a touch of class to the proceedings.

Within an hour, we had sold about two thirds of the cookies we had cooked- Making about 150 dollars profit overall-Caitlin's Cookies was deemed to be a success!

The guy running the event also liked the cookies, and we have tentatively agreed to cook 400 for him in June

So we only now have about fifty cookies left to get through at home!!

Walking with animals.

Last year in Kendal we saw a family walking their dog, with a cat in tow. Unusual we thought! We think this no longer. Everytime we go for a walk with Molly, we have the accompaniment of Tabitha's ringing collar and Teddy's mews. In fact Molly will not walk without them and this morning we had to get Teddy out of the house before she would stop whining!

So far they have followed us to the tennis courts and nearly to the beach, with Teddy only once getting lost in the mangroves and getting covered in mud. Tabs tends to stick close to the bridge though she is becoming more adventurous as she sees Teddy surviving his travels.


The children competed in their first school cross country today. They both did really well on the three lap course. I am so proud of them. C then serenaded her class mates over lunch time on the guitar with Mr Davidson joining in. The ethos at this school is so good!

Big Trip!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On the 5th of April me and my mum went on a big walk in the Coromandel Peninsula. It was sooooooooooooooooooo cool. We went with some other mums and some of my friends came to (yes granny Ruby came) .It was a really steep and long walk to say the least but there seemed to be two groups the ‘we are really strong and we will reach the top before you’ and then there was us “the plodders’ It was not all flowers and sunshine though because a little girl of five came with us called Lee. When we stopped to have lunch Lee played by the river, fell and hit her head. When we set of again the fast group went ahead leaving us with Lee who by this time was throwing up. We may have had Lee but I think we had a better time and enjoyed the our surroundings more because we took more time (but we did get back to the cars first!) When we finally got to the hut the doctor in our party (who was in the fast group) took one look at her and said she can’t stay here. So in came the air ambulance! It was a bit exiting!!!! All we had to eat and drink was cold pizza cold sausage rolls and water and hot chocolate …… very healthy. I really enjoyed this game of UNO the whole group played and we all had hot chocolate!!!!!!! We got no sleep mind you because of about 14 teenagers and their drunken fathers who just would not go to sleep. In the morning we had breakfast (pizza and sausage rolls) and set off back down sadly Lees sister Taylor was sick so again I don’t know why the fast group and the doctor said we want to go down the long way so the fast group went the long way and the plodders went the short way with the sick Taylor. On the way down we stopped of for lunch in the same place we had the day before. When we got to the bottom Taylor felt better and we were all very happy to be down. When the rest of the group got down we went and had a coffee and a cake. Now despite what you may be thinking we had an awesome time and I would do it again.


By Caitlin

March Photos

Reuben's review

We have just finished reading our family book. It is called Millions. It is a great book to read. It is about two boys who get a big bag of money, which has been stolen. One of the boys gives the money to the poor and the other tries to spend it. In the end the boy, who wanted to give the money to the poor, burnt the money but his dad, brother and friend had kept a little bit of the money and they used it to build wells in Nigeria.
My favourite bit was where they were playing Subbuteo and one of the boys who was obsessed with saints, used a model of the saint to defend the goal, and said that his team had prayed to `St Francis’. Caitlin liked the bit where they said ‘Speke Snowdrome’s quality’ with a heavy Liverpudlian accent.

We are going to read “Wolf Brother” next!

By Reuben

No new computer yet but...

I am still awaiting the arrival of my new computer so am having to use Anton's computer to write this.

I have a small dog asleep at my feet ( drugged by a vaccination I think) and bread is rising in the airing cupboard.

Update

Today I was supposed to post about Barbara's visit, complete with photos. I has been really lovely having her here, showing her the sights and sounds of NZ.

Unfortunately, the family spent last night at A&E and today my computer is kaput, though I'm not sure which is more worrying. After we dropped Barbara at the airport, I started feeling nauseous with stomach cramps. Everyone else went out on the jetski and I moaned on the sofa for a couple of hours before major projectile vomiting! Caitlin was so concerned she forced daddy to ring the doctors who sent us to A&E. We were there a total of four hours, including blood tests, intravenous morphine and a drip of stuff to stop the vomiting. They think I may have a gallstone, or kidney stone though I am convinced it is food poisoning, a bad mussell or something.

