We went to the church nativity the other night, it was in an open barn in the middle of a field, there was straw bails and straw all over the floor, they had real sheep and a donkey and all the kids were ecouraged to dress up and take part. Some mums narrated the story and got as many kids involved as possible including letting the numerous Mary's ride on the donkey. We all sang carols in the evening sunshine, it was really lovely and have to say the best nativity I have been to. Jess is on the back right dressed as an angel.


No I dont think that the angel rode on the sheep in the nativity story but Jess wanted to - so anything goes!

We also had the school trip to the beach for sun and sea safety. The kids spent the day at the beach with the lifeguards. They were told all about keeping safe in the sun with the slip slap slop bit. Then beach games including running in out of the sea and jumping the waves.

Jess was brave and jumped up and down over the waves - holding the lifeguards hand though, but a big improvement.
If anyone has noticed there is a lack of photos of Sam and Joe this week, Joe refused to go to the nativity and sam hid away from the camera with his friends.

We have also had the school prizegiving at the church followed by a picnic in the school playground. Some of the kids were even swimming in the pool at 8pm! I have to say it was freezing cold in there, we were all wearing coats so I cant imagine how cold the kids must have been. The Millard kids never made it into the pool, obviously not climatised yet!

Martin enjoying his mince pies at school!

Josie and Derrick took the kids to the beach yesterday and caught some fish from the wharf. Today we went to Mclaren Falls and marshall farm. We had a lovely day walking in the sunshine and having a picnic by the lake. Only got bit about 10 times!!


All the kids managed to get to feed the lambs and the goats.




Found the 3 little bears whilst at the farm!



Just in case anyone is thinking of visiting - here is how you have to earn your keep!!

Going for the traditional xmas lunch this year, we have been told by the neighbours that we will only do it once and then we will be at the beach with them having a bbq from next year onwards.

Will try to keep this up to date - wine allowing!
love to all
xxxx

The Beach BBQ was a fun, nearly abandoned on several occasions due to the wind and the rain, but in a truly british fashion we stuck out the cold, to be suprised by a lovely afternoon. Out came the waterslide and jess and joe had lots of fun getting covered in washing up liquid.



Plenty of things to do over next few days, school trip to the beach, school prizegiving and picnic and we are taking advantage of our visitors - we are off to a party on Friday without the kids!!
xx

This is the meaning of jet lag!! Derrick asleep after a 36 hours of travelling!. Off to a British BBQ this week down on the beach. Went to the other side of the world to get away from the pommes and now we are surrounded by them! In other news.......................

We had the school production this week - this is Jess as a cheeky fan tail dancing on the stage. Joe was an orca - killer whale but was very camera shy.

It was the Mount christmas parade, the town was closed so the parade could go up and down the street. Still seems strange seeing Santa in the sun.

Well we have had a busy week again but glad to say no trips to the hospital. Jess had her sports day and she is seen here giving her team the pre game pep talk!

Well sorry we have not posted much on the blog as we have had a very busy couple of weeks. As you can see sam was not content with a broken arm and decided to put his hand in the way of his friend playing with an axe. He nearly ended up with 6 fingers on one hand as his little finger was sliced down the middle. After surgery everything should now be back as was , we just have to wait for the healing to happen. We now have several hospital appointments over the next few weeks to get him better. He has been warned not to leave our side but he is managing to still argue and fight with Joe.


Other news - The boys had their sports day ( joe only). They had the whole day competing with 4 other local schools. Joe did well and got to the final of the high jump - thats him actually doing his jump in the red tshirt. His lazy bum streak came out though in the running and quickly worked out that if he ran slow enough he would only have to run one race! Jess has her sports day tomorrow.

Last week was the annual family christmas festival in Omokoroa. It was a lovely day with loads for the kids to do .

Jess had her first ride on a horse and loved it. She now wants riding lessons so we are going to look at her joining the pony club. Only thing with that is they have to look after the horses completely. Mums is not helping with mucking out!!
We also had a ride around the village on the old fire engine which was fun. Sam managed to win at the football competition (yes with one arm). It was just kicking cans off of stands and scoring goals, no one else was involved so we let him have a go.

Today we are off to the Mount as its the big christmas festival there. The town is closed to cars and the streets are lined with xmas stalls and games for the kids with a big xmas parade. There is also a big 'flip flop' event or jandels as they are know here. $20 for charity gets you a giant blow up flip flop and at 12pm everyone is going out into the sea on them to try and make a giant flip flop in the sea. Think this will be an event we will just watch! You never know what sam could do to himself if we let him have a go!

Kids of got a lot going on at school over next few weeks and we have our first visitors so will keep the blog up to date.
Love to all
the millards xxx