Snow day part 2

Prior to last weeks "the snow came to us" day, we had planned a trip to Mt Ruapehu so that Emily could meet the snow for the first time.

Being a blue bird Saturday after the years biggest snow dumping, there were a huge number of cars heading for the mountain. We had planned on driving a little way up the hill and parking on the side of the road, jump around, slide a bit, build a snowman, depart the scene type mission however the Whakapapa ski area access road was closed. By 9am all the car parks were full, and they didn't want any more cars going up as there was no where to put them.

As the road gate people had no interest in letting us past the barrier, we went sideways to find a patch of snow to have fun on. Good friend Rachel and daughter Holly joined us for the snow mission. Holly's main interest seemed to be eating snow!


Despite the expressionless look, Emily did some sign language for "more" so probably enjoyed the sliding.


Once Emily and Holly had burned out, we headed for the Grand Chateau for some luxury hot chocolate and scones.



On Sunday we headed off for a walk around Lake Rotoponamu near Turangi.




Em decided she was done with the backpack and needed to walk herself, worked for a bit however she is easily sidetracked!

Mondays "big snow" day

Some strange weather going on here! Apparently -73.3 degree last night. You think we would have noticed that.


Awoke to this sort of mix between hail and genuine snow.


Since there was a fair bit more snow on the hills behind town, Candace and Em decided to take a drive to visit some snow.



First snowman building experience.


After a (cold) clear sky morning it got darker and the real snow started falling. This is looking out the door at Bryce's work.


It may not look like much, but this is at sea level and I'm sure the statisticians will have to consult the history books to tell us when this last happened here. Maybe there will be more to report tomorrow.

Weekend wandering

The weather folks were calling for almost snow like conditions today so we decided to head out into the jungle for a walk. For a change we put Emily on her feet rather than the backpack to see if she would follow the track to any degree.


Turns out Emily was pretty focused on following the path.



With a tree down across the track Em simply wanted a hand to grab to help her climb up and over.


Once back to the car it was all about the post walk feed.

Poor Daddy...

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Here is a picture of the beautiful figurine my parents gave us when Emily was first born. It has sat on our coffee table for 13 months, until Emily was more adept at finding things in the house to play with that aren't "toys". For the past 2 months, this lovely couple and their baby who are sharing a quiet moment admiring their new baby have been thrown and knocked off the table innumerable times. They have fared extremely well throughout all this toddler torment....until today.
Maybe it was the couple just saying, "this is enough, we can't take any more abuse", or maybe it was the increased strength our 16 month-old has when throwing. Regardless, the statue is no more, and literally speaking, "Daddy has lost his head". I hope this isn't foreshadowing the state of Emily's father when he holds his second child in his hands and realises life is gonna move a lot quicker.
Here is our figurine, as it looks, post-Emily-shot-putter-extraordinaire....

Parenting is fun!

I am pleased to say that since my last post Emily is growing and changing so much but her need to touch everything and pull everything off shelves has slowed down. It may have something to do with the fact that most rooms in the house have closed doors during the days now, to avoid mishap throughout the entire house!
We headed up north to visit Trish, Sinka, Sammy and Henry during the school holidays and also visit with our friends Carl and Denise and their two boys. Here is a picture of Carl and Bryce and their protege's at the foozball table. It is a bit dangerous for little ones to play as they handles are exactly at head height for them and Liam actually got taken out by a rogue move by Emily or Bryce when trying to defend their goal!

We had a really nice time visitingthe Sinclairs at the farm and Emily loved being around all the animals (dogs, cats, chickens, lambs, sheep). It was nice to get away, especially after having not had my usual "mom" break from Em by teaching at school. It was also really cold and rainy for much of the holiday so being cooped up inside with the fireplace and a 15month old made for some tiring days.
Em is really enjoying her little trike. She motors around on that thing pretty quick now and enjoys going downhill.


Its also neat to watch her start to get shy around other people. She is recognizing that things she does without thinking around Mom and Dad might look silly in front of others, and chooses to shy away. It is very cute.

We took Emily and Mia to Lindale to see some of the farm animals yesterday. The girls enjoyed getting up close to all the animals, although the lambs were a bit intense for our lil ladies. Especially when Cheryl and I got to feed the lambs their milk from a bottle. Those little sheep were extremely energetic sucklers and it made Em a bit freaked out. She didn't let go of me the whole time I had the bottle in hand.