April School Holidays

So Tony had decided to take two weeks off... at first we looked at taking a trip around the South Island, but since we'd already committed to a few things: Red Cross Refugee Volunteer Training and Ruben Teal staying over, we decided we'd take our big holiday in July and stay home in April. The kids actually really enjoy the Staycation! 

There was a whole lot of LEGO building, since April is the National Lego Month Hunter was constantly trying to improve on his creations!

There had a been a bit of rain, but on a clear day we met up with a few school friends for a run around on the school playground - it was just what these house-bound children needed.

We did a bit of crafts one day (which led into crafts laying around the house for a month). The kids had been wanting to use the air-drying clay I'd bought for Christmas decorations, so now seemed like the right time...

Combined with the beads that Helena's had kicking around for a while and voila - these lovely creative bits... now what to do with them all?!?

At the beginning of the year I'd decided I wanted to stretch beyond volunteering at church and school, so I applied to be a Red Cross Refugee Services Volunteer. It was a lot of training in April - most Monday and Wednesday nights, plus a Saturday. It was fascinating and I really enjoyed thinking outside of my typical boxes that I've been involved in recently - it really brought together so many joys I've had in the past: language, cross-cultural communication, hospitality, job coaching. In May my family will arrive and I'll be able to put all of this training to good use (I hope!). On the Saturday of my training, I'd received an email from our dear friends Derek & Minzhen - baby Alysson had finally arrived! Yahoo! I rode my bike from the training centre over to the hospital for the first glimpse:

What a precious little girl! Well done, Minzhen... and Daddy Derek! Welcome to the world of parenthood!

We didn't go on any major outings, but one day we headed over to the library just to get out of the house. Along the way Helena decided she'd had some money burning a hole in her pocket so she wanted an ice cream. That was fine, but since Hunter is diligently saving his money to buy a video game that she'll undoubtedly play with, I told her if she bought an ice cream, she'd have to buy him one as well... that seemed to be a good deal so I had two happy kids enjoying the holiday life!

Our biggest outing tied in with the LEGO Building Competition! For the past two years, Toy World holds a LEGO event during the April holidays. I invited the school and a few other friends and we had a pretty good group of us enjoying the festivities together.

In fact, our kids got together to form a team which won their slot - nice prizes for all!

After lots of LEGO play, Katrina and I took our kids to Burger King for a bit of fun while we waited for Tony to finish a meeting. These are some seriously satisfied kids!

The folks at LEGO are very generous and each of the kids got heaps of freebies. Ruben was showing off his goodies to his parents who were livin' it up in Las Vegas!

The next day, I took four kids up to Tawa Pools to hang out with their Rocket leaders for a few hours. It was a stunning day out so after the pools we spent another hour or so picnicking at the refurbished park.

After all that outside playing, the kids needed a bit of wii time! We had a good time with Ruben - he stayed over for 2 nights and the kids really enjoyed their time together. Hopefully we can get a bit of time together throughout the year.

To end the school holidays, the ARISE kids team put on an Around The World party where parents set up stalls that kids could come visit to get a glimpse of culture or a taste of that nation. I'd asked the HUGE team if they knew an American student who'd want to help out - Ben was the answer! We 'howdy'd and passed out rice krispy treats while the kids coloured in eagles and flags.

Tania was the hostess with the mostest representing Italy... nice neighbour to have!

The holidays were somewhat relaxing and a good mix of friends and family fun. Now we're ready for Term Two!