Photo credit: DAN LEE – View from Princess Bay, Wellington

We have been pretty lucky so far this winter on the bugs front, but of course the incessant background talk of swine flu makes us nervous at every cough and sneeze (and has made us diligent, over paranoid hand washers). On Saturday morning we woke with sore throats and thought, ‘uh oh’. We’d volunteered to look after our friend’s children, as they were moving house, and after giving them a heads up they made the call that they were going to brave the Chez Lee house-hold and drop off their 3 year old and 18 month old boys anyway. Thankfully, we weren’t feeling crook, just had the feeling that we were coming down with something.

We had a fabulous time with the boys (and I successfully changed one poo-filled, nappy – there I can still do it!) and around mid-day took them down the local playground and for a walk along the bays to their new house (just round the corner). We did get quite a few strange looks from people thinking we had four children close in age (and Dan kept looking at my gently protruding stomach saying, ‘I don’t know what we’ll do if it’s twins’), but they were all fabulous for us and didn’t give us any embarrassing moments.

The walk round the bays was fabulous, stopping to watch the surfers, rock pooling and willing the youngest of our charges to fall into peaceful slumbers in the buggy (mission successfully accomplished). We are so delighted that our good friends are living round the corner from us (at least till early next year, when they are scheduled to return to home to Oz). They have the most incredible view from their pad and if I wasn’t pregnant I would be having some serious G&T moments from their deck over the summer – never mind, lemon, lime and bitters will suffice. Sophie is delighted that her boyfriend is now attending her Kindi (she wants to marry him, but unfortunately he’s secretly in love with Sophie’s big sister, Charli – ouch!). Dan is also delighted at having a sport and beer loving buddy within staggering distance – I can foresee a few messy Saturday night sport night’s in!

Photo credit: DAN LEE – Houghton Bay, Wellington

Sunday morning we were once again good Samaritans, but by mid-day tiring a little! Thankfully reinforcements arrived by way of the boys wonderful Mum. We really would have liked to have helped more, but were feeling tired and were also keen to get out with the girls for a little in the sunshine. We took them over to Ohariu Valley for horse riding and it was magic as always. On the way back I fell into an unbreakable nap and by the evening felt like I was seriously coming down with something.

Thankfully, it wasn’t (at least we don’t think it was) the dreaded swine flu. But I spent most of Monday to Wednesday evening in bed with a temperature, sore throat like it was on fire, snuffly nose and body aches. Dan got off lightly (must be down to having had his tonsils taken out as a child) and the girls just had slight sore throats and snuffles – but the schools are asking for parents to keep children at home with any cold symptoms with the risk of swine flu this winter season. Dan managed to work a little from home and look after the girls whilst I rested. He enjoyed a lovely trip out with them on Wednesday ‘avo to the beach, interspersed with rock pooling and rock climbing. Thursday now and we’re all feeling better. The girls happily went back to school and kindi. Dan enjoyed the opportunity to see Sophie’s kindi and she was very proud to show it off to him. I am still tired, but definitely on the mend as I cleaned the bathrooms today (why is it I am the only person that notices when the toilet is getting to be a health hazard?!).

Ah well, I shan’t moan, they did buy me a beautiful bouquet of daffodils mixed with natural forest sprigs. And I did enjoy a rare opportunity to soak in a deep, bubbly bath without interruption. I dreamed of walking through a forest of spring flowers and hoping for more fine weather (and less of the bugs) to tide us through till the start of spring proper. Keep well all x

After school on Tuesday we had a fabulous time at Te Papa (as always) and today I took the girls to Pumpkin Patch to stock up on new jeans for winter. Charli has such a tiny waist that Pumpkin Patch is the only place I can shop – as they have adjustable waist bands. She’ll be six at the end of June, but only just fits the ’size/age’ 4 – bless her. One bonus in being petite is at cheer-leading she gets to be at the top of the ‘pyramid’ stack! Anyway, she was thrilled with her purchases (I couldn’t resist a pair of black/Jedi looking boots for her… I don’t think I’ve ever heard her say how much she loves me – in a wry sense it’s quite sad really that boots can buy love!). Sophie came away with jeans with flowers and Charli was relieved to find a plain pair without a flower or love heart in sight!

