swimming?

Lucy decided it was swimming time thisafternoon, (given that it is raining outside, who would'nt want to go swimming...) anyway, togs on over top of clothes, and a beanie for good measure.

part super hero, part tragic.

  

this is our fake indoor pool...

 

called in and had lunch with mum today too, which was nice.

nationals

a few weeks ago I competed in the NZ cycling nationals, for the first time as a Vet 1. (far prefer the 140km distance we did v's the 180km the senior men did!)
anyway, with the bare minimum training that I mangage to squeeze in, I managed to stay with the main part of the peleton, and finished 7th. I did try a few little escapes off the front in the first 1/2 of the race, and then thought better of it when my body started complaining about the lack of training... eventually a break of 2 went up the road by about 3mins, and then one other chase group got away in the last 1/2 of the last lap and got about 45sec up the road. I sprinted what was left of the peleton (about 12 of us) for 3rd in the bunch, and 7th overall.
pretty chuffed with that, considering the lead up.
here are some photos from the day.

someone in our race decided to have a rest so he hung his bike up on the fence. (may not have been intentional...)

fish and chips, walks and bugs.

Ellas choice of things to do on the weekend (after such a good week at school) was to hit the hot pools in Napier, followed by a seafood meal by the sea. Fish and chips. (in the rain, in the car, in the dark.)

Sunday while Ang was off riding, me and the girls went for a walk down one of the walkways in the village. Ella was a bit annoyed she couldn't scoot on her scooter all the way, but it was one of those, "well Daddy did try to tell you that it might not be a good place for a scooter, but you insisted on bringing it anyway...." moments.

This morning while I was having a shower, and Ang had already left for work, Ella and Lucy were busy catching Cocroaches.... well Ella was anyway, Lucy is not so keen on the creepy crawlies.  Ella turns up in the bathroom with the Cocroach all bagged up ready to take down to feed to the kindy turtle. (Neville likes cocroaches for breakfast) so we had to call in there on the way to school this morning. Ella still misses Kindy.  Not too sure how she caught it or where for that matter, but somewhere inside the house, and I think the plastic spatula out of the kitchen drawer was used somehow, to trap or daze the thing into submission. It had to still be alive for Nevile to eat it though, he won't eat dead bugs, (esp if they have had a dose of fly spray, not good for his health.)

the words say: for 'turtle' at temata 'kindy' - cocroach

first school certificate!

Ella was pretty excited today, as she got to stand at the front of Assembly and get a certificate.
She has been asking after each assembly, "Dad, when will I get to go up the front and get a certificate?" to which I usually reply, " when the teacher thinks you have been a good enough girl to deserve one!"

bike ride on the weekend

Thought we better get out and have a family bike ride,
before the weather gets too cold which will limit the enthusiasm.
We all headed down the river path that travels alongside the Tuki Tuki River.
Not too far, probably only 2km. Ella rode pretty much all the way, with just a few pushes towards the end

Also on Sunday Ella went to a friend's Birthday Party at a playground in Napier, which she enjoyed.
Lucy just made her own fun by hiding in the cupboard. (Who needs a flash playground when the kitchen cupboard is so much fun?)

school holidays

First school holidays!. what to do.
well you would think there would be more time for updating the blog!  ha ha.
here are a few pics of what we did get up to over the break.

  

Good Friday and sat with nine kids!  breakfast anyone? Easter was great

 

Lucy hitching a ride with Libby

  

Walk on the beach, great weather!!!

 

a little exploring in the rock pools

Easter sunday and just a few eggs to find in the garden

  

then of course you have to sit on the deck and eat them!

 

Lucy helping dad with a batch of scones

  

this is Lucy's idea of a grin

  

Lucy just getting where she wants to go by dragging the step around, able to get up high to the shelf with the left over easter eggs!!

  

see Daddy, I can get the eggs by my self. Great.

 

a bit of dancing and dress up of course (with Ella L who was here for a play date.)

  

several sessions at the play ground of course 

  

then up to Grandma and Barry's beach for a few days too. 

Mum and girls on a little walk, check out the lack of swell, there was no big waves, and everone enjoyed a swim on more than one occasion! not tooooooo cold once you get in...

  

there was a cool area at low tide that left a shallow pool that was a few degrees warmer than the ocean. that was nice to lay in the sun! and good for skimming along on the body board too

 

A bit of Lego building (we found Roger and Michaels stash of old childhood lego and both girls were quite into it!)

 

Lucy is always up for a little cuddle with the neighbours! Tom and Lucy are soooo good together.

  

Joe's african creation. this is obviously the water hole.

  

Ella went with  more flowers and butterflies and a horse scene, (must be in Australia, thanks to the Koala in the corner)

 

this was yesterday, back into the school routeen and Lucy and I went down to the village for music and Dancing, followed by coffee. nice.

 

today we dropped Ella at school and then came home for a bit of painting!

Happy Birthday Narly

Happy Birthday Big Fella.
You turned 21 in our house-hold today.

No body helped me make the cake, (they were all too busy playing games) but Lucy helped me with the icing.

First she chose the colour, Pink! then she helped me lick the bowl....

Lucy also insisted on having a pretty flower, no matter how much I tried to convince her otherwise.

Sorry Narly but a pink cake with a flower is better than no cake!