Holiday adventures

We've been to the movies - "Horton hears a who" for MJ and the two youngest and the big girls went to "Sydney White", which is a cross between Snow White and 'Mean Girls' set in a university context. Hannah and Zach and I also went to the art museum, there is an interesting display by a chap who combines gorse, aluminium and kauri in all sorts of interesting ways, including embedding tools into the wood. We've been swimming (once) and the big girls had a sort of youth group camp at Kakanui, which is about 8 kilometers away from where I grew up! Apparently they went to the beach and swam (Brrr - they wouldn't swim if I took them!!!).
Some tidy up stuff has happened in the garden - the geraniums at the gate are gone, for those of who have visited! There are veges and herbs growing in the garden, the front door has been painted, as had the inside hall wall paper. Janine is trying to learn to knit. Katarina is trying to watch as much TV as she can get away with. Zach is trying to see as much of his friends as he does when school is in!

We all went to the Dawn Service this year - usually it is just MJ. There was much protest as you can imagine, but we went out for breakfast afterwards and I think they actually might have enjoyed themselves. I found it very moving, as usual and the crowds were even larger this year. The mild morning possibly helped - it has reverted back to a mild April after the polar blast last weekend. Hannah insisted on making Anzac biscuits on Anzac day.

Hi ho, holidays

We were hit with a wintry blast over the weekend for the Synod meeting, held at Mosgiel. We wouldb't have managed without mum, who came down on Saturday to run children around to various events and parties. While usually these would have finished for the holidays, we carried on because of Easter falling in the middle of the term. Fortunately, soccer was cancelled because of the weather, and while the senior grades carried on, we didn't make the juniors play in the sleet and rain.
Synod ran on Friday night and this was really the first trial run for the complex, with the kitchen going full blast and the heaters in the church and hall. We managed to blow a couple of fuses, so we had the most memorable candle lit dinner, complete with sing a long. MJ was tied up with singing, and Chris on sound - no surprises there! There was snow on the hills around Dunedin come Saturday morning but today is fine and warm. We have all been out in the garden clearing and tidying up, after having the hedges cut last week.

Chris has a cold, probably because he went swimming last week, or maybe just working too hard over the weekend. We are hoping to see mum and dad again during the holidays.

So what else is new?

Hannah played her very first game of soccer on Saturday. It has been a misison to get this organised, but the club finally decided to go for 3 Grade 7 teams which means Hannah can play at 10.30 and still go to music and ballet. She was so excited but on the field spent more time worrying about the grass on her new (second hand) soccer boots and her hair. (Such a girl!!!) However, she managed to collect herself long enough to almost score a goal, which means at least she knew which way her team was playing and what to do with the ball.

Zak scored his team's only and also the winning goal in his game. Chris is coaching this team, which is a bit tough on Zak as he will have to wait a while for the 'player of the day' award, even though he had a great game. This team has 5 subs, but there aren't quite enough to make another team.

We all went to the regional youth even on Friday, where MJ spoke. And Saturday was even busier as MJ was taking a workshop at Scripture Union's 'Way to Go' training day and Katarina went as a particiapnt. Chris was busy with a service to take on Sunday morning and youth group in the evening. MJ has been going to other churches in the morning, doing some more recording for her thesis.

Janine was a legend and stayed home while the rest of us were out doing stuff, cleaning and doing homework, plus a little baking. We are enjoying the last of the fine weather, the trees are turning so it is really pretty around town at the moment.

Parachute packdown

See!! We really did go to Parachute!!! This is about a third of our gear! You can see how dry the ground is, the Waikato really was suffering. Parachute is a Christian muisc festival, and we camped on site for three days - fun, fun, fun!

Enviro day

Opoho school is an enviro school, which means the children have all sorts of activities based around environmental, sustainable and recycling themes. Today, the children dressed as sea creatures - Hannah has her fish umbrella and shark towel, while Zak is a crab - note the red coloured hair and oven mitt claws!!!

Two at high school!

Hannah and her cousins

This is Hannah, in the centre, with her cousins Abby McLeod on the left and Bridget Allan on the right. Abby is MJ's brother Duncan's eldest child, and Bridget is MJ's sister Susan's eldest. They all have gorgeous brown eyes!

Konings at the colony

One of the attractions at Oamaru, where MJ's parents live, is the colonuy of little blue penguins. These are native to New Zealand and have a nesting area in the harbour. I grew up never knowing of their existance, but today you can watch them (for a price) popping out of the surf and waddling up to their nests. There is a visitor's centre with, as you can see, the obligatory tourist billboard. So, this is us around Christmas, 2007.

The news this week

Katarina is gearing up for three performances of "The Merchant of Venice" this week; she is the technical person in charge of sound and lights and they have had lots of extra work to do. All good. She also has rehearsals for Stage Challenge which take up Sunday afternoons.
We are enjoying having Chris' parents with us for a week. Chris preached twice today at Mosgiel and is out there again tonight as usual for youth group.
Hannah is looking very odd without both her front teeth at the moment.
Zachary's team won the first soccer game of the season, against Maori Hill, the 'rating side', so that is very satisfactory.
MJ spent two days in Wellington for a couple of meetings, representing studentsoul.