Destruction has begun

The big machines have moved in - what a mess thay are making. Still at least we had a long peaceful time before they started.

Girls Soccer

The girls had their last game last weekend, thank god we ALL say. The beginning of theirs and Johns soccer is great, the middle is good, the end is looked forward to.

They won their game, BRIANNA SCORED HER FIRST GOAL! Prize giving is this Sunday and I've been tipped the wink to make sure they are there.

Connor Pics

Cute little Connor is now 7 months old. Apologies that these are not the best photos but they still show how much he has grown.

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Nelson Weather

School holidays are at an end and we've experienced a strange range of weather. Two weeks of mostly fog, rain & wind, cold & dreary days with odd days of clear frosty mornings that still end up rainy. I was looking forward to days spent in the garden - I got only 1! Thankfully the kids are all easily amused and were fine doing inside things and didn't get too stir crazy.

Fog rolled in for a day

Frost has several times stayed all day across the valley

But when the sun shines we have gorgeous sunsets!

WOW

This has got to be one of the best ever websites found by kids at school. Shows graphically how many births and deaths there are all over the world, by country when you pause the mouse over a specific country. Plus - even more scary is how much CO2 is emitted. New Zealand is looking pretty good in comparison

Breathing Earth

Hello to Carmens U.S. family

Click on the Family Pics link at the side. Have a look at my kids blogs too if you like and their school sites. Might be interesting for you to see what schools are like in NZ. Enjoy and leave me a message. If you add your email address in the blogarithm you will be emailed every time we add another posting.
Monique

Libby the Star

Libby was her soccer teams Player Of The Day two weeks ago, we have only just got round to taking the photo now that the trophy has to go back to the team. She won it for her fantastic defence and listening to her coaches instructions.

Oh Dear

Poor Libby ..... just home after a weekend away at Grandmas with dad, got home, unpacked her bags, then BAM smacked her bag into her mouth ......... ooooowww!! Think her cheek took the brunt of it, poor girl.

Then the next day it looked even worse :-(

A Sad Goodbye

Well we've spent the weekend saying a sad farewell to Darling Old George and to fabulous summer holidays in his home in Pohara. He has had a fall recently and is now moving to chch to be closer to Vonnie, his daughter. We will miss you George and the great times we spent in your home - it's an end of a very happy era.

We had a lovely farewell night for George complete with his friends from Pohara, his family and us.

And, of course, while in Pohara you can't go past the easy fishing at Anatoki or the candle shop. 22 salmon in 3/4 hour! Waaaay too easy! Scott caught 5 which he's rapt about, we smoked most and he has given some to grandma/grandad and some to the Hoffs already.

He was very amused at the donkey across the road from who called out the most amazingly loud (and hilarously funny) sounds - gave us opportunity for cute photos tho. Not the sort of animal you'd like to have next door!

Girls First Soccer Game

Girls are into soccer for the first time, both are in the same team - Nelson City Flames. Their first game they missed as dad thought it was too wet :-( Their second game was a bye but finally they got to play today and had a great first game. In fact they surprised me by being really into the game and weren't the girly girly players I thought they might be. They had a big loss but learnt heaps about the game of soccer. Libby is no 5, Brianna no 3.

Photo Booth

All the kids (and adults) are loving Photo booth on the new laptop.

Westcoast Holiday

Visiting Great Gran, pizza, the best milkshakes, gorgeous scenery, nice little sauvignon, a bit of shopping and a new laptop to play on. What more could the kids or I want for a holiday!

Pancake Rocks - Nature at it's best!
These were formed 1000's of years ago under the sea, scientists still can't work out how. The kids loved the walk round them and Scott, being mad keen on King Kong, was sure this is where he lives. Unfortunately for Scott we didn't find him!

Chocolate milkshakes at a great cafe in Granity then it was on to Denniston, the original coal mining town. Brianna and Scott roamed around the old relics. Thankfully we were able to get some photos before the notorious fog rolled in.

Not something you see every day!

Ewwww! And I thought they only ate aphids.