ANZAC Day 2012

 6am - Dawn Parade at Latimer Square, Christchurch

 (Sam, Jess...  this is the Victoria St Clock tower), and below - after the service the NZ Army Band played for half an hour.  They were amazing.  We stayed for a while but it was SO COLD that we thought we had better get back home.  During the service we were all snuggled up in blankets, coats, hats and gloves.  I really felt for the men that lived for months in the trenches.

Maike's Dad is here!!

We went pretty much straight from the airport to Sumner Beach... 

 Lucy dressed for the occasion, just like a good kiwi girl.  Costume (Dorothy of Oz), yes!  Gumboots, yes!  As soon as we arrived Sebastien and Lucy RAN to the sand and started making sandcastles.  Megane and Grace were not far behind, but they were trying to keep sand out of their school shoes...

 And tonight - ballet! 

So cute!  And have you ever seen such long legs?  I have leg-envy :)

Monday 23 April 2012

 2 years later and the girls are reunited :)  Megane, Brie and Gracie

 On Sunday night we had some friends over for dinner... and being the great cook that I am, I got the girls from Nepal to teach us how to make Aloo Gobi.  There is nothing like guests that cook!

 Calm down Sam, I did cook something... here they are eating Chocolate Horrible.  And I had made roast chicken. 

 At school today we had the Wearable Arts  and it was FANTASTIC.  This is a hat - and I didn't get a picture of the outfit.  Melanie was a tree covered in birds.  It was beautiful.  And then there was the swan - stunning!

FHE and we played A to Z for kids.  Maike was really good at it.  I wonder why...  she was throwing in Italian and German words!  Oh yes, glockenspeils are brown....  :)

Rock Climbing

We went to Clip'n'Climb today - Maike is a legend climber!!!  Megane discovered she is now scared of heights (she never was before), and Lucy - as usual - just scooted straight up each climb.  Sebastien is still the fastest.  He raced Maike (they have timed climbs) and... he rules the world.  No surprise there...  Maike and Sebastien also tried the Leap of Faith.  They are insane - you could not pay me to do this.  Check out the DISTANCE BETWEEN MAIKE AND THE TRAPEZE!!!  She somehow over-shot the mark, and went FURTHER than the trapeze, but Sebastien caught it.

 "Mum, I'm kinda stuck..."

 Maike getting ready to do the Leap of Faith.  She was totally confident and then... this  :)  I love this photo!

 Can you see the distance??????? 

 Brie Ellen wants to take credit for taking this photo... Good job Brie! 

 We also went to Brighton Beach to check out the pier.  We found the boomerang on the sand, and Sebastien refused to "throw it back to Australia" because he wanted to show it to his dad.  You can't see them, but at the end of the pier there are lot of chinese people fishing for crabs.  It was GROSS.

This is Sebastien catching the trapeze - bravo Seb!

My Lucy Bunny

Isn't she a darling???

School holidays

The school holidays have started!!! We have been up to all kinds of stuff... As you can see Seb is a pro at the oars. Even with a broken arm...

What is with Dom's top???? That is so weird. Anyway, yes you are seeing this right. We visited the Paua House, where some cute old couple nailed a couple of thousand paua shells to their living room walls.... Miake loved it and wants to decorate her house back in Germany like this, eh Miake....

FINALLY Megane and Maike worked out how to row together and they stopped going from bank to bank... Dom and Lucy, and Sebastien are about a mile ahead of them :) It was a great afternoon messing about in boats.

Lucy took Maike for a crawl thru the moa bone "cave" in the museum. My kids thing Miake is AWESOME and insisted on showing her every cool thing that is left standing in town :)

In the museum we saw the top of the cathedral up close. It is really dented, and much bigger than I thought. Please note Sebastien's pink cast - it is gone now, and he is healing nicely.

Dad's house is coming along nicely... (Megane, Maike, Sebastien)

We saw the guy who wrote "Wonky Donkey" at the mall (Megane, Ella K, Lucy, Wonky Donkey guy,Grace K and Sebastien)

We went sightseeing around town (yer, we saw the rubble and the new shops made from tin containers) and met the Town Crier. Please note, we are standing under the working gas lamp by the Avon River. How that thing survived the earthquakes is a miracle to me... (PS Jack, he isn't really a pirate)

Sebastien did some leaf-graffiti (it only took a week to rake up enough leaves, sigh)

I am angry at the world right now. Literally.

What the heck is the deal, earth??
It is bad enough that you are slammin' Indonesia again, but 4.7 here? NOT PART OF MY PLAN BUDDY! I do NOT want this whole earthquake, "we are gonna die to death" stuff all over again. Make. It. Stop.
If I wake up in the night with anything over 5, then there is going to be a show-down. And if you are even thinking about a 6 - you can forget it.