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