the lippmanns

2007-12-07T01:05:00.000-08:00

2007-11-10T22:15:00.000-08:00

This is what we woke up to on Jacobs birthday, it will snow anytime in the mountains!!! October is a bit late for us though!!! It snowed again a couple of weeks ago too....crazy.

Jacob couldn't believe it!! He loves the snow though, winter is his favourite season.

We went out to the restaurant for breakfast. We usually have a birthday breakfast party, but this year with the hotel right there i figured why cook!!!

The boys took a couple of friends with them. This is Calan and Aidan. They have lived in Mt Cook all their lives and these guys all use to play together as babies.

Yet again why cook a cake myself with the hotel right there, this is thanks to the pastry chef!! An Austrian one too.

So that was all a long time ago now. I can't believe Jacob is 10 years old already and I can't believe we have been parenting for 10 years, where has the time gone.

The boys are very well, we are looking forward to the end of the year and school summer holidays. The boys finish school on 22 Dec and don't go back until 7 Feb. That's a good long holiday! So for Christmas we have Bernd coming of course and Helen my sister and Gabe my nephew. We are all very excited to have some visitors here in Mt Cook. I hope the weather stays fine, our house is incredibly small! Then the kids are off to New Plymouth for a couple of weeks to see their family there and then off on holiday with Bernd, Selma and Thomas. They are going to have a great time this summer and I will try to fill my time while I stay in Mt Cook and work, I think I might be able to do that!! Wow a month with no kids, what will I do.

I have had a change of job at the hotel in the last month. I am thankfully out of the restaurant and am now in reservations. It is great, even if I do have to sit at a computer all day. I wasn't sure how that would go but the day goes by much faster and I am certainly less tired.

So things are all going very well here, the boys are busy after school with their friends out in the bush or down by the river. Dominic has started karate and is enjoying that, especially when they do some wrestling. I will take some photos of him there next time. He seems to be interested in starting the guitar and there is someone here who could give him lessons. Jacob hasn't been able to enjoy his bow and arrow much lately, the weather hasn't been great and I have been a bit slow about finding him a target...bad mother. Jacob is a good reader and is reading a huge kids book at the moment, anything with dragons, knights, weapons, wizards etc
etc.

I hope everyone is well in Austrian, it must be getting cold there now. We look forward to seeing all your photos from Christmas!! We will write again soon.
Love from NZ

2007-09-29T19:52:00.000-07:00

Zuckersuess

Vor zwei Wochen habe ich den zweiten Teil des Zucker Kurses gemacht. Der Kurs dauert 3 Tage und ausser Zucker wird nur Zucker oder besser gesagt Isomalt - ein Zuckerersatz der die selben Eigenschaften als Zucker hat.

Zuerst wird der Zucker bis 180 grad gekocht und dann der farbstoff hinzugefuegt - fertig zu verarbeiten. Die Arbeitstemperatur ist so um die 70 grad, immer noch heiss genug sich die finger zu verbrennen wenn man nicht vorsichtig ist.

Wenn der zucker etwas abgekuehlt ist wird er mehrmals gezogen um luft einzuarbeiten, die luft gibt den zucker einen seidenen glanz, dann formnt man den zucker einfach und fertig!

Am ersten tag des kurses haben wir zum "aufwaermen einen schwan gemacht und dann ein schaustueck mit dolphines

Der Schwan

The dolphines

Fuer das naechste schaustueck wurde zuerst der hintergrund gegossen und danach ...

...der boden.

Nun werden alle anderen sachen die am schaustueck sein sollen gemacht und dann wird alles wie ein puzzel zusammengesetzt

sobald alles abgekuehlt ist, noch etwas farbe - lebensmittel farbe

und voila - ein schaustueck fertig

Das war der erste tag, die naechsten 2 tage waren etwas arbeits intensiever, wir mussten unser eigenes schaustueck entwerfen und fertigstellen um den kurs erfolgreich abzuschliessen.

ich hatte mich entschlossen einen kea zu machen.

Der koerper wurde geblasen

danach die federn auf der unterseite des vogels angebracht und der vogel auf die base gesetzt

als naechstes die fluegel angebracht

der rest der federn wird nun befestigt

und nach 30 arbeitsstunden und 2 blasen auf meinen fingern ist das prachtstueck dann fertig!

Mit diesem meisterwerk habe ich mir natuerlich auch mein certificate verdient!

Nun kam der schwierigste teil, der kurs war in rotorua, transport nach wellington. 3 taxi rides und einen flug hat der vogel ja recht gut ueberstanden.....

aber genau vor der haustuere ist er dann abgestuerzt! Ich haette heulen koennen!

