Fudge making

Kidsfest 2008
what can I say about these? Clearly neither of these kids will be professional fudge creators :)

Saskia has made an *interesting* collection of things.

Josh seems to have made some sort of weird fudge insect with big marshmellow antennas.

Chess champion

How cool is my boy, Chess champion of the Pohutukawa class for term 2 2008. He led for most of the term then with just a couple of weeks to go was knocked of his perch only to regain first spot in the last week.

Two of the children in the class made his trophy.

Ataahua B&B

Life has been so hectic lately that we decided to take off for a couple of nights at a local B&B. We booked for the weekend of the 4th July and stayed Friday and Sat.

http://www.ataahuachristchurch.co.nz/

Was a great spot but due to the weather we didn't get to stroll around that much. Still is was nice and relaxing and a great way to slow down.

There are better pics of the place on the website but we stayed in this cute little boathouse a few metres from the main B&B. Food and service was excellent.

Snow

Woohoo finally we got some snow this year, last year we missed out. If it is going to be this damn cold then at least the snow makes it fun.

Still a couple of months of winter to go, never again will I complain about a Melbourne winter!

The Goliathon 83 Infinity Beam Projector

This will be Richards Fathers day present this year but we let him play with it already. Who could resist?

Rayguns

You just never know when The Aliens are going to land. When they do we will be well and trully prepared.

Recently we purchased the Weta Collectables Raygun series http://www.wetanz.com/collectibles/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=9

How cool are these things? The FMOM Industries Wave Disrupter was my Mothers Day present, reinforcing my status as the uber cool mum. Honestly it is a must have, stylish, practical and totally necessary in these days of uncertainty.

Classic kid comments

At 5am Friday 25th April 2008, ANZAC Day, Saskia gets up and begins to get ready to go to the Dawn Service with R and J.

All of a sudden she turns to her dad and says......

"Daddy I don't want to go to war today, can I go back to bed?"

We are still laughing about it. Anyway she hopped back into bed and went straight to sleep. Maybe next year she will go with the boys.

Our "experience"

Miss S saw this on TV and just had to give it a go. To most people it would be called an experiment but in her ever adorable style, S calls it an "experience"

You need:
Plastic plate

Milk

Dish washing liquid

Tooth picks

Food colours

Put some milk on the plate, put in a couple of drops of each of the food colours. With the tooth pick put a drop of the dish washing liquid in the food colours.

When you put the dish washing liquid in it will cause the food colour to swirl.

We had heaps of fun doing this and I was very impressed with S as she remembered how to do the "experience" word for word from what she saw on TV.

Rainbow Warrior

How lucky we were to have the opportunity recently to go aboard The Rainbow Warrior as part of a school excursion. It was docked at Lyttleton Habour which is about 10 minutes from our place.





A couple of the staff spent quite some time talking to the group about climate change.

The Esperanza was also docked at the same time although we didn't go aboard it was great to see it up close.

I recently did an afternoon workshop to learn a bit about fermented and cultured foods. Hopefully this is just the start of a new interest for me. Here is the information as printed on the invitation for the afternoon.

"Partake in an afternoon of culinary learning and gastronomic inspiration.
Learn the simplicity of making foods like lacto fermented veggies, pickles,
chutneys, salsas, cortido, sauerkraut, kvass, & kefir. Enjoyed all winter, without refrigeration, and with tremendous health benefits you can easily make them a part of your lifestyle! Across the globe for centuries these brilliant & nutritionally prolific foods have been the sustenance of traditional cultures. Cultured foods are literally alive, both with flavour & nutritional abundance.

Think of tangy sauerkraut, spicy kim chee, rich earthy
miso, creamy kefir, cultured cream, smooth velvety yogurts, aged cheeses. Fermentation unlocks a cornucopia of hidden health giving properties.

Cultured food buttresses our natural defense systems.
They provide probiotics (or beneficial bacteria) that form a powerful front line defense for vibrant immunity. You will leave with your own jar of sauerkraut, recipes and a heap of effervescent resources. Enjoy samples of local ferments to taste, savour and delight in!"

Hedgehog

Such funny little creatures. We were lucky to see this little guy in our backyard recently as they are usually nocturnal.

Saskias BD 2008

My baby is five! Luckily we had a great day for her birthday party as the main event was the bouncy castle.

We had a backyard full of kids including Saskia, Joshua, Ethan, Neo, Jordan, Dylan, Alice, Rayhana, Heath, Liam and Morgana who went to Abacus with Saskia last year.

Gebes Pass

We were so fortunate to be invited to an open day at Gebes Pass recently. It is the only major wind turbine in Christchurch and is even more special as there are links back to Richards family via one of the original designers, Neil, who has sadly sinced passed away.

What an amazing experience. We got to stand right under the turbine as it wooshed around as well as look inside the tower.

First day of school 2008

Both the kids are now at the same school which really will make life easier this year. Saskia has started in the 3-6 classroom and is thriving. The first week was quite a difficult one as she had a hard time settling in and me leaving her there.

I was quite surprised as she has been at childcare and kinder since 12mths. She also knows so many people at Nova, Josh has been there for 4 years so Saskia knows a lot of the other kids and staff.

All is good now though and we are off for our first class excursion this week.

Little River Fire Festival

Okuti Valley Eco Stay






Wow we have just had the best weekend. It is Richards Birthday today and to celebrate the four of us went away to Okuti Valley which is about 40 mins out of Chch, near Little River.

We stayed at Okuti Garden Eco Stay in the Earth Brick Studio. It is s stunning property with beautiful gardens, vege patches and a little pond. There is an outdoor solar shower, composting toilet, outdoor bath which you light a fire underneath to heat up.
http://www.okuti.co.nz/

On Saturday afternoon we went to the Fire Festival. They had some great live music,bonfires, fire dancers and performers. The highlight was the fire walking which Richard and I did. We said there was no way we would do it at first but the atmosphere, drumming, other people doing it, we just had to give it a go. It sure was hot and poor Rich got a big blister on his foot but it was amazing. Can't believe we did it and am still buzzing about it. The kids think we are amazing :)
http://www.littleriver.co.nz/Little%20River%20the%20one_files/page0007.htm