Wednesday, March 24, 2010

breakfast party

The babies have started insisting that their dolls eat meals with them. When I get them out of bed in the morning they so happy



a few of my favoite things...

Lonnie reading books with the babies.

Lonnie washing dishes with Max's smiling face.

Thankfully I get to see both of these things quite often.

Stanley Point

I recently came across this fabulous photo journal of my home town San Pedro, CA. It inspired me to take my camera along with me on a walk through Stanley Point, the small point north of Auckland, where we live. Stanley Point is pretty small. There is only one way in and then several short side roads that all end on ocean cliffs.

Here we are starting out in our back yard.

btw...this is the car we bought to match Maya's hair.

We live down a long drive way behind a beautiful old restored villa...

on a nice quite dead end street. At the end of the street we recently discovered a staircase leading down the cliff to a quite bay.

Our neighborhood has lots of beautiful homes and two apartment buildings.

This is the view from the end of Stanley Point, looking south. It shows just how close we are to the city.

From this spot up on the cliffs you can turn around, look north and see a small bay located on the other side of Stanley Point.

Walk to the end of this street, follow the path down to the water.

We have since found yet another pathway down to the water just a block away from our house.

stanley bay park

Stanley Park is located just a five min walk from our house. We got there often to play and wait for Lonnie to meet us after work. The ferry drops him off just across the street.

Max and Maya re getting pretty good at walking along the railroad ties that surround the play area.
Kids and grown-ups in New Zealand often wear rain boots, know as Gum Boots or Wellies, during the rainy seasons. I bought some for the kids this week and they love them....best of all, they can be worn over footy pajamas when the kids want to go outside early in the morning.

They have both also learned how to climb the tall ladder to the top of the big slide.

Monday, March 22, 2010

hedgehog

I mentioned this on facebook....but thought I should also record it on our blog....definatly part of our NZ adventure....

Our laundry room is basically in our entryway, a little like a mudroom, more like a closet before you come into the unit.

Hedgehogs are nocturnal, and according to our neighbors they are often found in our yard. We had left the laundry room door open last night and when Lonnie went outside to lock the car door he stepped into the laundry room and almost stepped right on the hedgehog. It rolled... See More up into a ball, I imagine in defense, and just stayed there. We weren't quite sure what to do. It was about the size of a softball and had brown spiky fur. After a few mins we decided we had scared the little fellow enough and we got a broom and pushed him out the door. After a couple mins he got up and ran off.
Max and Maya were asleep but I am sure they would have picked it up and kept him as a pet. I'll have to remember to get a photo next time.