Kiwi kids are tough!

I say, the kids here are tough. I've seen the tiniest of girls mowed down by a boy twice her size during "flag" rugby, but she bounced up triumphantly with the flag in her hand. This happens several times a game, without a noise, fuss or tears. I think i have figured out why, at any opportunity, the kids play "rough and tumble" games. This involves just messing about trying to tackle each other, sometimes from behind without the kid knowing! I've seen this happen on the sidewalk, the kid taken by surprise had bleeding knees but the kid who knocked him down said "oh sorry, you alright?" and helped the kid up and away they went.

This activity takes place on the school yard, during "supervised" breaks and all! They would never let that slide in Canada! On the other hand you hardly see a kid hurt, or upset, or running to get the teacher because someone did something to them. They learn to stand up for themselves and "suck it up" Which I am finding is rubbing off on my boys. Both of them have been going to school for the last week and a half without shoes. We walk along the driveway, down the back alley across the road in into the school yard. Aidan has stubbed his toe several times to the point of bleeding but he continues on with the barefoot experiment. Connor cut the bottom of his foot on the pavement yesterday and has gotten his socks and shoes back on, but i am sure when he is able they will come off.

The other big change is Connor's fear of insects. Some of you will know that he had a deadly fear of all flying insects, to the point of hysteria some times. Well the number of flying insects here has forced him to accept them for what they are and realize that his fears were largely unwarranted. He can now walk outside amongst the insects with impunity, and even he realizes how much better it is to be free of the shackles of irrational fears. Growth on an emotional level, just one of the benefits we hoped would result from our adventures.

Indeed Danielle they will return men!

Our neighbours Chris and Jaqui had extra tickets for a benefit concert in town. One of the local radio stations had sponsored a tour of New Zealand called the "Winery Tour 2010". It was a lovely day and if you know who Tim Finn is, he was one of the main performers. The crowd at the front of the stage grew steadily throughout the evening, as more people were moved by the music (pun intended). I saw young and old singing along to the tunes that were largely new to me, though there were a couple of tunes we sung the chorus to.

That was the extent of our weekend activities, other than having the neighbours over for another impromptu dinner on Saturday...seems to happen every weekend. We were thinking of taking it a little slower so as not to burn out too early...need to recharge before heading out on another adventure.

I have created a calendar application on the web for anyone that wants to book a visit. Once on the site you can enter your travel plans and see the times that are already booked, on the table at the bottom. You are by no means excluded from visiting at the same time but accommodations may be a little crowded. Click Here

We did enjoy the Hockey game and the closing ceremony on Monday....(yes were live in the future.) I made me very proud to be Canadian.
















And finally Vic wanted this to go up for Sharon....