Piha

 

Saturday was a windy, WINDY day, but we decided to head over the west coast again and check out Piha. Since it was so windy we knew we weren’t going to really enjoy the St Heliers Beach or park anyway so why not get out of dodge. I am glad we went. The wild west coast is beautiful and I love the scenery!

Lion Rock – we climbed up this (or as far as they let you climb).

love the black sand and sage green grasses.

claire, starting in on her mission to cover herself in black sand.

C&C

bill was photographer of the day – can you tell?

claire loves to do this sand army crawl.

another view of Lion Rock.

oh the wind…

ellie’s pony tail!

claire.

the start of our little climb.

this is my “is this a good idea?” look. the wind was whipping and sand was flying up in everyone’s faces and mouths and I really didn’t want to get to the top and be blasted by rain. we continued on…

when we rounded part of the rock the wind was a bit less.

storm clouds?

apparently it is sacred Maori ground. this is about as high as we could go.

charlie was getting nervous – these paths were actually quite steep with just a little railing to hold on to.

see the dark clouds in the upper left rolling in?

making our descent.

we are so lucky. it started sprinkling by the time our feet hit the sand and was monsooning rain when we reached the car. as we were running to the car the sand was whipping up and hitting our faces and there were lots of tears by a little boy wearing a cars shirt. he was much happier to be in the car.

we hit up this Piha café for a coffee and treat before heading back. (meaning – I sat in the car and had bill run in while I started up the DVD player for the kids to watch something on our drive home – oh how things have changed). short, but sweet trip. glad it is close so we can go back again when it is warmer and watch the surfers!

steel trap, part 2

charlie has always had an incredible ability to memorize. I wrote a post back when he was about 20 months old when I was amazed to find out that he had memorized tons of the books we were reading. It struck me then that it was a talent, but it soon just became something he did (I would catch him “reading” the toddler bible, Ferdinand, memorizing scripture easily, etc) . The girls have given me some comparison as to what is *maybe* a bit more normal on the memorizing scale so now I see Charlie’s memorizing skills as a gift from God more than just what he does. I am convinced he got it all from me .

About a month ago we got a package from Bubba with the Disney Planes book in it. We have read it here and there (a lot that first week) and he listened to the audio CD of it a bit those first few weeks as well. I am sure he had the book memorized that first week, but we didn’t know it until a few nights ago when Bill was reading it before bed and he missed a word. Charlie corrected him and Bill said “Charlie, do you have this whole book memorized?” Charlie said “Yes, you have to go to the beginning!”.

So they started at the beginning of the 32 (THIRTY TWO) page book and off he went. He would recite the book and then look at Bill excited to show off his skills. I came down a bit into it to watch as well and it was just incredible to watch and listen to him. He would say the right words with the right pages and if he missed a word he would go back and correct himself.

Bill was recording some of it.

you can see about how many words per page. It definitely wasn’t an easy read.

Charlie we are so proud of you! I pray you see this talent as a gift from God and use it for His Glory! Your dad and I can’t wait to see how you will use this ability in the future!

kindy

 

Charlie has been at Acorn for 1 term now. A few weeks ago Acorn put on an art show for just parents to come see their children’s art on display. They did a good job and had wine, appetizers, etc. It was fun to see the things Charlie has made.

They had the kids draw the second part of their face.

his mosaic tile.

his “bat” – not exactly sure what he was going for. I think maybe a cricket bat?

they were learning about airplanes and he painted this one.

they also made paper machete airplanes with a runway. 

the set up.

Charlie will actually be starting next term at Marshwood Montessori and we are both REALLY excited about that. I wanted to get a bit more structure/more quiet environment for him to learn in. He can be quite focused when he has the space and I thought Acorn was just a bit too big for both of us. He did enjoy himself over the last 10 weeks or so though!

September wrap up

 

here are some random photos from our September…

At the La Cigale market on Saturday morning there was “NZ’s only conceptual balloon artist” (or whatever that is) and he was making any balloon creature that kids wanted for a donation. We decided to let Charlie get one and he picked a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. The guy did a pretty great job if you ask me!

Charlie was happier about it than he looks here. This is after church and market and he is tired!

proudly showing off his written numbers.

we have been checking out lots of great books from the library about how things work. Charlie will “read” them for hours.

one afternoon I was in Charlie’s room having a “discipline/instruction” talk and the house was eerily quiet. I knew the girls were up to something, but I wasn’t sure what. I came out to find this chair pushed up to the counter.

and these two smiley girls in a baby pack n play delightfully holding the bag of crackers. see the empty box on the ground?

how can you be mad at those two cuties?

thankfully, they knew they were in the wrong and handed them over (while still getting to keep a couple). Claire is the one handing them over. Ellie is the one giving the goofy smile.

at MOTAT with Bill one random Saturday.

they had these old stocks and Bill tried them out and we tried to explain to the kids this is what used to happened when people did something wrong.

bill had to snap this photo of his favorite sign. He sees this sign on his drive to work and around town and here is what he has to say about it…

Bill said “Common Sense, Emmett would recommend smiling at your constituents when campaigning for their votes”. he laughs every time.

on the tram back to the car.

me and claire.

this was taken after naps this past weekend. Ellie had wanted to go to sleep with this bag around her neck stuffed full of babies and things. Bill told her no and took it off and put it on the floor not thinking about it. Eleanore is SO stubborn and determined sometimes – she did the rest of her “naptime” routine with bill and then he left the room and she proceeded to put all the babies and things back into the bag and pull it over her head and sleep with it! we woke her up to find this! she is classic.