Whirlwind Weekend

The last part of this past week was so busy. We had painters coming to repair the paintwork in our living room because it had been damaged by leaking water during the big storm of a month or so ago.

On Friday, I set out early with the children in tow and we were determined to spend the entire day away from home. We started by stopping by Arnold's office and dropping off some cards the girls had made for him. Then we were off to Borders Books in Riccarton to look for a book. After that, we headed to Willowbank to start the really fun part of our day.

The children just love Willowbank and it's easy to see why. This is a great family and child destination and being able to feed the animals doesn't hurt either. All of the kids wanted to be able to feed the eels and the farm animals so we were prepared with enough food to feed an animal army. The kids love to use the spoons to place the food into the mouths of the eels. The eels seemed somewhat sedate when we arrived but the kids were able to coax them to the surface and some of them even lifted out of the water. Melody was BRAVE enough to touch one and said that it was very smooth.

Next, we were off to see the ostrich. The girls attempted to feed it but became scared when it came close to their hands. After demonstrating how gentle the ostrich was-yes, I did feed it myself- the girls thought they would save their food for the farm animals instead. We enjoyed seeing the new enclosure for the capuchin monkeys called Monkey Island. We also enjoyed seeing the otters.Next were the farm animals. Here you can see one of the Kunekune pigs getting ready for a feed.The sheep are always a big hit too.
These miniature horses are on a special diet so they were left with a few nice pats.
After finishing off with the farm animals, we headed over to the Maori Village. The kids had a peek into the houses and other buildings.
The display of the Kea, New Zealand's alpine parrot, is always interesting. The animals a flying freely in an enclosure that visitors enter and walk through. We were lucky enough to have several Keas fly overhead and heard them calling to each other. This picture doesn't give a great perspective of the bird's size (it measures 48 cm in length) but you are able to see some of its colorful plumage.
After looking for but not seeing any tuatara or kiwis, we left Willowbank and headed off for some lunch and shopping. After making these quick stops, we went on to the Christchurch Botanic Gardens.

The Gardens is a lovely place to visit and we do so very regularly. The children love playing in the playground and running in the large, open spaces. We stopped to take a look at some of the spring colors that were on show as we walked the length of the gardens.

The kids also liked climbing the stone paths in the rock garden and finding their way to their favorite climbing tree. Near the Canterbury Museum entrance, there was a tree with the remnants of its fall leaves underneath. Ivy , Melody and Cruz enjoyed having an old fashioned leaf fight. Seeing them playing in the leaves reminded me of my earlier days in Chicago when we would rake up the leaves into big piles and have a real go at it!

After meeting up with Arnold after work and heading out to dinner, all of the kids collapsed in the car. They were snoozing up a storm by the time we reached home.

I was so tired, I could barely get myself off of the sofa for the rest of the evening. While we had a great time being out for the day, I hope that this isn't an experience that I will be reliving anytime soon!