Picnic at Titirangi

A January picnic with perfect summer weather, a secluded spot with a stream running through it, trees to provide plenty of shade and a short drive to get coffee's! Alexa is feeding me a piece of biscotti with Kim and Mozko in background. He is a stunning looking dog and loves the water as much as Alexa. They both enjoyed playing in the stream.

Driving

We learn to drive at a young age in New Zealand! Here is Alexa 'driving' Grandad's farm vehicle. The cushion on the passenger seat was there so she can be raised up to see out the window. However she preferred the drivers seat. Notice her hand on both the steering wheel and the gear lever. In the second shot she was surprised to discover this car has a removable door handle!

Pooh Bear

Alexa loves Pooh Bear. Every since last Christmas, when Mark and Caroline bought her a soft toy Pooh Bear, he has become her firm favourite and is her special friend. He gets slept on (as a pillow) talked to, fed and watered, offered to animals and dragged around the house. As she obviously has such a close relationship with Pooh we have introduced her to the rest of the family - Rabbit, Tigger etc. At Christmas 2007 she was given many Pooh accessories - a Pooh calender, hooks, books etc. We loved this item too. It's a towel robe complete with Pooh picture and even Pooh ears! She loved putting it on and will get much use out of it knowing her affection for both Pooh Bear and water. On the couch watching Alexa Pooh is Dougal, Emma and Grandad. Also present, of course, is Pooh Bear lying on the table.

By the way, Isobel's special friend is Peter Rabbit. We have yet to see if there is the same bond but she does have 2 Peter's in case he becomes as essential to her as Pooh does to Alexa.

Christmas Holidays - A farm visit

After Omaha we travelled south to Pukehina and Mum and Dad's farm. One afternoon we visited a nearby petting farm. Grandad enjoyed introducing Alexa to the piggies, and then tried feeding her to them! In the park outside there was a much safer pig to be getting up close to!

Christmas Holidays - Omaha

We divided our holidays between Omaha (white sandy beach) and the farm. At Omaha Alexa loved going for swims in the sea. She was at first a bit afraid of the waves, but has become more used to them by the end and will spend ages 'jumping' over them with one leg. We were visited by Mark's friends the White's with their kids. Toby (6ish) and Charlie (3ish) were great with Alexa playing ring a rosy, letting her ride Charlie's bike, and then practising throwing the rugby ball. She loved the attention and really loved the bike (might be on the birthday list for her 2nd b'day).

David enjoyed the beach break as he was able to satisfy his desire for fishing and seafood by heading out most mornings to fish. One day it was so calm they were able to do a trip across the Hauraki gulf to Little Barrier where there was diving, fishing and a successful Crayfish capture - see pic above. This meant our New Year dinner involved crayfish and 2 dishes of fish. Mmmm nothing like fresh seafood!!!

We were visited by Kim and Mozko (a hungarian Veschler dog). Alexa thought Moz's cage was the perfect play pen, but then discovered Kim's tent!! She spents ages playing in both as I was treated to a relaxing reflexology session thanks to Kim.

Isobel

It's time to show you a few more shots of our beautiful second daughter. Isobel (we think) looks different to Alexa and is a much easier baby to deal with, though this could be due to her parents being more relaxed and having less time to worry about her. She loved meeting Uncle Mark who spent a few days with our family at Omaha recovering from his flight from UK. He was a brilliant Uncle looking after both kids to allow David and I to go for a swim together and he was much adored by Alexa. She still calls the jeep Mark's car. On the farm in early Jan she relaxed in her sling and was protected from the harsh NZ sun with her Grandad's farm hat! Last photo a shot of her smile. She is smiling lots now, the odd chuckle and is cooing in resonse to us. She loves watching her older sister and is very good at picking out both Mum and Dad across a room.

Christmas day - 2

There were many helpers happy to look after Isobel on Christmas day. This is Aunty Helen, Anne's sister who was very good at getting Bell to sleep.

Christmas 2007

We spent Christmas day at Anne & John's with the C-S's. There were 4 generations in attendance from Great Granny CS to Isobel at 5 weeks old. We had a fab day with Alexa enjoying opening presents (anyone's present, she wasn't fussy!). As the day progressed she became louder and more kamikaze until crashing into bed for a sleep which gave the adults a peaceful time to have a meal.