Mobile phone in December 2010 pt 3

Couldn't help myself and include two photos from he U2 260 tour as I went twice! Amazing.

Starbucks is everywhere and still very popular but there is a lot of competition. The boys like the gold chocolate coin which Tom has the remains in his mouth! The boys do cricket, gymnastics and swimming regularly. We have recently moved them to the Takapuna swim school and the boys like to swim in the free area while we wait.

Lego is a major part of our life but recently mummy has banned it. We have to finish decorating downstairs, which will be their huge playroom, before we are allowed to buy anymore and from now on it has to be glued. We are up to about 6 boxes of the stuff! The photos are of them getting the 2010 catalogue and they will stare it at for days! The final photo is of the Takapuna mall in Frans favourite cafe with the boys favourite snack.

Mobile phone in December 2010 pt 2

On of the fantastic things about the location of our house is how close it is to the coast. Within walking distance of our house we are still finding new beaches! This 'cave' beach, as the boys describe it, is mins away from Takapuna and the best ice-cream ever! Very handy.

Mobile phone in December 2010

It's great to look back on photos from the mobile over the last month. Albany mall is where we probably visit the most with an awesome cinema and hundreds of shops. The Christmas tree in Albany was the first one we came across and it was impressive.

Singstar Dance has been a huge hit in our house although we haven't improved much!

One of the wonderful things on the North Shore is the amount of lovely cafes and we probably visit one a day for either morning or afternoon tea!

Having our 'Sail Shade' has been invaluable because of the strong sun here. We have a great elevated deck and we are now starting to use regularly.

MOTAT (transport museum) is always popular no matter what the exhibitions are as they are always entertaining.

Fairy Falls, Waitakere Ranges pt 2

The waterfall was stunning. It was fantastic to be able to get so close and explore the water around it. Alex took his nature shot number 3 of what looks like a mini-crayfish. He takes his photos very seriously and he had many attempts! The walk back was not so easy but the boys coped really well with the support of a few lollies!

Fairy Falls, Waitakere Ranges

We have been wanting to do this walk for ages but Tom and Oli weren't quite up to the task. It was worth the wait as they didn't complain at all which is amazing considering the walk back up!

We stopped at the Arataki Visitor centre first to collect some maps and its worth a visit anyway as its so beautiful. They have a great activity centre there as well which always entertains the boys particularly the large kiwi puppet. The journey down was pretty straight forward but as we got closer to the waterfall it started to get more interesting with lots of steep steps and dodgy bridges!

Christmas 2010 Pt 2

We had a break of enjoying presents and the film 'Elf', which was surprisingly funny, and headed to our friends pool. After a couple of hours we were knackered and headed home for our Christmas dinner, cheeseburgers as ordered by Oli!

Christmas 2010

After having no home for nearly two months and then the mad rush of inviting everyone around for dinner for the last week which was fantastic but it was lovely to be at home by ourselves. The boys kept the tree simple this year with woolen toys, sent by Evelyn, and red/silver decorations. The boys were up at 6.30 ready for Santa's toys but as we had time on our side we made them wait for our presents. They spoke to Nanna and Poppy on skype showing her their toys and Tom insisted on them playing his Mr Men game. We found time to create our 'elf' video on the internet which was of huge amusement to the boys, catch that on Fran's facebook!

Uncle Willie kindly sent them some money and we gave in and bought them some 'Nerf' guns which they absolutely love! Notice the bullet in the top right corner!

Tawharanui pt 2

Allowed to go for a walk because we have such wonderful friends who look after our children, even Tom! Amazing place.

Tawharanui

It is now very hot and so its time to get out the tent! We travelled about an hour north to a wildlife sanctuary/campsite/huge beach with good surf. The boys were extremely excited about the whole idea although Daddy was not so keen with a deadly hangover from the school Christmas party. It wasn't a problem as our friends were so supportive and helpful.

The boys are really into the 'boogie/body boards' and will literally spend all day in and out of the water riding the waves, particularly Tom who described himself as a maniac surfer dude!?

As you can see from the photos, hardly anyone was there although I am sure it had something to do with the 5km dirt track to get there! Alex has a class toy he has to photo on his weekend to show what he does on a typical weekend, not bad eh?