Glorious day ... glorious friends

This morning we headed into town with Fionn & Ciaren to watch the 3D Movie of Cats & Dogs & Kitty Galore (the imagination of some of these script writers is to be admired !). When we came out the day had dawned into an almost summer day so we went home and headed over the hills to the beach.

3 boys, 1 dog ... and Mummy trying to keep up ! We invented all sorts of games on the climb over to the beach and then all the boys decided it was warm enough to go swimming. Luckily we had our gear and Fionn and Josh wasted no time in playing in the water and then swimming. The water was coming in 'fresh' from the south and was freezing - what is it about children not feeling the cold ?!?

We had a glorious few hours down at the beach. Fionn and Josh, albeit at different schools now, have kept in touch initially through playing together for the Mustangs rugby team but are now developing a very close little friendship outside of all that. Both their parents and we are also encouraging it ... all 3 boys seem to bring out the best in each other and are a total delight together.

Josh & Ciaren doing a little 'break-dancing' before the movies started - oh to be so flexible and be able to bounce like that !

At the movies ... 3D technology is certainly the way to go !

Rock climbing on the way over to the beach

3 on a log down at the beach ... then there were 2 ... then there was 1. The games we played!

There is no show without Huddy - c'mon guys I'll show you how it's done !

Oh yep, it's cold alright !!

A game of chasing and the wave is 'in'

Too much giggling and Josh falls down !

And then donuts and juice on the rocks on the way home

Happy Birthday Hudson

Yes, today is HUDSON'S BIRTHDAY - and he turns 8 ! Birthdays are very special in our family - afterall it is the one day of the year that truly belongs to you, so we always celebrate with presents, being spoilt and of course a birthday cake. So why should it be any different for Huddy!

Hudson's present ... meet Sylvester the pussy cat !

And now, let's go down memory lane and look at some special photos of Hudson growing up ...

10 weeks old in Mummy's hands


14 weeks old asleep on his special bed

Helping Mummy with the vacume cleaning - but got pooped very quickly (typical male!)

Peek-a-boo, I am sure I can get out of this gate

The fetish with soft toys begins ... introducing Penguin & Teddy (let alone all the others who have gone before but never survived the loving!)

And the 8 year old beautiful boy you are today - we love you Huddy-bud ... so much

The game of BUTTONS

As Daddy's' eyes limit him from being able to read bedtime stories, at times the 'boys' devise their own bedtime games. At the moment, they have made up a game called BUTTONS. Josh has to push certain 'buttons' on Daddy (his nose, his ears, his forehead, etc) and depending on what is pushed, that determines the reaction. The reaction can simply be a noise like a snort, it can be kisses all over, it can be licks all over - and many other 'reactions'. Joshua LOVES it and is usually in hoots of laughter. However, it then takes Mummy another 15 minutes to calm Josh down and get him to sleep!

Nancy & June come to stay

A girlfriend's Mum (Nancy) and her friend June came to Wellington to see WOW and stayed with us for 2 nights. We wanted to pamper them a little as they both live in Christchurch and have been rather traumatised by both the 'main' earthquake and the 1,000+ after-shakes the city is experiencing. We had a lovely time with them both and were ourselves very spoilt with all the love and attention they gave to Joshua. They were so 'grandmotherly' and Josh responded so well to them and their attention and was rather disappointed when they had to go home - come back soon Nancy & June !

Joshua's holidays

Day 3 of the holidays and a most glorious day so we headed to the beach for the afternoon.

He loves the beach ... he loves the water ... he loves the shingle and the sand ... he loves to run ... he loves the open spaces .... so this afternoon was just perfect. Thank you Wellington for such a glorious day - as the song says, "you can't beat Wellington on a good day".

A Visit to Aunty Karen & Uncle Terry

We headed up to Paraparaumu to see Aunty Karen & Uncle Terry and had simple fun on the beach in the afternoon and then had fish & chips at dusk ... glorious ! Aunty Karen certainly has a special 'way' with Josh - he adores her. And whilst Uncle Terry is 'new' on the scene, he too is becoming very special to Joshua.

Playdate with Spencer

Spencer is about to head off to Vanuatu for the holidays so we had to make sure we had a playdate before he left. We organised an action-packed sports afternoon down at the park .... hijinks on the slide sitting on coffee sacks to see who could go the fastest; a game of basketball; cardboard sliding down the bank; a game of soccer .... and 2 rather tired boys at the end of it all.

