Another hot sunny week this week so I took the boys to a free outdoor pool which I'd never ventured to before but will definitely go again as it was brilliant (especially because it was free!) . We all had a great time swimming, drying off in the sun then back in the water again and again. We also had a nice night out at Jeremy and Anna's on Friday night with the whole family and Olga for Jeremy's birthday, the boys spent the night eating chippies, cherios, birthday cake and running around with the other children in a sugar induced frenzy.
This weekend was completely dominated by the Cuba Street Carnival. Adrian had to work a 20 hour shift in incredibly hot weather so was really tired. The boys and I headed in to the throngs of people dancing and having a great time for a few hours to meet him and see the action. Pic far left is Adrian distracting the boys while I was at the cash machine, it's great being stage crew as you can commandeer the crew vehicles when you need to entertain your children! For those of you who have been here check out these shots www.cubacarnival.org.nz/gallery.html

Olga also went in with her Peruvian friends to take part in the evening festivities and had a great time until 2:00am so it was a pretty quiet house on Sunday morning! After everyone's nap we decided to head to Macara beach for a run around and to blow the cobwebs out of heads but on the way there a storm blew in so we got buffeted by the wind and it was pretty cold but the boys didn't care and had a great time with sticks and stones and water as usual. We had a lovely fish and chip tea and an early night for all!

Tom has been coming up with some great words lately and yesterday looking at a big statue of a bowling ball said "daddy it's humungous!". Olga has been teaching them some spanish which is gorgeous but Tom was convinced she was saying "Cheese and Whiskers" instead of "buenos nachos". They love making up stories and songs at the moment too and Jack told me a lovely one on the weekend about a very happy starfish and a fairy and of course it had the wiggles in it.

Happy birthday Ben and John (all these shared birthdays!)

HOLA

This is the week we welcomed Olga to our house all the way from Peru. Olga is a government official in Peru who is studying English at my univeristy and so will be with us for 6 weeks. She is a lovely lady who has two children at home including a little boy who is two so she knows how to handle ours!

Earlier this week I took the boys to see a navy helicopter that landed in the girls school behind our house, the boys loved watching it landing with all the noise and wind, they were also a big attraction to 100s of school girls cooing over them.

It was a busy week at work and home for all the family this week, Adrian has been working hard in the garden and I have been clearing out spare room cupboards and making up beds ready for Olga's visit. She arrived on Saturday afternoon and settled in before I had to go to work that evening for a function we were holding for the Vietnamese New Year. Sunday we spent the morning showing Olga where the bus stops and shops were and then took her and her friend to the Karori fair. The boys had a great time on a big train and petting the farm animals but I think it was the chocolate icecream that was the real winner on the day!

The boys are histerical at the moment with lots of laughs, if you ask "Tom, Jack can you...." they reply "I'm not Tom, I'm Spiderman" or "I'm not Jack I'm Superman".

Happy Birthday to Paul and Tori (did you know you share a birthday?!).

Feeling hot, hot, hot....

Well it's suddenly roasting, can't sleep, gotta go to the beach, lovely hot weather in Wellington this week which coincided nicely with Waitangi Day on Tuesday so a nice mid-week day off.

Monday afternoon we hatched a plan to borrow a friends batch on the beach at Kapiti and headed off there for the night. We arrived and had a lovely bbq while the boys undressed themselves to cool down running around naked and loving it. We got the boys to bed after much giggling, tumbling around and being silly as they were sharing a bed for the night and then relaxed with a gorgeous sunset, wine, whiskey and scrabble - it was lovely. The next day we headed to the beach with Ben and his parents who joined us for the morning and all cooled off in the water. That afternoon we wandered down to visit some friends who had just brought a property nearby and then drove home with sleeping boys on Tuesday evening, it was a lovely relaxing time even if it was quick!

Tom has also started toilet training this week after deciding that he wanted to be an "underpants boy too". This means of course that I've been spending half my day sitting in the toilet talking to little boys about nonsense and of course long discussions about their willy's!

Saturday morning Adrian took the boys to Fidels and then I took them to the library and a walk around the x-air games that was in town. Adrain worked most of the rest of Saturday on the Jackson Street Festival so the boys and I visited him for dinner and they had their first NZ version hotdog (this is basically a deepfried sausage on a stick dipped in Tomato Sauce). They also had a great time on the bouncy castle that was there but when I asked them the best thing that happened today on the way home they both said "having a hotdog with daddy!

Sunday was lovely and relaxing with a bit of gardening and all of us having a huge afternoon nap before a visit from Jeremy, Anna and Libby and it was such a lovely evening we had our dinner al fresco - gotta love summer!

Tor - little piccie for you at the end X

"It's such a perfect day, I'm glad I spent it with you" (Lou Reed)

Just had one of those days that is so perfect we have to remember it so we can look back on it when we're older and greyer...but the rest of the week first.

We had a great week with everyone pox free and to celebrate we had a brilliant night on Friday taking the boys to the gardens for a fish and chip picnic and to see the outdoor performance of "Puss n boots" which they loved, they thought the cat was hilarious (which he was) and Jack particularly loved the princess "I love princesses" he told me. After around 1/2 an hour into the show Jack turned to me and asked "are they talking to us mummy?"

Saturday we had lunch with Adrian in town as he was working and then off to buy the boys some more new shoes as their toes are poking out of their old ones (boys grow so fast). Sunday was a brilliantly hot day and after Adrian took the boys to Fidels for breakfast we met up in town and had a wander around before all heading home for a nap. After making some chocolate cup-cakes we decided to take them with us for a picnic to Macra beach and had the most fantastic time watching the boys throwing sticks and stones into the water and paddling blissfully for hours. The sun was shinning the water was warm and all was right with the world, love it when that happens, it really was a perfect day...work tomorrow, blah!


A couple of extra pics of the boys first try of sushi which they loved, Tom was determined to keep trying the chopsticks and did really well but Jack just wanted to eat it!!