Kid in a Box

Lucy at play in a box.

She is well on the way of developing her own personal character. A dress with  scruffy hair pretty much sums her modus operandi right now.

Ohakune Painted

Returned to Ohakune last weekend to finish the house painting.  The weather this time was perfect for painting and we managed to knock it off on the Saturday.  Its taken three trips the the finished job looks great.

No small sigh of relief to have it done at last.

Turning Cartwheels

Lining up for cartwheel practice on a late summer evening on the back lawn.  

For some reason, turning cartwheels has turned into a popular evening playtime event.

Ohakune: Paint verses Weather

This was the planned weekend for painting our A-frame in Ohakune. Our friends the Cakebreads had also generously donated their time to help out behind a paint brush and a brand new spare refrigerator. With a new bed mattress to also haul up it warranted the hire of covered furniture trailer, which of course quickly filled up with kids bikes, strollers, toys and tools.

Lugging the furniture trailer up sounded like a great idea to get all the bulky items up to Ohakune in one swoop. It was'nt until it was hitched up to my car's tow bar on the Friday afternoon that all the experiences of doing so last time came back. The trailer is both tall, long and heavy. It gives the car a constant back and forth bucking motion as it uses its momentum to resist any change in forward speed. It is like towing a recalcitrant giraffe on two wheel. Same colour too. And of course all this must be done at 80km/hr which adds an extra hour of pleasure on the whole trip. Amazing what you see when you travel everywhere at 80km/hr.

The girls quickly decided they would all go in the other car leaving Chris and I to haul slowing up the country.

The weather was not looking so great but the evening was a nice one to drive in so I was holding out hopes to beat the weather predictions. However Saturday morning just at dawn, true to predictions, the rain set in. We installed the fridge and mattress, took the old fridge to the tip, then amused the kids until lunch time with the local climbing wall and cafes. In the afternoon a break in the rain occurred. We quickly donned painting clothes, brushes and paint and attacked the dry areas of the house with a mixture of a 'cabin fever cure' and 'rain be damned' attitude. In four hours the girls made some great progress with the front of the house while Chris and I almost completed the entire back of the house. The only bits left where the eves that were too wet. The apex of the A-frame is high, maybe 15m off the ground so some airy times where spent up the ladder. I was glad to work my way down to the firm grass and a cold beer at the end.

Progress was remarkable for the few hours of clear weather we had. But we all had firm plans for Sunday morning to finish off the 'annoying' last bits that we did not quite manage to fit in. So did the weather. It had firm plans to rain again so painting was called off. I resided myself to the slow haul back to Wellington with the recalcitrant yellow trailer bucking at the back. Funnily, the girls all took the other car again.

I had taken the camera up with the great intent of getting some progress shots as we went. Unfortunately the brief gap in the weather demanded such intense activity the goal fell away. So no pictures sorry. And nobody like to take photos of the rain. 

The plan is to return again before winter to finish off all those bits that were missed. This time we shall only go if the forecast is clear. No trailer either.

Amelia Long Exposure

Was experimenting with some long exposure shots using a tripod at dusk.  Caught this rather ghostly shot of Amelia running up the back lawn through a shaft of dusk sunlight.


The exposure grabs the fluidity of her running motion but more interestingly the action of the  sunlight glinting off her hair. So for photographic curiosity sake here it is.

Kids Love Bubbles

Caught these shots a little while ago of the kids having fun with bubbles in the back garden. Amelia was interested in running through them. Lucy was interesting in the mechanics of the device. Telling.