Cedar's Birthday

Today Cedar turned 4 years old.  He was so cute opening his presents; such expression in his surprise and joy at getting a special gift.  Most of them were Lightning McQueen themed!

I  took him in to town for a special birthday treat, as is our custom.  He wanted to go to the little side show on the railway land.  He chose to ride the merry-go-round with Arrow.

Happy Cedar in a rocket ship

Happy Arrow in a rocket ship

After heading home and a lovely chat with Nanny on the phone, we decided it was so hot we should head down to the local river for a swim.

Our favourite spot 

Straight in!

Slow flowing and shallow...perfect.

And a deeper spot for the confident.

Eagle has a broken wrist so he was flying his quad-copter.

Big sister Angel taking pictures of our beautiful New Zealand scenery, and of her siblings too.

The birthday boy!

Eagle and Angel off on an adventure up the river.

Most importantly is the cake!  Cedar's cake was made by his sister Butterfly.  

And singing "Happy Birthday" and blowing out the candles...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! 

WE LOVE YOU. 

XO

~Lorna

Summer Fun - Blueberries and The Herb Farm Visit

It is a summer tradition extending back many years to eat blueberries and read Blueberries For Sal by Robert McCloskey, so to actually go and pick the berries is a fun addition to our family's established practice.

This year we picked just over 6 kilos.  I think we will have to go back!  At only $7 per kilo they are so much cheaper than in store!

Cedar and Arrow had their blue buckets and were very good little pickers for me.  They probably ate a lot of berries so they got a morning of antioxidant top up!

Arrow eating berries!

Cedar eating berries!

Butterfly spent her time picking berries with her friend.

Done for the day - a lovely morning spent picking berries and catching up with friends who were there picking too!

Fresh blueberries ready for free-flow freezing.

From the berry farm we, including Grandma, my sister and her boys, headed to The Herb Farm!  {a botanical day}

Arrow and Cedar trying out the garden chairs

Cedar viewing the Teddy Bears picnic garden

Arrow

Here is Grandma sitting in the Sanctuary garden surrounded by 5 of her 8 grandsons!

A picture of me taken by Arrow.

~Lorna

Summer Fun - Bubbles and Caravans

We don't have to go out to have a good time.  Here is a collection of fun things at home.

Bubbles.  Who loves bubbles.  Well these 3 do!  And it was so simple to make.  

1. A plastic cream bottle with the bottom cut off and a sock pulled over the end. 
2.  Dip in a bowl of dish liquid mixed with water (2 Tbsp dish liquid to 2 cups of water).  
3. Blow through the pouring end of the bottle (don't suck back!).  

Viola!  Bubble snakes that float on the breeze!

Because we live in a smaller house and each child shares a room with another sibling, sometimes there is a space issue.  This needn't be a problem though; one just must be creative and resourceful in order to achieve a good result.  Thankfully I am married to a very handy, kind man!  

Our shed was transformed from man-cave/car haven into a one room little girls DREAM!  It was filled with dolls and tea sets and all manner of girlie things.  

But a man needs his car space; so Mr V purchased a very old, run down, in desperate need of repair, bordering on "just dump it" caravan!  With a few screws and pieces of wood for flooring and a lick of paint it came up perfect!

Crystal spent a few hours setting it all up just how she wanted it.  Here she is in the kitchen.

Looking back the other way is the dining table.

The bedroom nook complete with built in dresser drawers.

The wardrobe has shelving for lots of storage.

To complete the dreamy girl area I made a paved garden path.  It now has lots of colourful flowers planted along it.

Great little helpers filling the gaps with dirt.

~Lorna

Summer Fun - Kai Iwi Beach, Wanganui

Whenever a visit to Wanganui is arranged, we try to fit as much as we can into the day! I have some very favourite spots in Wanganui and this is one of them. 

It was lovely to be able to share it with Grandma.  

Of course the first stop, when you have little people is the playground!  This has always been a fun playground in my humble opinion, and is also where Mr V asked me if I would "go out with him".  

Cedar swinging and chatting with Grandma

Arrow on the playground

After a little while Arrow's sense of adventure took over; he and Cedar headed down to the ever changing stream which winds it's way over the beach looking for the sea.

Walking along the stream

We found a good spot with a partially built dam spanning the stream.

We all helped to find rocks and logs.

Grandma and Blossom diligently worked on their side of the dam and successfully slowed the water flow.

Crystal decided to build a replica of the blue-grey mud-stone cliffs which dominate the beach landscape here.  Grandma had explained to her how the cliffs used to come much further out on the beach, but have eroded since she was a girl. 

Crystal found some small pieces of Papa rock, as it is commonly called, and designed a beach scene.

 Arrow bored quickly of the dam, preferring to find rocks with which he made a horseshoe shape on the shore

Heading on down stream the children were drawn to the large boulders at the foot of the cliffs but we moved on fairly quickly.

Near the mouth of the stream is an old army fort which used to sit on top of the cliffs as a lookout for ships during WW2.  When I was a girl I was able to walk inside the concrete structure.  Now it is almost completely submerged.

A quick paddle in the surf.  Not so safe here as there are rocks hiding under the receding tide.

My four in the shallows!

I was hoping to explore the rock pools, but the tide was high and only just beginning to go out so the pools were not visible when we were there.  We did go for a walk to the large section of cliff that sits on the beach in rather a beautiful solitary position.

We managed to stop and look at the tiny muscles on the rocks between sets of waves.

Up to this point the weather had been perfect for a day at the beach; no wind and slightly overcast.  Now the wind had picked up a little so out came the shopping bag kites!

Blossom, Crystal, and Cedar flying their kites.

Arrow is too worn out from adventuring to stand up for his kite flying!

~Lorna