Weekend Update

Ellie let Meggie fix her hair and get her dressed on Saturday morning which meant she actually matched and looked presentable - so much so that I pulled out the camera!

And Dugald and I went to our neighbor's 40th birthday party which had a "Black and White" theme so Dugs was a "cat burglar" and I was some sort of policewoman/English bobby. We had a ball and seeing as the party was just across the street I was very tempted to not book a babysitter, but in the end I did and the girls had a blast with Delaney.

I am not sure why I have on one glove in this picture instead of both but it is really

bugging me now that I notice it! Oh well.

Tonight we celebrated Passover by attempting a Passover Seder. I googled for my information and we did pretty well considering we've never done it before, I'll post pictures soon.

Lots of love to all!! xx

Powell Hut

I found this video that shows the journey we took on our girls weekend - it's a bit long but if you start watching at about 4 minutes 45 seconds you'll see some of the more challenging bits! You also get a good look at the hut and the view at the end. Next walk though I'm voting for this one - they carry your packs for you and fix your food - sounds great to me!!

A Very Merry Un-Birthday

This weekend we celebrated Meggie and Katie's birthdays early with a party out at Thompsons Horse Centre. Meggie has been wanting to have a horse-riding party for two years but the weather is dreadful in August and we were away in the States last year anyway. So this year, since we will be away again, we decided to celebrate now instead. I think we made the right decision because it was an absolutely beautiful day for riding with some lovely friends.

Olivia, Meggie, Grace and Sophie

Julia, Pippa, Katie and Tessa on their horses.

Sophie, Grace, Meggie and Olivia heading out.

After the trail ride we had a picnic lunch and then it was time for cake - and for once I made a cake from scratch that didn't taste awful, it was actually quite good.


It was a great morning and we're so grateful for all of our sweet friends who make our life here so much fun. xx

Pretzel Time

The girls and I saw what looked to be an easy make your own soft pretzels recipe here and decided to give it a go. We have missed our "Pretzel Time" pretzels from the mall in America and we were hoping these would be tasty and simple. They absolutely were! Enjoy the pictures of our fun - and be very impressed with the creative pretzel shapes. :)

The Morrisons Get Athletic

So a few weekends ago Dugald did the Gutbuster - the 11.8 Kilometer race that I did last year and chronicled in detail for you here. He had a much faster time than I did and like me he did it without training, again I wouldn't recommend it!

All set to start the race.

Dugald and Matt should have won the prize for biggest escort over the finish line - all the kids ran over to celebrate them completing the challenge.

Dugald and Katie jogging backwards for no apparent reason.

Well done guys - you only just missed getting top scores for your age group!

In other news, I've just returned from an overnight tramp/hike with my girlfriends. It is the first time I've ever walked anywhere with a backpack and it wasn't easy! We climbed 4600 feet/1400 meters to our destination, with our packs on most of the way. Our hut was at 1200 meters, so we did the last two hundred unencumbered.
Here I am at the hut where we spent the night with about 30 other people. I was going to say where we "slept with" 30 other people to be funny - but the fact is we didn't sleep at all!! We did enjoy an evening meal of chili con carne, chocolate mousse and red wine and we even had enough to share with the poor men at the table behind us suffering with not enough dehydrated food to fill them up.
The views were stunning and worth the effort it took to get up there - but I was a bit worried that going down wasn't going to be any easier. If I hadn't had been so out of breath most of the way up I would have snapped more pics to show you how steep it was, how at one point we had to climb through a mass of tree roots and at another point it looked as though we were rock climbing! I should know by now that Kiwis use the term "trail" very loosely.

My iphone/camera battery got very low by the end of the first day so I didn't take many pictures but others did so I may post a few more at a later date. I feel like quite the adventurer now - and I even made it to swimming this morning despite my aching calves.

The girls and I made home-made soft pretzels today, very fun and easy! I'll post about it soon. xx

My Little Rock Stars

Meggie and Katie were invited to a birthday party this weekend where they were asked to dress up as their favorite stars - so Meggie was Taylor Swift and Katie was Ashley Tisdale. Really for them it just meant putting on makeup and dressing up like teenagers. They hammed it up for these pictures - aren't they cute??

Karori Normal Walkathon

My friend Fleur was in charge of organizing the Karori Normal School Walkathon, so even though we don't attend the school we knew all about when it was going to happen and went out to support and cheer on our friends.

When we arrived the kids were busily walking/running around the park and we weren't there five minutes before our four couldn't stand it another minute and had joined in the fun. Following the actual walking portion of the event the girls participated in some three-legged races, tug of war and wheelbarrow races. These pictures came off my phone:

Josie and Ellie ready for the three-legged race.

Lining up for the start.
On your mark, get set, GO!!
After a rough start they got back up and completed the event with smiles on their faces.
Meggie and Katie had a go too - they are the team in the back of this pic, both on their way down as well.

Josie decided to have a go with someone a bit older, and perhaps more coordinated, than Ellie. Here she is with her friend Olivia.
Katie and Julia in the wheelbarrow race:
I had another lovely walk this past Friday - although it was a lot more challenging! This time we headed up Tinakori Hill and this is the view from the top. I didn't photoshop this image at all, it is straight out of my iphone - can you believe the blue sky??
Lots of love to all!!

Compassion in Kenya

I wanted to link to another blogger I follow who is in Kenya with Compassion International. I could really relate to her post and look forward to hearing all about her trip - you can read all about it here.