Time to catch up with some photos! It is hard to remember where I have posted things, between here, Facebook and Flickr. Apologies for any double-ups.
The first photo was taken at the Waitarere Great Forest event where we did the 10km walk with Lasagne and her Dad. It was so much fun. We took our time and brought along a rather luxurious packed lunch with cheeses, fruit, crackers etc. Everyone else was taking it a bit more seriously than us and we cruised in as one of the last groups. We were worried that Lasagne might find it quite difficult, but she was putting us all to shame and running on ahead.
Next up we have one of the little pumpkins from our hugely productive pumpkin patch. The photo makes him look enormous but he is one of those little sweet pumpkins that taste delicious when roasted whole.
The rest of the photos are from our Bush Craft weekend with the local Kiwi Conservation Club. We stayed the night out at Sixtus Lodge and were taught by some hugely enthusiastic bush nuts. I thought it was going to be quite a testing time, sleeping in a dorm with lots of other families and managing all the gluten-freeness and our other strange ways of eating. But it was fabulous and we had a really nice time. Ok, not much sleep was had, but it was about 600% more than expected so I was happy.
Sixtus Lodge was kinda the same as I remember from school camp back when I was Lasagne’s age. At some stage in the future we hope to get a few families together and rent it out for the weekend ourselves. There is a very cool glow-worm cave and some fabulous bush walks to go on. Lasagne and Lavalamp had their eye on the horse trekking across the road too.
The bunk rooms are EXACTLY like I remember from 30 years ago!
My only complaint was there was a bit too much lecturing and the kids were getting a bit scratchy. There could have been a lot more hands-on for the young ones. Note my sullen teen in front…
On the second day we got to get ourselves outside and try some things. The photos below are from our “river safety” lesson where we were crossing an imaginary river. N got roped in to demo with the instructor, then we gave it a go (that is the flattering arse shot). We all had to link together to cross our imaginary river - thankfully that was not hands-on and we didn’t have to get wet.
Yes, I am the one with about three jerseys on and seemingly way colder than everyone else… After that it was time for a bit of a play and then off into the bush to build emergency shelters. I wish I had got a photo of the shelter we built. Our instructor nick-named it “the Hilton”. Hey…we like our home comforts :o)
All in all we had a great time. On the way home we picked up one of our beef animals (no longer referred to by name sniff) from the butcher. Unfortunately we were way-laid in Kimbolten at the pub, and were forced to have hot chips, coffee and sparkling wine by the world’s most magnificent open fireplace while we waited for the butcher. It was so welcome after being cold and camp-fooded out.
To sum up, lots of family-ness recently despite being hugely busy. Heaps has been achieved around the house. We have our new calf called Holly. She is adorably cute with a big cream coloured tasselly fringe over her eyes. I will add photos when we get some nice weather.
Lasagne has started going to “drama school” once a week after school with Tall Poppies. She is LOVING it. I think it is the highlight of her week. It is very relaxed but they seem to get lots done and she is now spouting terms such as “character” and “voice”. She seems to be in a really nice group with an enthusiastic teacher.
She is also playing hockey with a “mongrel” team made up of a mix of kids, half of which are underage. They couldn’t make a full team at any one age group, so they took all the kids who showed an interest and made one team of all these loose ends. There isn’t much pressure as they are not expecting them to win very often against the older intermediate kids. The coach is very passionate and has them practising like crazy, teaching them so much.
Lavalamp is facing the realities of her first NCEA year and the need for a very different attitude. Some fun things for her though have been drama, a class she is doing very well at. She is also taking singing lessons and getting to go to various productions and events.