Playing Catch Up

I have not been able to get to the computer much this past week. Between the terrible flooding that we experienced in North Canterbury, Arnold's illness and the seemingly never ending rain I have had my hands full.

Prior to the 31st of July, it seemed as though we had two solid weeks of rain . On the 31st the terrible storm that had hit the North Island traveled down South and let us have it. Here is a picture taken on the 31st of the Ashley River during the downpour.

Environment Canterbury (http://www.ecan.govt.nz/home/)Surface Water Hydrologists were out with there fancy equipment measuring the flow rate of the river and checking that the bridge was safe. Thankfully it was and we were able to travel more directly to Rangiora for supplies like diapers, chocolate and potato chips to help us ride out the storm.

I was lucky enough to get one day of sunshine on the 2nd of August before everything "turned to custard" again on Sunday. I made the most of my time outside by working in the flower/herb area and worked at removing all of the grass plants that continue to sprout and grow as a result of some careless reseeding of our lawn by a landscaping firm. Here you can see the area before and after I had a go at it. It is amazing that so many bulbs are sprounting and that the Daphne has decided to flower this year. The artichokes aren't looking bad either. Even Ivy's carnation has a few flowers to show.

On Sunday, the 3rd of August, the rain set in again. The children were becoming very antsy inside and I was getting a bit antsy too. Despite Arnold not feeling great, we were able to take the kids to the new indoor entertainment center in Christchurch (on Cranford) to blow off some steam. All of the kids enjoyed the bouncy castles and inflated obstacle course. Ivy and Melody also enjoyed bouncing on the trampolines while attached to rubber bands and Cruz liked the Desperado atrraction where he could sit in a wagon and shoot at "naughty people" on the screen. In fact, Cruz had the third highest score of everyone that played during his round. Bravo!

We have had a few days of rain since then but it seems as though the pattern is temporarily changing and we have been able to get out a little more. Yesterday, the kids took their bikes out and rode around on the driveway. They also got into a little trouble in the puddles and had a bit of a splash around.

Today, after a early morning work session, everyone headed back outside to enjoy the sun. I worked more in the garden. Cruz was very helpful in emptying out my weed bucket and removing trimmings to the compost pile. He can be such a good helper. Ivy and Melody invited Cruz on a garden walk where they walked a good portion of the perimeter of our property behind the shrubs. The girls reported in the Cruz found a pine cone behind one of the bushes and that his face broke out in a rash after licking it. Oh my!

Ivy has had an achievement that I would like to note. She has been working on her reading and last night read the entire book Angelina's Ballet Class that had been given to her by her Uncle Eric. She is really progressing with her reading and can read so many things. She is also learning to recite another poem. This one is called The Bush Mouse. She continues to work in her Singapore Math book and is attempting to put to memory the basic math addition facts. She enjoys playing games online to reinforce these topics.

Melody has a new game from Every Educaid called Ladybug Letters. She is playing it to brush up on her alphabet recognition and letter sound skills. She is also keen to work on math and is working with her Father on the concepts of bigger and smaller.

Cruz wants to use scissors and is very interested in using and tasting the glue sticks.