The Reynoldz

none of the streets here look the same... Good ole Jimmy Buffet. We listened to a lot of Jimmy by the pool in Disneyland. And that song came to mind when I couldn't remember what day it was today. So, I hear I have some blog fans that I need to keep entertained.

He we go. Yesterday was good Friday in New Zealand. A holy holiday and everything was closed. I left you saying we were heading to the Salvation Army for Easter crafts. It didn't turn out that way. It was a Good Friday church service and all of the girls were a little disappointed. It caught Nicola and Ian (Anna's friends) by surprise too. We snuck out after they said lets spend the next 1 to 2 hours looking and reflecting on the stations of the cross. The pictures were graphic reality of horrible things in todays world that I try to shelter my kids from. Not like the stations carved in wood of Jesus that I'm used to or the stained glass windows. Erin and Haidyn were upset. Faith and Emily were just having fun playing. I enjoyed the company of friends and the experience.

Nicola invited us over for morning tea to hunt for chocolate eggs and eat hot cross buns. Hot cross buns are a Good Friday tradition in NZ. Ummm they were good. Tasted like a chocolate muffin. Nicola made a great fruit cake too. Ian entertained the girls while the ladies visited.
Nicola's house has these great castle steps leading up to their house. I have a few pictures before my battery exhausted. Guess I have been using the camera to much. Anyway, the two other girls are Emily and Juliette, friends of Haidyn and Athea. A cute "Wendy House" (play house) in their side yard. A great place to hide chocolate.

After morning tea it was time to feed the troups lunch again... Two loads of dishes a day along with a loaf of bread and 3 liters of milk.

Anna's friends Leslie and Nigel stopped by to say good bye, they were moving to Australia that day... Anna thought it was next Friday. We had tried to get together earlier in the week, but it just didn't work out. A nice friend who has lived in Minneapolis and San Francisco, but they didn't meet until both were here in Wellington. She will miss her.

Later in the day, I took Matt, Faith, Erin and Haidyn for a walk about 2 kilometers to the spiderweb park. While Anna worked with Dani on her Math and Athea took a nap. Ha, now you know why it is spiderweb park. I thought it just had spider webs all over, but it is a cool climbing thing. Matt was a spider and the girls were flies caught in his web. They had a great time and Anna joined us later. We left when Erin had to go potty. No toilets at the park. Thank goodness Anna drove the car down to meet us. It would have been a long walk back.


Friday night the girls had a bath and curled up to watch Lion King 1 1/2. Dig a tunnel dig dig a tunnel.

As I said, the days drift by or they crash by like big waves, the time goes by pretty fast. We have already been here for over a week. And of course we are having a great time.


On Saturday, we took Matt and Dani to Capital E in downtown Wellington. This is where they will be spending the next week learning Circus tricks and broadcasting. The little girls, Anna and I went to a Children's play Jack and The Beanstalk. It was funny, but Athea was scared by Jack's mum, who had a loud scarey voice from the beginning. "Not my favorite, wanna go home" She kept chanting. Her and a few other 2 year olds were crying. They may want to tone down the crabby old mum part. The other kids liked it the play. It lasted 45 minutes or so.

After picking up Matt and Dani from their 2 hour introduction to circus, we headed to the Bach for lunch (batch). It overlooks the west end of the bay area. The kitchen was backed up 45 minutes, so we didn't get a chance to feed the crabby children. Headed home to fix them personal pizzas. Crabby, crabby, crabby, Calgon take us away. It is great how a little food just makes them happy little kids again. Eric, Matt and I played Scrabble (on a real board, not the computer). Close game, 193, 190 and 187. I ended up winning because of going out first and getting 5 extra points. Hoo ya.

We colored Easter eggs using white candy coated chocolate eggs. In New Zealand all eggs are brown. They don't color hard boiled eggs like we do in the states. The candy coated chocolate eggs need a hammer to crack them open. We had a great laugh about that. The kids had fun and hopefully won't break any teeth eating them on Easter. Here are some pictures.
Erin and Faith

Faith and Haidyn

Athea (My camera isn't fast enough for her. Dani and Matt. Anna and Eric in the background.



Eric took the kids swimming at 5:30 pm, while Anna and I cleaned the house and made dinner. We had it all ready for them when they got home because we knew they would be starving. All went well and they were in bed by 7:50. Sad how the only time we get alone we spend cleaning or cooking.

Happy Easter to everyone hope you are spending time with family or friends and enjoying life to the fullest.