So news of Granny's visit will follow though the photos may take a while.

Now back to bed.

A busy week

After the trip to the bird sanctuary on Tiri Tiri Matangi we have a had a busy week. Claire and Graham came over for a night on their two month trip over from the UK. Their photographs of Stewart Island ( did I spell that right?) and Wakatane are beautiful. Makes me want to go and explore some of the place we are living. It was lovely to see them and show them our home. Given the wonders they have seen on their travels, it was nice to see their response to our little piece of paradise. Not sure Roo was so impressed, given that Graham broke his gun (from the $3 dollar shop so hardly a big deal). Graham was however made to make up for it by play fighting with Reuben for hours!! Reuben really loves having men around.

The next day we had Jess and Cameron for the day. Most of it was spent with a hosepipe on the trampoline as the Council had stuck a water quality warning on the beach. The four kids get on so well. It is so easy when they are around as they all look after each other and unlike some of their friends there is very little falling out.

Then on Saturday Anton went off to be in a VW commercial, courtesy of his "Background talent' job. We had the onorous task of walking Storm the Newfoundland, whilst Debs and Chris were in Taupo, crashing his bike!! Storm is a gem, so well behaved and placid. I walked her alone in the evening, off the lead and she was a joy to be with. We even paddled in the stream. Well she did, I just got bitten by mozzies!


It was Anniversary Weekend in Auckland, so a bit of a bank holiday. We did Titirangi market and Bethells, which just gets better every time we visit. I have found a blog with a list of the 1001 books you must read before you die. I found I have only read 74 out of them so I have a current aim of getting to 100, starting with Casino Royale ( which Caitlin has now purloined!)

We have now got Granny staying for a week and a half, a long way to come for a short visit. It really is lovely to see her. It just seems strange seeing her in a different place. The children are absolutely beside themselves that she is here. They have hardly been sleeping over the last few nights. Roo is desperate to show her his forward flips on the trampoline and Caitlin just wants lots of cuddles and attention. They have already been swimming in the creek.

Bird Island

CAITLIN WRITES:
I had a great day today but it was a weird one. I spent the day with my teacher IN THE HOLIDAYS-not that I mind that of course. We went to an island called Tiritiri Matangi, where we are going on a school trip next term. I got a preview! We got up really early and picked up Miss W from her house. Then we drove to Gulf Harbour.
I learned lots about different birds and the walk was great. I saw a tui, saddleback, north shore robin ( which is blue), a whitehead, a bell bird and a stitchbird. Me and Reuben were the only kids who volunteered to turn on the water trough and fill it!
Before we went we stopped at the beach for an hour to search in rockpools.

I had a great day but now I'm exhausted and a bit pink.








REUBEN WRITES:
I remember when a large bird came and scared mommy. It was a takahe called Greg. He steals lunches and underwear! They found a bird in a toilet and thought it was female so they called her LOU LOU. But it was a boy so they changed its name to LOU! Mommy got a new t shirt with lots and lots of penguins on it. (She likes penguins)
Caitlin said we got up RRRREEEEEAAAALLLY early but I usually get up at that time anyway and do stuff.
We went to this beach with loads of life in it. We collected different shells from it. I got six and Caitlin got lots. In the rockpools there were loads of starfish, loads of crabs, loads of sea snails, loads of sea urchins and the crabs were always nesting in different places and sometimes when we flipped rocks over we could see the whole family scuttling around. Caitlin thought she found a hairy crab!
The ferry was huge. I wanted a boungy thingy ( to translate: an insect made of wire) but mommy said no because she is mean!

A strange thing was we always sat at the back of the ferry but I'm OK with that!


The kittens have been a bit naughty. We have put them back in their room so they can learn to use their litter trays again properly and learn to use their scratching post, because they have been weeing and pooing all over the place. Mommy thinks they are a bit lonely when we go out during the day.

Mommy is a bit sad too because her camera has broken.

I had lots of cookie at lunch because I had TWO moderately big pieces and Caitlin only had ONE big piece!

Interesting times!

Yesterday was interesting. “May you live in interesting times” Is that a good thing or a bad one?

