Paekakariki Camping - Day One

Once again we joined our friends on a camping adventure for Wellington Anniversary Weekend. You may recall that we met up with them last year - for one night only - and we rented a cabin in the campground where they were all tenting. This year the girls really wanted to have a tent too so we signed up for the whole weekend and Rob and Liz graciously allowed us to borrow many of their camping materials, including a tent. To buy a tent large enough for our entire family is quite an investment, especially if it will only be used once, so we were grateful for their generosity in allowing us to "test drive" camping by using their things. 

We picked up the tent the day before we were meant to leave and realized that once it was loaded into the back of the van we were seriously low on space. Thankfully our neighbors came to the rescue by offering the use of their roof box - even with that we were packed in tight! Dugald did his best to load up the car and we waited until we were almost at the campground before stopping to buy our groceries for the weekend in order to give the girls a little bit of wiggle room.

The original plan was to drive several hours to a campground in the Wairarapa called Castlepoint. We were all very excited having heard great things about the beach and campground there, but sadly the weather decided not to cooperate and at the last minute we changed our plans and booked a campground on the Kapiti coast that was a lot closer to home and was meant to have better weather.

We arrived just after lunch and while the adults all got to work putting up tents, the kids all immediately jumped on their bikes to explore and gathered in groups to play. The other families in our group all whipped up their tents pretty quickly - they'd done this before - but we had arrived with an enormous tent, no experience, and instructions about putting it up that Dugald had found on the internet.

We began with the obvious thing - hammering in the stakes. After that it got a little tricky as we sorted poles, looked for numbers and tried to work out what was going on. I'm using the royal "we" here - I pretty much went around taking pictures once the stakes were hammered in as I had no idea how to put up the tent. Alison and the guys helped Dugald - notice it's Alison actually reading the instructions.

It took some time and determination but the team got the tent up with only one part of it that we all knew was wrong but we figured it would do. The next night Richard had an "aha" moment and worked out that they were meant to run these poles along the bottom of the tent.

Meanwhile back in Milena's big ol' tent the girls were having a makeup session because everyone knows it's important to look good while interacting with nature.

I didn't really take a picture of the finished project but here is the patio of our tent - which proved to be very helpful later in the weekend when the weather turned. . .  but more on that later.

I was on the team responsible for dinner the first night - we had a gourmet dinner of nachos, salad, and cake.

We've seen most of the kids - here are the adults:

Simon and Catherine

Fleur and Richard

Mike and Kathryn

Alison and Matt

Linda (Murray was on call and couldn't join us the first night) and Milena

And us. 

These people are totally fun, we loved spending time with our Karori clan.

The boys were in charge of dishes - here's Dugald joyfully carrying some of them to the camp kitchen. By the way, see how bundled up we all are? Such is "summer" camping in New Zealand!

The kids' party raged on until we finally corralled them all in their own tents -

This was a beautiful sight to behold at the end of the first night!

1st Day of School!!

I still have camping pictures to post - we had a fantastic time despite the weather - but so many of you have phoned and emailed that I thought I'd better post these pictures first! Today was Meggie and Katie's first day at Marsden. Our day began quite early, at least for us, as we all got up and got dressed, packed lunches, ate breakfast and whatnot - but we were out the door on time at 8:05 a.m.. It was a blustery morning, lots of wind but thankfully no rain, as the whole family (even Daddy stayed late to walk with us) walked the girls to school. 

We went to Meggie's class first as she starts a few minutes earlier than Katie, and we saw her friend Zoe who thankfully is in her class. Yesterday afternoon Meggie and I had a date for afternoon tea with Zoe and her mom and it was a good time for the girls to talk about their upcoming adventure as Zoe is new to Marsden too. Meggie is entering Year 7 and the nice thing is out of 60 something girls in that year, 40 something of them are new, so she is not alone! She also really likes her form teacher (homeroom for Americans). She was very excited that one of their first projects is a study of Ethiopia as our good friends have recently adopted their son from there and Meggie already knows a bit about the country. (Get ready Lori, she's going to use you as a source on some upcoming reports!)

Meggie and Zoe

After leaving Meggie, without tears, we headed over to the primary school and Katie's class. She is one of only two new girls in Year 5 and there is only one class. The good news is that her friend Anna came over and immediately gave her a big hug and welcome and was very helpful in showing Katie all that she needed to do. Katie was a little teary when we left, but knowing her she would have made a quick recovery. I should have foreseen that though, Katie isn't nearly as vocal as Meggie but she is quite sensitive and she very much likes having our family all together.

Katie with her Puffles on her backpack.

Katie at her desk - that's her teacher in the background introducing Dugald to the parents of the other new girl in the class.

Katie and Anna

Here the girls are in their summer PE uniforms - I still need to purchase Marsden swimming togs, raincoats and a few other bits and pieces for this term and then come winter we'll add in long-sleeved tops, a Marsden scarf (which is very similar to the Morrison tartan), a fleece, some warm gym pants and tights instead of socks with their dress uniforms - oh and a tie for each of them. I have to say though that I love the uniform, it saves a lot arguments and wasting of time when the girls get dressed.

The girls came home really happy and bursting with news - and paperwork! I knew going into it though that the paperwork is part and parcel of the whole going to school thing. Today's mommy-mail included sign-up forms for music lessons, debate and drama instruction, chess club and sports week. Dugald and I talked about them and decided as this was only the first day we'd see what else arrives in the mail over the next few days before committing as every opportunity costs time and money - I can tell already that I will struggle with this as my temptation is to sign them up for everything, it all sounds so good! We are blessed to be offered so many options.

