Jack and Katrina's Place

Guy has discovered hiding games. he particularly likes to hide behind the curtains in our lounge. Actually he is not very good at hiding because he giggles constantly to himself .That is our que to exclaim loudly "Where's Guy?" which prompts more giggling and wiggling from behind the curtain until I go over and tickle the giggling little lump to the floor, before lifting the curtain to release him, laughing helplessly. At Grannys elders place in Kaiapoi he discovered net curtains, that you could hide in and still see out. When we came back to Wellingtoin we played the same game with the lovely crochet blanket that Margaret made him. Here he is giggling to himself while he runs around the lounge like a little friendly ghost.

The other photo is a one of Jack, Guy and Felix the cat. Not sure what was on TV that night but it must have been good!

Georgia was a friendly wee thing and thought Jacks hair was amusing. Guy often thinks so too and pats it while saying 'fluf fee' , which is the same word he uses to describe the cat.

On the weekend of June 9th we met cousin Andy and Dave and their lovely little baby Georgia who had just celebrated her 1st half year. here are Dave and Georgia trying to keep warm by the BBQ on a fine but cool Wellington winter afternoon.

When he wasn't train spotting or watching the scenery Guy spent a lot of the car trip like this, he's a good relaxed little traveller.

One of the cool features of the SH1 north of Kaikoura is the way the state highway and the main trunk railway are both squeeezed together between the coast and the cliffs. We caught up to this big freight train that was roaring along beside the road. Guy thought this was most exciting, and chattered away, although maintaining his customary cool expression.

On the Monday of Queens Birthday we woke to -3 frost in Kaiapoi but a clear blue sky with two hot air balloons drifting over the plains. We didn't get away until 08:35 which was about 30 mins late. Guy was a little champion and sat happily in the back amongst the boxes of family treasures that Jack had carefully packed into the back of the car. By the time we hit the coast at Goose Bay he let us know he was ready for a break so we stopped at a roadside cafe that did suprisingly good coffee. Although the bright sun was out and the sea calm, the temperature was only about +5 C. From the bench out side the coffe shop we could see the boats a mile or so off shore and more than a few dolphins leaping out of the water around them. It was a lovely morning and Guy had a great time stomping down the beach picking up stones, before he had some milk at the coffe shop.

Guy's Aunty Lisa spotted this little remote control car for Guy at the Wharehouse. Guy was quite taken with just carrying it around by the aerial (carefully ruggedised for toddlers) Jack then put the batteries in, the lid screws down not clicks in place to keep toddlers from eating the batteries. When Jack gave the car back to Guy, he sat straight down and turned it over to investigate the phillips screws that secured the batteries. He is nothing if not observant and quickly managed to insert the screw driver , even if his fingers weren't strong enough to unscrew it (yet).

Over Queens Birthday weekend we caught the interisland ferry and drove down to Christchurch. It was big clean-up weekend for Katrina and her Family. Granny's house had to be got ready to go on the market, and so did Katrina's Father's house, which meant all of the various bits and pieces stored there had to be gone through and sent to their rightful owners or the dump. Guy got right into the spirit of cleaning up old junk and treasures. Here he is with his Uncle Ian's old truck, giving it a good wash.

Oohh dear, Guy's interest in trains just keeps growing. First he decided he could sit in the tender of Jacks old wooden train. I think we need to take him to the model engineers club on a Sunday when they have the little sit-on steam engines running, he's already got the idea. Then we borrowed a wooden train set from the toy library. Guy plays with it as soon as he gets up. and as soon as he gets home. He has spent literally hours chuff chuffing it backwards and forwards.





The carriages are held together with magnetic couplings, but there is no easy way to tell the poles apart, so Guy usually tries once and then come to find me, carriage in each hand saying 'fit fit fit' when he wants me to fit them together. He also says 'fit' when trying to join the tracks. This morning Katrina gave him the train set box to play with while she had a shower, and when she got out of the shower he had joined up almost all the tracks and covered the bathroom floor with a meandering railway line. (No this doesn't mean Katrina was in the shower for six months, he just very advanced!) He also spotted another of Jacks venerable toys, the model steam traction engine. Although not quite a train, he saw it up on the top shelf of the bookcase and wanted it brought down for his inspection. When he gets a bit bigger we will get some methylated spirits and fire it up. Where does he get it from? could be the books he reads, here he is with Tootle, ignoring Felix our new cat, who wanted him to play chase the Buzzy Bee.





















Its not all about the trains, he still enjoys his friends here he is grooving with the girls from across the road, and enjoying afternoon tea with Sam, after which they had a bit of a wrestle on the sheepskin rug. Lots of fun for everyone, in the late autumn sunlight.