Sports Day

The boys had their first senior sports day yesterday. Not a great highlight for Tim, though he did enjoy the running. Jack loved it and got three third places, shotput, long jump and high jump.



Cooling off in Raro

We had a fabulous 7 days in lovely warm Rarotonga. The pool was one of our favourite places. More pics to come...

The long awaited video!

Finally got around to sorting i-movie... Oh dear, the movie says the tune is 'Four Seasons', but it's really 'Spring'.

The merry whistler...

We were so proud of Tim as he performed at the finals of the School Talent Quest. He filled the Hall with his continuous tune, baffling the audience; 'how does he breathe?' While not placed (though he must have been very close!), a parent came back to school later that afternoon and presented Tim with 'The People's Choice' award, a big block of chocolate.

Having problems uploading the video, will work on this over the weekend.

We're back!

Sorry about the lack of blog contact for the past few months, but we're still going strong. There's been a bit happening in our household this week...

BIG NEWS!!! Tim has made it to the finals on the school talent quest, whistling 'Spring'. The finals are in a couple of weeks. Will try to download a video of his performance.

Jack has finally earned his replacement scooter. He polishes it at night, says goodnight to it and until today it has 'slept' in the house.

We had a lovely evening catching up with Jean last Sunday. The boys love talking and learning from Jean, this visit the topic was Australia.

Today we have been at the Schools Orienteering Champs. Both boys competed, finishing in the top half of their field. Jack with a time of just under 14 mins and Tim was just over 12 mins.

Jack at the final control.

Tim sprints for the finish.

Discussing the course at the end.

Final news, the boys are in the studio audience for 'What Now' tomorrow, 8am on TV2 ... so tune in.

Snow is back!!

School closed at 9am this morning after an hour of steady snowing. This pic was taken at 10:30 on our way home. The snow is still falling at 2:30...

Yoda is still working out what snow is all about. His ventures out are short and inquisitive.

After playing with Noah and Seth for half an hour everything was soaking. About to pull on the layers again and head over to the park with plastic bags in boots. Gumboots have been added to the weekend shopping list!

Assembly hosts

Room 14 hosted assembly on Friday, with an X-factor theme. Tim was one of the judges, 'Steven Tyler' and Jack was a dancer. All very entertaining and great that Dad and Grandma and Pa were there to watch. Big highlight of the weekend though was Sydenham White having their first win on the season!!

In Rotorua we rested...

 Uncle Mark taught us how to do some pottery in his studio.

 Walking in the giant redwood forest was awesome.

 Uncle Mark preparing the boats for our fishing expedition.

 The fishing was good, on the first day Jack almost caught a fish! But on the second day Jack broke one of Uncle Mark's rods.

 Uncle Mark is telling us the history or Lake Tarawera.

The view from Uncle Mark's place, that's us down in the lake fishing.

Last pics from Auckland

 On our last night we went to Lone Star for tea with the Sherlocks and Grant's friend, Millie's family. Jack was in heaven with his spare ribs, he even polished off everyone else's bones!

 At one end of Devonport is North Head. This was a great place to explore as it was full of tunnels and gun emplacements. There were some awesome views to. Here you can see Rangiototo in the distance.

So much fun was had at Rainbow's End

 That's us in the yellow carriage, I'm the one in the back with my eyes squeezed shut, screaming my head off. Tim was beside me, also eyes shut, but much quieter and Rohan and Jack were in front, loving every minute of it.

 We all did the Fear Fall as our last ride of the day. From the top to the bottom of this tower in what felt like 2 seconds. Yes, I was screaming again and I left all my insides at the top of the tower. The boys all loved it.

 This is the wee kids version of the Fear Fall, only this one gently goes up and down. Jack, Tim, Rohan and Anishka are in the middle.

 One on Grant's highlights was the bumper boats, there was lots of crashing and splashing.

That's us all, totally exhilarated after our afternoon of thrill seeking.

Day two was action packed!

 First up was the Sky Tower. Jack and Mum were brave enough to venture onto the glass floor. 

 It was a perfect day with blue sky all round. Tim wasn't keen to stay up that high for too long.

 Then it was off to Kelly Talton's. The penguins were the highlight.

 Don't worry this shark was fake, but we saw lots of real ones too!

We finished off the day at the Easter Show where Jack got his tattoo.

Our wonderful holiday up North: Part 1.

We have just returned for an action packed (Auckland) and relaxing (Rotorua) holiday. Over the next few days we'll share some holiday highlights.
Let's start with some Auckland adventures...

 On our first day we took the ferry from Devonport to Auckland, you can see the naval base in the background of this picture.

We had a lovely time exploring Wynyard Quarter on the Auckland waterfront. This is the boat that Grant was keen to buy, just a little beyond our price range!!

Posing beauty!

What a selection of boats! Jack found it difficult to choose his favourite.

Tim is about to explode ... but luckily he survived.

Jack sets the naval base gun, watch out Sky Tower!!

Grading Day

Tim and Jack both went to a karate grading today. The expectations were high, the pressure was on and I'm pleased to report the outcome was positive. Jack is now a yellow belt and Tim an orange belt.

Watch Out!

Bet you wouldn't want to bump into this on a dark night! All padded up and ready for kumite (not sure about spelling) but it means ... one on one combat. Who's up for a challenge?

Garden Show

Late Saturday afternoon we headed off to the Ellerslie Garden Show with Jenny and Reece. Everyone had a great time. The food tent was a hit with the boys, and the gardens were pretty well received too.