It's Blind Week in New Zealand and as many of you know, Molly was chosen as the 'face' of Blind Week. Her wee face has adorned leaflets, posters, website and now the newspapers. Each day this week, there is a photo of Molly in The NZ Herald and Wellington's paper (The Dominion Post) are coming to interview Molly and I at her school on Friday morning. Molly, of course, is taking all the media attention in her stride!
Tomorrow, Molly is going to the local Visual Resource Centre to meet up with other visually-impaired kids and their teacher aides and generally have a bit of fun. On Thursday, Molly (along with her class and the other 500 pupils in her school) are going to make eye patches and decorate them and spend some time wearing them around school to see what it's like to be in Molly's shoes. On Friday, the local Guide Dog Trainer is coming along to give a talk to Molly's class and will be bringing her guide dog, Sky, to meet the kids. The donation buckets will be rattling around the classrooms!
So some random updates on life over here in the perpetual winter
My Ladies up at Viv and Neil's. We zapped up there for a few days over the school holidays. Mum and Neil were in Auckland for a chunk of it so we had the run of the place. The weather was terrible but we snugged up inside and picked a couple of decent vintages out of the cellar. A few single malts were had as there were some almost finished bottles taking up valuable space in the liquor cabinet.
Shaving foam left open in bathroom =
It's like a 70's Gene Simmon's snap with a fan.
This is what happens if you eat too much fish.
Pizza oven in Featherston. A Friend of mine (Nick) from IT days has a place in Featherston (Wairarapa). We shot over for a Sunday and it was magic. We cooked Pizzas in this oven.
And played cricket on their lawn.
That is the signal for a 'no ball'. Maddy - Umpire / Molly - Medium fast right arm over.
We took the girls to this lovely nature reserve, about ten mins drive from our house, and we took the short 15 minute nature trail which actually took us around half an hour to walk! It was wonderful to have a bush walk and be surrounded by beautiful old trees (400 - 800 years old!) and to hear all the native birds.
This reserve is the only botanic garden in New Zealand dedicated solely to native plants and consists of 100 hectares of native forest and five hectares of plant collections. Originally, Maori used the forest for hunting hence the name 'Otari' which means 'Place of Snares'. Following European colonisation, some of the large trees were removed for timber and others were burnt off for farmland. One of the early landowners, Job Wilton, preserved seven hectares (17 acres) of the original forest and fenced it off. This became known as Wilton's Bush.
There are many different types of trails and tracks to take depending on your time limit and level of interest. I will definitely be returning without the kids to explore some more!
Nick and Molly on the Nature Trail
Peeking through the pseudo-trunk of the Northern Rata:
Originally an epiphyte, this tree began its life high up on the
branches of another tree and then sent roots down to the ground which then fused
to create a pseudo-trunk, killing off the host tree. The gap in the trunk is a reminder of where the host tree once grew!
New Zealand Tree Fern - Punga Tree
400-year-old Rimu with Rata (epiphyte) You can see the Rata roots strangling its host and making their way towards the ground.
I know, it's been a while since we last posted but hey we did move house and school and...
Finally found a few essential camera items and have managed to take a few snapshots over the last few days:
Molly had her first school disco on Friday night and the theme was 'Superheros' so Molly was of course - Super Molly - found some material to make an 'M' for her princess dress and her little nurses' cape was perfect for a Superhero. The disco ran from 6pm until 7.15pm when the older kids took over! Molly was so excited about the disco and I was a little worried that it might be too much for her so late in the day but no; she's definitely cut out for parties, a real disco diva, I wonder where she gets that from? Once she got over her fear of the loud music and all the people, she bopped away to YMCA and 'Move it' and others and clearly did not want the party to end. It was quite hard to get her to sleep when we got home as she kept singing the whole evening!
We took a drive the other day to a peaceful beach called 'Makara Beach', about 3o mins drive from here, tucked over the hills, hidden from Wellington. At least we thought it would be quiet but it seemed that other Wellingtonians had the same idea that day. Spot the local children going for the plunge!
