February 15, 2010
Weekend activities
Ruairi had a trip to Clip N Climb with his friend Cara from kindy (including deciding he wanted to jump the Leap of Faith!), and we had to run to keep up with the kids on their bikes on a "stroll" round Hansen park!
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Posted by conor at 8:11 AM
January 29, 2010
Woolshed Creek Tramp
The kids first "proper" overnight tramp to Woolshed Creek Hut on the Mt. Somers Sub-alpine walkway in south Canterbury. We brought along a couple of extra Sherpas who seemed to enjoy the experience too. Had a little bit of everything, sun, wind, cloud, including a reminder of a) how wet the inside of a cloud is, and b) how quickly the weather can change in the mountains. 5 kms each way, plus 400m of ascent, and the kids did brilliantly, especially Ruairi whose legs are somewhat shorter than everybody else's.
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Posted by conor at 9:41 AM
January 12, 2010
The kids
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Posted by conor at 12:09 PM
December 22, 2009
Christmas excess!
This is from Christmas 2005, but it’s a priceless photo! Who would have thought a 9 month old could look so stuffed…
Posted by conor at 9:32 AM
October 27, 2009
Wacky Hair Day
| Evie’s school had Wacky Hair Day last week as a fundraising effort in response to the recent tsunami in Samoa. She won some comedy glasses for her efforts! |  | |
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Posted by conor at 1:17 PM
October 19, 2009
Evie enjoying a quiet read
Incidentally the book she is reading is titled “Evie the Mist Fairy”! A pink, sparkly book about fairies… what more could you ask for?
Posted by conor at 9:27 PM
October 2, 2009
“Spring”-y Sunshine
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Posted by conor at 9:13 PM
September 6, 2009
Photography overload!
Last minute decision to head to “Daffodil Day” at Otahuna House, Tai Tapu to check out the gardens there, and basically enjoy some beautiful spring sunshine.
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Posted by conor at 10:17 PM
August 24, 2009
Nature red in tooth and claw
Who'd have thought a "meer" meerkat would have been literally the most bloodthirsty looking animal we'd have seen at Orana Park after our bike ride at McLeans Island?
Posted by conor at 1:56 PM
On yer bike
We all had a blast at the McLean's Island Reserve mountain-bike track. The track is in excellent condition, well graded & maintained, dry with some excellent berms on the corners.
Posted by conor at 10:29 AM
August 2, 2009
Evie's 6th birthday at Clip 'n' Climb (again)
Lots of fun, she did the Leap of Faith again after a bit of persuasion. Plenty of reasonably healthy party food.
Posted by conor at 7:37 PM
August 1, 2009
Evie’s new bike
Bit of a stretch to the ground, but so far so good...
Posted by conor at 9:43 PM
July 20, 2009
First ski lesson for Evie
Evie and I took an exploratory trip up to Porters ski field yesterday to check it out and for Evie to have a ski lesson and see what she thought. She got a bit frustrated with her skis not doing what they were told a couple of times, and there was a very biting wind blowing but, all in all, a very successful first day, starting at 6.30am with "Dad, Dad, wake up, it's time to go, and I'm already in my ski clothes..."
Posted by conor at 9:54 AM
April 14, 2009
Tramping at Montgomery Reserve
Had a great day tramp on Easter Monday at Montgomery Reserve, near Hilltop on Banks Peninsula. It could be considered the kids first “proper” tramp with their own rucksacks, some challenging scrambling for little legs up a rocky path, and the satisfaction of an obvious summit with great views over Akaroa Harbour and Banks Peninsula. No pleas to get carried, hearty appetites at the top, and plenty of tiredness by the end of the day!
Posted by conor at 4:41 PM
March 23, 2009
Ruairi revisited
In celebration of the little man's fourth birthday, here's one I've revisited in Lightroom from way back when he was only two.
Posted by conor at 7:15 PM
Ruairi’s 4th birthday
Ruairi's 4th birthday coincided with the Opawa/St. Martins Kindy annual “Wheelathonâ€. Ruairi had received a lovely new bike from his Auntie Boo only the day before, and after having got so much practice on his old walking bike, he made the transition from walking to pedalling in only a day! He still needs a little help starting off, but he’s got the basics, and we’re very glad we made the decision to not even bother with the training wheels.
Posted by conor at 9:43 AM
September 8, 2008
Couple of photos of Ruairi sleeping at Eastfield
Posted by conor at 2:09 PM
July 30, 2008
Evie's 5th Birthday
Evie had her 5th birthday party at Clip 'n' Climb again, and, if Asher was actually Spiderman, Evie was definitely climbing like Spiderwoman!
Posted by conor at 5:39 PM
July 17, 2008
"I don't like beef"
Vegetarians should read further at their own risk...Ruairi: I don't like beef.
Mum: It's not beef, it's dead cow.
Ruairi: Oh, that's alright then. [cue sound of contented eating]
(Note to new readers: we acquired a quarter of an organic cow recently which is living in our freezer and making a regular appearance in small quantities)
Posted by conor at 1:27 PM
July 4, 2008
Nearly starting school!
Evie's going to be starting school in September after we get back from our trip to Ireland/Scotland. She got her school uniform a couple of weeks ago, and is very excited about it. She had a sample morning at school, where she met the other 5 children who are also starting around the same time in the same class (5 of them including Evie are from the same kindy, so she's among friends), and met her teacher, Ms Richardson. Evie can't wait to start school proper!
Posted by conor at 1:49 PM
May 19, 2008
Evie
Had a relaxing wander down to the Boulder Bay baches with the Keohane family where I snapped this photo of Evie having a snack.
Posted by conor at 2:29 PM
April 7, 2008
Late (great!) summer holiday
This year's holiday (well, summer holiday, since we've already got a holiday to the UK in August lined up too), was a bit of a tour round the South Island culminating in the Warbirds over Wanaka airshow at Easter. We started off by heading up to Golden Bay for nearly a week at Ligar Bay (same bay as last summer), which was great, and got us in a relaxed mood for the rest of the holiday. Then we spent a week camping down the West Coast, staying at Westport and Fox Glacier. Great weather for the Coast, and I was pleased to be able to get down to Lake Matheson to get some nice photos of Aoraki & Tasman reflected in the still waters of the lake - a beautiful spot. Then it was on through Haast Pass to Lake Hawea near Wanaka where we had rented a large house on the waterfront for 10 days. Among other things, Ildica & I had a great overnight in Brewster Hut, high above Haast Pass, with some beautiful weather, and a scramble up to the top of 2154m high Mt. Armstrong, where we had great views north to Aoraki, and south to Mt. Aspiring.
Posted by conor at 4:00 PM
January 21, 2008
Revisiting older photographs
Here's a photo from 2007 I've just revisited with Photoshop, and I'm quite pleased with the result. It's one of my favourite photos of Ruairi. This was taken in a cottage at Lake Heron only a couple of months after his second birthday.
