Chez Lee

We sadly bid farewell to Granddad last night. We have enjoyed the most incredible time together and we were all a little teary saying goodbye. We have promised to take good care of Grandma and will be sure to give her lots of big cuddles. Unfortunately he has to return to work and we know he would have loved to have stayed longer, but that’s life and he is always close in our thoughts x

Baby is still firmly cradled within my huge belly and I suspect will remain so until close to due date. However, baby’s head is now well down and I have been feeling lots of Braxton Hicks over the past few days. I was hoping baby might make an early appearance, but I have carried past my due date with both the girls so the chances were unlikely.

We’ve had a wonderful last weekend together. In the scorching heat on Saturday Grandma and Granddad headed into Wellington City to soak up the party atmosphere of the Rugby Sevens and came back early afternoon looking very relaxed (and hot!).

Meanwhile, Dan and I took the girls to the local swimming pool for Charli’s swim class. I have been in the pool up until this week, but really didn’t feel like making it into the water and opted to sit on the side like a beached whale instead. Before we headed out Sophie and I had a quick game of Scrabble, which she loves.

In the afternoon we enjoyed the wonderful company of my friend Kathy and her family. Her Mum and my Mum were at school together so it was a real reunion of sorts and a real family affair – with Kathy’s father-in-law fresh off the plane from Canada to join in the fun! We had a fabulous BBQ and all the children played so brilliantly together, enabling us to really relax, eat and be merry. I even felt a little tipsy on my non-alcoholic grape juice – drank from a wine glass of course- and as I had to ‘pop’ a cork before drinking it the placebo effect worked some magic!

On Granddad’s last day, we went for a lovely walk to visit the Island Bay Marine Education Centre. It’s now open every Sunday and at only $2 per person it is a wonderful place to visit and learn of the creatures that live in the sea on Wellington’s south coast.

Afterwards Grandma, Granddad, Sophie and I walked on round to The Bach cafe in Island Bay, whilst Dan and Charli jogged home to pick up the car (as I wasn’t up to walking home later!). The Bach was totally mobbed and knowing the service isn’t the fastest we quickly made a turnabout. We then decided to all pile in the car and check out the Cornerstone Bar in Brooklyn, where we had a huge feast and the girls enjoyed ‘Mocktails’!

It was a really fun farewell lunch, finished up with some crazy fun at Central Park in Brooklyn on the flying foxes.

Missing you already Dad and thinking of you as you land safely in the UK. Thanks for the hugs, walks in the sun, carrying little bear Sophie on your shoulders, occasional sip of your pinot noir and mowing the lawn, washing the windows, cleaning out the pool and turning our patio into something worthy of eating a BBQ on! xx Love you so much and will be talking on Skype soon xx

were extremely wet! Our hopes of visiting Riversdale Beach were completely washed away when the rain set in on Sunday morning and didn’t stop till midday Monday.

Thankfully, Masterton has a brilliant swimming pool, complete with hydro-slide and lazy river (and a nice spa pool for the adults) so we soaked up the water in comfort and ignored the deluge outside. After a refreshing swim we lunched at the art gallery cafe, Entice, explored the artwork in the Wairarapa Museum of Art and History, Aratoi, and then visited the Shearer’s Museum – ‘Shear Discovery New Zealand‘. Masterton hosts the world premier shearing and wool handling championships in March every year – ‘Golden Shears‘ and wow there’s some seriously talented and strong sheep shearers in New Zealand!

In the afternoon we returned to Tinui Station and lots of wet sheep trying to make themselves at home on the verandah of the cottage we were staying in.

On Monday we drove back to Wellington, stopping at Greytown to stock up on scrumptious chocolate from Schoc and visit Cobblestones, Wairarapa’s Early Settlers Museum.

We had a really fun time at the museum, particularly in the old school, church and fire-station. And Grandma was a very good sport in the stocks! As for the chocolate at Schoc – wow! I would seriously recommend a visit, or at least go online and take a look, as there are the most amazing varieties of chocolate to tantalize the taste-buds! We returned home with one of our favourite – lemongrass dark chocolate.