The girls are extremely pleased with the results of our ‘changing rooms’ and Charli is still requesting (much to my delight) a piano serenade to send her off to dream-land. This morning I awoke to the wonderful sound of her gently tinkering on the piano. It was the sweetest sound to wake me from my groggy state!

Of course today was ‘April Fools’ Day’ and Charli’s school had a ‘Play a prank on your teacher till 12.00′… so last night we found a couple of good ideas on Google and read about the history of the day. Charli went off to school with a pine cone in her bag and managed to sneak it under her teacher’s cushion before she sat down to call the register!

Hope you had a good day. Let me know if anyone pulled a ‘Poisson d’Avril‘ on you!

This afternoon we enjoyed the gorgeous company of Greg, Paula and their delightful three children (Greg is one of Dan’s business partners) for a roast dinner this afternoon and the children had fabulous fun in the garden (and ate most of their greens!). Dan and Greg have worked together for going on ten years and we value their friendship tremendously. With all of our family overseas it’s really special for our children to enjoy strong friendships and pseudo-cousin relationships. In the days before parenthood we all used to take-off for frequent ski weekends at Mt Ruapehu and enjoyed a stunning week of skiing together in the South Island (way back in 1998!).

This morning we headed out the door with a real spring in our steps after England’s win. On waking this morning Charlotte dressed herself in an England football top (without knowing the significance of her choice of clothing). She must have been England’s lucky charm. At the local Palmer’s Garden Centre in Miramar (and awesome Chocolate Frog cafe) we were getting mixed looks from the other customers!

We returned home for lunch and to plant some strawberries. Dan enjoyed playing with his ‘man-tools’ whilst the girls raced on the patio.

The garden is looking great (thanks to the deluge of rain these past weeks!). We are really enjoying spending time outdoors in our sheltered hide-away and tending to the herbs and vegetables.

Yesterday we took the girls out for a little jaunt to the local Zoo. We really are lucky to have the Zoo on our doorstep. It’s not like anything we’re used to in England. It’s tiny in comparison, but because of this it’s perfect for young children. In addition, there are never any queues, the staff are super friendly and there are so many wonderful upgrades taking place that it is really exciting to visit and enjoy a chance ‘encounter’ with an animal.

Yesterday Charlotte got up close to a tortoise in the new Zoo’s new ‘Wild Theatre‘ and the baboons and chimps were really wanting to communicate (definitely recognise Charlotte as one of the troop!).

There was also a touch of Spring in the air with a mother duck taking a swim with her eight chicks and an ostrich looked like it was trying to lay a large egg!

We had a wonderful time, as always, and there was no need to juggle for position to get the best view of the animals. The only factor that cut our visit short was the dreadful wind.

In the afternoon, the wind abated a little and Dan took the girls down the local playground, whilst I blitzed the house-work. It was so therapeutic to be able to start and finish a job without interruption. The other day I considered fitting a pedometer to myself as it felt like I’d walked ten kms round the house responding to the the various cries for assistance!

Anyway, it was a great weekend and we’re all set for a good week, with what promises to hold a little more sunshine – yah!

The Aquatic Centre at Kilbirnie has a ‘Swim-Meet’ on. I don’t know the details, all I know is the car-park is crazy and so are the changing rooms. The car-park is also used for patrons to the library and the recreation centre. The latter is home to ‘Tiny-Town‘ a favourite for tots to drive around in toy-cars and burn of excess energy on the bouncy castle.

Te Papa is also mobbed. Thankfully, the ever courteous staff are going all out to ensure everyone finds a parking space. When we arrived early on Monday morning we were greeted by a kind gentleman asking if we were planning on staying all day. As we were just visiting for a few hours we were welcome to parallel park in front of staff-owned cars.

I haven’t dared brave Junglerama or Little Monkeys.

