School Holiday Fun

Though I'm typically the one who's all for a holiday, I had originally planned to continue with Hunter's lessons through the school holidays just because I thought it would be too hard for "us" to get back into the swing of things. But as the first week progressed, I realised that some things in Mrs Mama's class needed to get re-vamped anyway, so I decided we'd take a total break from lessons in the second week and boy did we fill our days with all sorts of fun. 

Here's a glimpse of the two weeks of 'school holidays' 2 -15 July...

 We did do lessons in the first week - well, most of the first week - and it was U for United States of America... conveniently containing Independence day so we had a PARTY!!! (See 4th of July post)

 On Friday 6 July I decided to scrap school (we usually have "fun Friday" anyway) and took the kids and a friend to the Johnsonville Mall for a Teddy Bear Picnic. I thought it was fun how Hunter still got into it and took 2 of his animals along!

 The place was crowded with kids but when BJ Bear's first choice for assistant got shy and he looked on the other side of the mass of children, I just knew he'd be drawn to this pink lady!!! And yes, she wasn't shy... Helena joined BJ Bear in front of at least 150 people to play a little game which landed her a moment in the spotlight and a lollypop! That's my girl!!!

 The cool thing was that we'd bumped into a former Kindy classmate so we had McD ice creams with them before taking Ruben back home and spending the rest of the afternoon hanging out at his house with my good friend Kellee.

 One evening Tony even had a bit of a break from studying and put that thought power into solving the puzzle the Belikoffs had given us so many months back!!! Well done, sweetie... yep, while other people may just relax by a fireplace with a novel, newspaper or dvd on the big screen, we're solving puzzles... hmmm... maybe we do need to get out more!?!?

 Saturday 7 July was fun because Hunter had been invited to a birthday party for a former Kindy friend at the local McD's... check out this amazing cake Marshall's dad made!!! WOW! And Helena squashed it into her mouth before I had a chance to really think twice about whether it was made with dairy or not... oops!

 Sunday 8 July, the kids and I hosted a lunch after church at the Te Papa cafe. Turned out only 2 new women could join us but it was quality time spent with new friends. Plus the kids then got to hang out in the museum between services! This was the second time I chose this cafe for after church lunch due to the toys the kids can play with while the adults do their thing. Gotta utilise your resources, eh?!

 By the end of it, though, I was wiped out (wearing new heeled boots didn't help) so sitting down reading stories was a good option for me...

 until Helena wanted to do puzzles and

 Hunter wanted to play computer games... oh well... I think I stayed on that couch until it was time for church again!!!! I'll be back!

Week 2

 So our official non-lessons holiday started on Monday 9 July with a fun trip to Junglerama with some other friends from church who I rarely get to spend time with now. The kids had a blast and I had some good conversations... a bonus for everyone!

Who can resist Helena's persuasive "come on the slide with me mama"? Well, since I'd spent my coffee money on entry fees, I had no excuses... I got to wheesh down the slide with my princess.

Hunter's hug

 We took Ruben along with us again and the three of these guys were crazy on the slides... insisting to go down together in tumbling piles... but that's a shout of glee on Helena's face... I'm pretty sure...

 Tuesday morning we had to take Tony into town for his course so we carried on over to Mt Vic where we ate breakfast at the lookout...

 it was a gorgeous, clear, surprisingly wind-less morning and the kids and I really enjoyed our time on the hill... we have done it once before - but it was much earlier in the morning and we caught the sunrise! I think I preferred this time of morning!

 Hunter is still so fresh and full of wonder! I love this little guy!

 I let him use my camera and he snapped this one of the two of us... not bad! After breakfast we ended up going over to our neighbours house - we've discovered they are old kindy friends so we spent a spontaneous morning tea time getting re-acquainted. Then by noon Helena's kindy buddy Juliet and her sister Abbie came over for a few hours of girlie play while their mom went to a meeting. It's a  lot quieter having girls over for playdates... that is for sure!!! But still lots of fun!

On Wednesday we must've done something worthwhile... on Thursday we picked up our good friend Margaret and two of her kids, plus a Chinese friend of ours and headed up the coast to our Kapiti venue where a few of the pastors arranged a movie day for the kids while the moms enjoyed a shared lunch. It was a brilliant plan which I'm sure will begin to feature in the future of school holidays. Oh, Friday I took the kids up to Auntie Jane's house to hang out with the 'cuzzies'. Traditionally, the kids and I go up to Jane's place during the school holidays so she and I can drink coffee and catch up at a deeper than Sunday morning drop off kids at Sunday school level. But this week I felt in my spirit that she needed some alone time so I sent her off to do her own thing and the 6 kids and I held it together at their home. It was a great few hours playing games, acting out Bible stories, eating, doing crafts, watching DVDs... really... the kids get on so well, it just makes things so easy. This could be another school holiday tradition as well! 

On Saturday 14 July we hit the other Junglerama in town for Juliet's 4th birthday party. That was the longest stretch ever at an indoor playground... we arrived to the venue by 10:40 after dropping off Tony at his office (poor guy has to do his studies while we're out and about playing hard) so the kids played an hour before the party... then did the official party stuff... then played some more! All up we were there 3+ hours!!! Money well spent! Nicola did an amazing job on Juliet's cake... and thankfully Helena did not ask me to do one like it!!!

Again, I let Hunter have a go with my camera... this is a good way to get photos of myself on here, eh!

Hmmm... then Sunday 15 July was a great day at church - we've been in a wonderful series called Jubilee. You can check it out here - oh wait - podcast not uploaded yet. Well, you can check out our church here anyway - www.arisechurch.org.nz

And then... Monday 16 July - Term 3 began!!!! And I'll have to fill you in eventually on our homeschool adventures. I did intend to keep a blog on it but boy oh boy I have barely even updated this one... so let's just say I do have photos and I am keeping notes on it...