Here are the letters written to Santa by the children on Christmas Eve. We are not sure he has got our new address yet so we are hoping he can find us. I did ring him today just to make sure but don't tell the children. It's a surprise.
Dear Santa
I am sorry to bother you on such a day when I am sure you are getting ready for Christmas but I know that I have not written to you yet so I thought that today is as good as any day.
I do not want much for Christmas but I would like a Terrys milk chocolate orange, The daring book for girls, Notes on the fridge, a small bottle of L and P and please could you bring something that will make my family happier.
Please could you ring my mum and tell her if you want wine or milk.
I hope all your planning is going well
Say hello to Mrs Claus for me and to Amathyst for my mum
Good luck for tonight
Love Caitlin
P.S Merry Christmas
Dear Santa
I am writing on behalf of Reuben Ashcroft who has been very good this year. They wanted me to share with you their wishlist full of their most most favourite things.
1.Settlers the game
2.Any Alex Rider Books from Eagle Strike onwards
3.Chocolate
from
Zircon ( he's a christmas elf, like Amethyst...check out Cadbury magical elves.com)
Sunday, 23 December 2007
Saturday, 22 December 2007
Thursday, 20 December 2007
Strange stockings
We have been making stockings.
We have been decorating pillow cases ( because they are bigger than stockings. Our friend Ginny said that is what kiwis use.)
My pillow case has a picture of the battle of Troy on it. This is what it looks like:
The blue circles are the Greeks and the red ones are Trojans.
The green rectangles are the archers and the dark blue are the arrows. The wall is the two different types of brown and the orange is the Trojan Horse.
I decided to do this picture because I like the Greeks and the Trojan War.
Daddy has made a picture of Santa on a jet ski and Caitlin has made an angel.
Mommy made a christmas tree but she is probably going to change it because she has seen how good everyone else's is and hasn't stuck hers down yet!
by Reuben
We have been decorating pillow cases ( because they are bigger than stockings. Our friend Ginny said that is what kiwis use.)
My pillow case has a picture of the battle of Troy on it. This is what it looks like:
The blue circles are the Greeks and the red ones are Trojans.
The green rectangles are the archers and the dark blue are the arrows. The wall is the two different types of brown and the orange is the Trojan Horse.
I decided to do this picture because I like the Greeks and the Trojan War.
Daddy has made a picture of Santa on a jet ski and Caitlin has made an angel.
Mommy made a christmas tree but she is probably going to change it because she has seen how good everyone else's is and hasn't stuck hers down yet!
by Reuben
Wednesday, 19 December 2007
The family tennis champ
We all went to play tennis last night and guess who was the best player.
She hit everything, chased after every ball, made some superb cross court shots and smiled the whole time!!!
She hit everything, chased after every ball, made some superb cross court shots and smiled the whole time!!!
Tuesday, 18 December 2007
The lodger
This is Peter. She is the cat who comes with the house. Allegedly Tim and Gloria will be picking her up on January 7th when they get back from Spain. I'll believe that when I see it. It could be the story of Smudge all over again.
"Oh no she never comes into the house. It will only be for a few days"
No mention of the two large dogs who were the reason she never came into the house!
She is very cute but very shy. Unlike Oscar who lives next door who is huge, adorable, friendly, always hungry and loves a fuss.
Sunday, 16 December 2007
So now we have broadband we can get up to date
We have been in NZ now for exactly three months. We touched down in Auckland at 6am September 16th and it is now 7pm December 16th.
Such a lot has happened: in short. Two weeks spent living in a tiny apartment in Torbay, dealing with jetlag, ants and house hunting. We thought we had found the perfect place ( a beautiful villa in Deirdre Place in Laingholm) but the building report put us off. The next place we liked the building inspector didn't even bother to look at it as he knew the place and said 'walk away!'. Just as well as we have found a slice of heaven. Two weeks ago we moved into a six bedroomed ( room for visitors) brick and tile gem in a place called Parau, close to the kids' school, next to a beach and tennis courts, down a peaceful little road....
So the story so far. We looked at nearly 60 houses, maybe more until we found this one and even then it was fraught with problems. The council here has to agree everything in triplicate before you can even think about changing anything in a house. Think planning permission but for knocking in a nail or straightening a picture. Suffice it to say quite a bit of this house is 'illegal' but when you are in love you overlook such things.
