Our Fitness Programme started tonight

The Rugby Season starts on 9th April and the Mustang training starts in 2 weeks time and this season is going to be a little more 'serious'. Whilst tall, Josh weighed in at only 28kgs and is the third to lightest in the team ... all the others weigh between 35kg and 48kg. So ... our strategy is to make sure that we are super fit and can run away from the heffalumps!

Josh and I talked about what we could do and so have decided that 2 nights a week we will go for a run. Tonight was our first one ... we headed off and ran to Grandma's house which, according to Josh, is 7 blocks away. The plan was to run there, collect Huddy and walk back - but Josh was so keen that he decided to run home again as well, then do the fitness circuit at the park and then have a game of cricket!

Cricket was hilarious - Mummy's partner in crime (Huddy) was hopeless at fielding so he ended up being tied up to a tree as a spectator. Josh insisted on batting all the time so Mummy was left to bowl and to field ... and I can tell you Josh can certainly hit that ball !! Mummy was pleased to get home but then rather mortified when Josh suggested we go down to the park after dinner for more cricket - uh no I don't think so Josh !

Stretching before the exercise

We are off!

Now we are sprinting!

Homeward bound - and Huddy is running too!

What a team!

C'mon Mummy, hurry up!

And now the fitness circuit at the local school

And let's take the quick way home from the park - up and over the fence !

School Trip to Sea Museum & City Art Gallery

Kiwi Artist Abroad - one of the signature pieces currently on exhibit at the City Art Gallery

Mummy was asked to be Parent Help on the School Trip to the Wellington Sea Museum & Art Gallery today. It was a fabulous day and a wonderful opportunity to see the boys all together. It was also fascinating to listen to the boys' questions and witness their curiosity. It was also amazing to hear what some boys could 'see' in the paintings, some of them have a great imagination! The day was a lovely blend of sitting and listening and learning as well as interactive and busy things for the boys to do.

Mummy had 6 boys in her group, including Joshua, and I know that doesn't sound a lot, but it is a HUGE responsibility out of the school grounds. I kept doing a head count - nothing was going to happen on my shift!

Drawing with charcoal - that was an interesting mix, the BLACK messy charcoal with the WHITE shirts!

Such concentration!

School Lunches this week

School baking time every Sunday comes around very quickly some weeks! The routine seems to be ... Mummy makes the cookies, Mummy ices the cookies BUT Joshua gets to decorate them. He simply loved placing the jaffas on these chocolate afghans.

A beautiful and busy weekend

Wow, what a weekend - blue skies and sunshine! We had a very busy and active time .... we went to the Rugby Discovery Day which was basically a fun morning put on by the Hurricanes and Lions players who did some drills and fun activities with all the prospective rugby players this season, both girls and boys; we had a play-date with James & Ilena; another play-date with Spencer; we played cricket with Ben; we went for a walk/hike in the hills with Huddy-bud; we went swimming (and surfing!) at Lyall Bay; we had a scooter race to Grandma's and back again (and Josh won - and no, I did not let him win ... he is very fast on his new scooter) !!

Oh I am tired even thinking about it all!

Peek a boo - hiding from Huddy in the bushes

Oh dear boys, says Huddy, I think it is a tad too deep out there and look at that wave!

Getting signatures from all the Hurricane's players

All the boys love Ma'a Nonu!

'Tired' Fridays

Fridays ... hmm, the end of a week and the beginning of a weekend - Joshua's favourite time of the week as school has finished and we face 2 days of doing whatever we want to do !!

But Friday's are also usually a day when everyone is a little tired and tonight is no exception. Good night little kiwi, sleep tight xxx

Beautiful days ... Beautiful Wellington

Christchurch is on its knees ... and yet up here in Wellington we are being spoilt with beautiful summer days. After school this week, we have enjoyed many ice-blocks, swims at the beach, playing tennis at a local court and bike-riding at the park.

Here are a few shots of our idle afternoons - and all of this only a stone's throw from our back door ... how blessed are we.

