Snow planet

We have had a fantastic holiday spending most days at Snowplanet. We primarily went so Tom would learn to ski but the teaching was so good that finished doing jumps off planks of wood! Oliver has turned into a speed demon and loves getting to the bottom ASAP! Alex's confidence has blossomed and looks really relaxed.

We enjoyed it so much we have signed up for the year to build on our success particularly as the curly fries are so good at the bar!

We continue to enjoy ice-cream at the malls although on one occasion on I chose the wrong flavour for Tom. He seemed to take it well!

Bike riding in Orewa

The boys are growing out of their bikes so it was time to buy Alex a new bike and pass his down to Oli. Oli loved it and was keen to go as fast as possible. Tom is still happy with his circus bike and Alex was understandably blown away by his amazing new bike.

Tom was particularly pleased as he found the best ice cream ever, Creepy Crawly Whippy!

Orewa is a beautiful seaside town with great flat paths which was perfect for their bike riding. It was lovely for Fran and I to chat with our friends without interruption for about an hour! Many more bike rides to come I think.

It is the day before the final of the world cup and the kiwis are nervous. It has been a hugely successful world cup for rugby and NZ, let's hope the team can put the icing on the cake.

iPhone retry

Photos too big last time.

Trees adventures was amazing, we will definitely go there again. We have become big fans of Lone Star and when given the choice the boys always ask to go there.

Another favourite is Rhythm Cafe. We regularly buy our coffee there and the boys love the breakfast. Alex eats as much as we do now, very scary.

iPhone shots

Trying to create a blog from phone and seeing how it turns out.

We have had an awesome break with lots of skiing at snowplanet but tired out in the second week. Tom finished the week doing jumps off ramps!

There were lots of activities at the malls and the boys really enjoys painting jandals and making all sorts.

For homework Alex had to read a book and watch the film. He was supposed to read Harry Potter's first book and read three instead! Such a bookworm.

Marbles are the key!

For the last few months we have been using marbles as a reward for good behaviour etc and it works!  The boys love it and when they fill their jars they decide on something to do.  Interestingly, they all wanted to go to 'Lone Star' which is an american type restuarant with large portions of food.  We allowed them to go with the idea of you need to do lots of exercise beforehand because of the amount of food you are going to have!  They were quite happy to ride around Western Springs lots of times, Oli has moved onto a larger bike now so its getting very difficult to keep up with them although Tom is happy to plod along and moan, a lot.

Tree Adventures 2

As I said earlier, the boys absolutely loved the tree adventures. So much so, that Alex and Oli went around again.  Some parts of the course were really tricky and seriously wobbled, we had to get them to let go and realise they would just hang there as it was pretty scary at times.  When we got back the whole experience had a profound effect as later in the afternoon and I found Alex sitting in a tree?!

Tree Adventures

Deb and Pete kindly bought us some vouchers for 'Tree Adventures' in Woodhill and it was time to give something new a go.  Initally it was just Alex and I who were going to have a go but it was quiet and the guy running it allowed Tom and Oli to join using our voucher which was awesome.  Oli looked a little shell shocked as he wasn't expecting to do it but Tom started dancing.

There was a practice session on a small course to learn how to use the equipment which took a long time as the boys had to learn to do it for themselves.  Interestingly, Oli found it hard and Tom, at his pace, picked it up quickly.

We only did the first course but it was quite high and Tom stopped dancing, in fact, he stopped moving entirely!  However, with encouragment from mummy he eventually worked his way around and some of the activites were not easy so we were very proud of him. Alex and Oli sneaked in another go as they absolutely loved it.

England vs Scotland

During the world cup I was able to go to Eden Park to see England Vs Scotland.  I went with Mark and Tamsin, fellow Brits, early to Auckland to visit 'the cloud' and meet up with some more friends.  We watched the Aussies take on Russia on some impressively huge screens with a few beers.  Our friends were not so keen to do the trail up to Eden park and we got on the bus to a pub near the ground where we had some more beers, it was very busy but great fun.  We later went on to the ground to watch the rest of Tonga vs France which was a fantastic game where more beers were drank.

Whilst waiting for the game to start I was winding Mark up about the Guernsey flag adding some class to the St. George's cross and he pointed and said do you mean one of those over there!  I couldn't believe it and had a few beers with some lads from Guernsey.  It was a tight game and it required many beers to calm the nerves as the scottish were loving the lead but England nicked it at the death.
There was a massive celebration after the game with the English and Tongans celebrating so we did the fan trail back visting many pubs on the way back which meant lots of beer.

I had a very sore head the next day, I blamed a dodgy MacDonalds.