My birthday

Was s'posed to post these last month but never got to it. Had family dinner at Sura's with the Murphy's & Dominique's children. Birthday cake was home baked by Robert - thanks! The next evening, Mervin and I had dinner at an Italian restaurant in Ponsonby, Pregos.

Year 2 Athletics

Many of you may not know this, but Mervin was a top sprinter in his school days (hard to tell now I know). Well at least the genes got passed on to one of the children. We saw it today at Erica's Athletics Day. All the children in the school had to participate in all 4 events - sprints, throws, high jump, long jump. Erica got gold in the sprints, throws and high jump making her the Overall 7 year old girls champion. We knew she had a very good chance at sprints as she won that last year as well but the win for the throws and high jump was a surprise.

The sprints finals was very exciting as you can see in the video. It was a very close fight!

Sprint finals.....

Prize Giving...

Baseball season

Baseball season has begun... which for Mervin and I mean no more sleep ins on Saturday mornings. We have to be at the games by 1/2 past 8! It's fun watching the kids though. Tim is in the Blue Jays (the red shirt is the Diamond Blacks Club shirt) Under 13s team and Erica's in the Blue Jays T-ball team.

The video shows Tim batting. Looks easy? Not quite. In this age group, you have to wait a while before someone hits the ball and there is action to cheer about! Otherwise you pretty much just sit there and encourage them to keep trying. We had to do that all of last year!!!
We were thrilled today when he got it at first strike! Way to go Tim!

Winter 2009

Today the kids finish Term 2 of the school year. Tim is in Year 6 which is his final year at Our Lady Star of the Sea Primary School. Next year, he moves on to Sancta Maria College for Intermediate School. Erica is in Year 2.

I think we have been through the worst of winter. We had some really cold spells these past weeks - a few days of a low of 2 degrees, which was even lower than the temperatures that were being reported for the South Island. Sunny winter days however, are really nice and today we had one of those. It was actually warm and after school, the kids and I drove to the beach to soak in the sunshine which we miss so much. I thanked God to see the kids so happy and contented. Erica picked up a branch and was playing with it in the water and jumping over a little stream that had meandered its way in from the sea onto the beach. She was happy, carefree and free as a lark.

Tim had brought along his soccer & rugby balls and was trying out his new soccer boots which we bought him last weekend. It's his first pair of soccer boots and it was "awesome" he said. When he was done kicking the ball around and showing me some of the stunts he had learnt, he came to join us by the water.

I sat on the beach with my newspaper enjoying the peace and quiet of the afternoon. It was so nice not to have some urgent piece of work on my mind for a change. It was even nicer to watch my two children laughing and having a good time together, which is not always the case. PEACE is what I often pray for and today, I felt PEACE.

The Joy of Motherhood

I had my best my Mother's Day this year. It's so nice to have kids who are finally old enough to understand the significance of the day and make it extra special. Erica had planned a secret "to do list" for her father and brother. It was hilarious. She must have said "I love you" about 10 times to me during the day. I was told I must just "do nothing and relax" all day long. She wouldn't even let me carry the shopping bags. At 8.30pm, just about her bedtime, she was a bit upset and when I asked why, she said she still had something else she wanted to do. I was told to lie down and she and Tim gave me a leg and body massage. It was simply wonderful. Thank you God for such wonderful children and a fantastic husband!

Malacca/ KL 2008

As far as I can remember, there's always a wedding to attend in Malacca during the Christmas season. It was no exception this year. We were in Malacca for one night to attend the wedding of Mervin's cousin then proceeded to KL. Alison & Zac generously hosted us for 3 nights at their new home in USJ. Zac was determined to feed us 5 meals a day but we were of course more interested in shopping. On our last night there, Alison arranged for Santa to visit during our dinner at Elena's house. The kids were looking forward to it but were rather suspicious of Santa. Poor Santa was prodded and poked and eventually stripped.... confirming that it was actually Uncle Jonathan under that suit. We had a fabulous time. Wonderful company!

I told you it was Uncle Jonathan!

The next generation - Mitchell, Ariel, Arlene, Raphael, Tim & Erica

Anne, Mitchell & Alison

Erica and Uncle Zac

Apparently that's how you keep your car cool - KL style

We visited Aunty Jeannie in Malacca

Singapore 2008 - Sentosa with the Stewarts

We spent the day with Andre, Hui Ping and their children, Julian, Megan and my god-daughter Nadine. Tim & Erica enjoyed swimming in the warm sea as it's always too cold to swim in the sea in Auckland, even when the sun is real hot in summer. Mervin and Andre went looking for fish but found a pair of mating crayfish instead.