Out n' about

We're lucky to live right next to some hiking trails that lead to the local university, and also to a really cool playground (that is almost always empty). It's quite a popular track for runners, and also people out walking their dogs. We have our own private enterance to the trail as our property goes right up to the edge of it - so when we need to let Luca burn off some energy, if we're home, but no one is answering the door - check the trails!


For a bit of variety, we sometimes go to other nearby trails - these photos were taken a few weekends ago when the afternoon sun came out just long enough for us to go outside. The rain and wind had kept us cooped up inside all day. For the first time Luca feel asleep watching cartoons.

James and I are both looking forward to the day that we can do longer hikes with the boys, and then do some overnight hikes and stay in the Department of Conservation huts. I've posted about this before, but NZ has this amazing system of trails and huts that you can stay at. Just think how fun it will be when the boys are old enough to go tramping with us and they can also invite a friend to come along. Adventures abound!

I'm trying to make an effort to let the kids play outside as much as possible. I haven't been good at encouraging Luca to play outside this winter because our front/back yard and driveway has been one giagantic mud pit and lately it's been getting dark and cold around 5pm. I want both the kids to love the outdoors, so I'm going to make a real effort to play outside with them more. Besides hiking, our other favourite things to do are to go on 'bear hunts' around the property and on the trails, kick the soccerball around in the street, and visit random playgrounds throughout the city. One of the advantages of working at city council - you get to know where all the cool free things are located!

Rockstar

Click on the video to see our little man in his first acoustic video! His two all time favourite songs mixed into one.

And yes, even rockstars can wear a potty seat on their head and still be cool.

And wear big boy undies on the outside of their clothes! Undies (and a party with chocolate cake) are what we are bribing him with to use the toliet. So far it hasn't worked....two kids in diapers = no fun. Hopefully soon we'll be down to just one. Someday...

Red, White, and Blue

The 4th of July is right up there as one of my favourite holidays. Yep, totally up there. BBQ's, fireworks, crazy jello american flag cakes, swimming pools, FIREWORKS. The longer I live in NZ, the less important the American holidays have become. Isn't that sad? Yeah, it is. But I still try to make a big deal out of them, and celebrate them with my family.

Okay, normally I think it's disgustingly cutsey when parents dress up their children in the same clothes (especially twins.....auuugggh). But C'mon....how cute are they?!

This year, I've got a new partner in crime to celebrate with. Lyndsey and Ryan and her two little girls have just moved here from California. Ryan's the new coach of the Jets (our local pro basketball team) and I met them through a mutual friend. It is a small town afterall. A few weeks ago I helped them unpack all the boxes that had arrived from the States. Boxes and boxes of American stuff. We went over to Lyndsey and Ryan's for a dinner of chili (she made it) and Apple pie (I made it) and overly priced imported Budweiser. There were lots of non Americans there too.

In Sept they sell fireworks for 4 days. 4 days only (to celebrate Guy Forks Holiday), so we stock up for occasions like this. The good thing about 4th of July in the Southern Hemisphere is that you don't have to keep the kids up till super late at night, since it gets dark around 5pm here. Party, fireworks, and then home in bed by 8pm :-)

This is Luca right after we started lighting the firworks. He was a bit scared. You can see it in his eyes. He said,k "I don't like it. I don't like it." So I picked him up and held him as we watched the from a bit further away. By the time we busted out the sparklers he saw the other older kids with them, and then he had to have one too.


When I'm not student teaching, and it's not raining, this is how I take the boys to daycare - it's a 10 min walk from our house

Hope everyone in the States had a great 4th of July!

Winter Swims

One of our favourite low cost family activities is heading out to the Linton Camp pool to go swimming. It's free, It's warmer than the community pools, and never crowded. Some of you may remember that this was also the venue for Luca's 2nd Birthday party :-)

I only wish that the Linton Camp pool offered swim lessons. Well, they do, but I don't think they have lessons for really small children. Back in the day I used to be a Water Safety Instructor, and I often toy with the idea of becoming qualified in NZ so that I can offer to teach swim lessons on Saturday mornings for Linton Camp. I'd charge less money than the community pool so I bet you'd have quite a few that would be interested. I'd also make some extra spending money! Hmmm, perhaps I should pursue this idea a bit more...

