Ferry Ferry Nice

Sea, Sand and Skippers on Motuihe Island

It's not every week you get a free $100 voucher to spend on going out and having fun. So when Mum won one through some sort of competition, we knew we had to make the most of it.

Great, we thought, we'll go to Tiritiri Matangi. Mum and Dad have wanted to take us there for ages!

...except it's fully booked. Darn. Oh well, Motuihe Island will do just as well. We drove into the city and hopped on a ferry to take us out past other islands and a bunch of ships. Luckily there was hardly any wind, so it wasn't anything like as rough as the last time we went on a boat. No being sick this time for poor little William!

The sun was out and it was beautiful weather as we stepped off onto the island. There's lots of walking tracks, so we wandered about for a while, listening to all the birds (and Dad doing bad impressions of birds).

There's amazing views out across the water from some of the high points. After lunch we went to the beach for a swim, and the water was so warm, we stayed in for ages. William especially loved the beach because he found so much sea glass; he's collected a bagful to take home to make some artwork out of.

There were also some cool ruins we would have loved to explore, except they all had signs saying they were in danger of collapsing. They probably wouldn't have survived two kids rushing about everywhere between them.

When it was time to take the ferry back home, me and William obviously impressed the skipper so much with our nautical knowledge and seafaring abilities, that he let us captain the ferry for a while. We sure do look the part with our cool sunglasses and relaxed vibe.

It was another great day out in this super-hot summer - and all it cost us was the price of an ice-cream on the island. Bargain! As for Tiritiri Matangi, we'll get there one day.

Coast to Coast

Holiday Fun From East to West

The sun’s still out, and so are we. With just a few days left until we go back to school, we need to pack as much in as we can. This time our day trips would take us from the east coast near our house, to the west coast across the other side of Auckland.

The weather forecast for the long weekend of Waitangi Day unfortunately said it was going to rain most of the time. So first thing Saturday morning, “let's get out early and do a coastal walk” said Mum and Dad. The tide was also going to be quite high at about the time we’d be doing the walk, but “we'll stay dry” said Mum and Dad.

Half an hour later, well let's see how that worked out...

We were scrambling over rocks and along the narrow causeways as the waves crashed over us. And this was the result. You probably can't see from the photo just how completely soaked we are. Every time we took a step our shoes sloshed with water from half the ocean.

Luckily our west coast adventure had a bit more sun and a bit less risk of being swept out to sea by waves. On a beautiful sunny day we took a drive out to Bethell’s Beach. This was the first time William and I had been to a real surf beach and we just loved it - jumping over the waves and trying to body surf in. Even when we started shivering from cold, we didn’t want to leave the water.

There was also a massive cave there which we explored all the way to the back. It was dark and a little bit spooky right at the back. Some of the rocks nearby had some amazing rock pools too, and we had a great time watching the big waves crash over the rocks, showering us with spray.

But whether it was soaked on the east coast or sunny on the west coast, we loved our summer holiday adventures.

Summer Stunner

Holiday Fun in the Sun

Thank goodness that's over! Bye bye lockdown - hello summer! Sometimes I thought we'd never get here, but after all the ups and downs of 2021, we've finally finished our years at school and work, and can enjoy some fun in the holiday sun.

Don't let my lack of updates fool you into thinking we haven't been doing anything - far from it! It's been such an amazing sunny summer that we've been out and about a lot. How sunny has it been? Just check out the sky in this picture.

That’s me in my Darth Vader t-shirt I’ve been wearing almost every day. Even though it’s at least two sizes too small for me now. I’ve become obsessed with Star Wars since Dad started showing me the movies. You’d think I was Ollie-Wan Kenobi.

Since it's been so hot, and we live so close to beaches, it would be crazy not to go for some swims. So we've spent a few days at the beach, making sandcastles, exploring rock pools, and of course splashing in the waves.

See, there I am again. Different day, same t-shirt.

There's a first time for everything, and this summer was my first time doing kayaking. We all went up to Puhoi to paddle down the river in two-person kayaks. I paired up with Dad, but actually Mum was the better kayaker - Dad paddled straight into the bank right after we set off.

It was a lot of fun, but because it was so hot we had to cool off with a delicious drink at the pub across the road afterwards. Then it was on to Wenderholm for another lovely swim.

No Darth Vader t-shirt this time, but only because it can’t be used as togs.

We've packed plenty in so far, but even though we'll be back in school again soon, summer's only half over. There's a lot more fun in the sun to be had yet - so may the force be with you!

Staying Busy While Staying Home

More Lockdown Creativity

It's another month of lockdown. Another month of home schooling, home working, home everything. Like the last couple of months, we haven't exactly been busy going out doing things, but we have been busy being creative. So while there's no exciting pics of places we've been to share, why not share some more examples of our lockdown artwork?

This is a treasure map of a desert island I did for a school task. Follow the red dotted line to find the treasure!

The next two are William's. One weekend when we went for a walk along Browns Bay beach, we saw the principal of our school - Mr Johnstone. That's what William's drawn in the first picture below. Mr Johnstone's on the left and we're all on the right.

His favourite TV show to watch right now is Spongebob Squarepants, so that's what you see in the second picture. All the white blobs are bubbles underwater.

Lastly, a couple more drawings from our school tasks. On the left is one of mine - I had to come up with an invention that would help people, so I created a flying taxi. I've marked the rocket boosters at the bottom and jet thrusters at the side.

The one on the right is William's - it's all about recycling. He's used his own spelling for the words, but if you read them out loud they do all pretty much make sense.

It's nearly been 3 months of lockdown now, but the signs are becoming more positive. The days are warmer, the sun's out longer, and maybe, just maybe, we'll be back to normal again real soon...

Arts, Crafts and Healthy Hearts

Keeping Busy During Coronavirus

The days sure can be long and boring when you're stuck at home. We can't visit any people, can't go any new places, can't even get any new books to read from the library. But keeping busy keeps the crazy away, so here's what we've been up to recently.

Exercising is fine as long as we keep our distance from people, so we've been out for beach walks and bike rides. Other times we just had to entertain ourselves at home, like we did with creating this daisy chain (or should that be 'Bailey chain'?). Though the look on Bailey's face seems to say "Take this stupid thing off me."

But it hasn't all been fun and games, because in between we've had to do our schoolwork. Mum and Dad kept us pretty busy focusing on getting through all our tasks each week. And there were a lot of tasks to do.

Here's a couple of examples of my artwork. The one on the left is based on one of those weird artists who draw funny-shaped eyes and noses coming out the side of your face. On the right is a drawing I did when we had to do something about a dragon that helped people. This dragon cast a spell which created the first human!

And from those great pieces of artwork to a couple of William's scribbles. One of the weeks we were in lockdown was Maori Language Week, so William's drawn some things about what his mountain and river are, which city and school are his. At the bottom is his Year Zero teacher, Mrs Frost.

He told me the drawing on the right is a house coming alive at night, which actually isn't too bad. The stars look good. Not sure what the rumpled pink thing in the middle is though; maybe the garage door.

So we've been exercising our bodies and our minds as much as we can, but I'm crossing all my fingers that this lockdown is finished soon!

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!