Sad ... no photo!

Yesterday, since it's the holidays, and they are all about giving the kids time to relax and refresh for the last school term of the year, I thought some fresh air might be good.

We managed to load three bikes on board the Oddy and we headed for Ravensdown Fertiliser - not that it's a good place to get some fresh air!!! I dropped Jacob and Jess off and Daniel and I headed for the playground.

Well, about an hour and a half later Jacob and Jess pulled up outside the playground after biking 25km! That's from Ravensdown to the Port, back and forth a few times. I think it was amazing since the last time they got on their bikes was probably over a year ago.

And, all that after running through the Eskdale Forest Mountain Bike Tracks the day before - probably 7-8kms. Phew. Makes me feel exhausted just writing about it.

So, I think they will be looking forward to going back to school so they can have a rest physically from all my bright ideas for FUN.

Happy 12th Birthday Jess

Birthday parties should be fun, even for grandparents, so we organised a few games that I think they LOVED. Jess' favourite party game is the Chocolate Game. Instead of a bar of chocolate that gets cut up, we used Maltesers in a bowl, and your own fork. Tricky ... take a look.

Happy Birthday Jess, we love you !

Inter-school Cross Country

Jess ran in the Inter-school Cross Country again this year for school. Daniel and I arrived just in time to see the race. Jess looked exhausted 500m from the finish line but managed to find some energy reserves for a sprint to the finish. Out of approx. 100 girls, she came 16th. A great effort! Jacob was meant to be there too but had been off school sick the whole week prior so we decided he should miss it this year.

Dirt pile fun

Rolling down the hill on Daniels trike with Shiree at the dirt pile just down the road from our hose(it was so much fun) WEEEEE

Jessie's party

All my friends and I sitting at the table look at all my prezies before going to ocean Spa in Napier.(It was fun)

Yipee - Our first Tulip Flowered Today

Yes, here it is ... our first tulip of the season. Not quite the bright red or yellow I was hoping for, but still beautiful.

I was surprised to see this tulip flowered first, but maybe our mid-winter Christmas gnome (thanks to the Cunninghams) has been keeping it well watered and loved.

I wonder what colour tulip will flower next ... maybe tomorrow morning we will find out ... so check back and I'll let you know.

Sooo, I checked, and guess what ... it's another tulip alright, and it's the same colour. I think this is a lesson in contentment - tulips are meant to be bright coloured!

Anyway, keep voting for tomorrows surprise.

HCS Basketball

Jess has signed up for almost all the sports the school has offered, like t-ball, hockey, netball ... and basketball was not going to elude her.

Each Tuesday night we head off to the Hastings Sports Centre for a little 'replayed ball' and 'over defending' and 'contact'. All things netball is not about. Jess and her friend Shiree have got the hang of it now and the only two girls on the team hustle as good as anyone else out there.

Tonight the score was 24-2 to HCS. Jess got four goals (8pts).