We've tried to consisently take Luca from a young age, so that he develops confidence in the water. You'd be amazed at how many children in NZ can't swim - and because NZ is surrounded by oceans and rivers, there are way too many drownings. On my last placement at Freyberg HS I'd say only about 1/3 of the students could swim 100 meters of front crawl (freestyle). Many primary schools have small outdoor pools for their children to learn how to swim, but due to the high cost of maintaining the pool and all the gov't regulations, many schools have been concreting over the pools. Besides outdoor pools in NZ are really only good for about 1-2 months of the year. The high cost of swimming lessons can be prohibitive to many families, thus not as many children are learning to swim. Oh, and there's the whole pacific island/ maori culture which generally are not known for their swimming abilities...

This weekend we took Wyatt to the pool for the first time. After watching his big brother for the past few months, it was finally his time! He seemed to enjoy it, and Luca helped teach him a few games and pool songs.

After swimming both boys were worn out and fell asleep in the car. Exactly as we had hoped :-)

Sunrise Hut

I have one more week at Freyberg High School on my student teaching placement. I can't even tell you how much I'm looking forward to this week being over. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy teaching, but Student teaching is much harder than I thought. Doing it with a newborn...not recommended. 1. The students aren't yours, so you don't really know their backgrounds, and if you try to come in with new routines....whoa, backlash from the students. 2. You aren't familiar with all the rules and procedures of the school, but yet you are suppose to act like a full staff member. I busted some kids smoking pot, but the little buggers got away....long story. 3. You constantly have someone looking over your shoulder and 4. Juggling teaching, night time feeds and two little boys, expressing while at work, and lots of research and assignments for University....Exhausting!!! Okay, enough of my sob story. It's only a year long course, and I'm just about 1/2 way though. I knew it was going to be painful, but I decieded for only 1 year of pain - instead of doing the part time option. At least this way I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.


Freyberg....Hmmmm, what can I say. It's got some amazing programmes at the school, including a massive special needs and teen parent centre, but there are also more than a few bad eggs at this school. The behaviour of teens has been SHOCKING, and I question modern day parenting (or lack thereof). It also doesn't help that I'm teaching several 'behaviour' classes. Nothing like giving the student teacher the hardest classes, eh? 17 year olds that would rather not be at school, and the only reason they are there is because they are too lazy to get a job. 1/2 of them don't even come to class with a pen or pencil. Anyways...this placement has been a huge learning curve and although some days were incredibly painful, I've been exposed to a lot of different situations that you just wouldn't find at a more wealthy school.

'Roughing it' at Sunrise Hut - managed by the Department of Conservation. 20 bunks, gas cookers, and water supplied.

The highlight of this practicum has been teaching two year 13 (that would be the 17-18 year olds) Sport and Leisure Classes. Those are the kids that don't want to be at school, and are taking a 'fun' practical class. None of them will be going to Univeristy. I have been teaching Mountain biking, kayak polo (in the pool), and a unit on tramping (aka backpacking). This class is right up my alley, and we've taken a few cool field trips...including the most recent - an overnight hike up the Ruahine Mountain ranges to stay in Sunshine Hut.

Some of the Students and my associate teacher, Mr.Sam Lowe (in the middle)

Prior to leading the students on this hike, I had to do a recon of the area. Two weeks ago, Jo watched the boys while James and I checked it out. It took us exactly 1.5 hours to hike up and 1.5 hours to hike down. With the students last week it took 3.5 hours to hike up, and 2 hours to hike down. That's exactly what I thought it would be. Many of the students it was the first time hiking, let alone carrying a big pack stuffed with cell phones, Ipods, portable radios etc. Heaven forbide they go one night without.

You could see the ocean from the hut - Sunrise at Sunrise hut

The trip did allow me to get a better understanding of the modern day Freyberg student. I also got to know the students much better. Would have been a huge help to do this tramp at the beginning of my student teaching and not at the end!

