What do you do on a cold grey winter day in Christchurch?

Meet your friends at the park and get talking and walking.

We met up with Karen, Justy, Anna, Ruth and her family, Jane, Ella and baby Lewis for a kids get together on Karen and Justy's last day and what fun we had. The children had a great time and there were plenty of tears and a few tantrums evenly spread among them all.

Ella, Olivia, Nicholas, Anna and Ben

After coffee and warm things for adults and ice blocks for the children we headed to the museum through the gardens. It was bitingly cold but with the talk and walk, we all fell in to our cars rosey cheeked and relaxed. What a fun afternoon. Jonty chose to stay at home and then came in to find us and couldn't...shame, as I think he would have enjoyed himself. Check out the museum on a cold day, it is really interesting. Funny how much more you are interested in your own city you are after visiting others.

Trains

Nicholas absolutely loved the trains in all the shapes and sizes they came in. He liked to push the buttons on the doors and in this photo is guarding the door to ensure he is the one in charge.

And he loved watching the trains leave the station once we had stepped off so it was time consuming getting places. This the underground train at our station in Berlin. Surprisingly graffiti free!

tee hee

Here are a few fun pics from Leicester. Nic with his cousins whom he loved and they were fantatic with him. Jonty was a really good sport going on ALL of the rides at Twin Lakes fun park. Nic was too young/short to go on without a parent...good fun for everyone. The National Space Centre

Teeny tiny post to say we are still alive

So, we made it home in one piece. Thanks to everyone who spent time with us on our wonderful adventure and helped make it so memorable. Must thank the fans at home too for taking care of business. Nice to be home to lovely sunny, positive and terror free NZ. Anyway, next few weeks I am going to get some pics and stories up but in the meantime here are some tasters....

frog rock

A few weeks ago we went to Hanmer for the day. We spent a fantastic afternoon at the pools. Being autunm there was a nip in the air which made the hot pools even more delicious than usual. We played in the kids pool for hours and Jonty and I even used the hydro slide. I can tell you the heavier you get the faster you go! We came flying out of those tubes like a rocket. All bloody good fun. Nic absolutely loved the kids slides and the giant bucket that empties from a great height every few minutes. The best part was the sun and there being a lot less people than in the summer - room for everyone. It was a perfect tonic after a couple of super busy weeks.

On the way back we stopped and climbed up 'frog rock'. We have been past it hundred's of times but never climbed it. I thought it was very high and little bit scarey but the view of the autunm landscape was stunning.

You can see the road going North in the background as well as the Weka Pass railway line.

As you can see it was a stunning day.

Easter - in a nut shell or a chocolate egg shell

stunning cheese and ice cream
beautiful architecture

trains and steam

seafood delights

beach treasures

great weather

white stones

Marie-Anne

trampoline

discovery

chocolate

penguins

egg hunt

Jasmine

chooks

quiet

Oamaru

Here is a taster of our weekend in Oamaru. Jonty said he was disappointed that I had not done a post for three weeks so here is a picture of Nicholas on the trampoline.

squeezing the lemon...making the most of the summer sun

We had a very family weekend. Saturday morning dawned foggy but at 10am we downed tools and headed for Taylors. The whole day was pretty weird because there were banks of fog hanging around in odd places.

This is Sumner under the cloud. It pretty much hung around on and off all day and when we went to L and Julian's for his birthday bbq, it was very thick and cool there. Odd but very interesting.

Sunday we headed off to Akaroa with my family to spend the day with Alison, my mothers lovely cousin from Sydney. Stopping at the Littler River gallery on the way for our art fix we then camped out on the water front in Akaroa for the rest of the day. There was swimming, shopping, lovely food and play ground activity.

On the way home in the very late afternoon, I indulged myself in a bit of 'out of the window' photographic activity which is really fun and you never know what you are going to get. Jonty doesn't want me to publish his nasal hair shots so here are some more tasteful snaps.

Christchurch Art Gallery in the late afternoon sun.

Hope you all had a good weekend too. I am sure if it was anything like ours there is a mountain of washing, gardening and housework still waiting to be atteneded to.

biking

Hard to believe that less than two weeks after getting a bike that boy can actually ride it. Agreed that there is a lot of stopping and some very odd steering but what a great achievement. We headed to Hagley Park before the thunder and lightening for a try at an area longer than our drive and Nicholas was fantastic. A bit precious when anyone came within 10m of him but I guess that is ok. What fun!

lantern festival

After a busy day at the beach celebrating Ben's 2nd birthday and trying not to look at Dan Carter, we decided to cap it off by visiting the lantern festival. Jonty had been in bed all day with a cold and chest thing and Nic was asleep early but we hauled him out of bed to go. He slept in the car and just as we woke him the festival was officially opened and cacophany of loud fire crackers were let off. It took Nic about an hour to get over that so he was a bit scared the whole time. However, he was won over by the lovely lanterns and all the activity. There were thousands of people there and it was great to see so many families out on a warm balmy night...a rare event this summer. We loved it. We ran in to some library people I knew and also Alex, Pete and the boys and saw Steph and Andy on the restaurant tram as it went by which was a real hoot. It was a lovely interlude out in to the real world on a Saturday night and it was great to feel part of the city and something fun.

