Tuesday 26th Feb: Asher had a hospital appointment this afternoon. Anastasia came with this time and enjoyed the kitchen area in the waiting room. Asher just loves the train. We know that she needs to have some time with it before she will be happy getting weighed or seeing the doctor.
Wednesday 27th: Asher had me laughing so hard today. She was dancing for us and enjoying the fact that she was making people laugh.
ABOVE: Friday 1st March: Monthly children photo.
LEFT: Tuesday 5th March: Ruth heading off on an overnight camp. Including CAVE diving. What an opportunity. Brendon and I have been attending a Introduction to Mindfullness Course on Tuesday evenings. This was week 3 of 4. Not sure what I did with the first 2 photos. It's been really interesting. Some of the ideas have come up in different discussion in varied situation.
"What I resist persists. What I allow myself to feel will let me heal."
Most people automatically think mindfullness is emptying your mind but it's the opposite. It's being more aware of your thoughts and then controlling them. When it comes to emotions, we more often than not try to ignore or suppress our emotions, and then don't allow ourselves the needed time to properly deal with whatever has happened.
Anastasia spotted some of her pants that had been washed and wanted to put them all on. She was really layered up (more than what you can see).
Wednesday 6th: Ruth home safely from her adventures this evening and enjoying a tea party with Hezekiah and Anastasia. :-)
Thursday 7th: We managed to get a 2nd hand foosball table. The children are really enjoying it.
Friday 8th: Out there again early this morning once they were ready for school.
I just love this apple tree. Not only does it look so beautiful growing in this way, it has also been grafted from 2 different apples. So the ones on the right will ripen before the ones on the left. Such a clever idea.
Asher's legs are just growing so much that we are going to have to have her buggy adjusted. We needed to take photos so that they could "see" (without having to drive all the way out to us). So I thought I would pop this photo on to show how far those long legs are off her seat already. It's the same with her car seat. So we will get both adjusted soon.
Hezekiah's class singing in assembly today.
Saturday 9th: We were thrilled to have Richard and Bernie come for a visit this weekend. We haven't seen them since our North Island trip when Hannah was a baby. What a blessed friendship, that you can pick up after so many years and just feel so at home. What a blessing.
We took them on the lookout walk. The weather wasn't great for the view, but helpful for the walk.
Sunday 10th: Enjoying time together this evening.
Monday 11th: And then time to say goodbye. We loved having them stay and so many wonderful new memories were made (this time with the children included in those special times too). We remember all the belly aching laughs from 10 years ago, and this time it was no different. Thank you for coming.
The kids had so much fun outside this afternoon. They created different shops. Hezekiah and Logan had a plan shop. :-)
Tuesday 12th: And just like that, our Tuesday dates are over. Thank you Rachel for baby sitting.
It has been wonderful to be able to get out the house and spend some time together (40 min travel time to just chat). And we have learnt a lot too.
We decided to celebrate Brendon's birthday with his cake this morning before Rachel headed off to work, and before Asher headed off to her carer for the weekend.
The Toblerone cake was a hit for my birthday, so it was decided as the best option this time too (it will serve as a great morning and afternoon tea through the weekend too).
BELOW: Beautiful scenery on our trip up.
We were blessed with the use of a holiday house up in the Lewis Pass this weekend. We had a nice relaxing Friday. We didn't leave too early as we had planned to have lunch in Culverden on the way up. Rachel was working till mid afternoon, so when she arrived she was quite tired. So she stayed home while we went out for a short walk down to the river on the other side of the main road.
I forgot my phone charger, but thankfully had my new GoPro to try out (mainly bought for an up-coming swimming weekend). It was nice to make a Quick Story video with the good photos. I had over 130 photos from the weekend, so had to just pick the best ones to add.
The sky was just so beautiful.
The video quality is not that great - designed for watching on a phone really. It was quick and easy to get made though, so it will have to do as a record of the fun.
And a photo taken from one of the video clips that I really like. :-)
On Saturday morning, before 8:30, we were already out on our first walk. We did the Loop 1 today as they say each loop can be an hour. So this was the test to see how we would do. It only took us just over half an hour. It was really beautiful. This was my favorite photo.
Loop 1 video
As the walk was so much shorter than we had planned, and Anastasia wasn't due for her nap yet, we decided to try find the spot in the river that is good for swimming. We made a wrong turn after finding the old chimney, but soon found the right path and the children had so much fun. It was so beautiful.
The water was freezing, but Anastasia even wanted to spend time with her feet in it. Eventually the sand flies forced us to head back to the house.
So picturesque.
Loads of fun.
Swim video.
While Anastasia napped we played a few games
And then after lunch we decided to get another walk in before the rain arrived. We took a short drive to the start of the Nina Valley walk that Ruth often goes on with the Kiwi Watch group at school.They hike all the way to the hut and empty traps and re-bait them. It was so nice to see some of what she does. She was able to show us a trap with a ferrit in. The highlight was the swing bridge. :-) We walked for about an hour and the rain started just as we got back to the car.
Nice to be able to get family selfies.
