A busy Sunday

Weekend's have become a little bit like Groundhog Day recently with the winter weather - so we thought bugger it, we'll head out for the day and brave the elements.  We threw the kids in the car and went out on a Sunday family adventure! We started the morning off with fluffie's and scones in Ponsonby, then headed over to the Auckland Museum.  The weather was torrential and we got absolutely soaked going in and out of the Museum (there were no parks near the entrance and our very small umbrella got ripped to shreds in the howling winds!) - but the kids thought it was hilarious running in the rain and they both really enjoyed  the Museum too - it's an awesome place for families and to top it off..it's free! 

We then braved the weather some more and drove south to Sylvia Park for lunch.  After a quick bite we jumped back in the car and  headed over to Aunty Nicky's place! - the kids haven't seen her for a while and they were super excited when we got there.

Normally Max has an afternoon sleep for a couple of hours, but today we thought if he was tired he would crash out in the car travelling between locations - but the little trooper managed to stay awake all day so we topped off the Sunday outing with a sneaky trip on the way home to the local pub for hot chips and beer.  All and all a pretty sweet day and the kids loved it too!

(the weather was so bad I couldn't take a photo from the front...I had to steal this off the Museum website!)

One of Max's favourite animals...a 'Wellafant!'

They even have a food section in there too...Sophie of course ran straight towards the lollie display..and then pretended to eat them all up! 

We forgot the push-chair - So I ended up carrying Max most of the time, otherwise we would have lost him - he was off running everywhere! 

The very scary big bad wolf!

This display was full of around 200 big fat LIVE cockroaches - Soph and Max were transfixed on it for ages 

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The nature section is great - you can pull out different draws and look at different insects/birds/butterflies 

the spider draw was their favourite 

Even Polar beers too! 

Max was a bit dubious about this one 

Having fun! 

Now that's a big Penguin! 

Now lets go to Aunty Nicky's place!

Sweet as!

Lunch at Sylvia Park - Subway! 

Mummy and Sophie on one side... 

Daddy and Max on the other... 

 Topping off a great day with a cold beer at the pub! (the kids only had a couple each though..)

ps. Another post below too if you missed it

Kids at School

new video here!

Ice-Cream at McDee's!

 

 

 

Ingrid worked late Friday night, so I took the kids to McDee's for dinner. They thought all their Christmas's had come at once...video here

Leo and the Kids

Leo, Sophie and Max hanging out together.

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Sophie and Max have been playing with Leo from next door loads lately. Leo's parents (Maddy and Sione) are really great, they've taken Sophie on a few half-day trips and she spent most of yesterday tripping around Auckland with them.  This morning we returned the favour and took Leo and the kids to the park to feed the ducks and have a play all morning, and when we got home Ingrid did some baking and got the kids to help out.

Mum popped up last weekend to look after the kids which was great and Ingrid and I went out to friends  40th.  Ingrid got shitfaced. 

Sophie is really enjoying school, there's around 12 kids in her class now which is better than the 3 only, when she first started.  Ingrid and I are still not entirely sure what is happening with Soph in regards to her starting level.  The school may be regarded as one of the best primary schools around - but their communication with parents is appalling.  At this stage, Sophie is starting the year at 'year zero' which is OK, but both her mates who are only 1 day older than her, automatically got put into 'Year 1' because of their birthday's and cut off dates.  We've been told that they will assessing all new entries at some stage to determine if they go into next year as Year 1 or Year 2 - but when and how are still questions we're asking.  In saying all that, Sophie does genuinely love the place and looks forward to going everyday.

Max is growing bloody fast - he can string a stack of words together now and is VERY independent.  We had to keep him home last week for a couple of days, there's a flu going around and he got it along with gunky eyes which is a big no no at daycare.  

Anyhow, Max is due to wake up soon and then we're off on our Sunday afternoon ritual to the local pub with the kids...classy.

Max and his new PJ's

Sophie enjoying Nana and Aunty Nicky time

A very pissed Brad and Dr John (The Rock's on-air Doctor) - I took him out for his annual thank-you lunch/dinner.  Wasn't flash the next day. 

Sophie and Leo

Cheeky.

Brad

Couple of Video's below

"Happy Birthday To You"


Max the DareDevil


Soph Rides the Bike

Sophies Birthday in photos

Happy 5th Birthday Sophie - Mummy and Daddy love you so much xx

The awesome cake that Ingrid spent 5 nights making

Birthday morning...Max watching Sophie's excitement

So many presents!

On Saturday we had the party at Ivy Cottage. It was a Princess and fairy themed party venue...very cool too

and then a party the next day - this time a cool Bike party - Just as well Sophie got a new bike for her birthday then aye!

Daddy and Max at the park.

Daddy teaches Max cool tricks at the park

You should have seen him jump from this one!