Veiw from the Town Hall looking across to Victoria Square with the Victoria towers building in the background

Nicholas a bit pensive...an unusual state for him

One of the many lovely displays

Playing with Dan Carter

I looked down at the beach today and saw a gorgeous body. Perfection! He was walking in to the water and that was it really. Then when we went down later to the beach he was there playing Petanque and it was Dan Carter (All Black extrodinaire). He was there minding his own business chatting to his girl and having a relaxing time. Everyone was looking at them but after a while they stopped. It was fun watching people recognising him. Errol came down from his batch and chatted and then played petanque too. Nice thing to do. Must be lonely and weird having people look at you all the time. I snuck this photo and felt really guilty and his girlfriend saw so that wasn't cool but no harm done I hope.

Anyway, that All Blacks conditioning camp really worked. Dan is very 'conditioned'

that beach again

We have been really making the most of the last of the summer warmth. The weather has been so hot and the water so warm that we just can't help ourselves. The garden is dry and neglected and the ironing pile just keeps growing but we have all winter to attend to those things. Nic and Jonty have been getting out and about on the hot afternoons, generally to the beach but with a few side trips on the way. My week has been punctuated by a screamingly sore back so I have had to just stand all day and didn't get to play on the beach. Pretty crap for me but still some nice images to share.

Came upon a lovely (short) wedding the other day. The groom was super short and they seemed very nervous and young. Still, lovely to look at and nice vibe on the very busy beach.

birthday season

Nic's birthday week extravaganza is drawing to a close with the delivery of a lovely cake to pre-school this morning being the last activity to perform. He has had a fab time. Turning 4 has been great for him. What a difference between the toys and interests of a 4 year old to those of a 3 year old. He has never been a big 'boys toys' kid but now he is starting to get an interest in all things boy. His major gift from us was his first two wheel bike...with no trainer wheels. It is teeny and he loves it. I am guessing there is a lot of falling off to come but I think he will get there. He is a quietly determined child but not necessarily a fast learner physically. He will get there.

We had a fabulous day at the bach with his friends on Sunday and a family dinner last night. We have Ben's second at Taylors on Saturday and Olivia's 4th was the weekend before last. Nicholas loves his cousins so it is great to have all these parties during the last of long summer.

took this snap on the way home last night

before and after

Check out our paint job. What a difference. What a slum our house was. Lovely new weatherboards and ingenious shingles made by my dad.

Gorgeous!

Back to the beach

Well, I said I wasn't going to just bang on about beaches but I just can't help it. Last Sunday was an amazing day at Taylors. The water was calm and there was no wind. It was just like Totaranui and the water was warmer. We took the kayak and invited Paulette and Jonty to join us. My folks turned up too. What an amazing day...we were there for hours and had to drag ourselves home at tea time. It was also 'K' day too...major surf life saving event so all of Jonty's family were around the place too. We all spent hours in the water and barely had time to stop for lunch.

Here are some pics...

It has been a whole year...

since I started this little blog and checking in to a few months it looks like I have had a pretty good year. It was always meant to be a blog celebrating the good things in my life, reminding myself and sharing with others the happy, fun and inspirational. Having had some very flat and hard months I have always found something to celebrate or enjoy during those times. Having the blog has reminded me to look around.

Embarking on another year, I am keen to reflect some movement or growth in our life and not just replicate another year of beach and bike adventures. With Nicholas moving in to a new phase of his life, our world will change as we find ways to stimulate him and keep his world increasing.

I am off to the Gold Coast for work this week so there might be some interesting things to report on my return. I know I haven't been doing links and interesting things lately because I have been exhausted and my brain is full. However, after a lovely warm holiday in Able Tasman I am feeling more inspired and refreshed. I hope that is reflected in the pages of the blog.

Not sure what is in store this year but I am looking forward to moving on a bit. Some things I thought I might do
more art projects
more time with my friends whom I love
new experiences with Nicholas
save some money
finish our house improvements

that'll do... hope you will stay tuned