Cookies!

We weren't using our table much so we moved it and the boys are certainly enjoying the view more!  Alex bought Fran a cookie book for her birthday and she made us peanut and choc cookies.  They were lovely.

Alex is still in full flow with his reading.  In NZ when you finish your book there is a quiz online you have to do and you collect points for certificates.  

Tom and Ollie continue to love kindy.  When Fran went to pick up Ollie today he asked if he could go to a mate's house for the afternoon.  He came home 5 hours later!

Borders Rocks!

After walking on Milford beach Fran had to have her hair 'done' in Albany.  We dropped Fran off and had a healthy meal at MacDonalds ($5 a meal!!).  The boys wanted to check when 'Monsters Vs Aliens' is on, we promised them we would take them.  As you can see the cinemas are huge and are great at seducing you to go and see other movies with trailers on about 50 screens!

I wanted to buy a magazine in a bookshop called 'Borders' and this is an amazing place.  Its a standard bookshop with a cafe.  When we went there there was a lady reading stories.  The boys sat down for 10 mins and listened.  Afterwards she asked them to choose some from the shelves. An hour later they were still sat there listening to stories!  I had no choice but to get a coffee and read some magazines.  They have them for sale but you just grab one, read it and put it back?!  When the 'book lady' had finished I joked with her and said,'Thanks.  Same time next week then?'  She replied,'Oh yes, every Saturday and Sunday.'  Amazing! I love this country.

We were supposed to go to a park but we never left the mall so when Fran returned we decided they needed to have a run around.  The 'best thing ever' (SATNAV) gave us a list of parks nearby and we picked one which was a couple of minutes away. It had a skate park hole which a girl rode around and Ollie was transfixed for 10 mins watching her.  We got home and he asked where his bike was. We may need more than a helmet for Ollie.

Milford Beach

Another beautiful day in NZ today, about 25.  We went for a walk on Milford beach which is very close to Auckland.  I had to get some material for camp and it took ages so we had to calm the boys down with an ice-cream each.  As you may notice the beaches/parks are never very busy, this beach is close to the main area of the North Shore City and you wouldn't think it as its so quiet.

Fran would love to live in this area but the houses along the beach are a little out of our price range!  At least a million dollars which is about the same price as our house back in Gsy.  The sea is much warmer here and I was almost tempted to go in until we met the jellyfish!  Didn't stop the boys going for a dip though.

Birthday Week!

On the day of my birthday I was given a lovely shiner during football training.  Wish I could say it was due to beating someone with my sublime skill but no, my foot got wedged in some some sand/mud and I used my face instead of my hands to slow down!  Not recommended.

Alex spent some of his birthday money on Lego.  Thank you to everyone who sent him money for his birthday, he really is chuffed to bits with the Lego.  We are too as it was the first time ever that he built the stuff and it gave us a couple of hours to relax.  I may encourage him to buy some more! Thanks again everybody, it really is appreciated and all three of them play with the Lego for hours.

Thank you to Pete and Deb who sent Fran flowers and me a fantastic cake.  The boys enjoyed helping Fran blow her candles out and most of the spit missed the cake! Yummy.

Shore to Shore Pt 2

Once we got going we found out our official was called Sam and he was very useful in taking our photo.  The race ended on Milford beach and we did end officially last out of 6,000!  

There was a sausage sizzle waiting for us and lots of water, the boys preferred the sausage!

Ollie was desperately on the hunt for a play area, which he found, and I begged him to sit down for a second so I could take a photo of the marina.  Beautiful area to live but expensive and of course Fran would like to live in this area.

Bribery always works best and for completing the walk in 2 hours they all got an ice-cream

from Wendy's in the Milford mall.  Ollie always goes for the berry flavour and some of it goes in.

Shore to Shore

A big fund raiser is the Shore to Shore run/walk. Its a 5 km walk from Takapuna which is the main town on the North Shore to Milford which is a suburb further north.  We started at a school a little late as you can see everyone disappearing towards the start line.

We walked with Claire and Fin.  Thankfully Claire brought her buggy as it was used many times for lots of different reasons.  Tom wasn't so keen to have his photo taken as he was tagged last in our tag game.

The first beach we met was Takapuna beach with all the multi-million dollar homes and as you can see it was a beautiful day.  At the halfway point we stopped for a coffee and noticed someone with black t-shirt following us and sat as we sat.  We asked him who he was and he was an official who had to stay with the last group of the race. He declined our offer for a coffee but took one of the boys lollies.

Alex's 7th Birthday Pt 4

Without a doubt Tom's favourite section was the bugs!  The house was full of cockroaches and behind the spider was lots of big, hairy spiders.  It was a great day which included a lovely tractor ride around the grounds and to top it off when we left there was a three wheeled motorbike which looked like it could be in a Bond movie.  Alex was thinking Zac Power movie.

The boys were very hungry and as ever a MacDonald was only a few metres away.  The best thing about it was that once we had eaten the boys played in the play area for over an hour!  Fantastic!  Time for another coffee.

Alex's 7th Birthday Pt 3

It had a small aquarium which Ollie enjoyed looking for Nemo and Dorey.  

The butterfly section was really impressive.  Huge butterflies and lots of them.  Jo and Dan joined us and Fran sneaked out to feed Olivia.

Alex's 7th Birthday Pt 2

Butterfly Creek has a few areas to explore and we visited the farm first.  Lots of sheep, pigs, goats and petting animals such as rabbits and guinea pigs.  Never seen Alex so wanting to hold animals before it was great. Ollie was obsessed with a dancing bird and sat for over 10 mins staring at its cage!  Tom giggled and poked the poor animals!  When Ollie finally left the bird he fed the rabbit anything he could get his hands on.

Alex's 7th Birthday

Alex was woken up by his brothers who were desperate to give him his present as it was a Snowspeeder!  One of the great things about being here is they have amazing sales and clearances.  That's why Alex ended up with the Millennium Falcon!  It's absolutely amazing full of rooms, sound effects, lights and he can hardly lift it.  May do a separate blog for it - watch this space.

We were supposed to go to the air show but when we pulled out to go the traffic was ridiculous and a friend text us to say they had already been waiting an hour to drive in and they weren't there yet!  Regrettably but positively we said, "We can do it next year."  

We decided to got to Butterfly Creek which Oli and Tom visited with their kindy but couldn't do a lot of it because of the weather.  It was a good 3o min trip so their apparatus was handy as the boys were desperate to get out and use up some energy, it also meant Fran and I could have a coffee! 

Alex's Birthday Party Pt 4

As I said earlier the great thing about Chipmunks is that the kids entertain themselves so you can actually relax, for a bit, and have a chat with friends.  Nathan is off the scale excited as there is possibility he may have the job as the football national coach for the U15's!  How amazing is that!

When we got back Alex begged us to allow him to open his presents from the party.  He loved them all and Alex said that he had had a wonderful time. Just wish everyone back home could have enjoyed it with us. Its time like these, although you are having a great time, you really miss friends and family.