Butterfly Creek

We went to Butterfly Creek for another visit because there is so much fun to have there with feeding animals, seeing the crocodiles being fed, looking at the beautiful butterflies, riding on the train and of course the playground and ice creams - fun fun fun!

Alex's first ice block

Water play

Eve came for a play at our house and she and Mackenzie happened to leave a big container of water on the deck.

What's a boy to do other than climb in it in his clothes and once suitably soaked tip the rest on his head - I know how to say "wet, wet, wet"

These boots were made for walking

My big sister went for a night in the caravan with Granny and Grandad so I decided to try out her slippers - pretty trendy ah.

Daytrip to Rotorua

We went to Paradise Valley Springs to see the Lions. It was great fun although the Lion cub was not impressed with Alex's yelling when he was trying to sleep.

Feeding the animals and watching the fish was fun too.

And a swim at the Polynesian Spa topped the day off.

The Blues Brothers

Christmas Day 2010

Phew the reindeer dust worked and Santa visited bringing a huge haul of presents Nannie and Grandad's trainset for Alex was a huge hit and is still played with every day
and some rather noisy presents from a certain Aunty and Uncle, combined with Daddy's guitar led to the Johnston family band being formed.

Christmas

What excitement on Christmas Eve, there was a play date at Eve's, Nannie and Grandad arrived, then church with Granny and Grandad and Aunty Kathryn, Uncle Matt and Bella and then home for supper.... When Mackenzie was lucky enough to get an early present from Granny and Grandad and most of her Aunties and Uncles because it was far too big to travel out to Te Awamutu...a beautiful barbie dolls house. So Alex had to have a present too, a tyre swing... And then the reindeer dust had to be scattered to ensure that Santa would find his way to our house.
Thanks everyone for making Mackenzie's dream come true.

Kindy Christmas picnic and play

For Christmas, Kindy decided to put on a play and guess who wanted to be in it. We all went to kindy for a fish and chip dinner with our friends and then watched Mackenzie as an Angel in the nativity play and listened to some great singing of Christmas songs.

A busy weekend

We had a very busy weekend. First we went to the Horsham Downs gala day and rides on horses. Mackenzie was super brave and went on a huge horse, here's hoping that's not getting added to the Christmas present list!
Then Mummy, Mackenzie and Granny headed off to Auckland to see the Nutcracker.
It was lots of fun having a girls day out, especially when you get to stop at Old McDonalds for tea on the way home!

All the grandparents

We love having all our grandparents to visit!

Playing outside

Nannie and Grandad have been to stay and helped us create an awesome outdoor area to enjoy summer.

We can play in the sandpit..

In the sprinkler...

In the pool....

And when it all gets too hot, we can head indoors and make a hut.

Donkey farm

We went on a fun outing to the donkey farm with Aunty Kathryn and Bella.

There were tractors and donkeys to ride, animals to feed and sand to...eat.

The big sleepover

After much anticipation Eve finally stayed the night, although there wasn't a lot of sleeping going on.

Alex loved joining in with the big kids doing art just like at kindy

Playing outside

We've got lovely new grass to run around on.

While outside Mummy got a special tinkerbell makeover.

Granny & Grandad's new toy

Granny and Grandad bought a cool new toy for us kids to play with. I loved climbing in and out and waving ta ta - which was code for "Grandad time to push me."

Weeee!

We found a new play area that had cool bikes to ride on.

Best friends

Alex with his best friend Tom. Unfortunately for Tom Alex's 'love' normally involves full body hugs where he gets rather squashed.

My kids like to hide in boxes