Awake in Auckland (with apologies to Sleepless In Seattle...)

What a week to leave my camera at home!
I took a walk up to SkyCity the other day to meet some peeps from twitter. It was great to meet people I’ve been tweeting with on and off since we moved here.
So there we were enjoying a fairly uninspired coffee, when the fire alarm went off. Everyone ignored it for a while, as you do, but the alarm continued followed by a disembodied voice announcing something indecipherable.
The unconcerned wait staff continued to serve meals and drinks, as the convenience store closed and the entire kitchen staff assembled outside - chef hats and all.
Five fire engines arrived, followed by burly firemen carrying hoses and other gear (give me a minute here ...sigh!)
Finally, we called a waitress over and asked if we were being evacuated.
“No not yet,” she said, before handing us the bill and suggesting we might like to pay it now, just in case we did have to make a run for it.
Er, yes, there might be a fire or bomb in the building; your kitchen staff have been told to leave; but yes, let's just make sure the punters pay for their coffees before they all DIE or something. Service FAIL!
Stupidly, I didn't have my camera, so I missed capturing the whole debacle for your pleasure.
We paid up anyway (humph), and left, and then @wendywings introduced me to another reason to visit Auckland, Giapo.
Giapo is the founder of Giapo Gelati, the yummiest icy treat in Auckland. He’s also a keen twitterer and uses social media in his marketing. You can even twitter in his shop, and of course, wi fi is de rigueur.
Anyway, the occasion was World Chocolate Day with every flavour of gelato involving chocolate of some kind. There was white chocolate and raspberry, strawberry chocolate, orange chocolate, black forest and more.
For $10 one could enjoy as many cups as one’s stomach could handle.I tried the giapo rocher and moccacino before giving up in a nod to my waistline. Mmmm, it was delicious though.
Finally, the kids and I arrived home from school this afternoon, to find a commercial being shot right outside our townhouse. In fact, the model was posing on the window sill outside our home office!
The kids hung around upstairs peering over the balcony with interest and watching the scene unfold, and occasionally calling out to the crew below. The crew were lovely and I even managed to get a quick snap before they left:

In other news, Husband has been away for work again.

I've managed to cope quite well, despite having two little bodies in bed with me most nights. Sadly, C. takes after his Mum, and is a very noisy sleeper, talking, moaning, sighing and generally throwing himself around the bed half the night. The second child spends the night at the bottom of the bed, cuddling ... my foot! (I know...)

For his part, Husband hasn't been sleeping well either, having to cope with a four-hour time difference as well as steamy weather and long hours. Then there was a red-eye flight, crammed into an economy Qantas seat next to a snoring guy who was twice the size of him.

I can't wait until he gets home - Husband, not the snoring guy - and things return to normal. And then maybe, we'll all get some sleep!

