Thanks Nick and Lynn

Thankfully the boys do not need to leave for school really early so the girls got a bit of time together on our last day. Hannah loved watch Nick draw faces.
We have had such a lovely time with the Clevely's this weekend. Even though we have known each other for over 10 years the visits we have had this year (at our place in Jan and now at theirs) have been the most time we have spent together and it's been really great to deepen these friendships.

Brendon and Nick took the boys to school (with Rachel tagging along) and Hannah kept asking Lynn to read to her from The Wizard of Oz. So although we tried to interest her in a more age appropriate reader - she insisted. She only lasted about a page though. :-)
Then we were off to do some shopping. It was great to have Nick and Lynn show us around Timaru. I even managed to get some maternity skirts at the 2nd hand store. Then it was home for lunch before we hit the road. We decided to order some pizza (in Timaru) so that dinner was sorted. This ended up being a good plan as traffic through Christchurch was really busy and we ended up starting on our dinner before we even got home.
I overdid the walking a bit this morning and so by the time we got home I was exhausted. By 8:30 I was ready for bed. But what a wonderful weekend we had.

Purple and green

So yesterday's post made you very aware of what my little camera can NOT do. Well this morning we had a wonderful sunrise and so my camera got an opportunity to show what it CAN do. And this with absolutely NO colour correction or enhancement. What a wonderful start to a lovely day.

The older children got some reading in before we left for church. I must mention here that the Clevely's book collection is lovely having done a number of years of home schooling with Sonlight. So we came away with a bag full of over 40 items from our new "library" and a plan to return them in a couple months when Lynn can perhaps do a nice pregnancy photo shoot when this tummy is a bit bigger.

After church the Phillipses joined us for a soup and rolls lunch. Lynn had a wonderful chicken soup that she pulled out of the freezer but she was concerned that she may not have enough so she quickly whipped up a batch of tomato soup. I am not normally a fan of tomato soup but I went back for thirds it was so good.
Hannah found their cat flap after lunch and had fun playing with that. Lynn got this wonderful photo of her. The green may not be the original but it really is a piece of art. Very cute.

Afternoon service was at 4:30. Brendon had been roped into preaching and although was incredibly nervous about being behind the pulpit again he did a very good job. Not sure if he will say yes the next time.
We then decided to take the Clevely's out for dinner at Burger King. Lynn had never had one of their Hawaiian Chicken burgers before - so we HAD to introduce her. :-) The older children enjoyed being at their own table and then all the children spent ages playing in the tunnel / slide area while us adults got to chat and laugh some more.

Once we were home there was a bit of time for Lynn and Rachel to get some violin practice in. It was nice to be able to give Lynn some tips that we have picked up from Rachel's teacher. Lynn is very gifted musically and I can see she will do very well on the violin. She already plays the mandolin and guitar but this will be her first instrument where she has to read the music. She has already picked it up so quickly. I am excited to hear her play the next time we visit.

Lake Tekapo

This morning we headed off to Lake Tekapo. I must make the note here that I have had to start wearing maternity clothes ALREADY. It seems at 12 weeks this bump just popped out. It's reassuring to know it is baby that's causing this as I finally got back up to my pre-pregnancy weight.
First stop was the historical church.

Imagine trying to preach and keep people's attention with that view behind you.



Finally got a shot with both the Clevely photographers.Their photos from today were spectacular.

 

Here is my attempt to capture what they were looking at. The colour of the water is amazing and my poor camera (and my poor skills at editing) just can't capture the beauty of it.








Some fun amongst the rocks.






In my attempt to capture the colour of the water I took a photo through my sun glasses. It does help a little.



Then it was time for lunch. Lynn organized a lovely picnic lunch which was enjoyed by all.

 

Then we headed up a steep windy road to the observatory. What magnificent views. Again I just can't capture with my camera the beauty of the colours. It was stunning.

 Here is my best attempt at showing you that stunning lake. I saw some of Nick and Lynn's photos when we got home and they just capture what we saw so well.

Here is at least one of Lynn's photos. A nice group shot.

And let's not forget some music practice before bed. :-)

Off to Timaru

The girls were up early today in anticipation of our of our long weekend in Timaru. This photo was taken at 7:50, so it's understandable that Day Light Savings is going to end soon.

They were disappointed to learn that Dad would do some work on the TV cabinet before we left and that we would only be leaving after morning tea. We decided to rather stick to just lunch on the road so they played happily while Dad got some work done.

The car was parked outside due to the garage being used for the varnishing. Unfortunately we did not think to let the car idle for a while when we moved it out yesterday and with the cold night the battery was dead when we were finally ready to leave. Thankfully our "little" car could jump start it and it was not too much of a delay.
And the cabinet is coming on nicely.

We had lunch at Burger King in Christchurch and hoped that the younger girls might sleep for the next 2 hours of the journey - which they didn't. The movie that was playing on Ruth's DVD player though was more than enough to keep them happy and quiet. We only had a little bit of "are we in Timaru yet" from Ruth. She said she really likes going to Timaru but she does not like the drive there.

We had such lovely weather when we arrived (we expected a lot of rain over the weekend) so as soon as the boys were home from school we headed down to the park / boardwalk / beach. What a lovely big slide. Hannah was brave enough to go with Dad and Ruth went on her own. Rachel did not even attempt it but perhaps next time she will go down with Dad. Lynn got some lovely photos through the weekend.

Here is my favourite of hers from this afternoon (at least from the ones that are on her blog - she has loads more).

Then it was time to try out the hamster wheel. Rachel was on with them at the beginning but found it too strange. Ruth got the hang of it though. Hannah would not even come near it. Perhaps at our next visit they will all be a bit more adventurous. :-)

This was such a treat for the girls. This park has so much compared to our local ones. They all had loads of fun on the spider web in the background there. I think we need to plan some more time here on our next visit.

Then we headed over to the walk through aviary. Hannah was so excited about going inside the "white ball".

After a bit more walking we made our way down to the beach. We had already been here for an hour but the most fun was yet to come. The children first headed in to see how warm / cold the water was.

Hannah was a bit nervous about the waves though so would only go in again if she was holding my hand.

The water was lovely though so we spent ages playing. It did not take me long to suggest the girls just take their skirts off. They had such a good time. We never even thought of bringing togs with.

Lovely action shot - well done Brendon.

I had such a good time with the girls. It's been lovely to have Hannah be a lot more affectionate with me lately and so I really enjoyed this time with her.

The Clevely's lounge was very soon renamed the music room as the girls just loved the keyboard and access to the guitar and ukulele. They spent hours and hours playing. Often I would hear Ruth on the keyboard composing her own songs. So much fun.

Hannah loved the little ukulele too. It's smaller than Rachel's and fits her so nicely.
My little Maria singing Doe a Deer. :-)