The Lockdown Lowdown II

Keeping busy during Coronavirus

Life's full of surprises. Sometimes they're good surprises, like when you wake up on Christmas morning and race out to the tree to see whether Santa's been. But sometimes they're not so good surprises, like suddenly going into lockdown again.

We had to go through this all last year - twice! William and I shared a bedroom while Mum and Dad turned William's room into an office. It was fun for a while, but like all not so good surprises, you very soon want things to go back to normal.

But unfortunately, Coronavirus is back and that means we're back in lockdown. No shared bedrooms this time, but it does mean a repeat of doing schoolwork online and trying to keep things fun.

So here's some creative examples of how we've been keeping busy. One of William's school tasks was turning rubbish from around the house into something cool, and you can see what we came up with on the left above - a cool robot!

Because it's still winter, the weather hasn't been that great, and we can't always go outside to play. So Mum and Dad turned our lounge into an awesome fort, with a couch, chairs and tons of blankets turned into the walls of our mighty fortress. Well, it was mighty on the outside and soft and warm on the inside, after we moved in a bunch of our cuddly toys as well.

William and me are always up for a baking challenge. A lot of the time "baking" actually means "doing one small thing and then hanging around to lick the bowl and mixer". But William did seem to be helping Mum out with making some shortbread biscuits above - and I was right there afterwards to help eat them.

Other school activities had us going outside for some creative activities, like the one on the right above where Mum and William combined a bunch of leaves from the garden to make a shape. Can you guess what it is?

These Are a Few of Our Favourite Things

Toys, Books and Shows

If you asked me today if I wanted to watch a cartoon for babies, or read a book with four words per page, or play with cuddly toys, I'd say "No, I've moved on from those now!" Actually that's not quite true, because I do still love my cuddly toys, but you get what I mean.

I'm growing up so fast that the things I liked a few months ago are too little for me now. And since it's been a whole couple of years since I last recorded what my current favourite things are, I thought it was time to do it again. But this time with a difference - we'd record William's too.

So watch the video for a summary of mine and William's favourite things to play with, read and watch. But because you can't see our favourite shows, we've drawn pictures for each of them above. Mine are a couple of oddly-shaped characters from Pokemon. William's is the mean kid Horrid Henry (he copied it from a picture, but it's not a bad job).

Dad thinks we should also do a list of our least-favourite things, like tidying my room for me and stopping incessant chattering for William. But he's just being silly. We're far too busy reading, watching and playing to waste time making a nonsense list like that.

Last Days of Daycare

William's Learning Tree Journey

It seems hard to remember now that I'm a big schoolboy, but back 4 years ago I was still at daycare. And not only that - 4 years ago little William joined me there, when he was just a 1 year-old. Now it's the year 2021 and he's joined me again - this time at school. But we can't start our journey through school without a quick look back at where he's been at Learning Tree.

When he arrived he was a fresh-faced little baby, like in this photo, which was taken in his second week at daycare. It sure looks like he was enjoying himself, with those chubby cheeks and happy smile.

When he was younger, William loved to clean up. Not just his own mess either, he'd always be the first to help out with tidying and cleaning up a mess. When we were out somewhere and he saw a vaccum cleaner or a broom, he'd immediately point at it and grab it, if he could. That's how much he loved cleaning.

So it's no surprise the teachers at Learning Tree noticed this too, and took these photos of him in action. Looks he's doing a pretty thorough job too. Hopefully that towel isn't the one they dry their hands on after washing them.

Other things William enjoyed at daycare were getting creative and playing with his best friend Noah. You can see both these things in the photo below. Hope that's paint he's smearing around.

Over four years at daycare William's enjoyed quite a few Christmases too, and here he is sending a special message of holiday cheer to Santa, in expectation of a big pile of presents to open on the 25th.

One of William's favourite places at daycare is the sandpit. There are so many stories from his teachers of William making volcanoes, gardens and all sorts of things in there. Several times Dad's gone to pick him up at the end of the day, only to find him sitting in the sandpit with some of his friends pouring sand onto him. Dad says it makes his car look like a beach by the time they get home.