Happy little campers

This week, Missy’s class enjoyed a Camp Day. It was kind of 'The Camp You Have Without Having A Camp'.
Basically, they did all the fun stuff involved with camping, without the trauma of parents and teachers having to stay overnight.
The teachers put out a call for parent volunteers, and I was happy (kind of) to lend a hand.
Though I love my kids, spending time with other peoples’ offspring has never been a strong point. But gradually, the rugrats and their desire to have me join in on events like these, have converted me. I love that working part-time gives me the opportunity of getting involved, and learning more about their teachers and friends. Who would’ve thought it? Maybe I’m finally turning into a real Grown-Up Mumma?
Tents were erected, marshmallows were toasted, and a variety of feel-good outdoor activities enjoyed – parachute games, swimming, potato and spoon races, and a treasure hunt. With a sausage sizzle for lunch, and a movie and ice-block in the afternoon, the Grade Two kids were certainly happy little campers.
That evening? Missy slept well, and I did too, after a few medicinal wines. (Well, I had the wine. Miss H. had milk!)
I love our Auckland school. There are a huge variety of schools in NZ, and we were lucky to find one which is warm and caring, a lot like the school they went to back home.
In NZ, every child apparently has the right to attend a school close to where they live. The idea being that they can walk there if they want to, make loads of friends in the same neighbourhood, and feel more a part of the community.
And I love the idea too, except that it can be stressy for parents, because you can only send kids to certain schools if you live in the right 'zone'.
For example, when we moved here, we had to find a place to live which we could afford, which was convenient to work, but also was near a good school. And now, because the property we're renting is going on the market soon, we are faced with having to move again before the end of the year. And there is no way I want to uproot my kids again and take them to yet another school!
Clearly, we will be moving heaven and earth not to move … at least not far away.
Here are some of the things I love about our Kiwi school:
- Our kids get to drink filtered cold water throughout the day. (Unlike the crappy first state school my eldest attended in Brisbane, where the cranky teacher wouldn’t let them drink in 36 degrees celcius temperatures! That was one of the reasons we turned to a small private school in Brisbane…)
- The kids get to call teachers by their first names – even the principal. They get lots of hugs too! - There is no tuck shop. Kids can order healthy Subway sandwiches if parents haven’t had time to prepare a packed lunch, and it’s delivered later in the day. There are no cookies, pies, sausage rolls, home-made cakes, supposedly-healthy ice-blocks or the like. My kids get Subway at school once a week if they are lucky. And the system totally ends the pestering-for-money for treats at school drop-off in the mornings.
- Exercise is a priority. The kids exercise at school every day – swimming three times a week for H, twice a week for C. First thing each morning, there is Jump Jam (like aerobics to the latest hits) for H; C. does a more grown-up workout including stretches and running.
- Kids are not just allowed, but encouraged to climb trees! The playgrounds are challenging, fun, and for this Mum, slightly scary. (Would you believe they still have monkey bars? Really high monkey bars?) And once they hit grade 5, the kids learn to ride unicycles!
- All the teachers have laptops, and parents can communicate with them by email during the day. I just got an email from C’s teacher, telling him to get well soon and hopefully she’ll see him on Monday. (He came down with flu this morning).
- There’s a healthy attitude to food. Though foods like chocolates and lollies are banned, there are still fundraising days about once a term where they can buy a treat, like ice-blocks, home-baked goodies, or in the case of Missy’s camp day, toasted marshmallows and a sausage sizzle.
- The Maori culture is incorporated into daily school life and is part of the curriculum, in a way that indigenous culture is not celebrated back home. I love listening to our kids singing and speaking Maori, and that they can help me when I'm stuck with difficult pronunciations.
Sometimes I feel it's tough on the kids, having to learn two lots of vowel sounds and words, but then I guess it's no different to learning any other language at school either!
- Our school has kids (and teachers) from more than 20 different countries on the roll, so C. and H. are learning a healthy respect for and appreciation of other cultures, before official lessons even begin.
- They don't wear a uniform. Now usually, I'm all for uniforms. But in our case, it saved us a load of money when we arrived here, (having just shelled out big time back in Brisbane), and it also means the kids get plenty of wear out of their clothes.
The kids wanted me to share a few photos with you ...





Ready for school...





The leafy grounds





One of the many murals around school created by the children themselves












C's classroom has the latest in state-of-the-art furniture for kids. The ergonomic chairs are flexible and help support their growing bones.

They keep their books and pens in this file which lifts out when they need them

H. was so excited I could help out at Camp Day! Here, she's eating a sausage sanger for lunch.

Tents for Camp Day

Toasted marshmallow squashed between two biscuits. Missy declared it delicious!


Potato and spoon race - an interesting take on the traditional egg and spoon.

Park Life

Another week of school holidays have gone by, and somehow we've survived without too many tantrums and tears. The kids have been pretty well-behaved too!
We've spent a lot of time across at our local park, enjoyed a couple of picnics, and caught up with friends.

There was a DVD and Doona Day - coinciding with a wet and cold Auckland day - where we basically snuggled up and stayed dry. Auckland has the perfect weather for Doona Days!
And yesterday, the Little Dude enjoyed a visit to a travel museum and picnic with the city's YMCA school holiday program.
The Princess, poorly with a sore throat and tummy, elected to stay home 'with Mumma'. Keeping her quiet was a challenge, so spent most of the day baking - much to Chase's delight when he arrived home and sampled a few of our creations. I'm still cleaning up the kitchen after my little helper's assistance, but it was worth it to see her mixing and pouring to her heart's content.
Today, Chase is busy building lego creations, then we're walking up the hill to Ponsonby where he will hopefully get a haircut.
One of the downsides of our new home is that just about every night, Harmonie has a nightmare and/or night terrors. She's happy enough during the day, but I guess it's her reaction to the move and change of routine.
Anyway, her cries result in me leaping out of bed and making a midnight dash up three flights of stairs to comfort her. And invitably, she ends up at the bottom of our bed - cuddling my feet. (Yes, she's a weird child sometimes...)
Something tells me she's getting too tall for this, as usually Kyle or I - or both of us - end up getting kicked in the behind. Hence we're shopping for a double bed for her, so at least one of us can nap with her until she goes back to sleep if we need to.
And in response to the interested queries from many of you, yes, I have been sampling a few of the New Zealand wines. Here's one I enjoyed last night (I find wine o-clock comes a bit earlier on the school holidays!)