New School

The boys are now well settled into Ohoka Primary School.  Joe is doing well in year 3 and has made loads of friends, most of whom are sporty boys just like him.  Ben is a new entrant and loves it all!  He is making fantastic progress in all areas.  He too has plenty of like-minded friends and plenty of play dates.
We are making the daily commute out to Ohoka at the moment.  The new house was due to be started 'today' but seems have slowed again.  Who knows?  The plan is that we will be in by the end of January!  The boys will be able to cycle to the end of the road and then catch the school bus.  The are looking forward to living in the country and nearer to their friends.

The school is lovely - a large country school of just over 200 children years 0-8 (age 5-13).  They have just completed the construction of a new multi-purpose hall.  It has a stage, teaching rooms, music room, basketball court and bleachers.  The official opening was a whole school and community affair and the children performed really well!

I have been helping with the PMP (Perceptual Motor Program) with the first 3 classes.  I even took over responsibility for 6 weeks whilst the co-ordinator was on holiday.  It is a really fun program and you can really see the difference it makes to the kids!  I also spend 1 day a week in Ben's classroom which has been a bit of a learning curve.  Not least because of the crazy system of every child starting at their 5th birthday.  His teacher seems to have a new starter every couple of weeks!  She is amazing!

Below are some pictures of the boys at school....

The new boy

Bug on and environmental fieldtrip

New entrants when Ben joined - ALL BOYS!!!!!

New Entrants assembly

Ben and Friends - snow artwork shown in assembly

The new hall!

Joe's Tonga presentation

Cross country - ready and waiting

Joe coming in 2nd!

Meet THE Morgan....

 I will write a more detailed entry covering the last couple of months, but first we wanted to introduce you to Morgan.    He is 4 months old and a Labrador cross with ???  He is very like Ella and they make a really good match.  In fact in the week since he arrived there have been no cross words between them and she seems to enjoy having a friend to play with.    They have loved their walks and time on the beach and will hopefully make the most of the land when we eventually move!!!!

Earthquake - Feb 22 - pictures

No photos the day of the earthquake as it was all a bit chaotic!  We haven't taken many pictures of the local area as it seems a bit insensitive.

Beach Road 23 Feb

Beach Road 23 Feb

Parklands 23 Feb

Beach Road 24 Feb

Beach Road 24 Feb

Our Garage

Collaspsed shelving

Smashed TV

Playroom (usually a mess, but had been tidied pre earthquake!)

Joe's room, bookshelves and Chest of Drawers

Joe's old school

Septic system installed by the army at Joe's school

Earthquake - Feb 22

We've had a few requests to add a post and let everyone know how things are after the big earthquake in February.  So here goes....
Firstly we are all OK and so is the extended family - we've all had a range of experiences but are fit and well.  Matt was at work in the CBD on the 5th floor of the council offices, he called me as he evacuated the building, luckily before the phone lines went berserk.  Malc and Roy were also in the CBD and made it out of their offices.  Roy managed to get to his motorbike, Malc walked home and Matt got a slow lift back to South Brighton (The Prado was parked in a multi-storey in the CBD) and then walked the last 7km.  I know Matt passed lots of fallen buildings and crushed vehicles on his way out of the CBD and then had to cope with the roads and liquifaction in the suburbs.
I was at home with Ben (about to head for the pool) and our neighbour the painter.  The quake was very violent and picked up the house then dropped it, before shaking side to side.  There was a lot of noise and contents crashing around.  We went outside and the caravan from over the road was blocking our driveway.  We headed to the Griffins house to see if I could hitch a ride to collect Joe from school.  Luanne was in with 2 of her boys and her Mum Shirley.  We left the boys with Shirley but didn't get far in the car as the sewers were rupturing.
We returned home and by then the caravan had been moved by some friendly van drivers who were in the area.  I grabbed the Volvo and went off to try another route to school while Luanne stayed with the boys.  It took me an hour or more zig zagging through silt, holes and closed roads then I abandoned the car as close to school as I could get.  I had to wade through the sewage and water to get to school and picked up Daniel and Joe.  We then waded out and crossed the wet, silty golf course on foot to get home.
All afternoon there were significant aftershocks that sent us all heading under the tables.
Of course there no power, water or sewage and we made the decision to go to Kates that night.  It was a good decision as the shaking was much less out there and they had all the amenities!  Matt managed to retrieve the Volvo and some of the water was receding and it was possible to see more of the giant holes!  Their family of 4 had suddenly become 12!  Thank-you for putting up with us! x x We all spent a few days there before deciding to return back to Christchurch and start the cleanup as water and power was returning slowly.
Meanwhile Kelly invited us to visit and stay with her in Palmerston North so the boys and I spent 2 weeks with her and her beautiful boys.  Joe enrolled in the school and Ben went to the local kindy - it was great to have some normal routines (and no aftershocks).  Everyone was so kind to us.  The boys took part in 2 mini-tri events, went swimming with a free pass and the school even put together a care package for us.  We had a lovely time and will miss them!
We returned home today as we have managed to enroll Joe at Ohoka school starting tomorrow.  This is the village where our house will be built so we are bringing the process forward a few months.  His old school is not open yet as there continues to be issues with the sewage.  The Army are currently helping with the clean up there and removing silt.  
There is damage to Annie and Malc's house which shifted on it's piles, they also had some low-lifes enter the house and steal (and other obscenities) while they were in Tua Hiwi.  Mum's house has lots of cracking inside and out.  Our place seems to have faired better than the first quake, but much more contents damage.  We don't know about the Prado yet as it is within the cordon and we dont know about the status of the car park yet.  It is going to be a long process getting the EQC to assess claims.  We are still boiling water, conserving water and power so no laborious photo uploads yet..  Will try soon.