First, there was a potential hurricane. It was in the Tasman sea and showed up really well on the weather report last night. It had been raining all day with very strong winds, a bit of a contrast to the last few weeks. The really high winds avoided us on their way to the south island but last night the winds got stronger, enough to scare one of the kids. Reuben as usual was comatose!

The kids and I went to get a towbar fitted to the Rav 4 so Ant can tow his new jetski. We had to get all the way to Glenfield, on the
North Shore, without the sat nav coz Ant had forgotten to leave it for us. Luckily my map is a good one. It took less than an hour, although we walked over to the mall two miles away to while away the time. As we were driving away, and then waiting at traffic lights, the car suddenly stopped. I managed to get it started again but then discovered I had no indicators, air conditioning, speedometer!!!! We had a very hairy time getting back to the garage, crossing three lanes of traffic with no indicators. Hand signals are good! The garage found a loose connection to the battery, not their fault, and a short circuit which was. One replaced fuse later, and a spanner to the battery and we were good to go. It was very very scary, though! Even worse than the time we went to Piha and discovered we had no petrol. Coasting back to the petrol station, up a 7km hill, was fun! So we have survived two car adventures!

Fitness plans

The new year has turned into something of an activity fest. Jo has signed up to do a half marathon in April and Caitlin has enrolled in the Weetbix Triathlon . On February 24th, she will be swimming 100m, in the sea, cycling 4km and running 1.5km, somewhere in Auckland. Her friend Jess is doing it and, according to her mum, is completely obsessed with her training plan ( taken from the internet) and with eating healthily. Caitlin’s every third word is ‘triathlon’! She’s eating really well and exercising lots. So far we have done a swimming session in the creek and a cycling session on the school field. We managed to get her a free bike, courtesy of Freecycle in Auckland. We asked for a bike for a ten year old who was doing this event and minutes later had an offer of a perfectly good bike, which had already done the route three times…and it has the stickers to prove it!


Roo has decided that he wants to do training too. He has ventured into the creek though he hasn’t tried the current when the tide is going out. This is quite an advance since he usually sits on the edge and reads his book! He also ran two circuits around the field at school ( faster than Caitlin, but don’t tell her that!) when she was training, and was quite upset when he thought he wouldn’t get the chance.

Oh yes, and Roo is now able to do front flips and barrel rolls ( whatever they are) on the trampoline. I knew it was only a matter of time but he now spends every waking moment upside down.

To continue this ‘active lifestyle’ theme, Anton has had another midlife crisis and bought a new toy, a seadoo 3D. Apparantly it’s a jetski that you can stand on, sit on, wakeboard from. It hasn’t arrived yet. I’m sure he’ll have fun when it does.

Caitlin is doing rather well with her new ‘pot garden’. All her seeds are sprouting beautifully. Debs has recently given her some more lettuces, peas and cucumber, and Reuben is determined to join in so Caitlin bought him some carrot seeds ( to plant in organic compost of course). We shall soon run out of space on the deck.

The cats are growing well. They had their latest vaccination and the vet said they were in incredible condition. Teddy is a glutton and eats everything, whilst Tabitha, who is on my lap as I type, one handed, is an elegant supermodel who only curls up with you if she chooses to. They are either asleep or chasing each other around the house like whirling dervishes.

Roo and I had an impromptu trip to Anawhata Beach, Sir Edmund Hilary's favourite beach. My car battery was flat and once it had been jump started it needed a drive. So we took off towards the beach. We ended up driving along this unfinished road for miles and then discovered you couldn't get to the beach by car, but needed to walk for another half an hour. The view from the car park was fantastic and we are already planning a proper trip at the weekend.


The kids and I have been on a few trips organised by Ginny who lives up the road. When we first thought about moving to Laingholm, Sasha ( A real estate agent) said we would meet Ginny. She's married to a Brit, has been back in NZ for five years and has soooo much energy. She's up at 5 after a sleepless night with her youngest, Daniel, looks after William (4) and Megan (7) and organises all sorts of stuff.We've been walking and to Piha and to her pool and for dinner. She didn't bat an eyelid when Megan suggested we all stay for tea and in fact invited another family too!

New Year Blues

I think the alcohol poisoning must have carried on for a few days (not sure what the kids' excuse is). Everybody has had a bit of a tough start to 2008.

