Birthday Breakfast Walk 2

The walk was great and we even had to climb a wall at the end as the tide was too high.  The boys enjoyed their cooked breakfast and smoothies.  They didn't even complain on the way back, a Bailey first!  Oli was keen to get back so he could finish watching Harry Potter and Tom was keen to get back so he could wear his PJ's!

Birthday Breakfast Walk

The sun has finally come out!  Perfect day for a walk to Rhythm Cafe and have a cooked breakfast.  The boys are becoming much easier to walk with over long distances and Alex had his friend Sam with him which helped.  Its amazing what they talk about, the topic of the moment is Minecraft a videogame where you can build whatever you like and then survive attacks from zombies!  Wonderful.  As you can see by the deep puddles we have had loads of rain and it was persistent which is unusual so it was a huge relief to be able to go out especially on my birthday.  It was simply nice to have an extended chat with each of the boys.

Poppy and Nanna snaps 2

The moment Alex got his wand - look at that smile!  Fran and Oli enjoying Paris, Florida?! Poppy and the boys also enjoying the wonders of the world in Epcot. The Harry Potter ride is worth just walking around as the attention to detail is outrageous.  The Rainforest Cafe maybe a little more expensive but it is very unique and wonderful.

Extra Florida snaps from Nanna and Poppy

Aquatica was amazing, a little colder than needed but that didn't stop us having a great time.  There was so much to do that you can't fit it all in on one day although it was very quiet.  All the malls have huge food courts and Chicken-filla was a favourite so much so that Tom wore the bag as a hat?!  Whilst at the house Tom was keen to build lego and Poppy fortunately helped lots. Bush Gardens was quite different to everything else and had a lot more for the boys to explore and do, they loved the log flume. The boys look strangely right to be with the chimp statue - what do you think?

Triathlon with Tom, Oli and Harrison

Tom and Oli teamed with up Harrison a close friend of theirs.  Tom started with the swim, Oli followed with the cycling and Harrison completed the team effort with an awesome run.  It was great to see them together and feel like a team.  Wonderful.

Alex triathlon with Blake

Alex has really matured over the last couple of years and is willing to give most things a go without too much fuss.  It really helped with the triathlon that his best friend, Blake, was also competing.  The wonderful thing about Blake is that he gives everything a go with a smile and this really rubs on Alex, and subsequently he enjoys everything he does with Blake. As you can see in the photos!  He had an awesome day and really performed well as running isn't certainly his thing.  Well done Alex.

Soundwave 2012 - rocked!

This was my first festival and it showed.  I spent most of the time aimlessly wondering as I couldn't make a decision of where to go!  I had a plan to see about 8 different bands but ended up seeing about 20.  The main stage had some pretty dark stuff with Slipnot and Marilyn Manson, but there were so many others to choose from.  Big surprises were Cobra Starship and You me at Six, but the stars were Lost Prophets, The Used and of course, Angels and Airwaves.  John somehow caught the drummers stick at the end of the concert and gave it to me, legend.  A wonderful weekend.

Brisbane

Last weekend I went to Soundwave which was a music festival and it was based in Brisbane, Australia.  Fortunately we were there long enough to have a quick look around the city.  We, friends John and Becks, were staying in a suburb called Herston and were only 20 mins walk to the centre of the city.  We walked through a park and saw some of the local wildlife but no koala's though.  The city was ok with a main street which ended by an estuary which had a pretty bank where I took my photos.  Oz was expensive though, a good 20% more than NZ.

Nanna parcel and training

A couple of weeks ago a parcel arrived from Nanna with lots of magazines in which the boys were very impressed with, particularly Oli who is crazy about Darth Maul from Star Wars - in fact he is sleeping with the magazine right now!  All the boys are into The Simpsons so they all loved that magazine, they are now asking way too many questions about the jokes in The Simpsons!  The boys are currently training for the triathlon and we took them through the three stages and they did really well.  Fingers crossed.