Shaking those Maracas

This is Luke watching a dvd put out by his music therapist. He loves shaking his maracas ;)

If you are interested in the dvd,  you can get them at Julie Wylie Music and if you mention the Champion Centre (which is where Luke attends therapy) $5 from the dvd is donated to the Champion Centre.

Dunedin Holiday continued...

Here we are on a winter day at St Clair beach. Someone is not too keen on sandy hands...

...but she is keen on posing for the camera!

Then on to the Cadbury Chocolate Factory...

...where we went on a tour and the kids sulked and squabbled over who had the most chocolate in their loot bags...

...and Luke did a sicky spill all down Neil's shoulder and onto the floor!

So it was not as much fun as it should have been but we still came away with LOTS of chocolate :)

Ben with a vintage van which will be out on duty this week for the Chocolate Festival.

The two littlies all rugged up in the cold!

The steepest street in the world. View from the top...

 We took the car up as I couldn't face dragging the kids up! I was worried that the car wouldn't make it- it didn't seem right- but of course we did. 

Dunedin Museum

This is a boy who only started walking 12 weeks ago. It is hard to believe! He loved this foot keyboard and we had to drag him away. Too much fun!

Dunedin Holiday

Last Saturday I packed up the kids and the car (easier said than done) and took the kids to Dunedin for a holiday. Neil had been in Queenstown for the NZ Primary Principals Federation conference, so he got to have a peaceful bus trip and met us there.

We stopped after about an hour to visit Aunty Robin, now known as Great Aunty Robin, hehe. Then we carried on for just over another hour, where we stopped at the beach to check out the Moeraki Boulders.

My kids love collecting things from the beach. Emily is an especially good magpie. She would bring home armfuls of stuff every time if I let her.

Luke spends most of his time heading for the water. He is such a lemming! All the kids were keen on the idea of a swim, which is lovely in theory, but not in the middle of winter on a 10 degree day!

Ben wanted me to take this photo to show his dad the seaweed. Don't ask me why.

Happy families (wasn't so sweet a few minutes previously after an hour in the car...)

On the famous boulder. I even made the cut, kind of...

Next stop, Dunedin.

Here we are in the butterfly house at the museum. The kids loved it, although Ben was a bit miffed that a butterfly didn't land on him. It would help to stay still for a few seconds if you ask me! Luke wasn't that keen on the butterflies to begin with, and may have attempted to swat them, but he loved the fish and tortoises at the bottom. He wanted to have a swim with them, but his mother wasn't as keen on the idea. Party pooper.

There was also a kids science area there, which we loved. Luke's favourite was the keyboard he could walk on. I had to drag him away.

The Bandit Hat

A couple of weeks ago Fantastic Mr Fox came out on DVD and, seeing as I am a big fan of Roald Dahl and Ben and I loved it when we saw it at the movies, we got it. This has unleashed a new obsession in Ben. For those of you who have boys, you will understand the obsession well. Ben has had many in his 6 1/2 years, including Lego, Star Wars,and all things Army.

This is probably his favourite scene from the movie. Notice the 'bandit hats'. Because Ben did. And he wanted one. REALLY wanted one.

So being the kind mother that I am, I said I would knit him one. And so the fun began. I searched the internet for a pattern. Couldn't be too difficult, could it?

The first hitch was that Ben was quite specific. It had to be a 3 hole bandit hat. Not one where you could see the face, like this vintage WW1 pattern.

Seeing as Ben is not the best listener in the world, I liked the idea of the ear flaps. Ben did not.

Then we went from funny to...

...crazy to...

...I don't even know what to say about these! But they were all wrong.

In the end we compromised on a two-whole model, and here is the finished product, modelled by Ben.

One bandit hat for the bandit in our house. The things mothers do for their children!

I might add that to get it finished there was continual nagging, and I even sat in the car in the dark driving home last Sunday and knitted in the dark!

Snow!

It snowed today, which is the first time Luke has seen the snow. It only snows here every couple of years, and today it was enough to settle and let the kids have some fun. Now the sun is out and it is almost all gone.

As usual Luke headed for the sandpit.

He was pretty keen on throwing snowballs like his big brother. I had the job of making them for him.

Ben is getting to be far too good a shot for me!

Making snow angels

Pink snow angels

Pink poppets aren't too good in the cold.

The grumpy fairy on her way inside :)

Attitude tv

In March I posted about Attitude tv, which had done a really cool episode on the Special Olympics, but my link to TVNZ would only work if you were in New Zealand. Well I have now found it on youtube, so here is Special Olympics: The Mission Part One and Part Two. The first is about 5 mins and the second 6ish, and well worth the watch. Enjoy :)