To celebrate my birthday and Zoe not needing me so much, I had a weekend away. I took a bus – on my own – up to Canterbury to stay with my gorgeous friend RH and her family, and had a lovely, relaxing time. I LOVED being with RH, but I must say the bus trips were possibly the highlight of the weekend… books, magazines, iPods, scenery, snacks, drinks, and no demands from anyone else – those 10 hours were a holiday in themselves!

In other news…

We had a family trip out to the Botanic Gardens with another home-schooling family (PS, MM and kids).

Zoe was obviously really keen on showing us her camera face if the month’s photos are anything to go by.

Linus went horse-riding again, but this time Ada rode as well, and Zoe, Nana and I kept them company. Zoe even enjoyed a cheeky wee ride herself.

My big kids enjoyed the mud at the playgrounds. The two photos shown below are different playgrounds on different days in May!

• Easter featured a family Easter Egg Hunt, courtesy of Daddy and some sneaky video clues.
• Easter also featured a life-size Easter Bunny and a full-on egg hunt with friends CB, EM, and OM and their folks.
• The kids and I were joined by Aunty Claire (still on leave after her honeymoon) and Nana for a wonderful, unseasonably warm afternoon at Tomahawk Beach.
• Linus and friend CB enjoyed a fun, weeks-long treasure hunt by another Playcentre parent, LG, and afterwards we baked her a Thank You cake.
• We had not one but two school holiday play-dates at the Botanic Gardens to catch up with friends we don’t see often enough – SM, LM, LABig and LALittle on one play-date, CB and MM on the other. One of the highlights was seeing the huge tree behind the cafeteria being pruned – a massive undertaking involving lots of ropes and chainsaws!
• Linus and Ada enjoyed their friend AG’s 5th birthday party.
• My kids continued to be cute.

Thanks to the modern age of time-stamped photos and a look at our trusty wall calendar, I can give you some idea of what our March 2011 was like five months down the track!

Wedding

My sister was married in late March, and we all had a lovely day at the Oamaru wedding and Moeraki Boulders reception. The kids all looked gorgeous, and Ada and the groom’s almost identical niece were picture-perfect flower girls.

Circus

Ada and I went on a date to the Circus Aotearoa. I hope Ada enjoyed herself, but I know I LOVED it! We so much on television these days that it’s easy to be underwhelmed when you see stunts performed in real life, but after the first ten minutes I was completely engrossed in what these real people were doing right before my eyes.

The highlight for Ada was definitely getting a balloon animal (a dog) at the end, with the candy floss at the beginning coming a close second.

Horse-Riding

A retired teacher that my mum knows takes children out for horse experiences (i.e. riding plus learning about grooming etc.), so Nana and Linus went and did this one morning in March. Linus had a great time, and even stood on the horse’s back!

Odds and Ends

The photos also remind me:

• I made popcorn for the first time.
• I got the girls “mopping” the kitchen by tying rags to their knees.
• The kids got heavily into Minecraft, which included making Duplo zombies (aka “creepers”) and making zombie masks.