To finish out June

Katie celebrated her 14th birthday - instead of a big party this year she got a big present! She did have three friends spend the night to help her celebrate. I made her favourite cherry-chip cupcakes and Meggie helped decorate the playroom for them. Her big present was to have her room updated so I spent the week re-painting it and getting her a new bed and bedding, we think it looks great now and she is thrilled to be out of her bunk bed. 

The playroom all set up for the girls.

Juliet, Emily and Saro with Katie.

Dinner on her actual birthday - she requested roast lamb and potatoes.

Her updated room.

Meanwhile Josie had two good friends leaving this term to move overseas which is very sad. Tamina is moving to London and Darby is moving back to the USA. Here are some pictures from their going-away party at the pool.

Meggie worked very hard this term rehearsing for the school production of High School Musical. She said it was a lot of fun and it was a great show. 

Meggie in yellow shirt behind Maddie who is playing Sharpay.

Lovely friends who came out to support Meggie.

Mid-Winter Camping!

We had our annual Queen's Birthday/Mid-Winter camping trip at Snowy Waters in Raetihi again this year. Such a great group of friends, it was fantastic. I was in charge of food, so I did the shopping and meal planning (with a lot of help) for the first time. It was a bit difficult to estimate how much we would need but I also really enjoyed doing it.  Our theme for Saturday night was "Mexican Night" so we went all out with food and decorations and the big girls provided great entertainment by putting together an amazing trivia quiz and dividing us into teams. My team actually won!! In between each section (geography, pop culture, etc) they had a challenge that one member of the team had to perform and they would say who it was - for example "A Mom" or "the Youngest" or whatever. I had to do a plank challenge on a very full stomach, not fun!! Ellie had to pick something up off the ground with her mouth and without using her hands. Josie and Katie had to slide a cookie down their face and into their mouths and Dugald had to eat a Weetbix as fast as he could. One of the other challenges for the younger set was to give a  speech for  as long as they could without saying "um" or "like". It was a ton of fun and afterwards we put on the Macarena and Feliz Navidad and did some dancing. The next day we went up to the Turoa ski fields and had fun in the snow. 

While most of the adults played golf we took a lovely walk with Meggie and Katie Reed.

We put Ross in charge of making the margaritas.

The loveliest friends ever.

The big girls leading the quiz.

My team!! Midge, Simon, Izzy and Pippa.

It was a perfect day to play in the snow!!