Der schaden ist leider irreperable - da bleibt nur eins viel kaffee trinken und statt zucker mit kea suessen

sobald ich den verlust ueberststanden habe und wetwas zeit find werde ich mich auf das naechste stueck stuerzen wer weiss was das sein wird - auf alle faelle etwas das etwas stabiler ist!

Bis bald

2007-09-09T23:35:00.000-07:00

Hello to everyone

I hope everyone is well.

We are doing great. Life is good.

These are some photo's from a walk we did on Sunday, the Hooker Valley. We have had some great weather so have been enjoying the outdoors.

School is going well for the boys, Dominic's reading and spelling is improving greatly. He finds this most helpful when he is playing on the computer!! Jacob is as clever as ever and he knows it. The other day in Maths they had to answer a question and then write why that was the answer and for the last one Jacob wrote "because I am smart". That says it all!

Work is going fine, it is nice to be busy and working with a lot of people. Especially people from many different countries.

I hope you enjoy the photos.

Take care

Love from us all here in Mt Cook

They are a bit camouflaged on the rocks

Jacob found this rock and was having a snooze waiting for Dominic and I to catch up to him.

The boys are throwing stones and rocks on the ice of the lake to try and break it.

2007-09-04T00:08:00.000-07:00

Hello to everyone

I am finally able to upload photo's!! YAY YAY!

So here are a few from the last 2 months.

Dad and Dominic on Dominic's birthday. We all meet in Christchurch and the boys had a great weekend with dad. Dominic does love to shop especially when it is all about him.

Exactly where Dominic likes to be....on top and in charge!!!

This is one of his birthday presents, a hot wheeles race track which has sound and movement and all sorts of things.....very cool!

The boys have been watching a lot of Star Wars lately so Dominic is a Jedi Knight! This new light saber has lights and sound! It also looks like the TV is sitting on his head!!

This is a gruop of the school kids having a ski lesson on the school ski trip. Jacob and Dominic are in the dark jackets to the left and right of the person in white. I know a terrible picture!

I'm sorry I can't work out which boy this is.

The kids also went ice skating. This is Dominic, but I'm not sure the orange cone is very helpful with technique

Dominic enjoying the first snow fall for us in Mt Cook

This is Dominic's birthday cake that we had in Christchurch

This is the view from our window

This is the view out the boys bedroom window

We went for a walk up the hill behind our house and this is the view!!

The birthday cake in Mt Cook which we took to school to share with the children

At school

The brothers!!

I hope everyone is well and we will write and update you all soon.

Love from us in the mountains

From the Mountains

2007-08-20T22:31:00.000-07:00

Hello to everyone!!

Well we are here, and settled and loving it.

Of course sorry it has taken so long!! I am waiting to connect my broadband internet access so I can upload some photos but still haven't managed it.

So it is just writing today.

We have been here 5 1/2 weeks now, so we have settled into our new/old environment.

The kids are mostly enjoying their new school. I know Jacob is but I'm never quite sure with Dominic. If he has one bad day life is terrible, but he is doing fine and his school work is coming along well so he can't be doing too badly.

There are about 5 others boys that they play with outside of school as well as at school. And the great thing about Mt Cook is that it is safe for them to go off and have an adventure without adults tagging along all the time. So they have been playing in the bush and down by the river and even with a Playstation 2 which is exciting because we don't have one and I am not keen to get one any time soon!!

So it all reminds me of my childhood so many years ago on the farm. But in this day and age I have one advantage and that is a set of walkie talkies so I can talk to Jacob any time!!

So far winter has been very kind to us. When we arrived there was snow on the ground which had been there for 4 weeks already and it was cold, so very cold. -10 when we were walking to school. But that all washed away with some rain and slightly warmer weather 2 weeks after we got here. I pretty sure everyone was sick of me saying "Man it is so cold" about 20 times a day.

But luckily there was enough snow for us to go on the school ski trip. This was fantastic, the first time for all of us on ski's. We all had lessons so it was great. The kids really took to it and by the end of the day they were flying down the learns slop and even taking on some little jumps. Dominic was built for speed!! He didn't care for technique and practicing turns he just went fast. We also went ice skating so that was fun.

Dominic is very excited about his upcoming birthday, we have been counting it down for about 6 weeks!! We are going to Christchurch this weekend to meet up with Bernd, so I am sure they will all have a fun filled weekend that we can write about next week.

So we are all well and surviving the end of winter, hoping for a couple of more big snow dumps before spring starts which I am sure we will get being here in the mountains.

