change of season

Hi Everyone; March already! And according to the calendar we are now officially in Autumn! (Spring for you folks reading this in the Northern Hemisphere of course) We have had a fair amount of rain this last couple of days with more promised - my washing is still hanging out from Friday! Hopefully the precipitation will help the farmers suffering from the effects of the drought. Me, being selfish, can't wait for the next high to roll in.

Enough of the weather. (At least for a moment) February saw Sarah and Matt moving into their new home. One box of 'stuff' still missing and a fair amount of breakages - mostly small things but annoying just the same. They are literally 'down the road', nearer the sea and one of our favourite cafes. Ben and Joe are happy to have all their toys around them (again literally!!) and Joe astounded us all by learning to ride his bike without stabilizers in 2 minutes flat - no running beside him holding the saddle! Video on their blog.

The Jacob family are getting involved in the local community. India is doing her gymnastics and Rainbows while Ash is about to start Cubs and his guitar lessons. He has had his 9th birthday this week. Before we know it he will be a teenager! Roy and I have had our birthdays too this month - in summer for the first time!! Katherine has got the vegetable garden ready for autumn planting and we are all enjoying the potatoes that were already there.

Annie, Malc and Olive are welcoming friends from the UK this weekend. I don't want to think about the trip with a 3 yr old!! But welcome anyway to Chris, Jo and Dillon and hope they enjoy NZ. Olive is 4 months this weekend - turning over already and sitting for a few moments at a time. I think she will be like her Mum and get on the move early. Annie crawled at 5 months.

The photos this time are from our trip last weekend to Lake Tekapo - about 300kms SW. We were very lucky and saw the lake in all its glory - it really is turquoise. The blue lake is close by (both in the bottom picture) and I hope that you can see the difference in colour. The top photo is a small creek that Joe and Ben waded in just off the blue lake - Alexandrina. We all immersed ourselves in the hot springs in Tekapo although more hardy members of the family did swim in the much, much colder waters of the lake itself. We rented 2 houses next door to each other and apart from thinking that the high winds during the Saturday night were going to blow us into the lake the weather was glorious. We drove to the top of Mount John to get a good view and saw the top of Mount Cook Aoraki, covered in snow, peeping over the nearer mountains.

Well Folks, that is it for another month, so with all my love and best wishes to you, take care and do keep in touch. Carol xx