Nina Valley video
It stormed Saturday night. Hannah did especially well as the house moved a lot in the wind (especially for those of us sleeping upstairs).
The rain had cleared in the morning but it looked like more might come, so we decided to head off asap to attempt the Loop 2. It was drizzling when we left, but it was mostly dry through the walk.
The Loop 2 is obviously used far less and was a lot more tricky for Brendon with the big backpack with Anastasia.
When we got to the grassland (that we remembered from the map) we didn't feel confident as to where the path went from there, so we ended up having to just forge our way through the last bit of forestry. We were all very relieved when we finally got to the road.
Loop 2 video.
It was such a lovely weekend. It was Brendon's birthday today, so it was a nicely timed weekend away to celebrate with him. His gift from us all (that the children contributed to) was a fitbit. We decided to give it to him on Friday though so that he could enjoy using it through the weekend.
Sunday 16th: We were so thankful to be able to go to this Christmas party again this year. With Rachel and Hannah only getting back from camp later this afternoon, they missed out this year.
It was wonderful to see the change in Asher from the previous 2 years. I remember her not even looking at the horses, and then the following year just seeing and acknowledging their existence. This year, she was interested in looking into the horses face (looking into his eyes) and was very pleased about having a ride.
Perhaps riding for the disabled is something that may benefit her now. I need to try and get her onto their waiting list.
Hezekiah enjoyed his ride too.
Here is a video with most of the photos from the day. Too many to post them all.
Asher spent ages on the jumping castle. We were very pleased about it having the slide part, as it meant she didn't do too much jumping but the climbing got loads of energy out and she had a great time. 2 years ago she had a seizure after bouncing for ages at this event, so we were very pleased to get through the day without one this time. Anastasia loved the bouncing castle side.
Today we also met our first ADNZ dog (Assistance Dogs New Zealand). It was lovely meeting his family and hearing a bit about their journey. We could see how much a help the dog was to their 9 year old son, and it was wonderful that the Mum, Michelle, was happy to just chat to me about it all. They encouraged us to get our application done asap. The waiting list is 5 years at the moment, so it's best to get it started as soon as we can. So this day marks the first day of this long journey for us too. The face painting lady always remembers Ruth and loves creating beautiful art for her. It was a fun day for all and I am so glad we got to attend. Tuesday 18th: BELOW: Michelle had invited us to come and visit during the holidays, so I didn't put it off and managed to take Asher, Ruth and Hannah for a visit on Tuesday. We didn't talk too much about ADNZ again, but just chatted about life. Her son was unfortunately a bit violent with Asher when we first arrived, so she had a complete meltdown. She spent most of the time down the passage. It must have taken me almost an hour to get her to finally stop screaming. Michelle was so understanding and I am so glad I stuck it out. The natural response was to just pack up and go home, but I'm glad I didn't.
I had such a good time talking to Michelle and with us both being Christians it was a very encouraging and uplifting time (despite all the stress with Asher's meltdown). It was good to be able to end the visit with smiles (after a few tears from both Asher and me before).
LEFT: Ruth got her Christmas Jumper finished this afternoon as she heads off to an HYP Leadership Camp tomorrow for two nights. Thursday 20th: Hannah is doing so much reading this holiday. We often see her like this at the dining room table.
What a huge treat to go to the Circus this evening. The only negative was that Ruth couldn't join us as she was at camp. We booked seats right at the front only because that was the best spot for Asher's buggy.
One extra advantage to those seats was that Hannah was chosen as the volunteer with the clowns. Well done Hannah.
I will leave the video to show most of the acts that I got photos of. I just included a photo of those spinning wheels as it was so scary. He skipped on the outside of the ball and then even did it blindfolded. It got us all very stressed and we were all very relieved when they stopped. :-)
Another very special highlight was just before these spinning wheels. They set them all up during the break, but after the act it took a bit of time to take it all down. So while they were busy, the clowns came out again to entertain the crowds. They had a HUGE blow up ball they they hit into the audience. It kept everyone laughing and entertained including Asher, but what meant the world to me was that at one point he slowed everything down and instead of just hitting it back into the crowd, he gently threw the ball to Asher. She was thrilled and threw it back to him. That small act of kindness meant so very much.
A video is an easier way of sharing home of the many photos I took.
These 4 joined me with my walking group's "end of year" walk to the cafe for a snack.
It was so fun to watch Asher and Anastasia playing "catch" around the chair today. They have both played it with Hezekiah - so it was nice to see them managing to get it going with just the two of them.
Saturday 22nd: They enjoyed our walk today - stopping to say hi to the cow and sheep.
Ruth enjoyed getting this spinning art kit working today. She has done really well with the electrical aspects of these projects.
If anyone lies down for a rest, Asher is guaranteed to join you. So cute (although getting a bit heavy).
Brendon and I have been attending a Introduction to Mindfullness Course on Tuesday evenings. This was week 3 of 4. Not sure what I did with the first 2 photos. It's been really interesting. Some of the ideas have come up in different discussion in varied situation.
Anastasia spotted some of her pants that had been washed and wanted to put them all on. She was really layered up (more than what you can see).
