School Holidays...

You wouldn't think 'school holidays' mean much to a family with kids not even in school yet, but Hunter's Kindergarten had the same two weeks off  that the schools have (April 18-29) so of course I went into "holiday mode"!!! Despite Hunter's uncharacteristic moodiness and unexplainable fever during the last week of kindy (which was easily explained at 11pm Saturday night when we finally looked in his throat and discovered a major infection which saw us in the hospital til after midnight) we managed to get out and about quite a lot that first week (it's amazing what antibiotics can do for a family) before Easter. The second week - well, Tony ended up having the flu so we spent some of that week at home, then out of the house just to give him some space... maybe next school holidays I'll actually rest! Anyway - it was FUN!!!

 On Monday - Day 1 - we had a dumpling making party at our place where my friend Yi (fellow Kindy mom) came over to teach how to make these tasty treats!

 Helena and some of the other kids even had a shot to make dumplings... now I'm not sure why we didn't do this in Taiwan?!?! So fun and so yum!

 Marg and Kelly - the other eager learners. I love my kitchen set up... this is exactly what attracted me to this kitchen! There's space for having cooking demos! How cool is this!?!

 And after all the anticipation built up... we got to eat the fruit of our labor! My kids were so happy to eat dumplings again. I really must make them again soon.

Later that night we pulled Tony into our "holiday mode" and picked him up from work then drove over to the Burrows' new house for a bit of celebration with great friends!

 Three years ago, Mike got a pretty cool birthday present - his son Aidan! And this year, on their birthday, they got the keys to their first house!!!! Wow... how do you top those!?!? Well, the bonus for us was that Brian came down from Auckland to help with the house so we got to catch up with him for a bit too!

 Tuesday - Day 2 - I took the kids to Chipmunks!!! I'd set up a few activities to do with my kids and in the end advertised it around the kindy (then spread it out to  my friends as well) to give people a chance to do stuff over the holidays without having to think of where/what to do... anyway... there were only 2 kindy families there (besides the family I brought with me) and 2 church families, but 2 Mainly Music families also showed up... so all in all, it was a great day out! Plus my kids got to run around outside the house with Pramodh and Karthik... can't beat that!

 On Wednesday we took a bit of a drive to Jane's house in Upper Hutt where the kids got on well enough for her and I to have a proper catch up. Helena mixed it up with the 'cousins', especially her fellow princesses...

 while my medicated boy got to watch dvd's all by himself for much of the time - and that was all he/we needed!

 On Thursday we took a quick trip to town to meet up with Fiona and Ava and some of their friends at Te Papa. We did start out inside at one of the discovery centres but after about 30 minutes the kids were ready for morning tea. Ava thoroughly enjoyed her fluffy which was the envy of the others... but my kids lost interested when the realized they could be chasing birds!

 We did manage to come back in to another discovery centre... while Helena and Ava were trapsing about, Hunter found this bit where he could build his own squid. Actually, once you build it you let it go and then you 'follow it' online but I forgot to log in to find his... what fun things you can find in museums these days, though... amazingly cool!!!

On Friday, we joined up with other teams from Arise Church to deliver hot cross buns to flats around the Wellington area. It's always such a joy to spread the love and joy of these holy days with unsuspecting folks. We ended up back in Johnsonville to deliver buns to some flats I pass by everyday. The kids enjoy doing this too and I'm glad they're getting exposure to how God's family works together to help people experience His love. Well, since Hunter was feeling a bit better, he got to go out to lunch with his buddy Will... and Helena and I came back home to a very busy daddy working on an assignment.

 But that wasn't it... one of our friends/pastor planned an egg hunt for her kids and friends in her neighboring paddoch... so we rushed over for some Easter egg fun. Since there were only really 3 kids going for it, they were very generous with each other. Hunter and Ruben were making sure they each had plenty... and plenty there was because Kellee is really generous when it comes to lollies!

 Even little Jas got her fair share of chocolate delights.

The kids with their loot!!!

