Museum of City and Sea

Last Friday we branched out and headed down to the waterfront for an exploration of the Wellington Museum of City and Sea.

First mission - find a carpark. With horizontal blasts of polar cap hitting us sideways everytime we stepped outside the door this week, I opted for the easy option and parked in the carpark under the museum. That was my big greenie newbie city dweller mistake. Carpark buildings are NOT created equal in this town and the pricing is hugely variable. But more on that later...

We unfolded our new loan Phil and Teds in line double Buggy (flash!) with a hip-city-mother flourish of coordination. The boys alighted - funnily they fight to sit in the behind chair - were clipped in and hatted up. Up in windyville we ditched the idea of a small wander up and down the waterfront, and headed to find a small boy compatible lunch spot.

Again Im going to wander off track, but there is a difference between child friendly, and small boy compatible. Most cafes are very welcoming, but the trick is to find a place where the mother can relax and not worry if the little tykes a) roar around screaming, b)lick the salt shaker then drop it on the floor or c) drop their pants in the middle of the room then run for the toilet.
The picks of places are usually large open areas with reasonably tough looking fittings. Also called Pubs. We went to Chicagos and I was impressed they had a kids menu, and some driving machines. Seems same appeals for boys no matter the age. Great hit with the lads, they were fascinated by the adults having their friday wet lunches.

Then at last to the museum. It is free ! Top marks and very friendly. Hit all the spots for the boys - lifts, interact displays, a lion, a train, and even a captains cabin to jump around in. Ropes to tie, ships wheel to steer, and a cool 3D mythology story teller.

We returned to the car, happy with our new hangout, and then we went to pay the carparking bill. Two hours for $17. Gulp. Tried to pay and while machine faffed around, the time clicked over into two and half hours for $22. Ouch. So much for a cheap outing. Will be back to the museum but next time we coming by bus.

Giant moa, Giant Squid

We have embraced BE BAPA (as little brother calls it) as a second home. We've been six times in total now and each time have made a bee line for the giant moa (Big brothers favourites) and the Giant Squid (little brothers fav's - although he calls them 'Jant-da Moa' and 'Jant-da Did'.)

We have been artistically cultured at the Monet Exhibition (after cueing for 1.5 hours the excitement was extreme!) and our wee paleantologists have uncovered the dinosaur fossil in the sandpit. 

What an amazing place, with fantastic discovery zones full of interactive games and models, toys and comfy couches. My IQ, and vocabulary has certainly been extended! 

So far I have voted the Te Papa cafe as my personal pick for best hot-choc in new city of residence. And also takes boys  cafe experience to new levels as they sell little plastic cups full of jelly. Amazing. Out of our two hangout places discovered so far - Be Bapa is rocking. (Sorry Johnsonville Mall, you come close second.)

Wellington Museum of City and Sea - hope you're ready to knock our highly-pulled-up-museum socks off. You're next on the agenda, if we can go past the lure of the giant moa and giant squid.

Museum Junkies

Wednesday was a very rainy day, and one of the challenges of moving to a big city with small boys is finding places to burn energy. Especially on really wet miserable days. 

I had been thinking our first trip to Te Papa, the national museum would be a SPECIAL occasion type trip, saved up and then relived for months. However I changed my mind after three hours of building huts, reading stories and racing cars along the sunporch. Hide and seek only burns so much boy energy, especially as these boys tend to find one hiding place (under the covers of Mum and Dads bed) and go back there everytime!

So off we went to Te Papa. Our mission was to find a dinosaur. Although we found plenty of bones and a giant squid, trekked around the place for hours, and even had lunch of jelly at the cafe, the absolute highlight would have to have been.... the hand driers in the toilets. 

What oohs and ahhs they produced as we all took turns putting our hands under  'ON!' and taking them away 'OFF!'. We peered up them and banged them abit to wee what that did. Amazing piece of technology, and the wonderful preservation of our countries national treasures was you know, quite fun too.

Adventures in the Big City

Its hard to believe the last blog I wrote was on the 7th March. 

Now its the 6th May. And quite a few things have changed in our lives, so to keep it simple, was going to write a list...but, you know there are some times in your life when its better not to relive tricky times. Perhaps its best to concentrate on all the great stuff that is happening NOW.

