Hot and dry in February

Where has the month gone??!! The days are rolling past as we have begun swimming lessons with the home-school group here along with Brownies for Jasmine and Keas for Daniel.  The weather has been amazing (hot and dry each day) which allows us to have our pick of activities and also makes me realise what a change we have had. On the coast most of our days had rain of varying degrees - misty, clearing, drizzle, pouring down, stormy etc - where as here we have sun of varying degrees - overcast, cloudy, bright etc.

The kids at the Hemi Matenga lookout checking our Kapiti Island.

This month have been out and about a bit with the kids as they get into their Brownies and Keas Groups.  Daniel has just been made a Waikanae (Kapiti Coastal) Kea and been earning a few badges for Sun saftety and watersliding - think that was the most fun for him :) while Jasmine has just slotted into the Waikanae Brownies and is already into biscuit selling. She has also been working on some interests badges (earning a fun food one already) so Daniel is keen to catch up with some Kea Challenge badges too.

Waterslide Kea fun

Making scones for her Sunshine Interest Badge

Liam has joined the local toastmasters and Lions groups up here and is enjoying the social aspects of that.  He has been busy each weekend on the house or in the garden - mostly chopping down overgrown trees and helping me paint. I am most of the way through a reflexology course so we have made our 'playroom' into a treatment room for me. Now the big challenge is to actually get the clients in!! 

My new treatment room.

We are really enjoying being back up the Kapiti Coast though - reuniting with friends and enjoying all it has to offer. It is great to be able to complete my runs without seeing any traffic and getting on the bikes to have a swim in the river or sea. The dog is enjoying the freedom too :)

Well that is about it from us till next month so I'll finish with a few more photos and catch you in March!

Arohanui
Y

Into the New Year

This is a little later than planned due to some problems with our internet, namely that we haven’t had it for the week! That aside I can hardly believe that we have been back in Kapiti for over 2 months now. The time has flown by!

One of the first things Liam did when we arrived back was to get our veggie garden started and thanks to him we are now enjoying fresh veggies and salad bits every day. The fruit trees have given us oodles of goodies too which I have been stewing, jamming and marmalade -ing up in a bid to get it off the trees before the birds do.  After a good month of glorious sunny days and sweltering temperatures we are now getting some much needed rain for the garden.

Our Garden

Christmas was a fairly quite one here, just Liam’s Mum to stay and the neighbours popping in. It was great having Liam here for a full two weeks without the usual call-outs that we had on the Coast.  The kids have made the most of the time with Liam and have been creating, helping and venturing with him whenever they can.

Liam and Jasmine building a bench seat for her room

January brought with it Jasmine’s birthday and the amazement that time has flown so quickly that we now ‘miraculously’ have an 8 year old in our midst.  She had her heart set on going to Chimpmunks (an indoor play area) which she had longed for since we had left Kapiti. I agreed thought secretly  I had my fingers crossed  that it would live up to all her 5 year old dreams of the last time we were there. Fortunately I had nothing to worry about as the two of them raced from here to there and I actually got to read! The best surprise was that a home-schooling family from Hokitika, which we knew, was there in Chimpmunks on holiday - well on holiday in Wellington that is not Chimpmunks :) It was great that the kids re-connecting quickly and had a ball of a time.

With her Sylvanian Cake

Having fun at Chimpmunks

School is heading back this week and with it brings a return of Brownies and Keas.  Both kids are looking forward to making new friends and getting stuck into activities up here. Already Jasmine has been working on some badges over summer which has been great to see.  Daniel has his first wiggly tooth now so I guess it won’t be long until the tooth fairy has to make another visit to the house and he will have news to share at Keas :)

Decorating biscuits to share at a local rest home for her brownie badge.

Arohanui

Y