As soon as I get the internet sorted out I will put some photos on here.

I hope all is well everywhere in the world and we would love to here what everyone has been up to lately!

That's all for now.
Everyone take care and lots of love from us in New Zealand.

2007-06-11T15:14:00.000-07:00

Hello! Finally I have some time to write again.

It has been a very long time, I am sorry.

Our big news is that we are moving back to Mt Cook.

Some may think this is crazy, but it has been a big family decision and we are all very excited about it. It will be an adventure for the boys to experience Mt Cook at an older age, and Jacob does love the snow and there is a school ski trip 3 weeks after we get there.

It is time for me to go back to work, I finally have to accept my boys no longer need me quite so much. It really does surprise me that Jacob is nearly 10 years old!!

So with the cost of living being high even in small town NZ then it is off to a place where rent and power is much cheaper and I still have a good support system of friends, not to mention those beautiful mountains.

At the moment I am finishing my last few weeks of school and will be happy when it is all over. The boys have 4 weeks of school until the holidays. Then we will move on 9 July.

So I have cleaning out cupboards and throwing away old stuff. It feels good to do that.

I came across some old photos on some discs that I didn't even know I had. Here are some.

How cute is Dominic at 3.

I wonder if he will grow up to cook just like his dad.

Brother power

One of my favourite from the end of 2003. The boys are reaching the top of Mt Cook

Jacob turning 6, he looks pretty happy about it!

Some brotherly love at bed time.

Face painting is a favourite.

So I will keep you all posted about how the moving is going and how we are settling in.

And we will send some photos of the boys in the snow and hopefully up on some ski's or maybe there will be more photos of them on their bums!!

Take care everyone

An adventure in Auckland

2007-05-15T17:06:00.000-07:00

After a few days with Jacob it was Dominic's turn to go on an adventure. Last weekend we met in Auckland, Dominic was flying in from New Plymouth - all by himself :) and I from Wellington.
The plan for the weekend was worked out earlier by Dominic, he wanted to visit the zoo, Kelly Tarlton's and the sky tower and he wanted to stay in a hotel.

We arrived in the morning in Auckland which gave us the whole day to explore the zoo.

After double checking the map we where off to enjoy an awesome day, the weather was good (which is unusual for Auckland as there are generally 3 weather patterns 1,)it is raining 2,) it is just about to start to rain 3,) it is quite wet between rain showers)

For most of the day Dominic was the camera man, he loves taking photos and within no time we run out of memory space.

One of the highlights was the meerkat enclosure. Under the actual space where the animals are there are concrete corridors with little windows into the enclosure to enable visitors to have an experience like a meerkat with crawling through tunnels and popping up the head. It was good fun, the tunnels where a little tight for me though and it was hard keeping up with Dominic, but I managed .

Lunchtime approached fast and after a snack and a relaxing break the next highlight was on the program ...

... a ride through the zoo an the zoo tram.

After watching a lecture about New Zealand birds, there was a little time left to play

The first day ended with a nice dinner in the restaurant of the hotel. Exhausted from a day of walking we had an early night - sort of and after a good night sleep an early start with breakfast again in the restaurant. Dominic just loved it!

The program for the second day was Kelly Tarlton's. This is a display about Antarctica which was the part Dominic was not very interested in, so we rushed through it. The second part of Kelly Tarlton's is a very nice display of all sorts of sea creatures, including penguins.

To see the penguins we had a few rides on a snow cat, which are vehicles actually used in Antarctic. It was interesting seeing the funny critters quite close. Dominic was the camera man again and again has done a great job.

We where lucky enough to see the sting rays being hand fed, a big spectacle with the creatures being only centimeters away.

No fear! Dominic petting a monster eel

We where lucky enough and long enough there to see most of the fish getting fed

The main attraction is a huge aquarium with all sorts of fish in it, including sharks, sting rays, turtles and much more. to view all those animals you ride on a conveyor belt through tunnels of plexi glass, absolutely stunning and I lost count of how many times we went around.

After we finished with this place we went to another attraction, the sky tower.
No, we did not take the stairs, although Dominic's original plan was, he is riding up in the lift and me taking the stairs, 60 levels up to the top viewing platform, lucky me I could convince him that taking separate paths is not a good idea and it is either both walking or both taking the lift, I was very happy with his decision of taking the lift!

Another long day ended with a dinner in the hotel and a rather late night so we had a sleep in the next morning before we where heading back to the airport.

An awesome adventure, lots of fun lots seen - have to do it again soon!

