His best friend

These two are BFFs, or declaring they are not best friends anymore if they are unhappy with one another for some reason or another - like when one of them wanted to play cars while the other wanted to play ball it was a case of who was more whiny about what he wanted, and the other boy ran away shouting, "I'm not your best friend!". Two minutes later they were holding hands and skipping around rainbows again.

We had Declan over for another playdate on Sunday. Isn't it funny how new age the term "playdate" sounds, when once upon a time we just had friends over. So anyway, yes, his best friend came over and in between the dry spell and the rain we managed to get outside for a bit of fresh air.



They raced each other up and down the path, deciding beforehand which one of them was going to win.





The main purpose for coming out here was to draw on the ground. They took great delight in emptying out the box and having the chalk roll everywhere.



Then it was a case of, "lets stand them all up".





Because once they've stood all the chalk up on end they'd both run through and kick every one of them over, and then they'd start the game again.



It's only been recently that Kien has asked for friends to come over to see him. It was nice to have a friend over for Kien to play with.

Laying of ashes

Cremation is not part of my family custom, and I've only ever been to one burial of ashes (Jef's grandmother's). A couple of Saturdays ago I experienced my second time laying ashes, this time it was for Jef's great uncle Mostyn. We drove up to Te Kopuru to a quaint little cemetery.

It was a beautiful ceremony, informal and intimate.









There was a lovely memory garden in the corner of the cemetery, and while a few of the family went there I chased wild pink clover. They were beautiful, and grew all over the ground.



We went back to the farm for afternoon tea afterwards. As always everyone had a good time, especially the kids.





~~~~~

We stayed the night at Kien's granddad's and Margaret's, and in the morning Kien ran around their garden in pyjamas.





We hadn't anticipated a late start to the day, but it ended up being that way, and before we knew it time had marched on and we needed to head back to Auckland. Our journey home was along the coast, stopping at any beach we could when the rain wasn't falling.





Needless to say the beaches were pretty empty - just the way I like it.









~~~~~

Wow, the cold snap has finally hit us, and all of a sudden it turned cold. I miss the summer already.

Take it easy

The week just gone hasn't been an easy one. My aunt's condition deteriorated, and we were bracing ourselves for the inevitable. But then, as before, she came right again, and although she is very tired at least she is up and out of bed. So for the entire week I've had plenty of late nights, rushing home from work every day to feed and bath Kien so we can get to my aunts and spend a few hours there. Jef has been working late, including this past weekend as well, and I'm pretty exhausted now.

Yesterday was stormy; rain and wind battering our windows. The weather outside was how I was feeling inside.





I just needed some time to rest, but alas, having a 3 1/2 year old cooped up inside certainly would not give me what I wanted. What does one do?

Recently Kien has shown a keen interest in baking, specifically some type of berry muffins ('cause he just loves them berries - current favourite being raspberries, although strawberries are a very close second, and blueberries now a distant third). So yesterday we made raspberry muffins, and believe it or not Kien did most of the work. I measured the ingredients, did the final folding of the batter before putting them into tins and the oven. The rest Kien did, including cracking the egg open. Afterwards he insisted on doing all the washing up too.

He said he wanted to eat a muffin, but not yet.



I wasn't in the mood to insist he eats something instead of drinking his milk during the day, so I let it go.



Jef came home later in the afternoon, and Kien decided to sing us some nursery rhymes. So here is "Incy Wincy Spider" and "Three Blind Mice" performed by my three and a half year old.

Disclaimer: this is one of those videos where perhaps only parents of the child think it's adorable that their kid is strumming an out of tune guitar and singing some songs they've sung to him all his life.

Greener pastures

Sometimes you wonder why in the world you decided having a kid was a good idea - that thought process usually occurs about the same time as the fifth tantrum within the space of an hour. But then...all of a sudden the child can be reasoned with, and he smiles and laughs a lot, and then you wonder why anyone would chose to miss out on this wonderful parenthood experience.

Right now we are going through the laughter and the smiles patch, and it feels like the sun is shining all the time. Every time we go see my aunt she always asks whether today is a sunshine day or a raining day with regards to the mood of the child, and a perfect metaphor indeed.

Jef has been busy, like BUSY BUSY. He's been working pretty long hours, going to work in the middle of the night and coming home to sleep for a few hours before getting up at his usual time to interact with Kien and help get him ready for daycare. Yeah, he's having an affair with his devices. Greener pastures.

Speaking of greener pastures, and seques nicely on to last weekend's jaunt out to Hunua. I love extra long weekends, where you don't feel rushed having to squeeze everything into two days. On Sunday afternoon we took a drive to the country.



It's really nice to get out here where everything is lush and colourful. This time of year is so wonderful; the ground is damp but not sludgy and muddy, the air is crisp but not biting cold, and the sun still hangs around until mid/late afternoon.









The boys got some flying time. Always fun to watch.









When Kien got bored of flying with his daddy he picked flowers for me instead.





We went for a nice walk along the river, where Jef reminisced about the good old days as a kid playing on the rocks. He kept on saying, "I remember there were lots of rocks here. Where are all the rocks?". Now the rocks are pretty much covered by grass, but a few still jut out on the ground.











Before we went home I picked myself a bunch of wild watercress for dinner. It was fresh and delicious, and I could have stood on the banks of the river and eaten handfuls of this stuff.



We really must come out here more often. Next time we just need to go earlier, and pack a picnic to have up at the dam. There are always good times to be had out here.