Mt Eden

Mt Eden is an old volcano in Auckland. You can look down into the crater, and it is so tempting just to roll down the extremely steep sides, all covered in lush green grass. However, there are signs pointing out that the area is fragile and sacred to Maori, so rolling is not on. We had a great time taking in the view, and providing photo opportunities for the Chinese tourists, who were like paparazzi buzzing around Adam and the 5 kids when they stood together for a group shot. The children felt very noteworthy. In the photo of Charlie and Laura standing side by side, note how he has shot up lately!

Brown's Bay

A drizzly evening at Brown's Bay ended up with a gorgeous rainbow.

The highs and lows of being 2.

Out to Dinner

Easter

We had a lovely morning hunting Easter eggs with the neighbours and then eating our chocolate in the sunshine.

Piano Recital 2014

The girls did a great job at their piano recital. Grace played "Love is Easy" and Jane played "If I lose myself," as well as a duet with her teacher, Fumiko. Fumiko amazed us all with some Rachmaninov at the end. Josephine called it 'angry music'.

Snuggling with a pirate

Exploring

On saturday Rich was away in Hamilton at a meeting and we decided to get out of the house and explore somewhere new. We found a lovely bush track in Onewa Domain. Along the way we saw some beautiful old trees, lots of interesting epiphytes and a tree which the fairies had decorated.

On the mend

Charlie has a health assignment which requires him to design a magazine cover and write an article about someone recovering from a health problem. How convenient! Here are some of the pictures we took of Rich for the proposed magazine cover. Which one would you choose? (By the way, that is my trophy from the Christmas Island Junior Swimming Club - Most improved swimmer in the 25m Freestyle - 1980.)

Out to dinner

On Wednesday we went out to dinner to celebrate Laura's birthday. We went to the Auckland Fish Market and had the yummiest fish and chips ever. Then we walked along the waterfront and looked at the artwork there and played in the playground. We snooped around and had a look at a mega-yacht with a helicopter parked on top. We watched some people fishing off the wharf for quite a while, but no-one was having any luck. It was a beautiful evening.

Lenny the Sheep

Josie's class has a toy sheep. Each weekend a class member gets to take Lenny and his diary home. The children are asked to write about what Lenny did with them over the weekend. Here is Josie's diary entry: This weekend Lenny came with us to the playground. Lenny loved all the things. But most of all loved two things. The first one was the slide. The other thing he loved it the most of all the stuff...the public toilet. He wouldn't stop going to the toilet (until I picked him up when he started to cry.) On Sunday Lenny was very naughty! He purposely smashed my mum's favourite vase! "Oh you naughty sheep!" I said as I plopped him on the time out step. Then he growled at me and then started a tantrum. Later I asked him to say sorry. He said "Baaah." I hope next time he's better. By Josie.

Look up, Adam!

On Saturday, Charlie and Laura went to get their hair cut, while everyone else went to the playground. Here Rich took a photo of Adam at the bottom of the slide and then, seeing that his eyes were shaded, asked him to look up a bit. He is so co-operative!

Swinging

Josephine's friend from over the road, Cohen, has a lovely swing in his front yard. They spend a lot of time out there.

Sunday lunch

The girls made a lovely lunch for themselves and shared it in the lounge room. Sausage rolls and lemonade.

New Zealand's Tectonic Plates

Here is Charlie's science project. He was asked to build a 3D annotated model showing New Zealand and its tectonic plates. In its creation, Charlie and I learnt a lot about geology, tectonics and playdoh.