Great Barrier Island during July school holidays

Yes, it has taken so long for me to get around to posting some pictures from the last school holidays. We were invited to join our friend, Nova, and her son, one of Kien's best friend, to stay with them at their property over on Great Barrier.















One little plane ride and we were there. One short car ride, one river crossing, and one hill climb to get to her property on the cliff.













From the house we could walk straight down to the rocky beach below.









Then (when the tide was right) we were able to walk around to the other bay.











And someone else likes to be carried too when they've had enough of walking.

End of term 2 already

Wow, half a year down, and the end of term 2 for Kien. He's had quite a good term, and came home with a couple of certificates in the last few weeks.







I've also established a way to make sure Kien does his own keyboard practice and I don't nag him. We write up a contract together and negotiate how many points the practice is worth. Then it's up to him to hold up his end of the contract if we wants those points. It's been working very well.



Last weekend we were out and about and decided to stop in at the Auckland Domain for a bit. Always a good time here.

Bike ride around the city

The other weekend we went for a bike ride around the city. It was great that most of the route was on bike tracks, and I'm looking forward to the future when we'll be able to ride everywhere in Auckland without fearing for our lives with getting hit by cars on the road. The bike track at Spaghetti Junction is smooth and nice to ride on.







There are a number of forks on the track and we took the one the leads to Quay St and back through North Wharf.







The light was so great when we got to the bridge. We stopped for Kien to have a runaround.









Then we rode home via Victoria Park for a climb and a dangle.

Weekending

Mother's Day

Yesterday was a lovely day. The boy that gave me Mother's Day gifted me these creations.



The card was made at after school care. He told me he made rock heart by rubbing it on concrete to create the shape. So fabulous! I love it.

Play date in the sky

On Saturday afternoon Kien went up to the Skytower will his friend, Arlene, and her parents. How lucky he is to have such a cool play date. Thanks, Manon, a.k.a. waldokiwi, for taking these awesome pics.

Te Arai beach

The previous weekend the weather forecast looked so good, and I really wanted to head north as a result. Jef had a number of things to work on, and Kien needed to get back early Sunday for a long overdue play date with 2 of his best buddies from school. So we took both cars and zoomed up to Mangawhai.

On Saturday afternoon I took Kien to our local beach while Jef worked on the tractor. Initially Kien could not understand why I brought his wetsuit, let alone make him get into it. I told him I know him well and left it at that. We got onto the sand and he played around for a bit.



Then, of course, he just couldn't help himself. It went from testing the water, then jumping waves. He spent ages building a pool and testing whether he could build a barrier so the water couldn't get in - just like we did at Hot Water Beach.



















I regretted not bringing my wetsuit as well!