spring holidaying

Its been a holiday of two halves, so far, the wet and wild half, and finally a more mild and dry half. I don't know how long we can keep blaming el nino or la nina weather systems for the mad weather we've had this winter/spring, or whether we should start blaming global warming!  In the spring holidays  we have been lucky enough to have papa home ( benefits of a school teacher), so we've had days out and days at home. Another friend had a baby boy ( welcome Austen, the vest is for you), we've  been in a mild car crash ( We were the lucky ones, but no one in the three car pile up was hurt, and neither was our car- thank you God) , we visited the Waimarama bird sanctuary in the Brook, the Nelson Museum, we've camped out in the garden and cooked on a campfire, we've walked and rode our bikes, we've rescued a baby rabbit from our cat and then let it go again , don;t tell the farmers around here, they would have preferred it be dead; we are just lucky we managed to convince the kids that the rabbit was wild and not a new pet! And we've gardened.  what have you been doing?

The Tomten

Today was a crafty day! A trip to Spotlight ( I wish we had a decent craft shop around here, some things I'm after it seems I'll have to  order online!), a play at the Tahunanui playground and a picnic snack and when we got home there were seven eggs , a new LIving Crafts mag and the book of the Tomten I had ordered, so we got right down to the business of making our own tomtens to tell stories with. And here they are! Maaike thought hers needed love hearts sewn on. Cute hey? Patterns for story table things mentioned on earlier post. I hadn't read the story before, and its lovely. A story about a gnome type thingy who has lived on this farm for hundreds of years and when night falls visits the inhabitants and talks in a silent tomten voice that the animals can understand, checking all is well.  A good bedtime story!
 And tonight we are to have a barbeque, with homemade burger buns and maybe sleep in the tent we have had up all week. My kids seem to be desperate for summer, swimming and adventures. Actually That sounds pretty good to me!