William's loved his four years at daycare, but as his 5th birthday got closer it was time to say goodbye to his friends and his teachers. On his last day he had a graduation like mine, where a teacher showed everyone through his portfolio, they sang happy birthday and ate the dinosaur cake Mum made. Not that I was invited - I was too busy at school.

Then, on William's actual birthday, he celebrated turning five by going on his first day of school. A whole new journey is just beginning - and luckily for him, I'll be there to help him along the way, just like last time.

Boating in the Bay of Islands

Family Holiday to Paihia

The last time we planned to go on a family holiday, the whole country suddenly had to go into another lockdown - which meant no travelling for anyone. So as the days got closer and closer to when we were planning to go for the second time, we were worried that someone out there would get Coronavirus and we'd need to cancel again.

But luckily it didn't happen and on a Friday morning when I should have been at school, instead we were packing up the car and driving north to Paihia in the Bay of Islands.

The drive took a long time, but to break the journey up we visited some cool glowworm caves on the way up. We each got given lanterns to hold as we walked through these cold, drippy rock tunnels. The guide told us that the glowworm spit (which they use to catch insects to eat) would also poison and kill people. That made me pay a bit more attention to where I was touching.

We reached Paihia later in the day and met up with our holiday companions: Grandma and Grandad. The weather forecast wasn't great, but so far so good... until the next morning. We'd planned to take a short boat trip across to Russell. It's such a short ride you can even see the town from where we were staying on the other side!

You can see me in the picture above just after we reached Russell. Luckily they didn't leave me stuck there, because that was the last bit of clear skies we had before it started pouring down with rain. It kept raining all the way through the day, including when we were sloshing around the Russell town and sitting soaking wet in the bumpy boat ride back to Paihia. There were even lightning storms later in the afternoon.

The next morning we were a bit worried about what we'd see when we opened the curtains. Pouring rain or shining sun? Hooray, it was clear skies and sunshine! Today we were off on a boat trip around the islands out to the Hole in the Rock, hopefully to see some dolphins and whales.

It was so nice at the start, sitting in the lovely warm sun and enjoying the calm seas... until we got round the corner of the islands and headed out more to open sea. Then it became more like a rollercoaster, with the boat bumping up and down on the waves. One minute you're looking high up into the sky, the next looking straight down into the water.

It was so bumpy, it would have been too dangerous for the boat to go through the Hole in the Rock. We did see it though, in the picture above... which was also about two seconds before William was sick, covering his chair and himself with bits of his breakfast. Poor little fella's tummy just didn't like those bumps. At least we saw some dolphins though, and he was back to his usual hungry self by the time we stopped for lunch on an island.

While William obviously doesn't like bumpy seas, one thing he does like is Maori culture. So the next day we took the short drive to Waitangi to visit the famous treaty grounds. He especially loved the Maori cultural show we watched in the meeting house. I had to leave part-way through - it was too loud for me!

So that was our autumn family holiday. It was a bit short, but full of adventure. We all had lots of fun, but I think maybe I've changed my mind about wanting to be a pirate and live on the high seas.

Game on!

 Join the Space Race

We started 2021 with high hopes of holidays, school and getting out and about, without having more lockdowns and needing to stay trapped inside. And that's almost completely happened... except for two separate weeks at the end of last month.

Then it was back to online learning and trying to find ways to be creative when we couldn't go out. One of the challenges my teacher set was to create a new board game. This was one for me - I love board games! My favourite is the Dogman game, but I also love Connect 4, Guess Who and lots of others.

Another thing I love is space - so why not combine space and gaming to create a cool new board game called: Space Race! Watch my video to find out how it works.

I shared it with my class online and the teacher thought it was great. We've played it a couple of times at home too, so now when we want to play something after dinner we can grab the dice and play the game I made!

Boats, Beaches and Birthdays

Life on summer holidays

After everything that went on in 2020, I really felt like I needed a break. All that being stuck inside with Mum, Dad and William wasn't easy! So now that Santa has packed away his sleigh, it's time to get out and about on my summer holidays. And this year, I had about 7 weeks off from school - yes!

