Two more day’s till we run for the bell. Late night’s of summer reigned in with earlier bedtimes. Farewell to long, amicable days at leisure round the house. Reading together. Learning together. Creating crafts, food and music together. Nurturing the fruit and vegetables growing in our garden. Savouring the sweet taste of summer on our…
Category: Sarah
Feeding Eels…
One sunny Sunday over these marvelously, long summer hols (which, sigh, are soon coming to a close… term starts back 4 February), we went to one of our favourite places, The Saddleback Cafe. Nestled in the rural Ohairu Valley, it is such a tranquil place to escape Wellington City (not that it’s really the kind…
Family fun at Staglands
The other week we stopped in at Staglands for a wonderful afternoon of family fun. Sophie delighted in riding the donkey. Charli was really taken with the rabbits. The black swan didn’t make a bee-line for Dan’s ankles on this occasion. I managed to avoid getting my bag nibbled by a goat. We had a…
Forget Me Not
Join me today as I share a very precious memory of my beloved Grandfather… The old man looked out to sea with a faraway look. The eyes, which once sparkled, were empty, but he retained something of his handsome youthful looks: His white hair swept gracefully over his head and his neatly clipped, white moustache…
Medieval Knights and Jousting
On Sunday we stepped back in time at Harcourt Park, in Upper Hutt for the 2009 World Invitational Jousting Tournament. Watching the sword fighting we felt transported into the medieval world (apart from the sea of cameras and modern day attire of the onlookers). The swords were sharp and the fighting real enough to cause…
Peapods and strawberries to lazy dayzs on the beach
Shortly after breakfast, with Sophie in her PJ’s, the girls teamed up and started moving their painting equipment out onto the driveway. When I asked what they were doing, they simply said, ‘Painting pea-pods!’. Here they are in action… I just love the way they are so creative and work so well together to come…
Wet and windy walk on the wild side at Breaker Bay
On Friday we drove over to Seatoun to do one of our favourite short walks in Wellington; the Seatoun-Breaker Bay beach walk. There was a stiff northerly blowing in as we embarked on the walk and the girls were marvellous considering the conditions. They were rugged up warm, unlike Dan and I in our shorts…
New Year rolling in on a BBQ!
Phewie, the BBQ has been steaming over the past few day’s. Dan’s got the whole week off work and we are so blessed to feel like we’re having a holiday at home in our beautiful garden, with the sea just a short walk away. Kathy and Mark came round on Sunday, with their gorgeous boys….
Thank ‘G’ it’s the end of term!
I am so full of emotions tonight. It’s been tough letting go of my first born to a system where, due to numbers, children are molded to doing ‘x, y and z’ when told – how else would it be possible to contain so many free spirits within one room! The end term heralds in…
Counting down… party season!
The Christmas tree is up (with our usual eclectic collection of decorations, added to each year!), the advent calendar doors are being greeted with great excitement every morning (and they’re not even chocolate ones – what mean parents!), parcels have been arriving and swiftly hidden from prying eyes and we’re all looking forward to the…
Sounds Magic!
For the first time in five and a half year’s I got away for the weekend and left Dan to run riot with the girls. They had a blast at Staglands and Harcourt Park in Upper Hutt on the Saturday, so much so that they fell asleep on the return – woke at 5.30pm –…
Christmas catering
Friends of old will know I’m not the best in the kitchen. It took me many years to get over my fear of going near the cooker (okay, it’s not THAT bad!) and baking, well, I was never going to go there! The only experience I had of baking was in ‘Home Economics’ at school…
ABBA – Spanning Generations
There is so much music that spans generations and holds a special place in the hearts of families. I was born in the early 1970’s in the height of ABBA mania. Every Thursday evening I’d stay up to watch ‘Top of the Pops’ and dance around my parents living room. Of all the songs I…
Tranquil evenings watering the garden
The ground is so thirsty at the moment and every evening I delight in nurturing the garden with water and observing the growth. The girls have been out painting in their Birthday suits, making obstacle courses and creating potions in the paddling pool with food colouring and glitter. The cooker is redundant and the BBQ…