Easter weekend

Although Easter was a few weekends ago, we have some finally got some photos downloaded to post. We had an awesome visit with Mark, Rachel and their cuties Holly (or as Emily says "horsey") and Sarah. We took the girls to an Easter Egg Hunt on the Saturday which they loved; mind you, Bryce was the one who collected more eggs than the amount they were allowed! He didn't know this, however, and had just had fun finding the eggs. We didn't want Emily consuming all the chocolate and going wild later so as we drove away from the egg hunt, I leaned out the window of the car and gave several extra eggs to some kids walking by, who were thrilled! Their parents, needless to say, were not. We happened to see this family again at the local market about 30 min later and the little girl was being told off by her mother for not listening and then was seen lying on the pavement having a bit of a tantrum. Surely I wasn't to blame? He He... The Thorpe tribe arrived on Easter Sunday and we got to visit with all of them through the next few days. It was great to see everyone again, especially considering we had them come from Dunedin, Tauranga, Adelaide and Nelspruit (South Africa)! On Easter Monday, we went to the park for a picnic and ended up staying there most of the day. We even had a casual game of Ultimate Frisbee, which was fun for the adults, but not so much fun for Emily. She couldn't understand why Dad kept running away and yelling out and sometimes diving to the ground. Bryce kept having to tell Emily he was happy and that he was playing a game. I think she started to enjoy it by the end. Emily and Bryce rode the bike from home to get to the picnic on her new bike seat. She sits comfortable on the bike's top tube and enjoys seeing everything. Emily is a bit of a daredevil though and sometimes changes the gears without Bryce or I noticing until she does it, or she takes her hands off the handlebars and just balances. Bryce is thrilled. Cameron and Charli

Easter picnic in the park

Sam and the kids

Bryce and his protege

Emily is 2

On the eve of turning two Emily launched into her biggest tantrum yet, started because the towel after the bath didn't have a hood in the middle for her to wear. Maybe there is something in this "terrible two" thing!


Backing up for "big blow".

Then into yoghurt cake!


Awesome.

The marble game

This post is primarily for Nathan and Kirstina, and all the other engineer type folks.

The marble game, rapidly becoming an Emily favourite. Candace and her brothers spent many hours in their youth out building each other's structures. Candace was recently visiting a teaching friend and spied the game, with one thing leading to another the game was loaned to us.

Early attempts were small, then up to eye level.

Then the boys got involved.

I can't wait too see the structure that would result when Nathan and Kirstina's little boy Zac gets a set like this to "play" with.

Twilight train rides

The end of day light savings always brings the realisation that winter is on it's way, however that also means that great night mountain biking is also on it's way, bonus.

The good folk that run the local Kapiti kids trains put on a twilight session for the end of daylight savings, so off we went. Pajama's on and off to the trains. This is one excited little girl clutching her train ticket.

Good times, and still holding the train ticket.