Duck Shooting

2007-05-09T17:07:00.000-07:00

FINALLY!
The first weekend in May is very special!
It means it is opening weekend for duck shooting. This weekend is big here in New Zealand, there are a lot of hunters here and thousand of people travel to their secret locations for a fantastic weekend.

Every year on the first weekend in May I meet dear friends and we travel to the Ahuriri valley in the middle of the south island. It is an amazing valley, the scenery breath taking

and home to a lot of ducks and other flying things. I am going there since 8 years and had a lot of fun time there. But this year is very special, it is the first time I am taking one of the boys with me. Jacob is really excited to come.
We met in Wellington, an other first for Jacob, he was flying all by himself from New Plymouth to Wellington, and we got on a plane to Christchurch. After a night with friends, we stayed with Tom and Janelle, we tackled the 5 hour drive to the valley. After meeting the gang, Franz, Dion, Willy and the rest, we where 11 all together we went to our spots and prepared for the next day, erecting our mai mais - this are hide outs so the ducks can not see us, and put the decoys out. decoys are plastic ducks which are put into the water so any passing ducks think it is save to land :). After getting all the other gear ready and a good catch up with the others it is an early night. At 5 in the morning an excited crew gets up and after a good breakfast we make our way to the mai mai. Jacob and I are with Dion on a medium sized pond which over the years gave us fantastic results. Arriving at the pond it is still dark and we settle in for a long wait for daylight. We could hear the ducks, passing ands landing and this promised a great begin to the weekend. Legally the first shot can be fired at 6:45 in the morning but the light conditions where still quite poor at the time and at our pond the spectacle stated at 7:05. There where ducks everywhere and it was a busy first hour. Jacob did good spotting and he also called with a duck caller, he was quite successful in getting a few in.
After the first hour it is getting a little quiet so we settle in with a hot chocolate and a coffee to wait for further arrivals.

The mai mai is made out of tussock grass and blend in well with the surroundings, from a few meters away it is hard to spot. On top of that all of us are wearing camouflage to minimise the risk of getting spotted by the birds.

Here is Jacob and me waiting for more birds to come

A few out the front of the mai mai, it was perfect hunting weather. The pond is in front and a wonderful rainbow is visible.

The proof of success Jacob with one of the ducks!

To get to the mai mai we had to cross a Creek. The water was a little high, to high for Jacob to walk through without getting water in his gum boots, so I carried him as I was wearing chest waders, which are more or less gumboots all the way to the chest.. This was easy during daylight, a little trickier while it was dark, but we managed a dry crossing.
Here you can see us on the way back for lunch, on one side I am carrying Jacob on the other some ducks.

The afternoon saw Jacob sleeping, he was exhausted.
the next morning we went rabbit shooting, Jacob had a little shot gun and he almost got one! He placed the shot a few centimeters in front of the rabbit, I was the back up shooter and made sure we had this one in the bag.

After breaking everything down and repacking all the gear we went to pluck the ducks. Jacob helped and we all told us stories of how the last two days went.
It took a while to prepare all the birds, altogether we got 60 ducks and 3 swans. Yes swans are game birds and we are allowed to shoot them, they also taste nice in a curry!

After a night in Mount cook and another night in Christchurch we made our way back to Wellington, and after a night with me Jacob flew back to New Plymouth on Wednesday morning just in time for school.

It was an awesome weekend, a fantastic adventure and both of us, Jacob and I, are looking forward to the next hunting expedition.

Dominic was a little sad that he could not come, but a trip to Auckland will make up for it. This Friday we will meet in Auckland and I am sure we also will have a fantastic time, more about it with some pictures when we get back!

2007-04-21T15:36:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone

It must have been nice that the last entry was written in German, I am sorry I can not do this too.

We have reached the end of the school holidays, yay! School tomorrow, it will be good to get back into a routine.

We stayed at home for all of the holidays and had bad weather for the first week so the boys played a lot on the computer and watched a few DVD's. They like to have time when we don't do anything, just laze about home. On Friday afternoon they went to stay with my dad and step-mother for the weekend, and didn't get home until Monday morning. I felt very lost without them! They went swimming each day and helped nana in the garden with some planting. And got to eat dessert every night.

Then the weather fined up for the second week. So we were able to get out and enjoy it. More swimming, even in the outdoor pool where we were the only ones out there. I decided to be brave and jump off the diving boards, which I have never done. The 1 metre one was ok so I jumped off the 3 metre board. This was very scary, I can't believe Dominic did it when he was 4 and Jacob when he was 7.

Dominic was allowed to choose the movie this week so we went to see Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. They used to be around when I was a kid and they have made a come back, Jacob and I actually enjoyed the movie in the end, we weren't expecting to.

