Well this happened…

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The shirt tucking has a name – the “French Tuck”, apparently it is a thing, and Luca has embraced it 🙂

He started Yr 10 today! Hard to believe, so grown up looking! He has a very full year ahead and came home after the first day tired but happy, stating “it was pretty good”, which is high praise indeed from a 14 year old boy on his first day back at high school 🙂 Although apparently it was so hot today that he was sticking to the chairs!

He knows the ropes now and much more comfortable with the school processes. If you look at the difference in photos between this year and last, it is written all over him how much more confident he is.

The summer school holiday went by in flash as usual! We have been super busy which is my excuse for not blogging for over a month! Very slack!

This is the most stunning summer we have had since living here. So hot and very little rain, too little really!!! The North Island on the other hand are having their worst in memory, the flooding there has been unprecedented and devastating, it will take years to repair if at all. It is still raining there after days and days of it…

Here on the other hand I have had to be vigilant at watering. The garden and fruit trees are producing high yields because of the constant warmth…

The wildflowers this year are putting on a stunning long lasting display..

Building has been in high speed mode, we are wanting to get the main builds done before winter. Rich has done an amazing job with the wash house/front entrance area. It will actually be a bedroom for a while, before being converted into its long term use..
Luca has really helped out a lot these holidays, he is a dab hand at staining now!

The front door will be one of the last things to go in, but we are now all ready for it 🙂

Even though most of the last month was dedicated to the build, we did find time to do other fun things. The beaches are the fullest we have seen them, which most will laugh at, because in comparison to most beaches elsewhere in the world they are empty, but for here they are packed 🙂

We took a trip to the dump ,(a great place to forage!), and found what we were looking for and also what we weren’t! The boys always find something else that HAS to come home, in this case some ground hockey sticks…
To be fair those hockey sticks have been used all summer for all sorts of things and not usually what they were intended for 🙂

The Go-cart has been getting lots of use too, by Luca, his friends and cousins. This if you remember was a thrift shop find 3 years ago ,each summer it comes out and used most days by someone..

Though very dramtaic looking it is all part of the game. Pica has just as much fun as the kids do!

This two always sleep well after busy days, jammed in together in the little bed. They are both looking forward to a bigger bed to share…..

It is a little more squished than it used to be 🙂

I came home the other night to an excavation site. About 3 years ago the kids buried a time capsule and decided it was time to dig it up. Of course they forgot the exact spot, but knew the general area so started digging….

Happy boys 🙂

We have been doing lots of shorter hikes , no long ones this year yet, we are planning one later in the year once the build done. We felt we really had to commit to it this year, the extension should be done by end of April, pictures of that to come. It is a messy process….

Here is one of our recent hikes to Fraser’s Gully. We almost lost Pica down a river culvert as she dove for rocks. It was a close call that did not seem to bother her at all, but Luca still having nightmares about it !

The Xmas jigsaw puzzle was finally finished….

and Luca has started to do some molding. Molding is tricky and time consuming, here he is building a dinosaur.

Work has been unusually busy for a January, we are opening more clinics as the need keeps rising, it is hard to keep up! I pulled this little critter out of someones ear recently. He had made himself right at home and was causing quite an issue for the person attached to the ear!

I did get 2 weeks off over the Xmas period and it was WONDERFUL, despite all we had on I did find some time for reading with my morning coffee – absolute bliss….

It is Waitangi weekend and a long one. We are heading off camping. Ted fractured his foot just as school ended and has been in a cast all summer. Finally it has been removed, we have delayed this camping trip until he can join us, so off we go…..