Looking back the first two weeks were very stressful and we tried to do too much, finding houses, cars, our way around. We fell on our feet with regards to accommodation. The house we were warned off is owned by a lovely girl called Rachel and she lives there with her two toddlers, Chloe (1) and Ben ( a very loud 2). She'd bought the house with another couple four months previously but they'd moved out just before the birth of their second child and because their first and Ben didn't get on. They needed some way of covering the mortgage and Rachel suggested that we move in. Although far from ideal, we had a roof over our heads.
I am convinced the house had sick building syndrome. Everyone was ill, including Reuben! It was probably due to damp and to a lack of a good night's sleep!
On the plus side, we found the children a delightful school, Laingholm Primary- The greatest little school in the Universe, run by a head who understands that school should be fun and by an incredibly dedicated staff. Caitlin has the remarkable Miss W ( Wolstenholme) whilst Roo is with the very young Miss Guertz. Both have found their feet quickly- especially Caitlin and both have made some very good friends! I have been doing a bit of relief work there. I'm known as Mrs A and apparantly I'm 'cool!" I think that means a pushover though Room 14, the class from hell, have grown on me over the weeks!
The high spots of our first three months ( I use the term loosely)
The burglary; I met three strapping men coming out of our shared house, with Rachel's tv in the back of their car. I'm not sure what came over me but I tried to block them in the drive with my car but I got myself rather man handled and they managed to push my car out of the way. We reckon they'd only been in the house for five minutes and only took a tv a dvd player and probably one of our ds's ( we may have just misplaced it). The police came, the helicopter came out, the SOCO arrived three days later(!!!!), we all had to be fingerprinted ( in the cells) and I had to look at mug shots. Exciting really but a bit time consuming and no conclusion yet.
New cars! I have a blue RAV4 and Ant has a white Toyota MRS ( old ones but hey). He needed a boy toy for the many miles he was going to be travelling every day.
The thermal pools at Waiwera. Fantastic hot thermal pool resort, just the thing for over coming jetlag, including a pool with a cinema screen. Child Heaven!
Anton starting work; His first day was spent drumming and walking in the bush ( team building) His second day started with a formal Maori ceremony where we passed him over to the care of his workplace. Lots of nose rubbing and Maori chanting. Sadly work hasn't quite lived up to his expectations.
Reuben mastering the monkey bars in the school playground.
Roo never wearing any shoes
Caitlin getting to the final of the school speech competition with an oratory on 'Books'! And the semis of the general knowledge when most of the questions were on New Zealand
Both of them being fantastic tennis players, and making huge progress in their tennis lessons!
Guy Fawkes night in the rain
Rotorua; Ant was at a conference so we spent the previous weekend there. Hot springs and geysers in the middle of a city centre park. Phemonenal pools of sulphur, the smell of rotten eggs and one of the best brunches in the world (At the Fat dog cafe).
Going to the Netball world Cup competition at our local stadium, and meeting the English Team and getting C's ball signed.
Kitting out Roo's bedroom for under $150 dollars using Trademe ( like eBay).
Finding furniture from unlikely sources ( garage sales, Sally Army). Caitlin's Mackintosh chair is a major find.
The new spa, trampoline and barbeque...well why else are we here!
Ladies football at Laingholm on Tuesday nights. All that time spent watching John Terry was not in vain.
The container arriving and having all our stuff around us, after three months of living out of suitcases.
Putting up the Christmas tree after spending the day on the beach at Whatipu.
Watching Gok on Friday nights.
Caitlin being addicted to Shortland Street!
Doing the 'greatest little fun run in the universe' as a family
Such a lot has happened: in short. Two weeks spent living in a tiny apartment in Torbay, dealing with jetlag, ants and house hunting. We thought we had found the perfect place ( a beautiful villa in Deirdre Place in Laingholm) but the building report put us off. The next place we liked the building inspector didn't even bother to look at it as he knew the place and said 'walk away!'. Just as well as we have found a slice of heaven. Two weeks ago we moved into a six bedroomed ( room for visitors) brick and tile gem in a place called Parau, close to the kids' school, next to a beach and tennis courts, down a peaceful little road....