I was having ‘going back to school’ dreams this week, apprehensive of how the girls would react after nearly seven week’s of freedom. But I needn’t have worried. They were super good for me getting out the door and bounded into school and kindi with great excitement. Charli ran on ahead and into her new classroom to dump her bag and head out to play. The school playground was electric with excitement and it’s just as well there’s only two day’s this week for the children to settle in – as they were totally manic! Charli’s new teacher seems fabulous and she has some new faces in her class, which will be nice for her. She also has a few good friends from last year and seems elated to be back with them. She’s so young in her class, with most of her classmates almost a good half a year to a year older than her, but she thrives in the company of older children and is academically on the right level for her ability.

Sophie too was excited to be back at Kindi and within two minutes of passing through the gates she was saying, ‘Okay, you can go now Mummy!’. When I went to pick her up, with Grandma and Granddad in tow, she was standing proudly on the verandah ringing the cow bell to signal ‘mat time’, telling us, ‘I’ve been the best helper so I get to ring the bell!’.

School pick-up was a happy affair too. Glorious sunshine made for a jovial atmosphere and it was hard to get the children away from the school grounds.

We headed to Scorching Bay for a celebratory ice-cream and play in the fabulous summer sun. The girls would have happily stayed for hours, but by 5.30pm we thought we should be wise and head home to wind them down for a good sleep before tomorrow. Charli had so much fun inventing a ’shooter’ with a straw and string she found – shooting out seaweed pellets. She then dug a trench for the incoming tide so she could watch a leaf float round in the stream. Sophie found a scooper on the beach (from a washing detergent packet) and used it to make mini-sandcastles, counting them as she went (she can now add and subtract, as well as problem solve, all numbers up to 15 and count to 40 with ease – she is constantly asking for maths questions!). We explored the rock pools and found lots of baby hermit crabs and fish. Both the girls loved climbing and swinging on the climbing frame. Grandma showed us her artistic flair with a beautiful horse sand drawing. We could have amused ourselves for hours and hours… ah, good ‘ole simple fun.

Here’s hoping the positivity continues! It was certainly a delight to see them so happy to return and the house was very, very quiet this morning. Mum, Dad and I headed off to pick up the baby car-seat and then had a lovely morning tea at ‘The Bach’ at Island Bay.

Only two week’s till due date! Feeling very excited and just can’t wait to get going and meet this baby! We’re now decided on a boy’s name, but have a list of girl’s names as long as my arm. If baby is a girl we are hoping she offers us some divine inspiration on her arrival! The other night, we had a fun evening on Facebook with friends suggesting a number of wonderful girl’s names…

Aimee Rose Lee
Ava Rose Lee
Anya Rose Lee (yes we really like Rose as a middle name – and if it’s a Valentine baby girl then it would be a most befitting name)
Other suggestions….
Kate Lee
Jessica Lee
Jasmine Lee
Ruby Lee

If baby is a boy then we love Archie David Lee (Archie for my Grandfather, David for my Dad and of course Dan’s family is represented in the surname).

Ah well, girls sound asleep and I should really head that way too. My energy levels are still super good and I find it impossible to sit down (except to write blog posts!). Charli is enjoying having two pianists in the house to personally play her melodies as she drifts off to sleep (my Mum and I have been entertaining the troops on the piano).

We’re looking forward to more sunshine over the weekend and are trying not to think about Granddad having to fly home on Sunday evening :( – alas work beckons for him.

all come together at Castlepoint, where we spent the second day of our weekend away in the Wairarapa. Only a 12 minute drive from our holiday cottage on Tinui Station we packed up the car and set off. We’ve lived in Wellington for over ten year’s but have never made it to Castlepoint. We’ve heard countless stories of its wild beauty. Now we’ve been we understand why it’s such a gem and will definitely be returning soon.

