This evening, whilst paying for parking in town, one of my old ‘PIN Group’ (Parents in the Neighbourhood) ladies walked past with her delightful son, Samuel. Charlotte and Samuel gave each other a little hug after I said they used to play together as babies. As Samuel then climbed into his Mum’s car he called […]
Charlotte
Protecting Our House From An Earthquake
For the second time in the past fortnight Charlotte has ridden around the house on her bike, with kite string unraveling behind her, and fully ‘wrapped’ the house in a ‘trip-wire’. She tells me it’s to, ‘Protect our house in case of an earthquake’. Today she insisted we practice an earthquake drill, which consisted of […]
Charlotte’s Thoughts
Going to the Swimming Pool: Charlotte: Mummy, how do dolphins swim so well? Mummy: Well, they wave their tale gracefully to propel their body through the water. Charlotte: Mummy, if I had a ‘doo dah’ like Daddy I could wiggle that in the pool and swim better! Charlotte educating Daddy about dinosaurs on a hill-walk: […]
Wellington City Gallery Celebrating Matariki
Wellington City Gallery, set in Civic Square, is celebrating Matariki with a star making activity through till 30 June. Today we took the girls to create their own star for the cosmic galaxy. Charlotte flying her star: There are already some very creative stars on display and this activity is a wonderful opportunity for children […]
Extended Breastfeeding
In an age when often our first experience of breastfeeding is our own child at the breast, something that’s ‘natural’ isn’t always easy. In the western world we frequently grow up without the first hand opportunity to observe breastfeeding and learn. We don’t tend to walk around with our nipples bared, so the first onslaught […]
Inspiration + Education = Conservation
This afternoon we enjoyed getting close to some of the amazing sea creatures that inhabit Wellington’s rocky shores at the Island Bay Marine Education Centre. A resource consent for a new Marine Education Centre has been submitted and Family Lee is very excited at the prospect of having such an amazing facility within a ten-minute […]
Antarctica Comes to Kindi!
A recent Antarctica presentation at Kindergarten has fuelled our home activities this week. The wonderful presentation (as I am told by Charlotte) has inspired her to examine wildlife from around the world. I understand the presenter was Australian, as some native animals from that continent have found their way out of the cupboard, along with […]
Charlotte wins the Piston Cup
Charlotte’s finally learned to ride her pedal-bike after nearly a year of persevering. She got the bike for her third Birthday, but she was a little on the small side and lacking in muscle power to pedal it! Every other week she’d go off to the garage and wheel it out for a run. She’d […]
Esmeralda in Wellington
Esmeralda, a steel-hulled four-masted barquentine tall ship of the Chilean Navy and currently the second tallest and longest sailing ship in the world is in Wellington harbour. Charlotte and Sophie were mesmerized with it’s beauty and overwhelmed at having the opportunity to go onboard. Charlotte walked on by herself and when a kind sailor offered […]
Charlotte’s Rediscovered Confidence in Art
Charlotte was quite handy with any type of art until just before Sophie’s arrival and then she changed her focus to construction, cutting and pasting. Just when we were beginning to worry about her recession to scribbles she has bowled us over this week with a couple of ‘masterpieces’. Every parent must recall the first […]
Ecological Footprint: How Big is Yours?
Credit: Te Papa This was the question we were met with in Te Papa at the Nature Discovery Centre’s new interactive ‘toy’. Standing on monster-size, interactive, footprints we answered the questions as honestly as possible. The footprints respond to the answers, with green for good ecological behaviour and red for bad. With the wisdom of […]
Charli’s fully-clothed accidental dive into the bath!
Sophie and I were enjoying a relaxing bath, when along comes Charlotte, fully-clothed and leans over to scoop some bubbles off the surface of the water. After a few scoops (her mission seemed to be cleaning the bathroom cabinet) she leaned a little too far over… the next moment she went, head first, under the […]
South Headland Reserve, Houghton Bay
From the South Headland Reserve Charlotte and Dan enjoyed some stunning scenery over Cook Strait to the South Island. We’ve lived in Houghton Bay for nearly a year and it was the first time we’d explored this reserve, which is only a five minute walk from our home (shame on us!). View towards Island Bay: […]
Retail Therapy and Soccer Madness
Family Lee hasn’t been up to much this week. Charlotte kindly brought home a cold from Kindi, but she was only mildly afflicted. The rest of the Lee clan came down with the lurgy in a big way and the sunshine was a thankful blessing in aiding our ills. This morning we went into town […]