This morning we took the girls and their trikes down to Oriental Parade, Wellington's posh waterfront, had coffee, chased the gulls and played in the park all the while trying to avoid any collisions with other pedestrians and cyclists! Molly has a new trike and Madeleine has Molly's old trike; Molly is still learning how to steer and pedal.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Monday, Tuesday at Pukerua Bay.
It is late but I wanted to post these photos. The NZ coast can be a beautiful place with sunnies on but make sure you bring a coat.....
Nick
Hail Storm front The maw of the beast Sunshine
The inviting coast
The photographer and the shy Kapiti Island (it is visible today)
So I wrote this a few weeks ago bit it seems a shame not to post it.
Bunks
We brought some bunks the other weekend as we thought we would try to maximise our available space in our wee house. Apart from that it gets Maddy out of her cot and gives Molly an adventure each night scaling up the ladder to the top bunk. She loves being able to touch the ceiling.
So we assembled the bunks in the room they were in to kick off. We only had one mattress so we got Molly into the swing of things on the bottom bunk. Teddy’s up top. This weekend the cot got taken down and a couple of new mattresses were purchased and the girls got set up in the office. Initial concerns about how Molly might cope with the ladder were misplaced when she clambered down in the dark three times on the first night to come and see us in the living room.
A snap of the wee mountaineers.
Bouncing
The winter has arrived. There was some serious hail in the city on Wednesday last week. I was heading to Christchurch for some training but our plane was struck by lightening when it landed to pick us up. I’m happy for them to give it a good once over when that happens rather than just jumping on board and taking our chances. Some free breakfast vouchers were great. A generous helping of scrabbled eggs and mojo coffee.
Winter has also meant some indoor time for us and the weans. We broke out an old mattress for the girls to jump on in the living room. We have some footage of the gymnasts leaping about to some happy tunes (can you identify them – answers on a postcard).
Note: Turn your PC sideways for this clip.
Slippers
Mothers Day was on Sunday this week. I brought it forward a day to Saturday as we had our office party (we turned 1) on Saturday night. Beth headed out for the day and me and the girls made cards (and a mess). The excitement was too much for Maddy and while standing on a chair in her socks she lunged for a crayon, slipped, fell, smacked her chin on the table on the way past and bit deep into her bottom lip. A moment of silence then a Banshee wail. There was no shortage of blood mixed in with dribble and sobs. We got some ice on it and put on some ‘Cinderella’. Job done. Maddy has the makings of a TV junkie. Anyway to stop the slipping we went and got Maddy some slippers (can anyone explain that oxymoron please – slippers / slipping).
She has some flashing slippers. When she stomps (and she can stomp) they flash. It is quite distracting for her when she is doing a wee. Stomping and wee-ing is a skill. Nick
Molly turned five on 23rd March, 2009 and to mark this very special event, we held a big fairy party (by special request) in the local Scout hall in Pukerua Bay. Molly invited around 15 little fairies and some brought their siblings so there were around 20 children in all and a few grown-ups too.
As Molly is very into dressing-up right now and loves pretending to be a fairy or a princess, we thought it would be very special if she had a visit from a real fairy, amazingly they do exist and Fairy Trina put in a surprise appearance at Molly's party and stole the show. She was a very busy fairy; telling stories, making wishes, painting fairy faces, organising pass the parcel and musical statue, as well as all her other fairy duties. The kids loved her and most importantly, it was a very special day to remember for Molly.
Fairy Molly
Fairy Trina with Molly
Fairy Eli
Fairy Mummy and Fairy Madeleine
Fairy Godmother
Fairies having tea (no, they weren't always this quiet!)
Pass the parcel
Molly hands out stickers on her last day at Kindy
The Fairy Birthday Cake (made by Fairy Godmother Viv!)
Storm front
The maw of the beast
