Fire works with the grandparents

A very packed day with school in the morning. Then off to computer club...then getting back in time to pick up DD's best mate from school...(Go Mummy! for retraining and sitting exams!! xx )

So here was Granny's idea of a cake...I'm not sure how the kids all felt about this.

 DD takes reassurance from Grandpa

 DS shows his styles of sparker fighting.

 Then we got down to rose bonfires....and holes in the lawn...lol

 Slowly winding up the night...as its a school day the next day and we did have to get everyone home.

Bike trail leads to rock collecting

Labour weekend leaves me and the kids alone and wondering what to do....

Bike trail my girlfriend says.

Phew...super tired start to term 4 but gulp lets do it.

Amazing day!!

I've not done biking for over 8 years...so unfit.

We've just gone though the old train tunnel.

Stopping for a big rest

Ds's bike is a bit too big for him but as long as he doesn't stop he's great

Dd did well for the first 7 or so km

Ds picked up so many rocks in his trail his pockets couldn't hold any more.

He started collecting more and more...and before we knew it...out came the OM jewellers loup and wow rocks.  

Farm visit

We might live surrounded by farms but we don't often go and visit.

My girlfriend has an organic farm which is just nessled in a beautiful rural valley.

Ds was a bit shy this day and spent most of his time talking to the pet ducks and chickens.
We rounded up some cows

Explorered the gardens and contemplated plant swapping and recipe swapping....humm my brain is thinking of another get together.

Halloween

I'm not keen in the whole begging thing but the idea of giving a special baked treate was much better. 

We visited our neighbours with chocolate brownie....

Our lovely village atmosphere and all the kids gather to play in the park...a lot of black here.

Mums had some great games...little ds kept well out of it...he doesn't like crowds   Even though he knows every kid here...oh well we're all different with different needs.

Spring Beach day

Once again OM and I seem to anticipate each other as I had suggested a beach day for the group...and also this week we are studying saltwater biomes

DS with his little friend working out how to sink his truck.

Dd and her mate create a rock pool to hold their animals.

Ds questions getting wet.

Ds decided to explore.

Trip to the dentist...and some tunnels

Both our two needed to visit the dentist...in Auckland...goodness! 2 hours there and 2 hours back but had to do it.

With my new phone I've been using google maps and the connection with my car stereo and then we have "Jazz" help us get there ... the kids have been loving watching the little blue arrow going down the road and then "Jazz" telling us to turn in so many meters. 

So what we did was go to the dentist...using google...then we went to North Head to explore. We really needed a lot more time but it was right at the end of the day and we were all worried about getting stuck in traffic like we did on the way down.

DS has to discover something to climb.

 What was it Mum? Was one of the main questions asked. Just as well I downloaded and printed out the pamphlet that went with this walk.

 We spent a while outside exploring. Looking at all the gun emplacements

 Seeing how heaving things are

 Seeing if they could fit into small places.

 Then we went down the tunnels. Poor DD was NOT keen at all and she's normally the brave one...this day it swapped over. DS found a small passage way and wanted to explore while DD freaked out. We had torches and did look a little way but I didn't push too much.

 They loved the views and the gun...amazingly hot!!!

Reading....

DD has started the Boxcar Children and is finding it quite easy.
I'm finding it really hard to get the right level of reading for her...its GREAT being able to put things on the Kindle so we can make the size of the writing bigger.
DD loves the Famous Five Secret Seven and Pirates.
Anything with adventures in it

Hummm maybe I'll look for DS too...at the moment I'm using Jolly Phonics books for him but he's getting very confused with the amount of words and the picture all in one.
Maybe I'll make some of my own.
For DS's read aloud at night he's listening to Redwall...lovely story about mice in an abby...and of course there is a sword and fighting.

Both kids are enjoying The Hobbit...this is the second time I started it and they really didn't get it. We brought the large artist books from the movie. WOW they spend ages pawing through these as I read the book.
Loving it.


Right off to do that i talked about now.