My lovely husband has a great job and is enjoying it. We are housesitting for 6 weeks in the 'burbs of the capital city. The boys are lovely and amazingly resilient. Happiness for them is having their parents around everyday. They are embracing city life ( while Mum is still finding it a bit challenging at times). Yesterday we had the wonderful adventure of catching the bus into local shops. It takes 5 mins to drive, and 15 mins on the bus, so it was time well spent. Even waiting for the bus was an adventure - they learnt about bus stops by special signs, buying a ticket, pressing the bell to stop the bus. Mind boggling stuff. 

For the first few days Big Brother was puzzled by the red lights. 'What are we doing, Mummy?' he asked, EVERY time we stopped. 'Waiting for the lights'. ' Ahh'.

Now he says -' I want to stop at the Red Lights!' when we get a clear run.

Talka talka talka

Little brother has discovered his vocal chords. Specifically that they can make lots of different words that he can use to communicate. He hasnt learned to put them to together yet, but they come out firing out, determined single words sentences. All ending with an -a.

He might say:
'Mumma. Willa. A-saur. Turn. (Shaking his head).'
Transl. :
'Mum, Will is not letting me have a turn with the dinosaur.'

Or:
'Mumma. Juica. Wada (Shaking his head).'
'Mum, I want a juice, NOT a water.

During the summer holidays he renamed his visiting cousin hordes, christening them with the-a. Hannah, Ella, Fletcha, Charl-a, Georgia and Julia came off alright, but Wog (Robbie) and Apgar (Alex) didn't do so well. They just might stick.

He is so enjoying being able to communicate, and he even cracked his first joke the other day. His big brother has been watching a bit of The Muppet Show and had been singing that classic skit -'Mana mana, Do do do do do'. Little brother and I were sitting at the breakfast table and he pointed at the melon I was eating. 'Its melon' I told him. 'Mana' he said, 'Mana.' Then he got a little curious thinking expression on his face and started singing 'Do do do do'.
It may have been a 'you had to be there' joke, and not great over the ethernet, but we both cracked up.

He also loves to sing in the car. Another milestone of language development was reached coming into Piopio last weekend when after 150 kms of E-I-E-I-E-I-E-I, he finally hit the -O.

Amongst the prickles

Two weeks after leaving our home of four years, I find we are on an emotional see-saw.

At one extreme, and mostly, we are missing home, finding it unbelievable that we go to the park and know NO ONE . Unbelievable that our old life and playcenter is carrying on WITHOUT US back in the bay of beauty. Feeling a little guilty I am still for all intents and purposes 'on holiday' and get to live in this other beautiful place.

And at the other extreme I am learning how to fly fish. Living at the river mouth where a world class trout fishing river feeds into a world class trout fishing lake, it only seems appropriate. Added to that my sons can spend hours throwing stones into that river. If we need to survive on trout and blackberries we could.

And then there are the blackberries. As I was wandering down the pumice littered beach this evening for my pre dinner dip in the luke warm lake, with my gin in hand, I just couldn't resist a few black beauties. Seems we have found ourselves in the prickles frequently lately. We have been scratched. We have had tummy aches from eating too many red ones. We've picked a few half ripe ones and been sorely disappointed with the after taste.

But we still can't resist risking finding the sweetest one possible, we can't resist risking reaching so far out of our comfort zone that sometimes we will fall headfirst into the prickles.

Wiping the juice from off our faces we can't blame it on the plants. With the most luscious blackberry come the prickliest prick.

Happy new Blog

Hi there, long time no blog.....let me tell you a little story...

Once upon a time everything was going along peachily, and we all lived in a fairytale town with a great beach and free movies. We had lovely friends and ordered wine by the case from scenic cellars. We had two delicious children and life seemed perfect. Except of course, that nothing is ever permanent and even princesses and princes cop their share of well...challenges and changes.

So, what happened to the heroes of this fairytale? So far, they left town 3 days ago in search of other opportunities, taking their two handsome princes, a truck full of belongings and a collection of life long friends. Presently they are residing beside a beautiful lake, carving boats out of pumice and eating a lot of blackberries. And they still have two delicious children and live really close to scenic cellars now so still manage a few too many good bottles of vino. They are looking for new jobs and a new house. They are reinventing themselves and I hope you continue to follow their journey... they will try and share it with you once more.

(Not anywhere near) The End