The best morning we’ve had all week was in the central city, riding on the Cable Car and looking at the old clock (which is unfortunately not working) in The Old Bank Arcade. It was quiet and offered a few opportunities for some wishful window shopping. Borders Bookstore has a great children’s section, complete with child size reading tables and a cafe, but I rarely escape without making a few too many purchases. Moore Wilsons is another favourite as the toys are tons cheaper than other similar retailers and hands on play is extremely well tolerated and almost encouraged, with a large play-pen, lego tables and books to read (plus Caffe L’Affare and The Brooklyn Bakery are extremely child-friendly cafes, located just across the road).

Civic Square with the Central City Library and Capital E are also great venues to spend a couple of hours.

And a couple of hours is about all I can manage before feeling totally exhausted! We are enjoying hanging out (or should I say ‘hiding out’) at home in the afternoon. Thankfully we’re sheltered from the wind and are making the most of our large porch area to enjoy some outdoor activities. The girls have been busy painting and creating.

The cats are getting more attention than ever and are just about tolerating the excessive grooming and assortment of ‘cat toys’ Charlotte is creating for them.

But by the end of this week we will have had our fill of the indoor haunts and be yearning for some sunshine. The Spring Festival in the Botanical Garden is full of events for the school holidays, if only the weather would get it’s act together!

So, what’s everyone else up to? All welcome at Chez Lee! Just bring lots of cake!

We were all keyed up to participate in the various Matariki celebrations in Wellington City, but the comforts of home kept us from getting out of the door in time. We stayed put and listened to a ‘Celebrating Matariki CD’, which accompanied a book of the same title by Libby Hakaraia and made our own little Matariki mobile.

Matariki mobile:

After which the girls decided they were getting cabin fever and donned their raincoats for some bike action in the puddles.

Just before Dan’s midday soccer (which he played in driving rain and a chilling southerly) we managed a trip out to find a new fish friend for Pyroclastic Flow (Charlotte’s choice – and we can’t get away with ‘Pyro’ for short!). The new fish is called ‘Binkalink’ (again Charlotte’s doing).

Finally, after Daddy’s muddy return and Sophie’s midday slumber, we braved it out and were greeted by the most magnificent rainbow over Evan’s Bay as we drove into town (where was my camera when I really needed it?!). The kite surfers at Lyall Bay were having a blast too, which seemed a fitting tribute to Matariki (again, I really did pick a bad day to forget my camera!).

Making kites, or manu tukutuku, was a favourite activity for ancient Maori and they would fly them during special celebrations such as Matariki. The kites were most commonly in the shape of a bird, or manu. The biggest kites could fly very high and it would take many people to control them using lots of rope made from harakeke, or flax.

The kite known as Manu Tangata could pick people up and fly them short distances (seems the Maori people of old knew a thing or two about kite surfing in their own special way!). Tribes used to have large collections of great kites. However, kite making stopped after the arrival of the missionaries. Today the art of kite making is being revived; kites are once again flying at Matariki.

I tried searching for some decent footage of the kite surfers, but couldn’t find much. However, I did come across this awesome surf video clip from a Californian expat living and working here (we love Lyall Bay!):

Perhaps we’ll brave the elements and try our own spot of kite flying tomorrow and remember the camera this time! Here’s hoping for more rainbows.

A rainbow photo from our archives:

Ever felt like you are on the outside of a bubble looking in? February 2007 will be my ten year anniversary of living in New Zealand. I still have a British accent (though family and friends in the UK will say I’ve developed a slight ‘Kiwi twang’) and still have the very British habit of over apologising for everything.

There are always newcomers to New Zealand. Wellington, in particular, seems to have an ever stream of folk from good ‘ole Blighty. Every other week I meet a fresh expat, making a new life in New Zealand, and each time I get a surprised look when I say how long I’ve been living here. In the summer months, when Wellington’s population booms with visitors, I sometimes feel more at home hanging out in the tourist spots, and conversing with folks from overseas, than with the locals. Why should I feel like this? Will I ever truly let go and immerse myself in the land of the long white cloud? Or are my British roots just too firmly ingrained?