One of the best things about summer is getting into the water - or on it. We made plans to take boat rides to visit two islands. First up was Rangitoto Island, a massive volcano we often see from near our house. Luckily there's no chance of it exploding with lava, but it is very high - and we were walking all the way to the top! The views from the top were cool, but not as cool as the lava caves me and William got to explore through.

Next we visited Kawau Island with our friend Alyssa and her Mum and Dad. No caves to explore there, but there was a big mansion to walk through and a nice beach to swim at.

Of course we visited lots of other beaches too - there are so many near our house that we tried to go to a different one every weekend. My favourite is the one where we saw a little turtle last summer, partly because it's a nice beach and partly because Mr Whippy always stops his truck there to serve ice creams. My second favourite is the one with the cave, where you can walk all the way to the back if the tide is out.

One day we went to the Zoo, which was fun but some of the animals weren't there because they're building new enclosures for them. I mean the zoo is doing the building, not the animals - I don't think tigers can hold hammers!

I was also invited to a birthday party with a difference - it was a dress-up party! It was for one of my cousins, and Mummy was organising costumes for both of us based on Sesame Street characters. She spent ages working on her one for Big Bird (and we're still finding bits of yellow fluff all over the house).

I was going as The Count. The fangs didn't fit in my mouth very well, but even without them I looked pretty cool. It was a fun night and I got to scoff lots of lollies, plus stuff a bunch more in Mummy's purse to take home.

Pretty soon everyone started going back to work and daycare, and then it was my turn to go back to school. But this time as a senior! Surely 2021 would be a better year than 2020?

Looking Back on the Ups and (Lock)Downs

2020 Year in Review

Boy, 2020 is going to be a year to remember. And not for just good reasons either. It was a year that started great and ended great, but was pretty strange and unusual in the middle. Like biting into a delicious chocolate, only to find there's yucky egg in the centre.

The year started with an awesome hot summer and lots of fun trips to swim at the beach. Even a visit to Greenlane Hospital to have my tonsils removed didn't spoil things. Well, not too much anyway.

But then suddenly we went from fun in the sun to lockdown at home. No-one even knew what a coronavirus was a few weeks earlier, and now it was the reason we all had to stay at home - no work, no school, no getting anywhere near anyone else.

It was a pretty interesting couple of months, with William moving into my room so that Mum and Dad could turn his bedroom into an office. Every day I'd have to do schoolwork on the iPad - completing exercises and uploading the stories and drawings I'd created. William would use the iPad to join in the sessions with his daycare class (even if most of the time he just munched on food and didn't get involved in what they were doing!).

After a couple of months though, there was no more coronavirus in New Zealand and we could go back to normal.

...and then we couldn't, because the coronavirus was back. Damnit.

But fast-forward a couple of months and it finally seemed to have gone completely, so before anything changed again we quickly made plans to go away on holiday with Grandma and Grandad. We took a road trip down to Taupo, where we visited some smelly thermal sites, had our first play in the snow at Mt Ruapehu and did lots of swimming in the resort pools.

Even though we spent so much time out of class this year, my schoolwork is still going great. And you don't need to just believe me - my teacher Mrs Hugo says so too. Naturally this is pretty awesome news right before Christmas, so a timely letter to Santa will help me get the best reward for my hard work.

And then finally it was time for Christmas. For months I'd been asking how many days it was until Santa got here, and judging by our visit to MOTAT one night he's arrived! As well as seeing him, we got to have a tram ride and see all the awesome Christmas lights displays.

My school report must have worked too, because there were presents aplenty under the tree and in my stocking on Christmas Day. I got some Playstation games, a big metal slinky, some Dogman books, a Dogman game, some activity books a big bunch of clothes and some treats. Definitely worth my being such an ace student all year.

So that was the year 2020 in a few sentences. Now there's a nice long summer holiday to enjoy - or squander playing Playstation and munching chocolate. What will 2021 bring? Year 4 at school, William starting school with me, another fun family holiday... and hopefully no more viruses!

All I Want For Christmas 2020

Making a list, checking it twice

Ho ho ho, is that jingle bells I can hear? It better be, because Christmas is just around the corner, and I've been busy coming up with my list of presents for Santa. Hope he's got his extra-big sleigh because he's going to have quite a bit to deliver this year!

