The X Race Wellington

Katie, Dugald and Josie participated in this year's Wellington X-Race along with our friends the Reeds and the Stewarts. Each team was made of one parent and one child - so Dugald and Katie were a team and my friend Nicky raced with Josie. I could have done it but Nicky and Josie are both very competitive so I thought they would be a better match! It was such a fun day - the race was the same idea as what they do on The Amazing Race, except instead of traveling to different countries they just traveled around the city completing challenges. The teams left in heats and Dugald and Katie and Glenn and Emily were in the first one to go. The race began with them having to solve a puzzle - in this case they had to get two metal things that were intertwined separated. Once that was done they raced to the bus, and once the bus was full it left for the next location. They ended up completing challenges in Te Papa, at Oriental Bay, up Mount Vic and then back again to where they started in Hataitai. There was a music challenge, a skipping challenge, the parent's had their nails painted, there was a treasure hunt, and lots more. Josie and Nicky and Mark and Anna left in the second heat, and Mark and Anna were so fast that they jumped ahead by catching a bus from heat 1. We decided that if we do it again it pays to register a bit later and get in the later heat so you can do such things.

Ready to race - Katie, Dugald, Josie, Nicky, Glenn, Emily, Anna and Mark.

Josie and her best buddy Tessa.

Me and Nicky

Katie and her sweet friends Anna and Emily.

Meggie and Katie led the cheering/photography section. They were too old to participate.

Katie takes off! Where's daddy?

Katie and Dugald coming in for the last challenges of the race.

Dugs helps Katie walk on stilts.

Getting suited up to paint.

Katie, Dugald, Glenn and Emily.

Dugs makes his way through the inflatable.

Crossing the finish line.

I love this one! Cuties.

Josie and Nicky coming in for the last challenges.

Jo on stilts.

Josie and Nicky in the paint challenge.

Meggie and Katie R made Ellie lots of jewelry out of safety pins while they waited. 

First Day of School

The girls had a great start to the year! Meggie entered Year 9, Katie Year 7, Josie Year 5 and Ellie Year 3 at Samuel Marsden Collegiate School. Josie was a little nervous the first day but she settled in quickly and now, a month later, it's like she has been there forever. The girls all have sweet friends and great teachers and we are really blessed they have the opportunity to be at such a marvelous school. Meggie was elected her class's Form Captain and Katie was named Deputy Form Captain for her class. Josie and Ellie don't have quite as many leadership opportunities in the Primary School but they are participating actively in all their class activities.

Ready to go!

Josie at her desk with new friend Sophie. Sophie's sister is in Katie's year.

Ellie's class schedule.

The big girls checking in with friends as they arrive.

Meggie and Ellie walking home on the first day with some of Meggie's friends.

Ellie and Josie had EOTC week their second week of school. EOTC stands for Education Outside the Classroom and they got to do some really fun things. I went with Josie's class on the day they did water safety and rollerblading and I went with Ellie's class to a local shop called "After Shock" where we learned all about earthquake safety. I got some cute pictures of Josie's group.

Breagh, Darby and Josie

Josie pulls Breagh to safety.

Josie, Trinity and Darby

Camping!!

We celebrated Waitangi Day and the last weekend before school started by camping in Greytown with the usual cast of characters. True to the tradition of never bringing the same tent twice, the Morrisons arrived with a brand-new tent that we had never assembled before. You may remember that for our last camping trip we had finally bought our own tent rather than borrowing one and it turned out to be too small for our family. The company had sent us the wrong tent so after using it we returned it and they sent the correct one - which was the one we arrived with this time. It was much better, but I do think we need to add a second small tent for the parents and leave the kids in the bigger one. Anyway, it took many hands to get this tent up and we aren't sure we assembled it correctly but it did make it through the weekend upright.

Starting position - so far so good.

Step three and things are already a litte bit confusing. Alison tries to sort out the directions. 

Richard and Amelia hard at work getting some poles straight.

Anna Moore (center) finally figured out what we were meant to do with poles inside. 

This was one of our favorite camping trips ever - I think much of that had to do with the fact that the weather was amazing! We spent time swimming, hanging out, walking, sleeping, playing in the playground and even a little shopping in town for the ladies. Mike organized all the food, we just threw money at him and he and the fellas headed to the grocery store and came back and barbecued for us.

Linda and Matthew entertaining us on the ukeleles.

Olivia, Harriet, Pippa and Meggie

Alison and Milena getting s'mores ready

Cricket of course.

Fun in the park.

Waiting for breakfast to be cooked.

The guys busy getting it ready.

Swimming down by the river.

January Draws to a Close

This little one is still very cute! She is a very good dog for the most part, but she still barks too much. And she's hopeless off the lead if there are rabbits around, chasing them is her biggest pleasure in life.

These are our over-the-fence neighbors, Tim, Jen and Maddie. Maddie isn't in the photo here but she's in the last one of this post. They are the best neighbors ever and Maddie has gone from being an only child to having four sisters named Meggie, Katie, Josie and Ellie this past year. We are so grateful for their friendship, love and hospitality. This was a thrown together meal we decided on at the last minute just because we were all home for the evening. I love that.

Tessa came to stay with us for a few days - Tessa is Chloe's friend from the farm where she stays when we are away. They are super cute together. Tessa belongs to our good friends the Reed family and I think if the truth be told Chloe would really rather just live with them, she is crazy about Nicky. I'm not jealous, though I pretend to be, but Chloe really does like Nicky better than me.

We took the dogs to the beach for a swim and they loved it. Every time I threw a stick Chloe would go get it, even if it was meant for Tessa. She even stole a stick being thrown for a labrador nearby. She was fearless about going out deep and didn't flinch when a big wave came.

We ended the afternoon with ice-cream from the dairy. So good!