We went for a couple of walks. One along the walkway to the beach and another up Paritutu which is the steep rock in the background of the beach photos.

This is the Port of Taranaki. The hill in the background of Dominic by the water is Paritutu, this is what we climb.

At the beach, jumping high. Jacob is above, Dominic is below.

Dominic didn't want his photo taken.

The boys at the bottom of Paritutu. Part way up, there is a rope to help you as you climb, it is very steep.

The view to the West out to Australia! The view to the East and the town below.

These are Dominic's photo's, he really does enjoy taking them.

In a couple of weeks Jacob is off with Bernd duck shooting in the South Island. He is very excited to be going away with dad for a week. There is a group of men, that Bernd has been doing this with for many years now. I'm sure it will be a great time for all of them. I'll make sure they take the camera and Bernd can write that week.

Well that is all from us this week, I hope you are all well, we will write again soon.

2007-04-07T13:23:00.000-07:00

FROHE OSTERN !!!

Wie schnell doch die Zeit vergeht!
Ueber die Oster Feiertage habe ich mir frei genommen und meine Buben besucht. Wir hatten glueck mit dem Wetter und haben so allerlei unternommen. Am Samstag sind wir fuer einen langen spaziergang am strand gewesen und Dominic und Jacob haben so allerlei gefunden. Seeigel, Seesterne, Krabbenschalen, Muscheln in allen formen und farben und Treibholz in den lustigsten formen. Das Wasser ist zwar schon kalt aber keine 10 Pferde konnten die Buben davon abhalten trotzdem durch das kuehle nass zu laufen. Gabriel, Dominics und Jacobs Cousin war mit uns und die Buben haben ihre Schuhe ins Meer geschmissen und sie von den Wellen wieder an Land bringen lassen. Die Schuhe flogen immer weiter hinaus und wir hatten fast einen verlust da die stroehmung den Schuh statt zurueckzubringen weiter hinaus gebracht hat. Nach viel Quietschen und einigen attempts den Schuh zu bergen waren die kids nass aber mit allen Schuhen! Jedes mal wenn wir am Strand sind braeuchten wir riesige Taschen um die ganzen gefunden Schaetze nach Hause zu bringen so der prozess die besten Sachen auszusuchen ist langwierig und mit einigen Discussionen verbunden.
Fuer Ostern wollten Dominic und Jacob a easter egg hunt, so Samstag Nachts habe ich Osterhase gespielt und so einiges im Garten versteckt.

Beide buben waren sehr aufgeregt und es war sehr einfach sie ins bett zu bekommen. Dominic hat mich um 4 in der Frueh das erste mal aufgeweckt und mich gefragt ob der Osterhase schon da war und er schon zu suchen anfangen koenne. Ich kann mich nicht mehr so ganz genau auf meine Antwort erinnern, aber es muss etwas ueberzeugendes gewesen sein da Dominic wieder ins Bett gegangen ist. Als er dann eine Stunde spaeter des selbe versucht hat war es schon schwieriger ihn zu ueberzeugen das 5 in der frueh nicht wirklich eine gute Zeit zum Eier suchen sei. Diesmal hatte ich keine chance ihn wieder in sein Bett zu bekommen, so ist er zu mir unter die Decke gekraxelt. Um halb sieben ist dann Jacob zum ersten mal gekommen um die Ostereier jagt zu starten und meine ueberredungs kuenste haben mir eine weitere stunde schlaf gebracht. Um halb acht hatte ich dann keine chance mehr weiterne aufschub zu verhandeln!

Gestern abends hatte es ein wenig geregnet aber heute ist das Glueck war auf unserer Seite und wir sind zu strahlendem Sonnenschein aufgewacht! (well, das vierte mal). Ich war ueberascht das beide zuerst brav gefruehstueckt haben, aber dann ist es mit gebruell in den garten gegangen. Es hat nicht sehr lange gedauert bis alles gefunden war, jedenfalls glaub ich das alles gefunden wurde, wir werden sehen ob waehrend des Jahres auf einmal Ostereier im Garten auftauchen. Wir hatten auch drei verluste, wir sind uns nicht sicher welches Tier es war aber drei Schokolade Eier waren ausgepackt und halb gefressen, die Buben glauben das es ein Igel war oder das der Osterhase hungrig geworden ist waehrend er die Eier versteckt hat.

Die haelfte der Schokolade wurde schon verzehrt und im moment rennen die Kinder herum wie von den Hornissen gestochen, muss mich naechstes Jahr erinnern Schokolade Eier ohne Zucker zu besorgen!!

