NZ - and we - get behind the All Blacks

Just about every second car in Wellington had an All Black car flag on their rear window; houses had large NZ flags on their balconies; some even had flag poles with the NZ flag - oh yes, we certainly got behind 'our boys'.

I had a NZ flag on my car - Daddy had 2 flags, one NZ and one England; we hung two flags off our balcony (yes one NZ and one England ... afterall you can take the boy out of England but you cannot take England out of the boy!!). Mummy was just SO relieved that it never ended up being a New Zealand and England final. Just imagine what that would have been like ... only solace was that it would have clearly been 2 against 1 as Josh is certainly a 'kiwi' kid (sorry Daddy!)

RWC 2011

From the unique and spectacular Opening Ceremony on 9th September until the Final Game on 23rd October 2011, all eyes were on New Zealand as we hosted the seventh world cup rugby series. The 6-week 48-game tournament catapulted New Zealand onto the world stage All the cities throughout NZ had set up fan zones and became party central ... the streets, cafes, restaurants, musicians and entertainers all absolutely showcased their best for the 95,000+ tourists that flooded to our country.

We were so thrilled to have Wellington Stadium tickets to see France beat USA, Australia thrash the USA, South Africa beat Fiji, South Africa beat Wales (oh that was so close, only 1 point between them) and of course our amazing All Blacks thrash Canada.

As you can imagine, the boys at school spoke about nothing else so it was fantastic for Joshua to be able to talk about the games that he went to - just to be there, to see it all, to soak up the atmosphere was exhilarating! Before heading to the games, we always parked the car in town and wandered along Queens Wharf just taking in all the crazy outfits, the colour, the music, the processions ... it was truly fantastic!

And then of course the Final game between New Zealand and France. As the headlines said "what a game - but ooh la la, it was close!" The All Blacks had displayed some amazing rugby in their earlier games earning their rightful place in the Finals, but unfortunately in the Finals they just never shone (maybe France didn't let them). However, the All Blacks were roared on by the 60,000+ NZ fans at the Stadium and also the 4 million souls scattered throughout NZ and finally ... beat France 8-7. The game play was agony to watch .. but it's a win and we are going to take it!

As you can imagine, the country erupted and I am sure major cities partied all night long. All the frustration and pain wold have been swept away and replaced by nothing but sheer joy and elation that the All Blacks won.

Post-final street parades took place in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch and even a light drizzle could not keep a crowd of over 100,000 from welcoming the Rugby World Cup champions to Wellington. There was dancing in the street and fans held signs and screamed themselves hoarse as the All Blacks made their way through Wellington.

And in the words of Richie McCaw, our captain of the All Blacks, when holding the trophy "it's such a small little trophy, but what it means is huge".

NZ has had a rough year for many, many reasons. To have this win means SO much. Well done All Blacks - you are our champions of the world!

Some fun, colourful and crazy outfits

With us going to the Stadium for 4 games, we came across some wonderful and colourful outfits ... here are a few to remember ...

Introducing ... the Hoopsters!

This term Joshua joined a Scots College 'Mini-Ball' team coached by their Year 4 teacher, Greg Wright. Mini-Ball is an introductory game to full-on Basketball. It is mixed so the Scots boys get to play other teams in their grade from many schools around Wellington, both boys and girls. We felt it was a good idea to start playing some sport with his class mates.

Joshua has really loved mini-ball. With rugby this season, Joshua 'held' back and did not enjoy the tackling, but because mini-ball is all about getting the ball and then dribbling it down the court and no real body contact, he was really into it! It was refreshing to stand on the side-line and see him enthusiastic and happy about a team game.

Results-wise, it was a mixed season ... some wins, some losses - but at the end of the day Joshua had fun!

End of Season "Crazy Practise"

At the end of every season, the Mustangs always have a fun night called "Crazy Practise" which starts off with a 'fun' game of touch vs the parents. As Manager of the team this year, Mummy was in charge of crazy practise and she decided that it was certainly going to be both crazy and a night to remember!