It's only fair though because he rewards kids who have been good, and I've been extra good this year. Just look at how good I was letting William share my bedroom during the first Coronavirus lockdown. And how great I was keeping up with all my schoolwork when we had to everything online. And how much awesome progress my teacher said that I've made in Year Three at school.

So basically, I've been great in 2020, so bring on the pressies!

This year there are two lists though, because William's done one too (with some help from Dad). It's his first Christmas list, but he's done a pretty good job. What are we each hoping for this year? Watch and see...

There you have it, two nice and easy lists. No excuse for Santa to make a mistake and forget anything. And then a nice long school holiday afterwards for me to play with everything.

I can't wait to wake up on the 25th and look under the tree. That really will be the beginning of a happy ho-ho-holiday!

Snow Time Like The Present

Road trip to Ruapehu

It's been so long since our last holiday I've almost forgotten what they're like. Going out and doing new things, relaxing, eating yummy dinners... Mum and Dad would say that's what we do on weekends all the time, but holidays are different - especially when Grandma and Grandad are there too.

This year has forced us to spend so much more time stuck at home. But now that annoying coronavirus has gone and the lockdown is over, it's time to celebrate with a few days away somewhere new. So we packed our bags, took our travel sickness pills and loaded up the car for the long drive down to Taupo.

And what's the first place we visit when we get there? Smoky craters and stinky mud pools - it's Rotorua all over again! Maybe I'm getting used to it, or maybe the smell isn't as bad at Orakei Korako, but I enjoyed it this time. Some of the colours of the ground and the pools of water were just amazing.

One of the main reasons for us choosing to holiday in Taupo was so that we could go to the snow. I'd never seen or touched real snow before... and it turns out the real thing is quite different from how it seems in cartoons.

We hired some thick clothes and boots and drove up to Mt Ruapehu. It was pretty cold when we got there, but not as freezing as I expected. Real snow is much harder than I expected, as I found out when I tried to make a snowman or when I threw some snowball missiles at Mum, Dad and William. Making snow angels was a lot safer for everyone.

We also thought we'd test how hard the snow was, and how tough our clothing was, by sliding down the snow on our bums. We found a great little slope where you could get a bit of speed up, without sliding way down the mountain and tearing a hole in both your pants and your bum.

The good news for the day was that the weather was beautiful, with clear blue skies, but the bad news was that the gondolas were closed, so we couldn't get up to the top of the mountain. But we did get to see snowing falling all around us and try to catch some on our tongues, which was pretty cool.

When it was time to relax at our resort, and ease the hurt of our snow-damaged bums, we had plenty of pools to choose from. There were three pools spread across the resort, so over our four days staying there I made sure we visited all of them.

One of the things Dad was most excited about was the all you can eat breakfast. I think he planned to eat enough for the whole day during breakfast and save money later. But he must have pushed the pigging out too far, because he was horribly sick lots of times one night. No surprise that he didn't come for breakfast the morning after that!

When the time came to pack up all our stuff again, I was really sad to be leaving. It was so much fun and I was going to miss our holiday house. Luckily I think it'll be pretty easy to convince Mum and Dad to take us away on another holiday soon!

Return to Lockdown

Coronavirus part two

Just when we thought everything was back to normal. I was back at school again, William was at daycare, Mum and Dad were working, we were planning a holiday... then suddenly we weren't. The coronavirus had come back.

So it was back to doing schoolwork on the internet, Mum and Dad working on our dining table, and William hanging around being annoying. At least this time I got to keep my room to myself, and it gave me a chance to get creative again like I did during the first lockdown.

One of the things I had to do was describe where I'd like to go in the world if I could go anywhere, and what I would do there. Here's what I said:

Dinosaurs are one of my favourite things, which is why I've always wanted to be a paleontologist when I grow up. When I do get old enough to become one, this is the story of one of the adventures I expect to have (naturally I get to name anything new that I discover after me!).

Hopefully this lockdown won't go on as long as the last one, because there are lots of fun things coming later in the year that I don't want to miss. Like our family holiday and Christmas. Maybe I should become a doctor when I grow up instead so I can get rid of this coronavirus!