I'll get the girls to guest post here soon with their thoughts on school - today was a great day. The highlight for both of them was that their cousins came to visit them and brought cupcakes, gingerbread men and lollies. One of their cousins is the deputy head girl and that made them feel even more special as she told their classmates how cool they were. Our babysitter Sophie, also a Marsden girl, also called to make sure Meggie and Katie had settled in well. All in all they felt very loved today, which made me feel loved and grateful too.  

Final thought - a very happy 80th to my amazing mother-in-law Margaret!!! You are such a blessing to us in so many ways and we wish you the very best in 2011. We love you!

So now it's off to bed as I had hoped to have this posted hours ago - I can see that school life will keep us busy and is going to require a little reorganization of our family habits but I can also already see the rewards of this new adventure and I'm very grateful for this opportunity for the girls. 

Lots of love to all - xx

The Neighborhood Dogs

I can't remember if I have blogged about Toby and Moby here before . . . but if I haven't yet, let me introduce them! Toby is the dog that lives across the street with our friends the Rodgers. He is friendly and fun and, more importantly, the Rodgers are quite willing to share him. The girls are allowed to pretty much get him and take him for a walk whenever they'd like during the day. Toby has a friend named Moby who often comes to stay at the Rodgers' house for a few days at a time - and we got to see a lot of him this summer - which is a bonus not only for Toby but also for the girls as then there is a dog for each of them to walk rather than having to take turns with just the one. Obviously this entire set-up is a win for me and Dugald, the girls get their dog-fix and the Rodgers get the food and vet bills. Perf. Anyway, the dogs were over for a visit the other day and Meggie and Katie had them participating in all sorts of doggie agility training, it was adorable. Then the girls asked me to take a few pictures since Moby would be leaving soon - so here they are with two of their favorite dogs in the world!!

Toby, Meggie, Katie and Moby

Meggie and Toby 

Katie and Moby

Cooking at MAG

The girls have been helping out in the kitchen as a part of their Morrison Academy for Girls training. Well, most of the girls, Katie hasn't been in mi cocina in awhile so she's not in these photos, but we'll get her working soon. First up - an attempt at homemade Oreos. We decided to fill them with a pink cream in honor of Valentines Day. I think the general consensus on these was that they weren't great because of  the cream, the recipe called for shortening as well as butter and we didn't like it so much. But they looked yummy so here are the pictures:

Ellie and Meggie helped out with dinner the other night - they love to be in the kitchen and really are helpful.  Meggie would like to cook one night a week, but with our activity schedule it isn't always possible. Ellie wants to help every night, but, well, you know. . .

Josie chose a dessert she wanted to make - it was a yummy raspberry concoction! She needed a bit of guidance but that may be only because I'm a teensy bit controlling about how messy I allow my kitchen to get. And it does take a bit of creative maneuvering to cook in here with our two feet of usable counter space . . .

In other news today we went and met the principals at the girls' new school. We were very happy and impressed! We also got to see their classrooms and meet Katie's teacher. I am so excited for the girls, I really think they are going to be happy there and have lots of opportunities for growth, friendships and academic success. I will miss them at home terribly but we are all excited for this new phase in our lives. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for making this possible!!

Clearing the Backlog

I finally uploaded all the pictures from my camera so the next few days will hopefully catch us up to current events! We've had an awesome summer full of fun times with friends and family but all the goings-on have kept me from posting here as regularly as I'd like. 

These photos are from our trip back from the wedding in Wanaka. We spent a few days in Hanmer Springs to break up the trip and had a great time at the hot pools and going on a family mountain biking adventure. Ellie rode in a seat on the back of my bike and Dugald's bike linked to Josie's. The big girls rode on their own - Josie probably could have too but she lacks a bit of confidence since she's new to riding without training wheels. I'm including a very short  15-second video clip on here of all of us at the very beginning of the trail on the easy bit. After the clip I'm posting I tried to video while riding and nearly crashed so I stopped, but what I didn't realize for nearly eight minutes is that the camera was still rolling. It shows lovely footage of my right leg for that length of time, but the conversations are hilarious. I'll spare you and not post it here but the girls and I crack up every time we watch it. 

We decided to travel some back roads to get out of Hamner and our first potty break was right near a little park. The girls were needing to stretch their legs and I was a bit bored, so while they played I snapped a few pics. 

Have I posted one of these shots before? The farmer with his sheep on the highway gets me every time. It's our job to give way to them.

Finally it was time to get on the ferry for the sail home which was much calmer and therefore nicer than the ride on the way over for which I was very thankful! The little girls and I stayed upstairs writing thank-you notes, playing on the ipad, reading and playing with stickers while Dugald, Meggie and Katie went and watched "Despicable Me" in the theater onboard. 

Keep checking back as I really hope to get us up-to-date here soon! I think most of you know but Meggie and Katie are going to be attending a new school and they start on Wednesday. I've got a cute picture of them in their PE uniforms but we're still waiting on Meggie's skirt for the real uniform - hopefully we'll get it by Weds and I'll have some pics to post of them heading out. I also have pictures from our camping adventure, my sea swim and various other bits of whatnot. Lots of love from us all. Dxx