We are thinking of friends who have suffered extensive damage to their homes and those who will see them demolished.

Catch up

It's been ages since the last post - sorry!  We are busy as always and there never seems to be the time (and there is a tendency to flake out at the end of the day).  We are getting on with things post earthquake as is the rest of Christchurch.  We did time out on waiting for The Earthquake Commission (EQC) to inspect our house and arranged for our own structural engineer to make a report.  Most of the damage is cosmetic so we moved back home!  We are still waiting for EQC but it could be a long wait!  The aftershocks are continuing, but lessening in frequency although the odd one is pretty violent and makes the heart skip a beat or two!

Here are a few pictures of some of the things we have been up to recently....

Sheep Boy and his sidekick

Ben & Olive at Sumner Beach

India, Ash & Joe at Sumner Beach

At Orana with The Griffins

Annissa's 5th Birthday Party at the Airforce Museum

Annissa and Joe

Quin, Ben and Josh

On their way to Josh's 'Everday Super-hero party'

Now I'm back in the blog groove, I will have to update you with some our more recent activities!
Must just mention that Joe has now left the 'cute stage' well and truly behind with the loss of his first tooth!

The day the earth DIDN'T stand still !

A lot has happened in the last 10 days and it all started with a rather scary early morning wake-up call from Mother Nature.  4.35am and Matt and I leaped out of bed as a large earthquake rocked the house.  Matt literally swayed, running across the playroom towards Ben's room and I had to hold on to the door frame and didn't even make it to Joe.  Both boys were awake and scared but Joe had managed to climb off the top bunk.  The noise was horrendous and it felt like it was all never going to end.  In fact the first quake was 40 seconds long.  The power had been knocked out as soon as the shaking started and everything was like an alien landscape.  Thank goodness I had picked up the Lego on the playroom floor that evening.

We put the boys in our bed along with an i -pod and mobile phone for torches, while we sorted warmer clothes and then decided to evacuate along with the rest of our neighbourhood.  With wobbly legs we made our way downstairs and to the car.  We had no idea where the earthquake was located at this point and we live in the tsunami evacuation zone. We joined the stream of traffic inland and popped in to pick up Nana.  She was in conference with her neighbours outside at 5am!

Annie and Malc had been in touch and said they were heading off, but only had a little fuel, so we decided to get out of town and see Katherine and India.  The roads were mostly OK until we reached the on ramp to the motorway which looked like a war zone with ripples, cracks and crevasses.  Traffic was turning around and coming towards us, but the 4WD came into its own and we managed to get around  the worst of the cracking.  Katherine and India were at a friend's house so we called there first and returned to their house, lit a fire and made toast by the flames.  The power was back on by about 6.30am and more information was coming in about the 7.1MM quake.  Roy and Ash were camping with the scouts in a hut at Porters in the Alps so nothing was heard of them until they got into cellphone range that afternoon.  Someone had gone up and told them about the earthquake (they had thought it might be an avalanche or a local quake) and they headed home early.

