Grandad Johnston's 60th birthday

We spent the weekend in Taupo with the Johnston family to celebrate Grandad's 60th birthday.

We did lots of swimming at the AC baths with Nannie and Grandad - Alex even mastered some great new swimming skills.

Then we went on a boat fishing for the afternoon, meeting our big cousins and some surprise Great Aunties and Uncles.

 

Mum and Alex caught the only fish we were allowed to keep - yummy trout for us!

 

 

Then we went out for dinner where Alex helped Grandad blow out the candles on his cake.

The new Parana park

They've updated one of our local parks with lots of cool new things like eggs to spin on, kowhai slides and lots and lots of paddling pools - amazingly we managed to leave completely dry.

Dora the Explorer

Dora came to Chartwell. I think everyone in Hamilton thought it was super exciting as the queue to meet her was very long but we finally got to give her a cuddle and have our photo taken with her.

Holiday in Taranaki

We went to Taranaki for a few days in the holiday to enjoy some fun with Aunty Jo, Uncle Murray, Megan and David.

We were very spoilt with lots of fun outings including visiting the rockpools

and at the end of each day David was lucky enough to have two eager playmates as soon as he walked in the door.

Uncle Geoff's wedding

We had a very exciting easter, heading off to Australia to celebrate Uncle Geoff and Aunty Alex's wedding.

We spent our first evening meeting Aunty Alex's family....

wrestling Uncles and 

having horsey races, although Alex had trouble understanding why Uncle Ali wasn't up to horsey races again the next day.

All the kids had lots of fun

Then the big day arrived. The girls were all very excited to be asked to be flower girls....

It was a beautiful ceremony, Aunty Alex looked beautiful and Uncle Geoff didn't scrub up too badly either

Mackenzie took her responsibilities as a flower girl very seriously and didn't leave her spot - she was very proud to hold Aunty Alex's flowers while she was busy exchanging rings with Uncle Geoff

And to top it off she got her photo with Uncle Geoff and Aunty Alex just like she dreamed about.

Our Alex wasn't so excited by the wedding but he did think the balloons and bouncy castle were pretty cool!

The next day the kids enjoyed an easter egg hunt and some golf lessons from Great Aunty B and Uncle Ali.

And then went on an outing with Granny and Grandad for the afternoon to try and find a dam. We didn't find the dam but we did find a nice view and a playground.

Congratulations Uncle Geoff and Aunty Alex - enjoy your honeymoon.

Stations of the cross

For Holy week at school Mackenzie's class along with their big buddies acted out the stations of the cross.

Balloons over Waikato

We had a great time at the balloons again this year.

We got up early and went down to the Lake on Thursday morning

And then we were lucky enough to have a balloon visit Mackenzie's school on Friday morning so we got to watch it inflate and take off - Granny and Dad even managed to get up early enough to join in too.

Playing together

Alex and Mackenzie have been getting on brilliantly lately and have really started to enjoy playing together. They disappear each night after dinner for playtime - here's hoping the novely lasts the whole school holidays!

Our new couch

We decided that our little pink couch had been through one too many battles and it was time to upgrade. Alex thought the new couch was so cool with its built in sleeping bag that he decided he'd have to sleep in it for the first night.