Cheers

Life seems to be ticking away over here... sometimes the days just blur together and I look at the calendar and go, "Where has the time gone?" In the last couple of weeks we've survived a few bouts of the flu, celebrated Dan's birthday, had a bump surgically removed from Ben's face (he's fine, but did have to be put under for them to remove the damaged skin), entertained my sister and her boyfriend, been skiing...

So, cheers, to good health, birthdays and family!

Kitchen Wonders

Ben and I have been playing in the kitchen lately. I was given a copy of the cookbook "Deceptively Delicious"" by Jessica Seinfield as a birthday present from our friend Wes. Ben has taken to the book so much that we're on a mission to make as many of the recipes as possible. Today's task was french toast (with the hidden ingredient of sweet potato and flaxmeal). Everyone in the family liked the brownies (with the hidden ingredients of spinach and sweet potato). The photo above is a rare opportunity for Josh to play in the "helping spot". His eating has taken off as well- I've just discovered that he likes the Kiwi stable of roast chicken and vegs (potatoes, carrots, pumpkin and kumara). Now if only we could get Ben to eat a dinner like that! I guess the trick will be to hide it a loaf of banana bread or something like that.

My commute

The process of getting out of the house with two small children often tests my patience. The morning routine is often a give and take process of constant requests that often result in flat out bribery.

The other morning I had to take a number of deep breaths in order to keep my cool. Then I stopped, looked around and realized that yes, getting two kids in the car on a time frame can be a challenge, but look at where I live.

The above photo was taken w/ a telephoto lens from our front door.

On the way to driving Ben to preschool I had another realization, "My commute really isn't so bad." Not only do I not have any traffic lights I don't even have any stop signs between our house and his school (several yield signs, but if you time it right you don't even have to stop!).
I pulled over in downtown Wanaka to take the following photo. It's a nice reminder to me to realize that when the kids are screaming and no one will put their shoes on that really, it's not a bad life over here.

Ben tackles the magic carpet

Another successful trip to the ski hill. We rented Ben some gear and he really enjoyed his day on skis. Way to go kiddo!

Rainy Day

Josh

Return to winter

We thoroughly enjoyed our month long summer vacation in California and Colorado, but now that we're returned to winter in Wanaka we were all very excited about our chance to go skiing. Today was our first day up at Cardrona and while we still have a few hiccoups to work out we have been improving our logistical challenge on how to get up to the ski resort w/ ski gear, 2 kids and all the various other bits and pieces one needs for a day in the snow. Ben was very excited about the magic carpet. Josh thought the best part about the ski resort was eating his season pass.