Giraffe and Christiaan kicks ass in the Bike-a-thon

Hi there all,

Bike-a-thon

On Sunday last week Christiaan's kindy held a bike-a-thon in order to help raise money for a new sprinkler system. Inge was involved in organising it as well, as she is now part of the committee for the kindy, and spent the night before chopping onions, and the day brewing and selling coffee. Well, really it was just a couple of hours....

Christiaan had collected sponsorship pledges for up to 20 laps of the course... He was a legend! He told us beforehand that he would be the fastest.. "as fast as a rocket" were the exact words I believe. Well, he wasn't far off, he powered around 22 laps before a break was called for an iceblock. The only obstacles were a very full course full of cyclists of varying speeds and abilities with the occcasional pileup causing tears and bruised knees. Christiaan wisely chose a wide line to avoid most of the trouble and made up for the extra metres he had to cycle by cycling with great dedication.

After the break, despite already having completed his 20 laps he climbed back on for some more laps just to show everyone how it was done. So... well done Christiaan!

To top things off, Christiaan won the raffle at the end, his prize being a new scooter. So, he is now convinced that he was the fastest cyclist and won the prize for being first, although we tried to explain that he is basically lucky.

Baby Giraffe

A few weeks ago a baby giraffe was born at Auckland zoo, and after two weeks of seclusion he came out last week for the first time with his mama. Since we are 'Friends of the Zoo' (in other words we have a subscription) we were invited to a before hours session with the little fella. So, last Saturday we were off early to the zoo, and with only a few hundred other people watched as Jelani took his first steps in the large enclosure. As you would expect he was a little shy at first, but quickly gained in confidence until he was frolicking around like a little lamb. Quite cool to watch, but the boys lost interest after 5 or 10 minutes and we wandered around the zoo for a while - always something to see.

That's all for now... weekend at the moment and while the weather is a little colder, it is still shorts and t-shirt weather for a while and we are looking to make the most of it today by heading for the beach.

Things to do / Wat je zoal doet in NZ

Tja, nu het nieuwe schooljaar weer helemaal van start is, is ook playball weer begonnen. Dankzij een mooie fotosessie van Jolyon mag Christiaan het eerste trimester zelfs gratis meedoen! Goed he? Er zijn heel veel kindjes van zijn kindy, dus dat is extra leuk.
The new school year started and so did playball. Christiaan is enjoying it again and to make it even better, he has a free term because of the pictures jolyon took last term!

Liam is begonnen met play gym, dus gymnastiek en al bij de eerste keer deed hij eigenlijk alles en hij is heel enthousiast, echt heel leuk om te zien! Dit is elke maandagochtend, dus gaat het ook eens alleen om hem, dat is ook wel goed voor hem denken wij.
Liam started play gym, which he really likes. The very first session he did pretty much everything, he is super keen! Very cool. It is on Mondaymorning when Christiaan is at kindy, so it is really all about him. Below he walks like a bear (in the yellow tee), but his favorite is the big trampoline!

Hier is hij een beer :-) (in geel t-shirt), maar het liefst gaat hij op de grote trampoline!


Christiaan had een excursie met de kindy naar het Maritiem museum. Hij wilde eigenlijk niet gaan, want hij was bezorgd dat er piraten zouden zijn. Maar na uitleg van de juf wilde hij uiteindelijk toch, als mamma tenminste mee ging als begeleider. Het was erg leuk en er was veel te zien. Bovendien was er een rondleiding door Sally Seabreeze die vertelde hoe het was om 500 jaar geleden met de boot naar Nieuw-Zeeland te reizen. Erg leuk. De kinderen luisterden ademloos en mochten matrozen zijn...Ajaaj kapitein!
Christiaan had an excursion to the Maritime museum with his kindy. Although he was very apprehensive beforehand and mum had to come, he truly enjoyed it, especially the miniatures and the tour by Sally Seabreeze about travelling to NZ 500 years ago!




Omdat Liam steeds zijn haar in zijn ogen had gingen we diezelfde dag ook naar de kapper. Nu hier 'om de hoek' op Benson road waar ze een DVD-spelertje haddden waardoor de kids lekker stil zaten. Hier de before en after foto's van Liam:


The whole family had a haircut, but here are just the before and after pictures for Liam

En zondag gingen we naar oom Olaf waar de kindjes lekker met hun neef en nichtjes speelden. De drie kleintjes (Marieken, Christiaan en Liam) en de pappa's gingen op de 'waterglijbaan' en hadden heel veel lol! - zie video's hieronder-
On Sunday we went to Olaf's place and the little ones and the dads went on the waterslide and had heaps of fun! see the video's below!

Tot gauw! / See you soon!