school holidays

Today was the first day of spring break. Beck is thrilled to have his sissie home all day long. They're getting along swimingly - for now.

We went up the road to the Mud Castle for afternoon tea yesterday. I took this before we got in the car...


I wonder what the pictures will look like at the end of school holidays.

Beck is Three

Beck turned three on Saturday. He opened presents in the morning...


and had a party on the beach in the afternoon...


It was a beautiful day. Beck was quite content playing in the sand.


Beck's friend Aila had a great time also. She was very proud to be on a date all by herself.

Happy Birthday Beck

This little guy turns 3 tomorrow!


He has a hot date with Ayla...


He's so excited, he could climb a tree.




We'll get him to put his shoes on the right foot for his date.

For the first time in seven years, Amy and I went skiing for the day without the ankle-biters tagging along. I took Amy on a little tour and showed her some of the views over the back. It was the first time she had been all the way to the top of the ridge. The mountains around the top of the south are stunning...


The direction that Amy is pointing is mainly unspoiled national parks that cover the top of the south island...


It was a magnificent day full of blue sky, fresh snow and smiles...


but strangely enough, we missed the kids and thought of how much fun they would be having if they were with us.
Isn't life peculiar.

Spring is here again

Spring has arrived in the Moutere. The air is full of energy. The little lambies are growing fast.


It's great to see the kids outside enjoying their amazing surroundings.


This is the rainy season, and we've had plenty of it. We've also had some beautiful days. The skies are quite amazing. Rainbows everywhere. Here's what it looked like from our porch this morning.


Here's Amy helping the neighbour herd their sheep...


That's probably not something she thought she would be doing a year and a half ago. How much our lives have changed. We're loving it.

skiwing

I gave Amy a well deserved staycation the other week and took the kids up to the Nelson Lakes area. It takes only two hours to get there, but we stayed over Saturday night at a lodge in the small town of St Arnaud. Saturday was berserk. We drove straight to Rainbow, the local ski area just outside St Arnaud. Because the road up to the ski area is unpaved and steep, this year the ski area insists that all vehicles put chains on before going up the hill. If you don't have chains, you have to take the shuttle. We tried to borrow a set of chains from the neighbor, but they were way too big for our car, so we were at the mercy of the shuttle.

With two kids, skis, boots, food, sledding tube, nappy bag, extra clothes, water, sunscreen, and all the other paraphernalia required to maintain two young kids for more a few hours, getting on the shuttle was an expedition in and of itself. The shuttle, however, was easy compared to kitting everyone out in relative comfort and getting onto the slope.

Now the fun part. Yea right. It only got harder as I tried to manage two kids on skis at the same time. Before I appreciated what I was getting into, Beck was on his way across the embankment determined to get onto the main tow rope up the mountain. I wrongly though he would be safe on the side of the bunny hill while I sorted Quinne out. Just as I began to appreciate my predicament, Quinne was off in the opposite direction bounding out of control toward the bunny rope tow queue. I had to quickly prioritize which kid to save first. I went after Quinne because I saw a line of beginners in danger of being violently bowled over by a fast moving six-year-old. Besides, surely it would take Beck a while to mount the embankment and slide down the other side into the big lift line. As I raced after Quinne, I glanced over my shoulder and realized how wrong I was. Beck was already on his way down the embankment sliding toward the front of the main lift line. I changed course and went after Beck. I caught up to him just before he slid into poll position in the main lift line. Quinne had fallen just before ploughing into the unsuspecting bunny line. By the time I got to her, she wasn't pleased with me for leaving her in an uncomfortably twisted pile on the slope. She decided she'd had enough. Enough skiing. Lets do something fun.
Are there any pictures to go with this story? Yeah right!

I do have some pictures from the next day. I needed to recover from our ski day, so we leisurely took the day as it came. The kids played on the shore of Lake Rotoiti on the edge of St Arnaud.


Well, Quinne's not in the picture because she had locked herself in the car at this point. She was petrified of this vicious and vile animal that was about to attack her. Here's a picture of the terrible creature...


What makes a six-year-old afraid of a swan is beyond me. There was no way I was going to convince her that it wasn't going to attack her though. We had to all get back in the car and drive to the other side of the lake where there were no monstrous attack swans. There Quinne was happy to play freely...


In the mean time, Beck was hitting on older women.


He was rejected, but took it in stride.

When Quinne accepted that the other kids weren't being eaten by the swans, she happily joined in and made amends.


It just goes to show how much more powerful peer pressure is compared to parental pressure.

In the end, we had an enjoyable day in a beautiful place, and we all learned something.

Potty Training

Beck is very proud to go on the potty all by himself.


and flush...


He likes to have some 'piracy' while he's on the potty though.