The walk across the boardwalk and up to Castlepoint Lighthouse was absolutely breathtaking (though would have been extremely scary on a windy day!). Fisherman stood out on the huge limestone rocks. From their scenic vantage point we watched them lower their lines directly into deep sea below, without even needing to step foot on a boat. My Mum and I imagined whiling away an afternoon sketching the breathtaking views, but with our little charges keen to explore we made do with photographs.

They bounded on, momentarily taking in the view. A pool of mud held their attention with great glee and they bathed their feet in the cool stickiness. After the walk we headed to the lagoon, where sand-dunes, a shallow pool filled with fishes to chase and plenty of space to run made for a child’s paradise.

On the main beach we whiled away another hour, with Granddad taking to the surf and body boarding his way back in on the waves. Sophie dug holes in the sand, whilst Charli created games in the sand for us to test our jumping skills (I wasn’t doing too much jumping though!). We played frisbee, with Mum saying, ‘Steady on Sarah… we’re not quite ready for baby yet!’ It was the most perfect day at the beach. Castlepoint, we will be back!

For historical information on Castlepoint visit Te Ara

lies the sweeping rural beauty of the Wairarapa.

We left on Friday in the most glorious sunshine.  Our destination Poplar Cottage on the historic 19th Century Tinui Station, on the Castlepoint Road from Masterton.

Enroute we stopped at Kaitoke Regional Park to stretch our legs, test out the swing bridge and watch numerous folk bravely diving in the cool, river.  The forest in its ancient grandeur, used as a set for Rivendell in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, revealed to us wonderous secrets of nature with the help of informative signage.  Did you know vines such as supplejack always grow upwards to the sun in an anti-clockwise direction?  Think of the sun and the direction it travels across the sky.  Northern Rata has been called a predatory gangster and a forest bandit due to the way it starts off life as a seed landing high up on a host tree such as a rimu. The host tree eventually dies through old age or by being starved of light and food and will rot away.

Well our little ethereal beings had no trouble finding the light, or the light finding them…

After a refreshing short walk we travelled up to the top of the Rimutaka hill, where we parked up and made the most of the crystal clear weather to walk the Rimutaka Trig Walk. My folks had walked to the summit on Kapiti Island (521 m) the previous day and my Mum’s knee wasn’t very happy at the thought of an hour’s return walk on steep, rough terrain, but we knew the forecast for our return on Monday wasn’t good and had to grab the opportunity to embrace the view whilst we could. Whilst I worried over her she fussed over me and baby saying, ‘Sarah, are you sure there’s enough oxygen for bubs up here?’. We took a little longer than an hour, as the girls carefully watched their steps and needed a little help on the men folks shoulders from time to time (couldn’t have done it without them and they really deserved their beers later on!), but the view (at 725 m) was absolutely worth it…

By the time we’d finished our walk and driven down the other side of the Rimutaka Hill a very late lunch was beckoning. We drove into Greytown and enjoyed a very relaxing lunch at the Mainstreet Deli.

Stocked up with supplies from the supermarket we headed off to the remote Tinui Station where we were greeted by our wonderful hosts, Kelso and Jane. We stayed in one of the three cottages available, Poplar Cottage, and were immediately taken with the relaxing surrounds. The rural beauty and farm setting brought out the child in us all. The girls ran free till sunset, chasing rabbits and sheep, admiring the horses, playing golf and croquet, discovering a hidden treehouse. The glorious weather certainly made for a fabulous welcome and held strong for Saturday too, but changed dramatically by Sunday when we saw a very different side to farm life. Non-stop rain in a twenty-four hour period brought the sheep up to our deck. They were quite hilarious – eye-balling us as we sat watching the Australian Open finals. When we retired to bed the sheep crept up on the verandah and spent the night there, sheltering from the rain. During the night we heard little stampedes as their hooves hit the wooden deck. But, surprisingly, we slept well and woke on Monday morning to yet more rain, flooded fields and streams and lots of sheep poo! Our wonderful hosts later informed us that the sheep had never been that bold or cheeky before and offered us a 10% discount on our next visit. We really felt for them having to scrub down the deck…