Heute abends werden wir Schnitzel essen, beide Buben haben Spass daran in der Kueche zu helfen, Jacob ist schon ein guter Kartoffel schaeler und Dominic paniert ganz gerne. Jelly koennen sie schon ganz alleine machen und beim backen sind sie auch eine grosse hilfe. Abwaschen und abtrocknen ist nicht so ganz ihre lieblings sache aber mit einiger ueberredungs kunst helfen sie dabei auch.
Am Montag am abend fliege ich wieder nach Wellington, mein kurzurlaub ist leider sehr schnell vergangen aber der naechste ist schon geplant, anfang Mai gehen Jacob und ich zur Entenjagt...

Hi this is Jacob, I hope all of you had a happy Easter. I found lots of eggs. I am enjoying school but I am also very happy that we have holidays at the moment. I am really looking forward going hunting with dad, we will fly down south and hopefully will get lots of ducks. After the hunt I am looking forward cooking the ducks with dad and eating our loot. We will make lots of photos during the hunt, dad will shoot with the gun and I will shoot with the camera so we can share our fun week end with you
Love Jacob .

Hello this is Dominic, yum yum easter eggs! I had fun this morning finding all the treasure. Some animals, I think it was a hetchog, ate 3 of my easter eggs!
Love Dominic

2007-03-20T13:14:00.000-07:00

Hello to everyone

We have had some busy times, I don't know where our time goes sometimes.

The boys are busy at school. Last week they had helicopter rides at school. They were very excited and I think nearly the whole school had a turn on it. It was only a 10 minute ride but a really good opportunity for a lot of kids to ride in one.

Dominic's reading is improving a lot. It seemed for a while he wasn't really getting it, but something has suddenly made sense to him and he is reading wonderfully. It will make a lot of things much easier for him, especially playing on the computer, his favourite thing. He has always had to ask Jacob to read everything for him.

His swimming has also improved a lot in the last few weeks. He can stroke and breath for about 15 meters now without stopping.

Soccer season starts soon, the school has put them into teams. So it is back to the very early, freezing cold Saturday mornings!! The boys enjoy it so much though it is all worth it in the end.
So there will be some great action photo's for you soon.

Bernd came up for the weekend, so the boys had a great time. Although the weather wasn't great it seems as though summer might be over, there is a chill in the air and even some snow on our mountain.

I have been getting out walking on our mountain here. There is the main cone and then a series of ranges coming from it out towards the sea. This photo is looking at the cone from the ranges. It is so often cloudy over the top of it, so I was very lucky on this day, it is a beautiful place to be.

And this photo is from the main cone looking over the ranges to the sea and New Plymouth is to the right of the picture by the chimney.

Well that is all I have to report at the moment. I will take some more photo's soon.

I hope everyone is well and happy.
Love the Lippmanns from New Zealand

2007-03-04T13:13:00.000-08:00

Here are some photos, these are off the 3 meter diving board at the pools. Dominic is the top one and Jacob is the other 3.

March already!

2007-03-03T16:42:00.000-08:00

Wow the time is flying by, I can't believe it is March already.

Bernd was up last weekend so the boys were busy with him, they went to the rock pools and caught some shrimp and collected drift wood from the beach. They made lollies at home, and played on the computer. There was an Americana show in town so about a hundred old America cars were in town. They closed the middle of town and had all the cars parked there for everyone to see. Then on Sunday morning we all went out for Breakfast for my mothers birthday.

On Monday Jacob went on a school camp for 3 days. They drove about one hour from New Plymouth, they slept in cabins in their sleeping bags. Jacob had a great time having a go at archery, building huts in the bush, confidence course with rock climbing wall, rope climb and bridge, a cargo net to climb up and down, and pools to slide down, huge flying fox and games. On the first day they disturbed a wasp nest and were chased by hundreds of angry wasps. Luckily Jacob didn't get stung but he did have to run fast. A couple of kids got stung 12 times and others just a couple. But it doesn't seem to have been too traumatic for them everyone is telling their great adventure story.

It was strange with just the two of us left at home, so Dominic and I planned things to do after school, going to the movies and bike riding and eating chocolate pudding for dinner. It was nice to spend time with just one child, the house was quiet there was no arguing to break up, that was nice for 3 days!

Dominic had his swimming sports at school, he is very competitive and wants to win and will even cheat slightly to do it!

Yesterday Dominic and I were my mothers support crew while she walked a marathon. We were in the car and would meet her every few kilometres with supplies for her. It was fantastic to watch her do it. Poor old Dominic had to come with me because he was recovering from a vomiting bug. He had been up the night before being sick, but he gets better very quickly so after a couple of ice blocks he was good. Having a portable DVD player for the car really helps too, he watched a couple of hours of the Simpsons and I didn't hear a word from him.