This week I'm taking the other class on the same trip. It's suppose to be rainy/windy...so we'll just see how many of them remember to bring their waterproof gear :-) 1 day of teaching at school, two days of tramping, then two more days of teaching in the school....then I'm done!!! At least for a few weeks - until the next placement begins.

My associate teachers all seemed to be quite impressed with how I'm doing (even if I am having to fake it to teach the team sports I don't know how to play). If I had more time I think I'd like to play on a social volleyball team or a social field hockey team during my spare time. I'll add it to my to do list.

INCREDIBLY windy and cold as we traversed to Armstrong Saddle

Winter Time!

Winter is upon us. It's cold, windy, rainy, and our front yard is a gigantic mud pit. The driveway wasn't included in the cost of the house, and it's the one thing we thought we'd have enough money for....that and curtains, of which we also have none. Thank goodness we don't have many neighbors, and thank goodness for central heating. It's made our house so very cozy and warm - the rests of NZ seriously doesn't know what they are missing. I'd trade a good heating system for curtains and driveway anyday (but hopefully we'll get a driveway in the next few months).

Wyatt all rugged up for winter

Life lately has been pretty hectic - that's actually probably an understatment. James was away for about a month, then I started my second student teaching assignment (which sees me up at all hours of the night, researching and writing lesson plans) and during all this time, the kids have grown and changed right before my eyes. I can't believe that Wyatt is 4.5 months old now. He's the most pleasant baby EVER. Seriously. He's full of smiles, and giggles, and has the cutest big dimples.

A few weeks ago, James had a function at the officer's mess at work. It's the first time I had been to the 'other side' and mingled with the upper class (ha ha). WOW what a difference. Obiously there are way way way less Officers than soldiers so the bar area is much smaller, but there were other subtle differences that I picked up on too. Mainly everyone was so welcoming, and accepting. There's even a women's group that gets together and has social functions. At the NCO's mess, most of the people stayed in their own little groups. Also the men drank wine, and even though it's all you can drink for free with dinner, people were drinking for enjoyment, not for a cheap buzz. But the best thing is the free babysitting. Yep, that's right - for most social functions they have free babysitting for the kids complete with early childhood trained educators and food for the littlies. Yee-haw! We're off to Casino night this weekend, and we'll be taking full advantage of that free babysitting service.

Like I just walked out of a salon...

Prior to that first night in the Officer mess, I figured I was long overdue for a haircut (had it really been over a year!?) and in true 'just had a baby' fashion, I decieded to cut a lot of it off. I like it, and now when my hair falls out in clumps on the floor, well it's only half as long to clog up the vacuum. Oh, yeah...the nurses and midwives fail to tell you that breastfeeding causes so much stress on your body that your hair actually falls out. Hmmm, the joys of motherhood.

Winter has also meant soccer - James is playing on the Army team, so every Saturday we go along to cheer him on. He's quite a good player. If only I was 1/4 as good as him. I just had to teach a soccer unit at school, and it was far from pretty. Ha ha. Speaking of Soccer....World Cup Time. This is only the second time that NZ has even qualified for the Soccer World Cup so all eyes are on the all whites, and club and Jr soccer has been seeing positive spin offs. Who wants their son to be a beer guzzling, meathead rugby player anyways? All Blacks who? ha ha

(PS....as I write this James is already asleep. He's getting up to watch the All Whites play at 2am! I'll most likely be up feeding Wyatt at that time, but no way will I be staying up long enough to watch the whole game...I need all the sleep I can get)

Luca and Wyatt recieved a big box of clothes from Grandma Cassie - here is Luca trying to put on as many hats as he could. He wanted to try it all on before we hung it up in his closet :-)

Love Yourself

Sometimes Luca says the most random things when we put him to bed. I think he just likes to hear himself talk (and delay going to bed). This made both James and I laugh -

James: Goodnight Luca, I love you.
Luca: I love myself.
James: What?
Luca: I love myself too.
James: Ummm...okay, Goodnight...

Ha ha ah ha!