Teddy Bear's Picnic

Some of you might recall Oliver's first teddy bear's picnic . It was held when he was only 9months old. I cannot believe the whole one year + has gone past already, time flies!

This time there weren't as many families who could attend, but Oliver certainly enjoyed the whole experience. The school 6th formers organised a big bus ride in the car park and lovely playtime for the little ones. Matthew could come along too which made it more special for Oliver : )

Here is Oliver and Matthew getting on the bus.



Woooow this is cool!



They were welcomed by lots and lots of bubbles!!



The two family holidays we had in the last two months or so made Oliver very socially confident and wanting to be with anybody! He was very comfortable around the students.







Everyone had a lovely time but it was time to go back on the bus again. We got balloons!!



Emma and Oliver enjoying the view.



And these gorgeous teddy bear biscuits.

One more month till the big day

Oliver turned 23months today, which means only one more month till his 2nd birthday!

We had fun taking some photos with his gollywog this afternoon.

Playtime

Oliver got very excited when Lucas and Linnea came around to play with him after school. When I told him they are coming over he thought Gus was coming - I guess LuCAS and Gus sounds similar?

The three of them played nicely together with Oliver's new highway toy. It was funny to see three of them bossing the others around at the same time, including Oliver!! He has been with older kids for the last month and a half. He is learning how to be strong!



He was very happy to have someone to play with.
We really loved our holiday but it is nice to be home and enjoy the normal everyday life.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter everyone!

I baked some hot cross buns this morning.
Last year I made the crosses too runny so I tried to make them thicker but I think I made them too thick :(
Oh well they tasted good and we enjoyed our family Easter Lunch.



Chick---!!

Harbour cruise and Motuihe Island

The last day of our NZ holiday was out at sea. We took a harbour cruise to Devonport, Rangitoto Island then to Motuihe Island where we spent a few hours by the beach. It was again such a beautiful day and the temperature was high enough for some of us to go into the water!







Rangitoto island (a little bit hazy)



Oscar and Saskia



Merryn and Dennis

The island is a recreation reserve controlled by the Department of Conservation (DOC). They were doing a drive around when we got to the island. We found this guy swimming very close to the shore. Apparently they are hiding from orcas which are a kind of dolphin. We didn't see any orcas this time but how cool would that be to see these sea creatures in the wild!





Oliver loved the beach - yes! he no longer complains about sand on his feet!





Look at the smile on his face!



Our lunch spot.





Time for us to go back to the city.



It was just what we needed to finish up our holiday. We had so much fun and I am truly in love with this Motuihe island, very close to Auckland but just perfect place for a day out. You are allowed to camp on the island too, we certainly plan to camp there on our next holiday!

Superhero birthday party

Oliver's cousin Devon turned 4 while we were in NZ. Kylie organised a fantastic party for him and his cuzzys and cuzzy cuzzys (Oscar and Gus's cousins Frida and Teo now live in Auckland too).

Kylie is a great knitter and to make the birthday party extra special she knitted each kid a wooly mask! So amazing!
The Fenwick boys have a great outdoor play area. They have a tree house, a real sailing boat, sand pit and a trampoline. The kids had a ball!















A Villian showed up! The Superhero's did a great job getting her.





Finally got her tied up on the chair.



Time for birthday cake and exciting presents.

Kylie "What colour do you think your birthday cake will be Devon?"
Devon "Hmmmm Blue? "
Everyone "No its a rainbow cake!!"



Happy Birthday Devon.







The Fenwick Roses live in Greenhithe, where there is lots of new development. They took us to this new park in one of the developments near their place to finish off a great birthday party.

This park was designed and developed by local artists. They use rusted metal as a part of the design. They are all NZ native seeds and each piece had a description of what they are. Some are climbing frames and some are rotating chairs etc.







Our very brave son.



He had so much fun on the swing too, Devon looked after Oliver so well.



Devon, Oliver and Rory.

Oliver loved wearing the wooly hat all day! It's a shame we cannot keep them on in Brunei but I am sure we will get lots of use out of it. Thank you Kylie for a great day.

Cuzzy time

All the kids loved the cuzzy time. Especially Oliver!

Big day out

The last week of our NZ stay was filled with fun activities, we visited the Auckland Zoo on a perfect day! (The previous day was so stormy and wet...)
I really like Auckland Zoo it is not big but a good size for a day out and the best thing is the animals are kept in very good conditions. They always look happy and active.

Oliver enjoyed the Primates Trail section - where you can find all sorts of different monkeys.

Our friend from Borneo was there too.





Look over there daddy! More monkeys!





This monkey (called Siamang) was making very loud noises using his "gular sac" , which is a throat pouch. We could hear him/her from miles away! Oliver didn't like it at all tho, he was too noisy.



Even having all these exciting animals Oliver's favourite was chasing birds!





Brenda was a victim of - chase the birds with me!



He even chased the Pukekos!



So much fun!

We saw this elephant walking around the Zoo. How cool!!



The kids had a ball in the Zoo. But it wasn't the end of the fun day, from the zoo we drove to Piha which is a black sand (lots of iron in the sand) beach on the West Coast. Merryn had arranged a professional photo shoot of the kids and family. We will see the photos in a months time but here are some photos I took.



Lion Rock



Someone wasn't too happy...



The stick did a trick! He cheered up and ran around with Gus, laughing so much!



Found a starfish!

We were all exhausted after a big day out but all of us had a fab time. NZ has so much to offer!