Last night I took the boys to the ballet. I had to promise to take them out for a hot chocolate afterwards. They were very aware there weren't many other boys their age there but it was good. They got restless about 2/3 of the way through so we left abut early, but that was OK at lest they came with me. So we enjoyed a hot chocolate afterwards in a nice cafe and they even talked me into an ice cream.

Today has been a lovely hot summer's day so we headed for the pools. They love the water and could stay in all day. But I wasn't swimming so i take a book and read, 2 hours is usually about my limit.

Tomorrow when I go to school I will put some photos from today's swimming on.

I hope everyone in Austria is well, we would love to have some photos from everyone there and to hear what you are all up to.

Lots of love and bye for now from us in New Zealand

2007-02-17T18:50:00.000-08:00

Hello to everyone

We are all well here in New Zealand, the sun is shinning summer is being kind to us, finally!

This week was the kids first full week back at school and boy was it a long one. By Wednesday Dominic was already complaining about having to go, asking do I have to go to school today? It would be good if he could understand that the answer is yes for the next 16 years!
But when he came home on Friday he was excited about Monday because the new and improved and much bigger school sandpit would be ready. That's why he goes to school I am sure. At school he is very well behaved his teacher told me, I wondered if she knew whose mother I was! Dominic likes to be the best at everything, and listens well and is quiet. His reading is not too bad but he gets ahead of himself when he knows the story and reads from his memory. He has started getting spelling words this year too so I'll let you know how that goes. Anything to do with "work" Dominic resists, someone must be right in there with him doing it beside him.

Jacob loves school. It is as easy as that, his favourite is maths, but is good at everything. At the moment he is reading the Harry Potter novels and The Hobbit. He enjoys mythical creatures and medieval settings. He has the play mobile with the castle and knights and all their weapons and spends a lot of time drawing pictures of these and coming up with different situations and stories. Lego is another of his favourites, this really does take up hours of his time. Some of his creations are amazing and I will try and get photo's of many of them. He has one good friend at school but is well liked by all, after school there are always a lot of kids calling out good bye to him. His teachers have always said he is very polite, considerate, patient and helpful in class to his class mates. He is very confident and has presented his work to the whole school in his assembles. He is not shy or afraid of people.

Together at home they get on well most of the time. We are quite a noisy family so shouting can be heard on most days! But I do not let them fight physically when they are angry. 'Boys will be boys' [this is a common English saying] but i think only when they are playing they can be a little rough with each other, as long as both are playing the game. But as soon as someone is angry and uses their hands that is when i stop them. But this doesn't happen much. Dominic likes to annoy Jacob the most and always has, he just has that in his character. So at the moment a lot of his discipline is to listen to what the other person is saying and if they are sounding upset, obviously he knows the difference but it is the stopping part we are working on!!
Jacob is very helpful and is taking on some more responsibilities around the house now. He is now tall enough to reach the clothes line so getting the washing in and hanging out wet togs and towels after school are his jobs. He is drying the dishes, peeling the potatoes and taking out the rubbish as well. Jacob tends to get frustrated very quickly as soon as something goes wrong or sees the negative side in something very quickly so helping him to take a breath and switch that view around to problem solving is what we talk about a lot. Not that he likes to listen to mum going on and on about that all the time!
Both boys enjoy helping in the kitchen so often in the weekends they help make cakes, muffins, biscuits and pizza dough.

We have started swimming lessons again this week. Both boys have done them on and off for a few years. Jacob is a good swimmer, he can swim many lengths in freestyle and backstroke, half a length in breaststroke and is just learning butterfly. Dominic is very confident in the water and can get himself around a lot even in very deep water, so he floats well! He will happily dive down deep and jump off a 3 meter diving board. He is now learning how to breath with his swimming strokes.

Here are a few photo's of the kids at home, playing with their Lego, riding their bikes and playing 'Star Wars' with their light sabers.

They are training to be jedi knights. And Jacob with his favourite thing in the world.

These first 2 are Jacob's rocket and launch pad. The second is Dominic's rocket.

This is outside our house on the road it is a great, safe place for the boys to bike.

A Summer Holiday

2007-02-04T19:54:00.001-08:00

Finally I have it sorted and have down loaded the photos onto this site. My computer is too slow at home so I had to wait until I got back to school. So here is our summer holiday!

These are some dress up things the kids got for christmas.

