Halloween eve eve

How quickly Halloween has arrived.  I guess with the school holidays being changed around due to the Rugby World Cup (NZ won), just one week back at school, and then it is Halloween.
The boys have already been trying out which costumes that are considering to wear on Halloween... Tighe is the Ninja Noodle - I mean Turtle, Quinn has the knife through his devil head, and Oscar is the Green Wizard.

Trick?

or ....

Treat!

The bug boy with Snails

Visited Nana in the Waikato today.  Loaded another boot full of rocks for the steps... some of these rocks have not seen daylight in 25 or so years.  Tighe got bored with the heavy lifting, so Nana distracted him with some wonderful slimy snails.  Note the one under his ear.

2 Snails and 1 Tighe

The bug boy

A new earring perhaps?

Rena - The Mount

The Rena has spilt oil along the coast at Mount Maunganui and Papamoa.  An albatross has been killed by the oil slick, and lots of penguins.  Sad.  The air smells more like the industrial part of town, instead of the seaside.  Could see the Rena on the horizon, and helicoptors and boats surrounding her.
The beach is closed, it is the school holidays, so we decided to climb The Mount instead.
Helicopters, tug boats, naval vessels...all great things for children to see, plenty of action, and little white figures collecting oil from the harbour.

Beach patrol

Picnic Lunch

View from The Mount

The clean up crew

2 containers lifted off beach

On top of Mount

Returning Navy and Tug

Holiday Programme

Quinn has been enjoying the holiday programme at the Arts Village.  He enjoyed making felt.
He wants to make a phone cover for Gina.

Quinn's Creation

Fish Pond

So the pond is now clean, and the fish are happy.  All we (Erik) need to do now is finish building the steps, finish the wall, build a deck, and enjoy the sunshine.  We also need some more plants for the pond.  The waterlillies transplanted well from the old house.

Can you see the fish?

Oscar on the tallest slide

Oscar drove today, and look no hands!  He also tried out the tallest slide in the southern hemisphere.  All this was done at the Village Green at the Lakefront.  It was an exciting day for Oscar.

The little black speck is Oscar

Look Dad - No hands!

Oops! - Crash

Fish Pond - child's play

It's that time of year, when the weather is just that little bit more warmer, but the lily pads are not covering the water, so algae likes to grow in the fishpond.  I suggested at breakfast, that perhaps the children would like to clean out the fishpond.
It was a bit slimy, but the fish put up with little hands trying to catch them, and the 2 tadpoles have legs.

Chip Fire Lighters

Quinn came home from school, with a great idea learnt from the "Life Education Trust" Harold the Giraffe.  It was suggested that chips (crisps) could be used as fire lighters, so...
off to the supermarket, and discovered that most chips have a fat content of between 32-36% - just perfect for fire lighting.

The most difficult part was finding a "wind free" place, but with some water handy, Quinn lit the chip, and put them on a spare tile.  They burnt well, and the fat/oil seeped from them onto the tile.  The children didn't want to eat the rest in the packet after that, so we just sat and burnt them.  I wonder what "kettle fried chips" would burn like, as I think they have even more fat in them.

Potato Chip Fire Starter

Chips burn well

Our chip fire

Limeuil - the two bridges

Limeuil is a medieval walled village at the confluence of the Dordogne and Vézère Rivers.  There are two bridges built at right angle in 1891.