A few photos. . .

We are hosting a Halloween Party tonight so just popping in to dump some photos off my phone and say hello. I spent yesterday at Marsden for Katie's athletics day - Josie and Ellie had theirs last week but it was such a miserable day that I didn't stay long and didn't get any photos. Yesterday was brilliant, the sun was shining and it was the warmest day we've had so far this spring. 

A peek at the South Island while on a walk last week - still snow!

Dugald's cousins developed a new product called "Karma Cola" - we had some in a cafe a little while ago and it was delicious!!

The red-heads

Ellie in her new swim cap.

Katie tied for first place on the high jump.

Katie and her class having a rest after the high jump.

We found a blow-up pool in our yard and decided to see if it would work. It did and the girls enjoyed a play with the neighbors yesterday after school.

Katie's Birthday Party

Sweet Katie was finally able to celebrate her birthday with a party at the beginning of the school holidays. She invited 10 girls to go to dinner and a movie, then they came home and had cake and presents. Four of the 10 girls spent the night - they stayed up until 3:00 am chatting apparently, Dugald and I slept through it but Meggie next door informed us in the morning. Katie said they had some really meaningful conversations though so she reckoned it was totally worth it. Here are a few snaps from the evening - thank you Meggie for being in charge of the camera!

I also want to brag on Katie - she got Distinction on her ICAS Mathematics test. She scored in the top two percent of Year 6 participants in New Zealand. We are very proud - especially her former math teacher, Daddy. She also got the "Most Improved Player" award for netball at the Primary School Sports Awards. And, lastly, she was chosen to be the head of her house, Innes, for Term 4, a position she really wanted. Woo hoo Katie!

Hi there

First of all, these two are doing just fine.

In fact we are all doing well. It's been a busy two weeks with the girls on a break from school - we've had lots of friends over, Katie's birthday party (at last), we've traveled to a birthday party out of town and gone to Waikanae to spend some time with friends at their new beach house. Now that the girls are back in school I finally have a minute to update here  - but only a minute as we are having company for dinner tonight and I have a lot to do to get ready!

At the beginning of the holiday we went out to Ruth Pretty's place to celebrate family friend Diane Latta's 80th birthday. It was lovely of her to include us and we all had a great time - the girls looked like a picture out of a magazine in their bright clothes eating out on the porch at the festive table Ruth set for them, but alas this is the only picture I have from the party. 

Ellie noticed this little guy (girl?) and friend outside of our window. One of them was camera shy but I managed a few pictures with my phone of this beauty.

The first week of the holidays was filled with ballet - practice every day to get ready for exams in November. I'm not sure how I missed getting a picture of Josie!

Dugald suffered an injury at the beginning of the holidays. He took the dog for a walk - but decided to ride Katie's scooter so Chloe could run as fast as she wanted - and it was a wet day. He didn't quite make the corner and came off the scooter at full speed landing on his shoulder. He's been to the physio and all is well now, but we had a few laughs at his expense. We suggested he might want to tell the physio that it was a rugby injury. 

The weather in Waikanae was a bit rough while we were there - we ventured out for a walk on the beach after a windy, rough, stormy morning and discovered a lot of driftwood and this guy washed up on the shore. Ewwww. . . . is it safe to go back out into the water?

Even Chloe got to go to the beach with us and she LOVED it! The car ride home, not so much. 

I'll leave you with this picture from my glorious walk with Chloe yesterday. We're back to cloudy skies and gale force winds today so I'm glad we got out. I'll post soon with pictures from Katie's party.