Miniature trains

The last 2 Sundays the weather forecast was "very stormy" and "mostly rainy" but it turned out to be a brilliant afternoon for family to get together.  

Caroline and Richard live just around the corner from this great spot in Auckland called Panmure Basin. Panmure Basin is a tidal lagoon within a volcanic crater.

It is of course beautiful to walk around the lagoon but this time we were there to try this out - the miniature train rides!! 

The first weekend had better weather right from when we arrived there. Warm sun, blue sky and no rain at all! The trains are only there on Sundays between 1-4pm so we started off with a picnic lunch and waited for the trains to arrive. 

Ashley got lot of cuddles from the family :)

The kids enjoyed watching the train drivers checking all the tracks.

Time for some rides! 

It was such a simple activity but so much fun for the kids (and cheap as each ride is only $2!). Unfortunately Matthew was away working and the English Roses were also away down South. So we decided to put on another family picnic and train rides for the following weekend. This time it was a slightly bigger event as we invited some more families and friends for Matthew's surprise birthday get together!

It was raining quite heavily on and off till we left home. But again it cleared out gradually and by the time we queued up for the rides no sign of the rain. 

It was a bit chilly but always nice to have a picnic on the grass:

The train enthusiasts weren't there at 1pm so we were getting worried. I was wondering that it might not happen as the sky looked still gray...  The kids had loads of fun while waiting running around and digging into some yummy treats aunty Brenda made :)

She made some girly ones too:

And even some miniature ones!

The train conductors finally arrived and told us they were doing only 2 rides today as the weather was still looking unstable. At least it was on!

All aboard!

And off they went:

It is a good 5 min ride, going through two different tunnels:

And a high wooden bridge too:

I think the adults might be more excited...

I had a ride too! 

By the time they finished the second ride the weather pretty much cleared up, so they continued running the trains. Lucky kids had so many rides! 

They even brought out a mini steam engine:

Then it was time to surprise Matthew. Actually halfway through the day he was asking me who the birthday cake on the picnic table was for... He didn't think it was for him at all!!

I was holding the cake so I couldn't take any photos unfortunately. But he was very surprised so great success :) 

Thank you everyone for being there to make his day very special. 

At the Greenhithe Residence

Today we were invited to spend the afternoon and evening at the Fenwick-Rose's place. The boys always have a ball there - their house has awesome surroundings for adventurous toddlers!

This time we were greeted by some hens. Kylie, Lindsay and the boys got them recently and are enjoying getting fresh eggs everyday.



Maybe the hens were not enjoying being chased by the boys though...





Some were very tame. Devon was carrying her everywhere as if she was a soft toy!



Corin showed us where to find the eggs in the hen's house:





The boys were certainly impressed!







Even though it was a bit chilly all the boys had fun jumping on the trampoline, climbing up on the playhouse and just running around together - great cuzzie time!

The Fenwick boys were all in love with Ashley :) Some photo taking time before dinner:
Corin and Ashley:



Rory with Ashley:



Devon and Ashley:



The freshly collected eggs were cooked to go with the salad for dinner:

Kylie prepared some yummy yellow soup for us - YAP Luca was very impressed.



We bathed all of our kids there and put them in their pajamas before leaving their place so that they were ready for bed when we got home.  They fell asleep halfway so Matthew and I enjoyed a quiet drive home looking at the stunning Auckland skyline.

Sharky photos

Matthew took the boys to Kelly Tarlton's. They came home with some cool photos:







I hope they saw some real marine life there too...

Girls' coffee out

Merryn and Dennis kindly took the boys out to their kindy for a whole day!! Time for me to get out and have fun. I haven't done any shopping since I got here - it's been over a week, I have been very patient :)

Caroline and Harriet joined us. We had a great girls' day out together.

First we stopped at a cafe for coffee and some yummy brunch.  The breastfeeding mothers needed some energy to feed the girls and of course energy for shopping!

'

I was greedy and ordered a bowel of flat white instead of a cup of flat white - Well... I didn't think enough... I couldn't feed Ashley and drink my coffee at the same time :( A big mistake there. But it meant we had to stay in the cafe longer catching up with Caroline and getting to know Harriet more :)



She is so cute!



Even though I was free from Matthew's supervision, I didn't buy much. I saw lots of lovely clothes for all of our kids but they were all for winter. The sales were on at every shop we went in you know... But I wasn't sure when we will be in winter next.

I still enjoyed browsing in the shopping mall a lot. There are so many places I can shop in both Singapore and Japan but I still love walking though kiwi malls.

Ashley and I stopped at Caroline and Richard's place for a quick playdate. Ashley is very lucky to have a girl cousin close to her age in both countries :)





I am already looking forward to the day when Harriet and Ashley can hang out together. I am sure they will love coffeeing and shopping together like their mummies :)

Hair Down

Ashley had a hat on all afternoon so this is how she looks with her hair down.
Different baby ha?!

Fun with Devon

Devon came over for a sleepover last night. I don't think Luca knew much of what was going on but Oliver certainly enjoyed having his older cousin staying overnight.

They watched TV together:



Bathed and giggled so much together:







It was a pity Oliver wasn't keen to go to the kids bedroom to join Devon for the night. (Since we went back to Japan we have been sleeping in the same room and Oliver really likes it that way and wouldn't sleep in a different room...) Hopefully he is grown up enough next time we come back to NZ.

In the morning, Ashley got lovely cuddles from his cousin:





It was nice for Oliver to have some alone time with Devon. Thank you for coming over Devon. You are always welcome to come and sleepover at Oliver's place in Singapore or Japan!

Patissier Oliver

Merryn and Oliver had lots of fun baking a yummy chocolate cake this afternoon. I wasn't there to see the whole process but boy! someone was super happy being in the kitchen :)

Look at my cake he says:



Gently lift it up:



Taddaaaa!



Now it's time to make some chocolate icing :) He told me Merryn's machine does a pretty good job so we should get one for us in Singapore.



Slap slap slap...



What do you think!? I think pretty good!



Not finished yet - some rainbow sprinkles to go:



Not quite even but... Finished!



He didn't forget to clean up his mess:



We had a lovely afternoon tea thanks to Merryn and Oliver. (Oops I forgot to get the recipe off you Merryn...) I think his passion for cooking is truly back now :)

Brother talk

Oliver and Luca were having their snacks in the courtyard. They were talking to each other for a long time and looked quite serious...



I tried to get closer through the window but got busted!

Keeping her warm

Merino underlay, leggings and sheepskin slippers all keeping our princess nice and warm :)