It would be so nice to really feel ‘at home’ in New Zealand, but what is home? To me, if I am honest, home is where my family is. And though I now have my own family’s future to think of, the pull of family and friends left behind in Britain is forever strong. And what of my children’s future? Will they be happy growing up where their daily lifestyle is great, but contact with loved ones (other than their parents) is limited to periodic visits every few years. I suppose this depends on my attitude. I grew up knowing my Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, Great Aunts, Cousins… extremely well. Every year was full with family visits and celebrations. I spent many a happy holiday with my extended family and grew up with a strong sense of the importance of family. I can’t simply shake of this inbuilt sense of the importance of family and I already feel my own children have missed out by not having regular contact with their extended family.

But, I must remember, that they are leading a different life and they have never known what it is like to have regular contact with their ‘bigger’ family. I know that Charlotte and Sophie will be just fine, as long as I don’t give the impression that I think they’re missing out. They will make friends at school with dozens of other children just like them, that communicate with their Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles through modern means of communication (which are forever astounding me with their progress). In time they’ll be keen to don a backpack and visit their relies on a big ‘OE’ (and I’ll probably want to follow!), or their own cousins will wish to journey to New Zealand.

So, though I might be an expat forever and will always hang on to my roots (and rightly so!), I must keep reminding myself that Charlotte and Sophie are Kiwi born and let them grow to love the country they have been born in. They will grow with a sense of belonging that I will silently envy, I will watch them playing within the bubble as I stand proudly looking in. I know they will reach out from time to time and take my hand as I teach them of the country I grew up in and they will always have a special love for their greater family that no distance can dampen. They will learn to love, and be loved by, their greater family in their own personal way, uniquely different to my own experiences, but equally as special.

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The children got high on bouncing, bubbles and balloons, whilst the adults enjoyed something a little more toxic!

Sophie enjoyed being Chief Barmaid and was easy to please with a tray full of burger and cucumber.

Good old ‘Andy Pandy’ and icecream was the perfect solution to calm several wired children (whilst the fellas enjoyed a game of darts in the garage and the ladies cleaned up and finished off their bubbly).

The day after the BBQ I took the girls to the Botanic Gardens to take in the scent of Spring (which was so heady that Sophie fell asleep). We enjoyed a lovely morning of feeding the ducks, riding on the cable car, running around in the playground, picnicing on the grass and collecting fallen petals (which are now forgotten about and rotting in a bag in the car!).

Family Lee have a new toy for the garden – a trampoline. Mummy and Daddy put it up in the living room, whilst Sophie and I were asleep, and then carried it out into the garden as a BIG surprise. Unfortunately it was raining very heavily, but that didn’t stop me trying it out….

I love to dance and sing and when I’m frazzelled from all that jazzing I lurve to eat bacon, ELEVEN pieces plllleeeease! And then, once I’m full up and feeling sleepy, I like to talk to the flowers, mmmmm, smell those lillies, don’t they make you feel oh, so dizzy?!

The weather has been very wintery of late, so not much chance to play out, but when the sun does shine we have been walking down to our local beach, where I love to create sand sculptures and collect driftwood for our garden (which Daddy loves!).

Our new house is fantastic and I love playing in the garden and having my friends round. I also love my ‘planet bedroom’ and love to go to sleep starring at the planets, my glitter ball and star lampshade (I also have a very cool torch with different pictures you can put on the front, to make GIANT space and dinosaur pictures on the wall – very cool!).

Tons of clutter (I prefer to call it ‘treasures’) has been put into storage, the floors have never looked so shiny, the tables so polished and the beds so ‘dressed’. I have an excuse to buy freshly cut flowers every week and frequent all the local cafes (as, unsurprisingly, the more I can keep the children out of the house, the cleaner it stays).

Sophie is right into her ’solids’ and with a keen taste for all things orange (carrot and pumpkin are going down… and coming out well!), there is a ton of extra washing.

Charlotte is becoming quite an accomplished cleaner and has enjoyed showing painters, gardeners, builders and agents around the house (and learning at thing or two at the same time).

So… if anyone is looking to buy a house, check it out -

http://www.open2view.com/Property/130614

Of course, we’ll be sad to leave the view, but we can’t wait to be in walking distance to the beach and enjoy more space. We’ve had so many happy memories in this house, but it’s time to move on, so we will bid it a fond farewell (including Charlotte’s placenta, which is buried in the garden!) and look forward to making more happy memories in our new home.