rachel.blog

Climbing trees Better on the face than the furniture I suppose In the playhouse

People here are becoming increasingly frustrated about the city centre remaining out of bounds. The heart of the city has been completely cordoned off from the public for more than three months now with high wire fencing around the perimeter of the red zone. I can understand the frustration. The people of Christchurch have no […]

A goatee? Dance classes this week went fabulously well. Both kids were in good spirits; Elizabeth had had her sleep already and all the stars were aligned (not that I believe that rubbish of course). Some photos from dance class: Daniel giving Elizabeth a kiss Elizabeth showing her moves Daniel took his Gruffalo forest to […]

I was just thinking as I went to bed last night, that we haven’t had our 4+M earthquake this week. Although it’s fair to say that earthquakes are generally always on my mind and especially at night when I’m trying to go to sleep. Well this morning we got our 4.1 for the week as […]

We have had lots of different trucks on our street for the past month or two sucking out the sewer drains and taking the stuff away. One of the trucks was amusingly named Charlie’s Takeaways. This morning a new lot of trucks and diggers appeared and they’ve started digging up the street to replace the […]

I took Elizabeth out on the bike today for the first time. She’s never been on my bike as the last time I rode it was when I was pregnant with her and Daniel rode in the seat on the back. After her birth I had the problem of two children and only one child […]

We have had Di visiting this week which has been wonderful. She and Daniel made a Gruffalo forest which I just had to photograph for the blog: Elizabeth said f**k this morning. Ben was changing her nappy and just as he removed it, a little poo made a dash for freedom across the bedroom carpet […]

I read recently that a three-year-old boy was receiving counselling for the September quake in the CTV building when the February quake struck and the building collapsed. Miraculously, the boy, his 11-month-old sister and their mother, all survived. I imagine he’ll now need counselling for the counselling. A week before the February quake I asked […]

Elizabeth is already showing great interest in clothes and dressing-up. Heaven help us! I love watching the Where the Hell is Matt video on youtube and never tire of it. The kids like it too:

We drove to Pegasus today, a new development north of Christchurch. It has an impressive man-made lake which the kids love as well as playgrounds and a very nice restaurant/cafe. Some photos: Elizabeth loves yoghurt: Elizabeth and I both have the same philosophy, expressed so well by Dylan Thomas, except that for her, it relates […]

I take the kids to dance classes every Wednesday and they both love it as do I. But the building we’re in has a crack through the brick-work: It is single storey with a steel roof and steel beams. Should I be worried? The earthquake has changed my whole outlook. Prior to September 4th 2010, […]

Got woken just after 3am by a 5.3M earthquake last night. It woke Daniel also and he started crying. Knowing I wouldn’t fall asleep again straightaway (heart thumping), I went online to Geonet to see what size it was. They took ages and ages to upload this time so I checked out twitter and discovered […]

I went to Merivale mall last week and took a photo. Not much has changed since February 22nd: I find it interesting that the Art Deco building next door survived remarkably well. There’s a similar pattern throughout town with lots of Art Deco architecture relatively unscathed. I want our next house to be Art Deco.

We decided to start giving Daniel pocket money yesterday; $2 per week. Does that sound about right for a 4-year-old in 2011? Ben asked him at bedtime last night what he’d like to do tomorrow. He replied: get more money from mummy for piggy bank. He’ll go far.

There’s a little boy at Daniel’s kindy who lost his mother in the February 22nd earthquake. She was working in one of the buildings that collapsed; only worked three days a week and was planning to quit. At kindy this week, a teacher read a story called “It’s Okay to be Different”. One of the […]

Daniel is very taken with the Royal couple, Catherine and William. He discovered a photo of them on the day after their wedding and was so smitten, that Di cut out the photo for him and it’s now pinned to his wall. Perhaps he’s just a sucker for an attractive girl in a pretty dress. […]

Just as I was dropping Daniel off at kindy this morning there was another pesky earthquake. Only a 4.0 which surprised me as I thought it was bigger. Daniel was already a little anxious about attending kindy today probably because of the mean kids from yesterday, so the earthquake was bad timing. He’s coping pretty […]

Daniel’s cast came off on Monday and all is fine. He also started morning kindy which is 5 mornings per week for 4-5 year olds. From outside appearances, Daniel seems to love it: he smiles when we drop him off and smiles when we pick him up and there are no complaints before or after. […]

They say Christchurch is munted. According to the Urban Dictionary munted means f***ed which is a pretty good description of the place. We arrived back this afternoon and I walked through the door expecting to be tossed about the very instant I set foot inside the house but nothing happened. The ground has been quiet so […]

Dunedin Botanic Gardens Cheeky