So the story so far. We looked at nearly 60 houses, maybe more until we found this one and even then it was fraught with problems. The council here has to agree everything in triplicate before you can even think about changing anything in a house. Think planning permission but for knocking in a nail or straightening a picture. Suffice it to say quite a bit of this house is 'illegal' but when you are in love you overlook such things.
Looking back the first two weeks were very stressful and we tried to do too much, finding houses, cars, our way around. We fell on our feet with regards to accommodation. The house we were warned off is owned by a lovely girl called Rachel and she lives there with her two toddlers, Chloe (1) and Ben ( a very loud 2). She'd bought the house with another couple four months previously but they'd moved out just before the birth of their second child and because their first and Ben didn't get on. They needed some way of covering the mortgage and Rachel suggested that we move in. Although far from ideal, we had a roof over our heads.
I am convinced the house had sick building syndrome. Everyone was ill, including Reuben! It was probably due to damp and to a lack of a good night's sleep!
On the plus side, we found the children a delightful school, Laingholm Primary- The greatest little school in the Universe, run by a head who understands that school should be fun and by an incredibly dedicated staff. Caitlin has the remarkable Miss W ( Wolstenholme) whilst Roo is with the very young Miss Guertz. Both have found their feet quickly- especially Caitlin and both have made some very good friends! I have been doing a bit of relief work there. I'm known as Mrs A and apparantly I'm 'cool!" I think that means a pushover though Room 14, the class from hell, have grown on me over the weeks!
The high spots of our first three months ( I use the term loosely)
The burglary; I met three strapping men coming out of our shared house, with Rachel's tv in the back of their car. I'm not sure what came over me but I tried to block them in the drive with my car but I got myself rather man handled and they managed to push my car out of the way. We reckon they'd only been in the house for five minutes and only took a tv a dvd player and probably one of our ds's ( we may have just misplaced it). The police came, the helicopter came out, the SOCO arrived three days later(!!!!), we all had to be fingerprinted ( in the cells) and I had to look at mug shots. Exciting really but a bit time consuming and no conclusion yet.
New cars! I have a blue RAV4 and Ant has a white Toyota MRS ( old ones but hey). He needed a boy toy for the many miles he was going to be travelling every day.
The thermal pools at Waiwera. Fantastic hot thermal pool resort, just the thing for over coming jetlag, including a pool with a cinema screen. Child Heaven!
Anton starting work; His first day was spent drumming and walking in the bush ( team building) His second day started with a formal Maori ceremony where we passed him over to the care of his workplace. Lots of nose rubbing and Maori chanting. Sadly work hasn't quite lived up to his expectations.
Reuben mastering the monkey bars in the school playground.
Roo never wearing any shoes
Caitlin getting to the final of the school speech competition with an oratory on 'Books'! And the semis of the general knowledge when most of the questions were on New Zealand
Both of them being fantastic tennis players, and making huge progress in their tennis lessons!
Guy Fawkes night in the rain
Rotorua; Ant was at a conference so we spent the previous weekend there. Hot springs and geysers in the middle of a city centre park. Phemonenal pools of sulphur, the smell of rotten eggs and one of the best brunches in the world (At the Fat dog cafe).
Going to the Netball world Cup competition at our local stadium, and meeting the English Team and getting C's ball signed.
Kitting out Roo's bedroom for under $150 dollars using Trademe ( like eBay).
Finding furniture from unlikely sources ( garage sales, Sally Army). Caitlin's Mackintosh chair is a major find.
The new spa, trampoline and barbeque...well why else are we here!
Ladies football at Laingholm on Tuesday nights. All that time spent watching John Terry was not in vain.
The container arriving and having all our stuff around us, after three months of living out of suitcases.
Putting up the Christmas tree after spending the day on the beach at Whatipu.
Watching Gok on Friday nights.
Caitlin being addicted to Shortland Street!
Doing the 'greatest little fun run in the universe' as a family
Friday, 14 September 2007
Waiting to leave!
We are sitting inthe departure lounge at Heathrow having said our not so tearful goodbyes to Granny and Mike. We are fed, watered and the kids have new covers for their 'new' ipods.
It is very hot in here but we are still not too anxious!
It is very hot in here but we are still not too anxious!
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