October Veg. Garden?

That's right! Time to plant your spring and summer veggies and flowers.

The veggie compost soil had a warning on it: LIVE MICROORGANISMS. Wear gloves and wash off immediately after touching. You could actually see bugs crawling in it and it smelled like manure super fresh from the farm. Like they shoveled it right from the farm into the bag kind of fresh. I bet it will be awesome soil for growing tomatoes.

It took a while to wash off my hands, about three installments, in order to get the manure fragrance off of them. Very necessary to clean up because I was cooking dinner afterwards.

After dinner, the kids bounced around on the trampolines at the Esplanade. Pretty fun and a good way to burn off energy.

Today was the last day of spring break, and Ben is going to get registered at school tomorrow morning for the 4th quarter.

Want a lucky bit?

At the local bookstore, I was at the checkout this week when I got offered a "lucky bit" for the kids.  I was confused, so the clerk points over to a trough of green gift wrapped packages.  "Grab bag?" I asked.  The clerk laughs.  Yes, lucky bit is a grab bag. 
So Ben picks one and Zack picks a different "lucky bit" and then proceed to tear into the wrapping paper.

What's inside?

 

For Zack, a ski hat and a Mickey mouse journal. For Ben, a skateboard toy and a mini bowling toy.

Got to love getting a LUCKY BIT on the spring break school holiday.  Ben and Zack start school tomorrow.

Lollipops cheer up a rainy day...

When it's raining out, why not go to the indoor play "centre"- Lollipops Playland, where parents get a free coffee or latte and kids play for hours happily.  At the end, they give each kid a lollipop, called a "lollie."  Ben and Zack loved it there.

 

There was an indoor carousel made from Little Tikes three wheelers suspended in air.

 

Happy Ben crawls through a maze, kind of like a mega version of a Boomer's play area or Imagination Island in MA, USA.

 

Then, Ameera came over in the evening to watch the kiddos and Mike and I had a lovely date night at Zoe's Grill and Bar in Palmerston North. Mike had a great lamb shank meal.

 

 

 

After our great date, we went to the Warehouse together, Palmy's Target-like store that has a Costco type warehouse feel. After getting some Angry Bird cookies and some gummy eyeball candies for our Halloween party coming up, we returned home to the kids, who then promptly fell asleep at 9pm.

A relaxing and nice day for the family, despite the intermittent rain.

 

 

 

 

It's BANANAS!

You can grow bananas in the library, which is exactly what NZ locals do.  Check it out!

Seriously, real bananas grow on trees here inside the library reading atrium.

 

 

We became members of the library, and rented some books and DVDs today. 

 

Giant metal cockroach type bugs decorated the outside of the building of the arts and sciences... very cool.

 

 

Esther and her kiddo crew showed us around the science center downtown at Te Manawa and the kids had fun in a dark tunnel that led to a rainbow treehouse and in the constructtion zone play area where they built a wall of foam bricks.

 

 

Esther treated us to some delicious Chinese dumplings, pancake, chicken with cashews, etc.  Zack was being a bit crazy and overtired, because he woke up this morning at 4:30am.

We got home around 1:30pm and the kids relaxed and watched Shaun the Sheep on the floor of the living room.

My tired boys played with the nanny Ameera and I registered Superstar Tutoring Ltd. with the NZ government this afternoon.

Thursday is Mall Madness- late night hours!

The Plaza at Palmerston North has a late night on Thursday- this means that the mall and shops stay open until.....drumroll please....9pm!

So, I did what any girl who loves to shop would do, and I went twice to the mall.


 Once, after a park playdate with Esther Teoh and her two kids, we headed to the mall for lunch and some Kmart shopping. I got another dish drying rack and some more silverware for my kitchen.

Kids liked the Kiwiberri frozen yogurt shoppe , run by a nice young Florida couple.

Then later today at 7pm , I went to the mall AGAIN with no kids. 
I got some flowers, super 100 SPF sunblock, and some t-shirts for my family back home.

Zack and Ben are excited for Halloween and wore their costumes for most of the day
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It was nice to go in the evening, and it's only two blocks from our place.  Win, win!

Sandbox for Halloween?

Today we got a sandbox and some summertime beach ball toys, just in time for ....Halloween?
No joke!  Springtime Halloween is just 2 weeks away! After visiting Zack and Ben's new schools, we got a sand box and 60 L of play sand to made a backyard fun spot.

The kids had fun mucking around with water and sand in their swimsuits.

I did find some Halloween decor at the Uncle Bill's novelty shop in town.  People thought I was mad because I bought one out of every two Halloween items they had in stock.  Got to get ready for our costumed block party on Oct 27th for Halloween. Soon it will be PARTY TIME!

:)     Thanks for some American mail Colorado Greenbaums and Puddle Jumpers Learning center.  You are wonderful to send notes to us. Send me a postcard or letter, and I will give you a shout out on my blog!

Wacky Park Rides

Here's the superslide at the Victoria Esplanade Park.