Week 11

Chocolate bickies part 594.. We keep baking and they never taste bad :P The one difference is that Grace is starting to help a little bit more. With a lot of guidance of coarse, but she manages pretty well!

Her sleeping habits are pretty sweet.. Holding her head, bottoms up... =D Makes you forget all about her screams during the day ;)

Art-project for the week.. Do-A-Dot (with a carrot) I made some stencils for Jack and after his nap, it was time to make that gorgeous rainbow and let the sun shine =D Grace joined us, but we let her make her own masterpiece.

Wednesday was a great day and during nap time we got a text from Nanma.. She could use some company. Pop was cutting wood and she had an afternoon of. We love Pop's playground (and Nanma and Pop too of coarse) so we put on our hats and got over there. We went on the swing (Grace loves to go high, Jack not so much.. Low is fun too). We let Nanma pull the wee car while we hunk the horn. Jack raised the "All Blacks" flag. Grace went down the big slide a few times, first on the tummy, after even on her bum. And the favorite of all is the circle around the tree.. Balancing on the small beams and making sure we hold on to the bridge while we 'jump jump jump'. Grace was even able to climb on it and go all the way around, all by herself. We love it!!!

On Thursday it was time for another music class for Grace. In the mean time, I was able to do some serious work with Jack. :P Without the interruptions of Grace, we were able to focus on some writing exercises, do some do-a-dot with stickers, make patterns and complete them by putting pompoms on the right sign and even following an entire arrow track by putting those pompoms on the right spot. He was really focused and loved doing these things.

I had the afternoon off and with the kids going on a playdate to Methven, I was able so have a quiet afternoon in the sun! Reading my book, getting tan and enjoying my banana split (to keep up the idea that I did eat something healthy)... Gotta love it!

Friday was D-day or should I say T-day... Finally I got my tattoo.. A lot of time went into the design, making sure it was completely what I wanted and then it was time to get scarred.. By the end, the most painful part was not the scratching but the position my arm was in.. My right arm is pretty messed up.. Volleyball must have something to do with that ;)
The tattoo turned out pretty good, not too painful (except for some spots) and in a few weeks I'm supposed to go back to do some touch-ups and make sure it is completely awesome =D
But this was not the best part of the day.. I texted Marie when I left to receive a message that the kids were already waiting at the driveway.. 15 minutes later I had the proof.. 2 kids on the driveway, 1 of them ran inside and the other one was jumping up and down, shouting: "she's here, she's here, she's here!". I never felt more adored =D
Maddie showed me everything she had and then we had our Belgium inspired (French Fries) meal and s'mores for dessert! Mmmm

Saturday morning was supposed to be Athletics, but unfortunately that was cancelled.. The positive thing, Mads could show me her school and spent a lot of time on the rings. She really is a monkey! After that we got back to the house and got ready for our picnic (was already packed anyway). A little stop at a Lyttelton farmer's market and back on the road. Amazing views and heaps of turns (squeezing Harry every time a little more :P ) later we got at the private park with an awesome playground. We tried the flying fox and then had a quick meal because it started drizzling.. It didn't last long before it started to rain a lot harder and we had to fled back into the car. The rain passed and the Scott's showed me around Christchurch and explained to me how it used to be.. Pretty excruciating to realize how it was only a few years ago..
Pavlova with ice-cream for pudding made the day complete and the hour of baking waffles (so we didn't have to wake up at 6 the next day) was soon forgotten.

After a good sleep (thank you Mads for the magical owl pillow) and a lovely snuggle it was time to get up.. We got the perfect merge between New-Zealand and Belgium with watching rugby and eating waffles with Nutella.

After that it was time to say goodbye and hit the road. Meeting Anna and Kira in Tai Tapu and driving of to Akaroa. Sunny car drove us everywhere and even though I never would have guessed he could even drive up-hill, he did a more than decent job! =D

The books were right, saying that it is very French and after a little walk in town, we discovered a good walk.. Not to steep and a rewarding amaaaaaaazing view at the top! It took us 4 hours (lunch and hundreds of photoshoots included) and it was soooooo worth it!
We had some time left to check out the rest of Akaroa and then drove all the way to Pigeon Bay. The had this huge swing over there that goes all the way over the water =D Great to feel like a kid again.. Sunshine on your face, opening your eyes to an amazing surrounding and having some crackers with hummus and licorice as snacks... No better way to spend a Sunday =D A dust road led us to Port Levy (the drive was probably better than the actual Port, but very much worth it all) and after that it was time to head back. Lincoln provided us with a great Indian dish and than driving back home..