Our holiday this January started on the 2nd. We loaded up the car with bikes, boggie boards, sleeping bags, a tent and even a cat. Ginger Bob our cat was going on holiday to Bernd's house while we were away.
So we stayed the night in Wellington and where up for an early start across the Cook Straight, a 3 hour ferry ride. The drive from Picton to Christchurch took us 4 1/2 hours, a beautiful drive passed Kaikoura as many of you know, I think everyone has been to watch the whales there!
Our plan was to spend a week in Christchurch with some friends, to just relax and soak up summer.

We found a trail for biking. It is the old railway line that is not used anymore. It is fantastic. This section was 22 km long, it was a hot day, riding with some slightly reluctant children, but we got there in the end.

We spent a morning at the swimming pools and hydro slides. It was my first time and I was quite nervous[I have no idea why i have never been on a hydro slide before?] but of course the children are experienced at such things so it was no problem for them. one and a half hours was plenty of time for us having to run up those stairs for just 45 seconds of fun!!

Our next stop was Mt Cook. It is still one of my favourite places in the world. I'm sure many of you are thinking "You need to get out more" especially Arno!
We had 4 nights up there and the kids were able to catch up with their friends that they grew up with. It was fantastic for them.

Biking out on the camping ground road. Mt Cook barely visable above and Mt Sefton below

We used to come out on hot days with the kids and swimm in this little lake. It was hot this day so the kids jumped in! Not me, we are in the mountains.The next 5 photo's are all up the Tasman Valley, right next to the Glacier and lakeGlacier lake and icebergsDominic is a keen photographer, he often doesn't tell you when he is about to take the shot though, there were some very ugly photos I had to delete! This one passed the test.

Next it was down to Twizel for another 4 nights. Our friends from Mt Cook have a house down there and there are lakes and rivers and shops! The water was really cold but kids are very brave about all that. So they went fishing and swimming, canoeing and biking and ate lots of ice cream.

We were off to Wanaka next. It is a beautiful, expensive, growing adventure town. We spent the afternoon at the lake, and buried Dominic! Poor Jacob was sick the first night with vomiting, no fun for anyone on holiday. The second day there was an Ironman competition, Boris i was thinking of you. What an amazing achievement! There was a 70 year old man competing and it took him 18 hours, definitely very motivating.

Omakau and the Central Otago Rail Trail was next. This is a very small town in the middle of no where, New Zealand seems to have a lot of these? And they are my favourites.
This rail trail is 150 km long, we did about 30 km. One day we went from my friends house in one direction and back and the next day in the other direction and back. This part of the country is very beautiful and very hot in summer. And the coldest spot in the country in winter.

Dominic needed a toilet stop, he discovered a longdrop, this is a deep hole in the ground with a toilet seat. Not very nice on a hot summer day. He came running out screaming "if I was locked in there I might die from the smell!"Parts of this track felt like the wild west of America. These are the old train tunnels and in the middle were completely dark. We had be told about them so had our head torches ready, but I was still a little scared. The kids are at the top of the photo below.

Still heading south we went to the very bottom, Invercargill. We were lucky enough to have 3 fine weather days down there. It is often very cold and winding as it gets the weather coming straight from Antarctica. In the museum there they have tuatara's which have been around since the dinosaurs, they don't move to much and it reminded me of when we went to see the "der depperte Vogel"kiwi's in Queenstown with Manfred and Arno, our native animals may look funny but the really don't do much.
We did a day trip to the Catlins, a native bush coastal area, more beautiful scenery!!
And down to Bluff which is the absolute bottom of the South Island.

Bluff the bottom of the South Island. The rest of the world sure is a long way away!
A beautiful beach in the southThis is a petrified forest. Covered with lava 180 million years ago. Just looked like rock to us. There is a penguin in the background, very hard to see in this photo. We sat and watched him hop about for a while.
Our biggest drive of the trip came with an 8 1/2 hour journey from Invercargill to Christchurch, we all survived it remarkably well. I didn't get too tired, a few Red Bulls always help and the kids didn't fight, complain, moan or whinge too much either!

Then the kids flew to Wellington to have a few days with Bernd. And i managed to have a child free birthday that involved shopping, pedicures, massages and lemon meringue pie.

So we have made it home now and are settling back in. We were gone for a whole month and were happy to be back. School starts again in a few days, Jacob is happy, Dominic says he is not but I suspect he will be happy to go there and eat his lunch and play in the sand pit.

2007-01-30T23:15:00.000-08:00

Hello to everyone

These were some test photo's that we put on just to see how this site works, all on holiday in the south Island. So I will try now to keep you all updated on life in New Zealand, hopefully each week!