We were going to paint the sleep out but couldn't be bothered. We went to see 'The Golden Compass' which, whilst entertaining, was a little disappointing for those of us who had read the books. Given how good the books are, it seemed rather superficial and didn't explain anything well. The characters, apart from Lyra, lacked depth although most really did look as they should. The daemons and the bears were fantastic and I loved Lee Scoresby and his hare!

Caitlin's birthday was a bit of an anticlimax. She had already got her kittens and only had Nanny's presents to open (a tracksuit, a Spiderwick book, some socks, and the gorgeous David Tennant-OK a cross stitch of him but even so) after she'd brought us a cup of tea in bed. She was looking forward to Ruby coming over for a sleepover, but Ruby had been taken ill with a sore throat. Turns out it might be glandular fever!! So no sleepover! We did make it to the Wave Centre in Henderson for a good frolic in the water but the die had been cast. We spent a subdued night in front of Monsters Inc. with a pizza.

Caitlin’s mood has improved as the week has progressed, and as further presents arrived. She has been found some mornings, curled up on the floor in our room, having been unable to sleep and unwilling to disturb us. She has found solace in the kittens, Teddy in particular, and in finishing Phoenix Wright, Ace Attorney on the ds.

Reuben, whilst still addicted to the xBox has discovered the joys of the trampoline and has been practising forward flips. Sam showed him what to do but he had to find out for himself. He’s only fallen off the trampoline once and can now complete 360° although he still lands on his bottom. He has also been building tremendous cities from wooden blocks (an old favourite) and loves playing with the kittens too.



They have also had to put up with her mum being in one of those moods and her dad being annoyed about going back to work. Ant has already arranged his first trip back to the UK for the end of February and is thinking up lot of ways to amuse himself whilst making some money. So far we have cookie making ( I am now officially sick of cookies), Thai massage and therapy and now, courtesy of Debs, extras work.

My head has been off the lines for a few days, brought on by some disheartening news about the dog. The guy who did the property check ( I think Ant’s phrase was ‘spotty kid’) said two of our fences weren’t high enough… for a six inch puppy? I think we are sensible enough to realise that a small puppy grows into a large dog!
We are all upset and slightly angry given the lack of advice we received from the centre. As I had gone in explaining we were first time dog owners, looking for a friendly dog to keep me company at home and when out running, who would get on with cats and act as security in the house when we were out, I expected guidance, rather than to be told to ‘pick one’. I am still working out my next step though we have contacted the SPCA for advice and I have seen a gorgeous bulldog x on the humane society page.


All in all, things are looking a bit better now. Ant is back at work, we have been cleaning and getting the house in order. The three of them painted our bedroom so it is no longer a bizarre shade of pink but white ( to make me feel better) and C has had her latest present- a tomato plant from Debs. The beginnings of a vegetable garden!!!!


Post script:

Caitlin now has pots containing( allegedly) mint, basil, coriander, oregano, sweetpeas and beetroot, together with a rescued pot of mint and an old geranium that Tim left.

The Animal Welfare said 'well raise your fences or get a smaller dog'. I asked 'such as', they said 'oh a terrier or something'. Suggestions on a postcard, please!

The latest arrivals

Yesterday we finally rang up the 'Lonely Miaow' lady in Laingholm. It's an organisation which fosters unwanted cats and kittens, and has literally hundreds all over the place. Kylee in Laingholm was delightful, and her partner, Kyle, runs with the HUia runners on a Thursday. May have to go along.
The two kittens we had seen on the internet, and loved, were already sold, but we went to meet the others. Caitlin instantly fell in love with Teddy, a longish haired black and white sweetie who loved all the attention. I knew if I went along we'd end up with two, and sure enough, we left with him and Tabitha, a gorgeous Tortoise shell who was rather timid to start with but who is a whirling dervish in real life and loves to chase all the toys. Teddy eats like a horse and bites your fingers and loves it when his sister grooms him, lazy tike. They are both very well littered trained...won't be ble to say the same about the puppy!

I'm surprised the kids got any sleep last night!

We think the Animal Welfare person came today to do the property check ( man in blue shirt with camera, looking official-said Caitlin) . We shall wait and see!

A birthday present from Grandad