New Zealand's Day of Agony

Christchurch, usually a bustling tourist gateway to the beautiful South Island, now looks like a war zone. At 12.51pm today, Tuesday 22nd February 2011, it suffered a 6.3 magnitude earthquake centred only 10km southeast of Christchurch at a depth of 5kms. They are saying that this earthquake is an aftershock of the 7.1 magnitude earthquake that hit Christchurch only 5 months ago.

But this time not only are buildings flattened, streets violently ruptured and liquefaction destroying land and streets and seeping inside houses, there are hundreds dead, injured and not yet found. In fact, there are over 100 households that are going to wake up with an empty bed that will never be filled again; there are over 200 people in hospital and 200+ people that are still not accounted for.

Thousands of rescuers and troops have thankfully arrived from the UK and Australia to help New Zealand troops hunt for those missing and for any signs of life amongst the twisted rubble of Christchurch. Media coverage is 24/7 with unedited pictures of rescuers using sledgehammers and chain saws to cut into buildings from above, hacking down roofs and sandwiched floors to find bodies crushed under concrete slabs.

80% of the city has no power and no water; people are homeless, traumatised and lost. It is just horrific ... a day that New Zealanders will never forget. But the big question is where to from here ... the flow-on effect is going to be huge in every possible way, the re-building of this city will take years and, even then, are people going to want to live there?

And yet up here in Wellington, only a 45 minute flight away, we all feel helpless and almost guilty that our lives just seem to carry on. However, we have all been affected by this - New Zealand is a small country and everyone either knows someone or of someone in Christchurch and we are truly a nation in complete grief.

YES, Malcolm & Jill are in town!

They arrived in New Zealand a little later this year ... but we were all so very happy to welcome Malcolm & Jill into Wellington, their 'other' home, and we look forward to spending many fun times with them over the next few months before they head back to the UK.

We feel very lucky that Malcolm & Jill take such a sincere and lovely interest in Joshua and are just so 'natural' with him. Children are very intuitive, they know when someone really likes them ... and Joshua knows, very much, that Malcolm and Jill are very special in his life.

Tonight they came over for dinner ... and Malcolm made paper planes with Josh - they even googled how to make the fastest paper plane !! Let's just say that more practise is needed boys!

Round the Bays Fun Run/Walk 2011

The Annual Round the Bays 7km Run this year attracted over 11,000 entries - it's biggest yet. It started at Frank Kitts Park and wound its way around the water's edge to Kilbirnie Park.

And it was the FIRST time that Joshua entered as an individual entrant - on foot! For many years as a baby and youngster, Josh was in the pram whilst Mummy ran behind pushing, and Daddy ran with Huddy on the lead ... but this year he actually ran alongside Mummy and ran his own race!

Phew, it was a scorching hot day as well !! We ran ... we walked ... we sprinted ... we complained ... we walked and ran again ... BUT we made it and it was a wonderful sense of achievement. Mummy felt quite emotional running across the Finish Line with Joshua who at that stage was sprinting! We completed the 7kms in a time of 51minutes 36 seconds which I think is fantastic for his first! (In hindsight though I have to say that perhaps 7kms is a little too big a distance for this age but I was so proud of Joshua!)

No. 2933

In amongst the thousands, waiting for the count-down to start running

At the end of the run, Josh suggested we have a lay-down on the grass!

After joining in the after-race festivities at Kilbirnie Park, we then drove up the coast to see Aunty Karen & Uncle Terry in Paraparaumu. Josh and their nephews had so much fun under the hose in their underwear, it was 28 degrees up the coast! And then on the way home we visited Alan & Margaret.

Aunty Karen with the hose

Uncle Apples

Suffice to say, this evening Mummy had one very tired but happy little boy tucked up in bed and I think he was asleep before his head hit the pillow.

Bon Voyage Daddy

Daddy flew out today to go to the UK to spend some special time with Grandma & Grandad. We will miss him very much but think it is wonderful that he has this opportunity to spend some one-on-one time with his own Mum and Dad ... travel safely Daddy and we look really look forward to you coming back to us.