It started off innocently enough with the usual game of touch (which was a lot of fun actually and made us parents realise how jolly fast some of these 8 and 9 year olds are!) and then progressed to the 'usual' i.e. egg & spoon race, a sack race, a wheelbarrow race, a 3-legged race and then some more 'crazy' fun with some really silly and hysterical games.

The 2 favourites of the night were firstly, Crazy String when every Mustang was given a spray can of crazy string and all were confined to a small section of the pitch and they sprayed each other until their cans were empty. All of the children were 'dripping' in strands of red string. at the end.

And, secondly, the Donut Eating Race which was probably the funniest and the highlight of the evening. All the Mustangs had to kneel on the ground and their arms were tied behind their backs. A plate was placed in front of each of them and I initially told them it was 'fear factor' and they were all going to eat snails but instead I placed a LARGE long cream donut smothered in icing sugar on each plate. On 'GO' they had to bend forward and eat the donut (don't forget their hands were tied behind their backs). Some really got into it and were little piglets and there was cream and icing sugar everywhere!

Crazy Practise took 2 hours and I can assure you that all Mustangs left smiling and were very tired and ... filthy!

Public Speaking Competiton

For the Public Speaking Competition this year all the boys in Year 3 had to choose their own poem, learn it off by heart and say it with emotion and conviction!

I downloaded about 4 poems for Josh to look at and he chose "My Pig won't let me watch TV".

The competition was today and all the boys took turns standing up in front of the Years 1-3 boys and 3 judges. They chose 3 boys to compete in the Final next week. Josh did not get into the finals this year but Mrs Bell says he knew his poem off by heart and delivered it very well indeed. Well done Josh - we know that you do not particularly enjoy Public Speaking but it is just great that you participated so well!

My Pig Won't Let Me Watch TV
- by Ken Nesbitt

My pig won't let me watch TV
Its totally unfair
He watches anything he wants
but doesn't ever share

He sits beside me on the couch
And bosses me around
Changing all the channels
and turning up the sound

I never get to watch cartoons
or anything like that
He's busy watching farming shows
I should have got a cat

I should have got a goldfish
Or a guinea pig, or a goat
Instead .... I've got this pig
Who's always hogging the remote

Hail Stones the size of Marbles!

Early afternoon today the temperatures suddenly plummeted from 12 degrees to 4 degrees in about 30 minutes. Marble-sized hail stones pelted Wellington - it was short, sharp and to the point and within 10 minutes the streets in the central city were completely white. The hail stones were so large, they hurt as they pelted you and it was hard to walk without holding onto something as the uncovered pathways were so slippery. I was relieved when I got back to the car and just sat parked until it was over. The sound of the hailstones and the rattling thunder was phenomenal. What is happening to our weather?

I took this photo from across the street in the city.

The boys after School

Every now and then a few of us walk around to the park behind the Prep School and the boys let off some steam and play for half-an-hour before going home. The boys waste no time throwing off their jackets and ties and it is a good chance to just wind down after a day in the classroom.

Joshua's new BMX Bike

We took Huddy down to Lyall Bay for a swim today and christened Joshua's NEW bike! Enzo has kindly given Joshua his old BMX bike and Josh wanted to take it to the beach - afterall, he said, it is a stunt bike! However, stunt bike or not, it was a very difficult and heavy bike to 'push' through the sand but we had fun anyway and at one point Josh did a 'wheelie' in the water!

Thank you Enzo, we are going to have a lot of fun with this bike - afterall, Josh loves "anything" to do with what you have done!

Josh & Huddy

Josh and Huddy are close buddies ... although there are times that it would seem that Josh simply takes Huddy for granted, we are seeing more and more times when 'they' are together and we have sometimes even heard Josh chatting to Hudson. Today after school, Josh had a bag of pink lollies and he was kindly giving some to Huddy at grandma's house. Huddy loves food but will never snatch or grab - he just stands there and ever so gently licks the lolly off Joshua's hand.