We returned home around lunchtime and had power, but no water.  We could also see the large cracks running through our supporting beams and had to decide whether to move out - yes we did.  Nana is letting us stay with her and disrupt her life until we can get an assessor in.  We and 50000 other people have claims with the Earthquake Commission  (so far) so it may be quite some wait.  Luckily there was not much damage to our contents.  We lost an African ornament, a clock fell off the wall and the pantry contents had shifted, but mostly we were unscathed.  At least the bookshelves stayed upright!

We had to boil all our drinking water for several days once the water was back on as well as conserving water too (the sewerage system was severely disrupted).  There are still portaloos in some streets where the sewerage is not fixed.  The central city was badly hit  and lots of buildings continue to be pulled down.  Lots of the roads are damaged all over the city.  Some neighbourhoods suffered a lot with liquefaction and houses sunk and twisted into the ground.  There are lots of pictures on the Internet of course (NZ Herald, Stuff etc) but below are some pictures from our local area.  Thankfully no-one was killed in the quake and all the emergency services, army etc have worked really hard to ensure safety.  (One lemur died at the zoo when it drowned trying to escape the island it lives on.)

School and Kindy were closed for a week until safety checks could be completed.  They returned today and have both had a good time.  2 more weeks and then it is the end of term!!!
Matt moved into his new office block 5 days before the earthquake after a 130 million dollar refurb.  He was not able to work there last week as there was damage and has since been told to work from home for the next 6 weeks at least!  The fire escapes are wrecked and there is a lot of mess on the upper floors.  Some of the city centre is still cordoned off but lots were back at work today.  Swimming pools and libraries remain closed and other services are slowly coming back on line.  I am sure it is going to be some time until we all feel normal again.

We have had nearly 500 aftershocks some of which have been quite big and set the heart racing again.  We have had to follow the drills a couple of times and the boys are quite expert now (although Ben just wants to get under his covers).  It seems to have settled down now to about 10-15 a day, but typically there always seems to be one as you are settling off to sleep!

Queenspark Drive

Mairehau Road

Garage at Queenspark

Outside the doctors' surgery, Queenspark Drive

Queenspark Drive

Queenspark

Queenspark

Our house - one of too many!

Thank you to everyone who has kept in touch and for messages of support!

Happy 7th Birthday Joe!

He really is growing up fast!  Literally sprouting and growing out of clothes at a rate of knots (well usually wearing them out).  We've been counting down the days and nights for some time now so the excitement was palpable!

The actual birthday was a Friday so we all had to get up early for present opening before school.  He took in some cakes for break time and had a great day as the centre of attention.  We were even blessed????? with the class rabbit to entertain for the weekend.  This is a soft toy that comes home with each child.  They then have to write and put pictures in it's diary and present an oral report too.  Hope this explains the rabbit in some of these pictures!

On Saturday the family came over for lunch so Joe added even further to his pile of presents.  He had enough Lego to build our new house, a scooter and a Top Trumps special edition Star Wars game.  

Sunday was the big day and luckily the forecast was for fine weather.  A relief because his last 2 birthdays here have been wet.  We had taken the risk of booking an outdoor activity and were hoping we could confine the boys to the garden when we got back!!!!

7 boys loaded into our truck and we headed out to 'Tanks for Everything'.  As the pictures show we all had a great time!

Primed and ready for action

Attention!

Just call me Commander Joe

Happy in his job

Heavy!

Glorious mud

Beautiful day

Opening a can of worms?

Just before the off

I'm a big boy - really!

That rabbit!

Concentrating...

No windows & no eyes !

 When we got home, the boys ate chicken nuggets and chips.  Then we had a massive water bomb fight. The boys absolutely loved it and made the most of the barricades we had camo painted and erected in the garden.  After the water fight the plastic guns came out and they ran around like mad things.

sound effects needed

Water bomb fight - kids LOVED it!

Put out that fire!

Last - was the tank cake with its flaming gun!  What a great party!!!!!!!