(Of course I told my kids they could have just one at the time... but they both woofed down 2 before I could blink... and the rest of their bounty was used for our own party on Sunday)

 So Friday is still not over... Oh NOOOOOO... it's just getting started!!! We hosted an Easter dinner for what was supposed to be 5 international students... but hey, we're always about 'the more the merrier' eh... the day before Grace mentioned there would probably be a few more... well, all in all there were 17 of us... good thing we had plenty of food...

 And this could very well be the record - 17 people in one 'long arm' photo... that's incredible!!!

 Just the kind of parties we like to host!!!

 So all this was the lead up to Resurrection Sunday!!!

We brought a couple families with us to church so they could experience an Easter service in NZ. And what a service... what an experience. Arise Church's creative team put together a thought-provoking drama called "Traveling Light". It was about a group of people in a waiting room - basically like an airport - waiting to be called through to their "Destiny". We got to know each character a bit as they chatted with each other, but as they individually got called to walk through the security gate and check their luggage, we soon saw what was in their 'bags'. For whatever reasons they felt justified their situations, each person (besides one) couldn't bring themselves to leave their baggage at the counter and walk through the gates to their destiny. It was cleverly done with the x-ray screen showing the contents of the luggage up on the big screen projector - the baggage they couldn't leave behind??? I know you're curious now... "Pride", "Slander/Gossip", "Insecurity", "Hurt", "Fear of Failure"... It was such an interesting angle on how we 'hold on' to things that aren't important and actually, things that hinder us from being all that we can be. Pretty thought-provoking and prayerfully life changing, eh?

 After the service we had about seven families come over for a potluck lunch.... funny though because a few thought they'd just stop by the supermarket to get stuff on the day - but here in NZ the markets are closed on Good Friday and Easter Sunday... so we did have a few extra pizzas!!! And thankfully the rained stopped so we could take the kids out for an egg hunt!

 Kartick was pretty excited about the whole thing... though I must say Kellee's egg hunt on Friday had much more chocolate and marshmallow than ours... ours had some real hard-boiled eggs that the kids decorated in the morning! Seemed to be a bit of a novelty as most people here automatically think chocolate when they think of Easter eggs.

 Once everyone else left, Mr Sam stayed around to help tidy up and read a last book with the kids. Sam is one of the 'prayer men' who'd been coming over on Friday mornings to pray with Tony and eat breakfast with us. The kids have really enjoyed him and now he's leaving on a big overseas adventure!!! We'll definitely miss him!

 So on Easter Sunday Tony's glands were up and he was starting to feel horrible... good thing he had Monday off as a stat holiday and could spend it inside (it was really rainy and cold outside). Too bad for him that 'horrible' turned into the whole week at home... and actually it was a good thing he was home Tuesday because I had some strange vertigo spell and couldn't get out of bed for hours (someone has to take care of the kids, right)... finally by Thursday we were okay for getting out of the house again... good thing I had something already planned:

 Zappo the magician was performing at the Johnsonville Mall, so we met up with some friends to watch the show and then stayed for McD's lunch (I know - can you believe the junk these kids now get?)... after already trying to stay out of the house so Tony could work on an assignment between resting and blowing his nose - I ended up taking the kids back to Chipmunks so they could play for another 2 hours!

 Strangely, though, Hunter just sat around watching kids play a video game while Helena ran around like a wild thing! Thankfully I had another 2-for-1 voucher up my sleeve so it didn't bother me so much!

 Saturday was a stunner, so the kids and I picked up our friend Laurene and headed north to Paraparaumu Beach for a lovely autumn day trip.

 We had a fun picnic and built sand castles on the beach... what a gorgeous day!

They even got to play in the park for a little bit before heading over to see some friends who've recently moved to the area... my goodness... beach, park, lollipops, friends... what a day!!!!

By the time Sunday night rolled around, all of us were exhausted, but thankfully Tony was feeling well enough to go back to work and yes, by Monday May 2 my life/routine was somewhat back in order! Phew... I can now understand why some of those kindy moms gave me kudos for organizing activities but also said they wouldn't be coming along because they'll be at home in their pajamas with their kids til noon most days. Hmmmmm, maybe next school holidays I'll try that....