Our Trip Part 2 - The Girls

How do you get two girls, two suitcases, two handluggage bags and a picnic from the domestic terminal to the international terminal at Auckland airport? We walked like this! To be honest this was what I was most worried about - all the bags and two little girls but we managed admirably!





A quiet moment on the plane. I realised I took way too much hand luggage - I think I had things for every eventuality and then some. Maia and Cassia are now of the age that TV amuses them for a long time and Cassia's best coping mechanism for long haul flights? To fall asleep for most of it!

Two very startled girls during the treasure hunt I did on Easter Sunday. Maia loves them - the kind where you put picture/word clues around the house/garden and they lead you to the next one. It was the first time that Cassia joined in and she loved it too. And at the end of the treasure hunt? A chocolate bunny. I have to admit that I have never bought the girls an easter egg yet and a small chocolate bunny seemed to thrill them just as much.

We visited a few National Trust properties near my parents and this photo shows Cassia in the hedge. And I mean she was really was in the middle of a huge hedge having found a little entrance to push through further down the path!

What do little girls get up to with their older cousins?

Two little flower fairies in a beautiful blooming magnolia tree.

I think my two daughters may have a future packing down in the front row! Hit them hard and low!

Good tackle!

Cassia about to play in the garden before breakfast in her pyjamas - isn't that what holidays are all about?!

Will it ever come back......?!!!!

This was the sky on the day we left. What has happened to it whilst we've been away? Are we ever going to see it again?

We returned to NZ 2 weeks ago and have settled back in nicely. The girls readjusted quicker than I but then they are remarkably resilient creatures! The trip was good - the girls were amazing. On both legs of the journey they didn't whinge, grizzle or cry once. Whoops that's a lie -Maia did when we dotted down at Auckland from Palmerston North and I elbowed her in the temple whilst putting on my rucksack but I'd say that was understandable!

We've gots lots of photos to share and news to tell but I thought I'd do a quick post first to get back into it. It's funny how quickly you get out of posting or even reading blogs so I've a lot of catching up to do. Looking forward to reading all the recent posts of those blogs I follow and maybe having the time to dip into some others. Here's hoping I can get some blogging mojo happening! x

Settling in, but ......

We were getting quite settled in to our new house and life. Maia has settled in really well at Kindy and Cassia and I are going to a few playgroups in town. Craig is really enjoying his course, Furniture Making and Design, and has already bought back an awesome coffee table! I have been working my way through the things I want too, especially ticking off some of my 37 Things. Now you just know there's a but coming don't you?! And you would be right - the girls and I are heading back to the UK on Sunday!

Pretty big 'but' eh? I always knew there would be a trip back at some stage this year but I wasn't planning it quite so soon. However, due to family reasons we're going back now. The plan is for 4 weeks in the UK - but as they say plans are made to be broken - so we're not setting anything in concrete just now. Craig is staying in NZ so it goes without saying that we are all going to miss him terribly - Maia has already had a fair few upset moments when she thinks about her daddy not coming too. It's at those times that my heart strings get pulled so tight I think they are going to snap. I want my life to be here in NZ but my extended family is in the UK so life is never going to be plain sailing. Then you add in illness and it becomes something of a rollercoaster.

So in a nutshell there's an update! Wishing you all the best and a very happy Easter. x