Nine weeks to go and counting ...

Here is the other orange/black felt bowl with glass beads. I found a semi-decent photo after all.

Here are my boys getting in the washing this afternoon. I love the way Marcus climbed on a chair to help his brother. They were laughing and the clothes are probably dirty from being dropped on the ground, but what the hey, the happy noise was pretty cool from inside. When the sun shines in Wellington, moods lift and spirits rise. Thank God it's spring!

Rich and I went to an amazing wedding a couple of weeks back. Thanks to Steph and Andre. Got to hang out with all our old mates, heard the Yandall sisters sing a great set, saw an amazing friend married to an amazing guy, Rich got to sing that night with an amazing line-up of performers and musos, and enjoyed a great Christian wedding. Rich with Wini and Bella sang a couple of hymns.

My friend Lou can wail.
Going north from Wellington to Napier last week, we passed this huge area in Palmerston North that was covered in windmills. They looked alien and freaky and I am so glad they are not in my backyard. Still, something different and I guess a planet-friendly way of generating energy with wind.
Our motel in Napier was literally on the ocean beach shorefront. I took this shot from the living room of our unit. The kids spent all week playing on the high tide line as the current is really strong and a freak wave recently took a small child off the beach. Napier is pretty and when I wasn't being paranoid about earthquakes and tsunami's, I loved being coastal. It smelled like Ahipara, that lovely ocean smell. Now we all want to move to the provinces.

Some flowers growing outside our room.

Me. I didn't go far, just sat in my room felting and reading and watching the boys play. A pebble beach that slopes down to the water is pretty exhausting to walk up and down on, so for the first time I spent time just looking at the scenery, which for me is unheard of but hey, I have nothing to prove and I sure did enjoy my rest. For the most part I just indulged my love of reading and making things. My husband enjoyed fishing right outside and the boys ran to and fro, having a kai (food) and then taking off to go and play all day outside. Wellington weather is so grotty and living in the city means the kids need to be supervised if they go anywhere for safety reasons, and it costs money to do anything, and you need to drive places. Let me tell you, provincial living is looking very attractive right now. I envy my friends who live in the provinces around the world. City living is definitely over-rated.

Marcus chatting non-stop and keeping Rich company. We had fresh kahawai fish cooked on the barbeque for breakfast that day.
This is what happens when you tell your kids to go take some photos. This is Marcus' puppy that goes everywhere with us these days. He sat on the beach inside Marcus sculpture while Marcus ran around.

And this is Marcus. He's our puppy.

The kids spent ages playing on the beach building sculptures and playing war games with sticks and rocks as artillery.
Our friend Olivia came to play and stay and this is her sculpture. She learned to sew with Aunty Chelle and made a pin cushion and monster toy. I was proud of the kids artistic endeavours and their nurturing ways to me. We had a lovely time and look forward to returning next year.