Well we are on the other side of the world now, so wouldn't everything be upside down?!
Happy Easter everyone (well belated wishes anyway!) - we hope you gorged yourself sick on those yummy eggs and had some beautiful times on the long weekend.
Over the last few months it's been rare for us as a 3 to just have time together as a family, I mean we are together but there is always so much else that needs doing. With Christmas, the build to to the move, the actual move and then getting ready for my parents coming (and going *tears*) its all just been non stop.
Despite Michael actually working on Easter Monday we had a lovely fun filled 3 days, and the weather has been absolutely brilliant - sorry to our family and friends in the UK who are freezing in minus 4 tonight!
Friday was a fantastic day, we were invited to brunch at our gorgeous friends house - Dawn and Darren. We met Dawn and Darren last year through our blog as they were expats from the US and we clicked straight away. They have a lovely place in the centre of the city with beautiful views over the magical rooftops of Wellington. We were treated to some famous (well maybe not famous but Dawn went on about them a lot) chocolate chip waffles in the shape of penguins - they were soooo cute!!
We had a lovely morning with them, chilling out and getting to know each other better. It always amazes me how you meet people in life, and how easily a connection can be made. Saturday was a cruisy day with us literally having fun together, just the 3 of us at home, pottering round, playing games, laughing, and appreciating all we have. Even now it hits me to think about the huge move we made, and how magically successful we have been. It's the strangest wonderful, most confusing feeling ever!
Sunday we decided to head out for a walk somewhere new. Our most favourite thing to do is to grab the map and just see what is in the area and then head for it, we chose a place called Birchville Dam to check out another piece of NZ history. Starting with an NZ tradition - a wire bridge, the walk was gorgeous, it was completely awesome to walk through the Akatarawa Forest and see some amazing native bush, tree life and some cute little waterfalls.
The dam itself maginificent, slow filtering water made it the most serene place. Being able to stand at the bottom looking up at it's amazing face was breath taking.Summer still rolls on here with the sounds of the cicadas in the trees. This walk was surrounded by the deafening sound of these noisy little creatures:
It was nice to get back to doing what we liked best and having walks as a family, even if the only highlight for Bethany was seeing a dead Kereru!
Today was Easter Party day, it was nominated that our house would be the venue this year for the children's Easter party. Since moving away from the city I still drive down every Tuesday and meet up with the girls as usual, easy for me with Bethany being at morning Kindy, but it's not easy for those in the city who pick up kids from school at 3pm - too much of a trek after school really. So when it's holiday time they come here.
I was actually really excited by the fact I was going to host a party so over the last few weeks we have have been making decorations, planning party games and making individual baskets for each child. As there would be 8 children it was a long task, however it all turned out fantastic.
Jo, Joan, Susan and Jenny arrived and we were all ready to go, the kids literally raring to go, racing backwards and forwards, the excitement was fantastic! I wrapped the baskets in a different colours so the children knew to head out to the garden and look for their colour parcels. It worked a treat with each child having their own individual adventure. They revelled in the fact they had 'heaps' of eggs and the smaller ones mumbled they must have been good for the Easter Bunny to bring them so many. It was cute.
Afterwards it was a game of pin the tail on the bunny which was hilariously funny. Sammy won this game and so got to give the prize, a chocolate bunny, to her mummy as it was the 'yummy mummy' game! 
One more game to go and it was guess the amount of sweets in the jar, winner takes all. With all the guesses written down we revealed the amount (which was in a sealed envelope courtesy of Michael) - the youngest member of the group at 2 and a bit years old won!!
So the rest of the afternoon was filled with laughter, children playing contently and my guests drinking wine.
Job well done. Phew...time for some chocolate...
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