Sunday, September 11, 2011

The last 3 weeks

The kids have been in Auckland for the past 3 weeks. I went to Christchurch for work for 5 days the first week, then  four the second. The third week tane went back to Blenheim for a last 5 days of work so we are finally finished with work for a short while.

During this time we have been getting the kids to do reading, writing and maths each day to ensure they don't slip behind by having so much time off school. They have also been on lots of outings and trips all around Auckland. I thought I would take a few pics of what they have been up to.

 For their maths, the kids have really enjoyed plaing junior monopoly.

 The kids had loads of fun on the train at Pt Chev... even baby.



 The weather has been beautiful the past 3 weeks. The kids even enjoyed paddling in the sea... was not as warm as Rarotonga will be but did not prevent them from having fun.


 Baby loves the taste of sand


Poppa Monty and Nana Noelene came to visit. That was a nice surprise. Baby was happy to have cuddles with Poppa.



Wow they are playing nicely and not fighting... yay!!


Tane showing the chickens to baby. She is so tight with her daddy. I think she will be a daddys girl.


Tane and Grandma took the kids to MOTAT. They loved it  so much they went twice.





Ella-Rose was fascinated by the 'other baby' in the mirror maze


She had lots of kisses for her

 The kids really loved the stocks... they like reading about all this kind of stuff in the 'horrible histories' series.



Ally's 3rd birthday party. The kids had a fun time eating yummy food and playing pass the parcel, although Anna-Maria was upset she did not get to open a layer of the parcel



The kids have had heaps of fun and are looking forward to our holiday and seeing their aunty and cousins!!!

Go the All Blacks!!!

Friday night was the opening ceremony for the 2011 Rugby World Cup. The kids, especially the boys, were excited. The excitement had been building all week. As we drove around to various activities, the kids had great enjoyment spotting flags flying from cars, houses and on car bonnets. They also have enjoyed identifying which countries they are from.

I told them we were having an All Black party on Friday evening so we got some party food ready. Tacos and chilli, sausage rolls, fizzy drinks, chips, carrot, celery and cucumber sticks and dip.

The kids wanted their faces painting... and so did James. They all snuggled up on the couch and settled in for the opening ceremony. They were in awe of that. It was really well done. Anna-Maria had enough after that so was put to bed. But the boys stayed up for the whole match All Blacks vs Tonga.


 You can see that Ella-Rose was REALLY excited to watch the rugby...

Joseph was really funny and kept coming up with hilariouse statements. 'The All Blacks have score 2 tries... Thats UNBELIEVABLE!!'

He said to the All Blacks when they were being tackled 'Stick your tongue out mate'. I asked 'what is that supposed to do?' He replied 'Scare them'.

The only thing missing was Tane... but thankfully he came home on Saturday... and we finally feel like a family back together again.  :)

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Fun at One Tree Hill

We spent last Saturday with the kids at the Stardome and One Tree Hill.

At the stardome the kids enjoyed looking at all the displays, pretending to be astronauts and looking at the things for sale in the shop.

Below is team Brunt gearing up for their mission to Mars.






 Joseph and Anna-Maria and their encounter with aliens.



It was so much fun watching the children and their antics.









Josh spent most of his time on the little train. It was really nice watching him as he would push other kids round and round and then take a turn when he could.

Joseph spent his time on the round-a-bout. He was on it for ages, didn't get dizzy like I would have. Tane (who is just a big kid) played on it with them for a while, but kept making all the kids fall off. I could see other parents staring as their kids were flung off the roundabout so he came and sat down with me.






Anna-Maria had fun on the slides.


Ella-Rose had fun eating bark and all kinds of other things she could find to put in her mouth and generally just hanging out with mum and dad.