Hugs & kisses at the airport

One of those moments to remember and treasure

After school today we zipped into town to pick up a few things. We were in Kirkcaldies department store and I was standing waiting to be served when Joshua quietly told me that he needed to go to the toilet NOW. I asked him if he could possibly 'hold on' but he was doubtful, so I put everything I was holding down and then proceeded to find the toilets. On the way to the toilets , Joshua suddently put his hand in mine and said "thank you Mummy for putting me first". Oh the manners !!

Happy 80th Birthday Grandad

Happy Birthday Grandad!!!

We love you so very much and just wish we could be over there with you right now. We are there in thought ... way more than you can imagine.

Happy Valentines Day

Valentines Day is a day to celebrate LOVE, the most beautiful feeling in the world. It is a day to remember, and to acknowledge, those people in our lives who are very special ... lucky are those who are loved and cared for.

I know this looks funny but Daddy LOVES a French Loaf Stick, almost more than chocolate !

The BIG Dig

We joined some friends and about a thousand others down at Oriental Bay this morning for the Annual BIG DIG. They buried just over 400 coupons in the sand on the bay and the idea was to dig down with your hands and try and be one of the lucky ones to find a coupon. Mummy managed to find one coupon which she quietly passed to Joshua and he was delighted to line up and receive his prize - a Lego Atlantis - which he was truly delighted with. There were some very disappointed children (and adults) and it was interesting to see how long some people persevered for in the hope of a prize. As we kept saying to Joshua ... you have to be in to win and ... you win some, lose some, it's the luck of the draw. This time we were 'in' and we were lucky!

Lucky coupon no. 103

Joshua's prize - Lego Atlantis

Happy 88th Birthday Grandma

Happy Birthday Grandma ! It is the year of the Eight's - Grandma turns 88 and Joshua turns 8. Isn't 8 supposed to be a lucky number ... we hope so.

Jill & Malcolm invited Grandma to morning tea which was a lovely start to the day and Grandma's wish was to simply have fish & chips on her deck that evening. Rose joined us for that and it was very easy and very relaxed.

Wow, 88 ... it's amazing really!

Very Funny Mrs Bell

At school the boys are learning about communities, what they are, the sense of belonging to something and the commitment we make to our communities. Joshua's teacher, Trudi Bell, decided that she would give the boys a visual demonstration so arrived at school this morning promoting that she is part of the water polo community - she plays water polo, she teaches water polo and she belongs to a water polo club.

I like to think that the boys 'got it' but I honestly feel they didn't know what to say! Mind you, I happened to have my camera on hand (sorry Mrs Bell!) and was laughing so much, the boys weren't sure at all ! Trudi, you have such a wonderful sense of humour, you are so much fun for the boys!

The Famous RUGBY SEVENS Tournament

Yes, it's that time of the year again for Wellington to host the famous RUGBY SEVENS Tournament! There are 16 teams competing for the title, split into 4 pools and it goes on for 2 days. Since 2002 the Westpac Stadium which has a seating capacity of 35,000 is totally sold out for months in advance and this year was no exception.

We joined up with Jill and took Josh and his friend Spencer down to Queens Wharf to soak up some of the hilarious sights and activities. The aim was to get as many crazy photos as possible of the boys posing with fun-dressed people for news-talk at school and to put the photos on a picture board. Let's just say that some of the photos taken were not quite 'appropriate' for the school notice board but here are a selection of the ones that passed the test.

Whilst the level of rugby played is outstanding and the competition is very real, over the last few years the weekend has become a most colourful festival and perhaps more emphasis is on the partying and dress-ups - but Wellington does it proud and it is an amazing weekend. I can imagine in about 10 years time, Joshua and his friends dressing up and joining in the festivities ... but perhaps Mummy won't be there then taking photographs !

And let's not forget the result ... NEW ZEALAND WON and beat (thrashed) England in the Finals (sorry Daddy !).