The only post in July

Mlle's new school bag:


...and feeling a little poorly

Reading Old MacDonald

Hunua Falls

Hiking in the Hunua Ranges:

Gee, hasn't she grown

May

The big event in May is that she is out of her cot and into her "Big Girl's Bed". She absolutely swims in it, so I think she will be in this one for many years yet. The transition was pretty easy; she comes downstairs a couple of times each evening, but except for the first few days she has been ok in the mornings. She now trots into our room around 6.30 or 7am and declares "It's morning time!". This is a nicer wakeup call than Morning Report, even with the bird calls, and nicer than my Radiohead CDs.





Andy came downstairs one day recently, suspicious because it had been so quiet. This is what she found:



Mlle had gone to the fridge, got out an egg, cracked it open and was about to cook it on her toy stove.

Evidence that Generation Z (or is she AA?) can multitask - storytime and texting at the same time:

Mother (Gen X, just) is having enough trouble on the one task.

Wellington with the Stantons

We spent last weekend in Wellington, staying with Guy, Jack and Katrina. Georgia and Guy got on well, after an initial bit of shyness. Both loved playing with Guy's trains.

Jack and Dave went flying, whizzing past Mt Tapy at 10,000 feet. A very nice flight, where we got to see some spectacular scenery, including valleys in the Kaikouras that would seldom be seen, and experienced the full range of Air Traffic Control, from the most helpful to the most grumpy.

We also visited our old Paris friends, Mark and Bad Jo, and Paul and Anne-Marie.

Easter egg hunt

Here's the easter egg hunt out at the farm.







Mary somehow manages to look ten times larger than Georgia in this photo.


If you want a flashback, click here for the easter egg hunt in 2008 and here for 2007.

Georgia's latest development is wagging her finger at me like a schoolmarm while giving me instructions - "you stay there, papa" or "don't take my breakfast away, papa". Cute, but insolent.

Random stuff

The world's (two) worst fishermen

Dave and Murray went sailing last weekend, and Dave caught this beautiful fish. Murray was very excited - he said this is the first Kingfish caught on his boat. It put up a terrific fight. But because it was below the legal minimum size of 75cm for a Kingi, we released it to live another day.

There is another theory. Some say this is not an undersize Kingi, it's a bloody great Kawhai, and we're damn fools for putting it back.



Murray's 2 year-old boy Mateusz clearly doesn't like fish. As soon as this Kingwhai got on board, he raced to the bow of the boat and sat there, refusing to come back.

Kiwi farm

Fran and Stewart stayed for a few days, and we all went to KiwiFarm. Georgia liked all the animals; she especially liked the goats, until one started eating her hair.