Yahoo, last day of Term 3

Yes ... Term 3 has finished and holidays here we come ... and a long list of fun things to do for 16 days (yes Joshua has counted out the days!!).

A few of us headed to the park behind Scots College for a play before embracing the start of holiday fever.

Well it starts off well .... Mummy chasing Joshua on the new-age swing, but watch ...

.... it goes down-hill from there - literally - Mummy 'bottoms' out as another parent catches it on film !

HUGE Teeth !!

Yikes .... how can those BIG front teeth possibly belong to such a gorgous little boy ?!?!?!?

The Sleeping bush

Aunty Jellybean has introduced Joshua to the 'sleeping bush' - a native plant that you can literally throw yourself onto and it holds your weight. However it is possibly not comfortable enough to sleep on thank goodness !!

Scots Masquerade Ball

Granney Cranney came into spend time with "my boy" as she calls him whilst Mummy & Daddy went to the Scots College Masquerade Ball. Before the ball we all met for pre-ball drinks and rather than wear masks, a few of us decided to paint them on instead !

Daddy saw himself as Michael Crawford in Phantom of the Opera and was adorned appropriately. He looked the part ... but I am still waiting to hear him sing and play the organ.

Mummy chose a one-off blue sequined number. Thank goodness the sequines were stuck on with surgical glue and easily came off at the end of the evening - she did have visions of doing school drop-off on Monday still glittering !

It was a fun night, Scots had themed the school gymnasium and also constructed a temporary marquee - we all know how Daddy loves to dance and The Noodles Dance Band gave him plenty of opportunity ! It was also lovely to get dressed up and boogie !

BUGS ... by Joshua Turnbull

A month ago, all the boys arrived home with 4 poems - they each had to choose a poem, learn it off by heart and then stand up in front of Years 1, 2 and 3 and recite it. Well we had the chosen poem printed and laminated ... and hung everywhere, even in the shower !!

On the day of the speech competitions, they had 3 teachers as the panel of judges, all of whom gave individual scores to each boy, and then at the very end all scores were added up and the 3 top students from each class went through to the finals.

...... Joshua was one of the 3 finalists for year 2 !!!!!

And today, we had the finals. Although Joshua never won the finals, in our eyes he did win! We were both so incredibly proud and his 'win' to us was all about trying so hard and being chosen to go through to the finals. Both Mummy & Daddy sat with the other parents and listened to all 9 finalists from the 3 years. When it was Joshua's turn, I cannot find the words to describe the emotion or the nerves we both felt and that gulp in the throat rose with such emotion and relief when Joshua hd finished, remembered all the words and threw in some 'attitude' especially on the last 2 lines ...

There are bugs on our cauliflowers

There are bugs on our beans

There are bugs on our tomatoes

And bugs on our beans

There are bugs, bugs, bugs

On the peas and carrots too

Our garden's not a garden

Our garden is a zoo !!!

Mummy thinks she will never forget the words of that poem !

Daffodil Day ... and the Daffodil Train Ride

Daddy's belated and surprise Father's Day gift was a trip on the Daffodil Train to Carterton. All Daddy knew was that he had to be ready to leave the house by 8am. As we drove closer to the railway station, Joshua blind-folded Daddy .... Daddy was very trusting and looked like a lamb to slaughter as Josh gingerly led Daddy blind-folded into Wellington Railway Station much to the amusement of onlookers.

We then chugged out of Wellington on a 100 year old steam train; the upkeep and restoration of the carriages was nothing short of amazing and riding on the train conjured up images of a romantic by-gone era of steam. Our carriage had an outside balcony which we could stand on and Josh particularly loved the 9km long tunnel through the Rimutakas. What is it about boys and trains ?!?!

We arrived at Carterton and took a 10-minute bus ride out to the Daffodil fields where we were allowed to each pick a bunch of daffodils. Josh got a little carried away with his bunch - they all had to be yellow and he had four people in mind to receive them..... Mrs Bell (his teacher), Grandma, Aunty Karen and ... himself.

The daffodil fields were quite spectacular and overwhelmingly peaceful and a beautiful mass of yellow and white flowers everywhere; it was so lovely that we decided to stay there and have our picnic hamper before heading back into Carterton to enjoy their Spring Carnival and then home again on the train.

It was a great day - and a huge surprise for Daddy !

Blind-folded Daddy is so trusting ... are you sure this is the right way Josh pleads Daddy ?

And then we went back to Carterton and had fun at all the rides and side-shows of the Spring Carnival.