JuJitsu

This term Joshua has joined a JuJitsu class - it is held every Tuesday in the Scots College gymnasium and runs for 45-50 minutes. It is a small manageable group of between 12 and 15 boys and the parents are invited to watch. JuJitsu is a Japanese form of unarmed combat and the boys are being taught some clever and subtle self-defence moves. The teacher is very clever and engages the boys in fun play and then introduces a few 'special' moves.

Happy Father's Day

Daddy was made to feel very special today for Father's Day! Josh made Daddy a card and bought him a giant cake of white chocolate. Mummy had put together a 'questionnaire' for Josh to fill in for Daddy ... below are the questions and Josh's answers (unedited) in blue which Josh tied up with a ribbon and gave to Daddy.

My Daddy's name is: Paul Turnbull (correct)
He is 42 years old (works for me if he also takes 5 years off my age!)
He weighs 105 kilos (oops Daddy you DO need to go on a diet)
My Daddy is really good at: Singing and dancing and being silly and playing on the computer (such skills Daddy!)
My Dad loves to: Play with me on the trampoline and on the computer
My favourite things to do with my Daddy are: Going down to the park and playing on the WII and computer
I'm just like my Dad because: We share the same hair style - well we did when he was young (oh bless!)
What I love most about my Dad is: His voice and his smile (wow!)
It makes my Dad happy when I: try my hardest at everything I do and sometimes when I try something I don't want to (so true Josh)

We took Daddy out for a cooked breakfast and then went trout fishing and Josh caught a 3.28gram trout. Mummy then dropped the boys off at the movies to see Mr Popper's Penguins whilst she took Huddy up into the hills - and then home to have fresh trout for dinner (entree size!). Daddy loved his day with 'his boy'.

Fionn

We are always happy to see Fionn! He and his brother are now living in Auckalnd with their Mum but the arrangement is that they come down to Wellington every second weekend. We appreciate that time with their Dad in Wellington is very precious but we are all keen to also cherish the bond the boys have. Fionn came over for a play this morning - he is such a special boy and we do miss him.

A Biking Adventure

We have discovered a new biking track up on the Miramar Peninsular so this afternoon Daddy & Josh rode their mountain bikes whilst Mummy ran with Huddy. The boys started on the dirt obstacle track and we then literally went 'over the edge' onto a track through the bush that took us nearly an hour. Mummy & Huddy were both very relieved at the tricky corners when the boys had to slow down as it gave them a chance to catch up! (PS Mummy must get a mountain bike!)

Spelling

Every week Joshua comes home with 12 new words to learn to spell. Every night he has to write 'something' using those 12 words - it might simply just be the words themselves or it may be sentences incorporating the words in context. Then at the end of every 3 weeks they have a spelling test to cover all 36 new words and Joshua takes great pride in getting all his words correct. Throughout the 3 weeks they are divided into pairs in school time and do buddy-spelling. Joshua came home today very proud to show off his buddy-spelling certificate.

Yep - Nah

For some reason ... two people in our household seem to be saying 'yep' and 'na' instead of Yes and No (and one of them is supposed to speak the "Queen's English").

To try and impede this Mummy has introduced some 'Yep and Na' money jars. The basis of the 'game' is that if one of us hears the other saying either slang word, they get to take a $1 coin out of the bad speaker's jar.

We all started with 10 x $1 coins - after two days, Mummy still had her original 10; Daddy was down to 7 and Joshua was up to 13 - go figure!

Principal's Award

Today the boys had the chance to spend some time on the computers and colour printers. They all had the chance to download images or text. Joshua's class had just completed a story on a train ride through the Grand Canyon and so Joshua typed up various words relating to the story and then placed them in a poster-like format. Mr Cassie gave Joshua a 'Principal's Award's sticker for his good work!