And here are the brothers exploring a snow-cat

The hangi

Some of the guys put down a hangi in the garden at work to celebrate Matariki weeks ago.  I don't have pictures so you'll have to imagine.

A hangi is a roast meat-and-vegetable dinner cooked on hot rocks in an underground earth oven.  There's a certain way to prepare the fire, to assemble baskets of food for cooking, for arranging the rocks and food in the pit, and to cover it all with moistened fabric and soil.  And then for opening it up after a few hours to uncover beautifully tender food.

Our hangi featured a big beef roast and several whole chickens (I was kind of expecting pork but there wasn't any), kumara, potatoes, carrots, succulent bite-sized fried bread bites, salads and lots of gorgeous desserts.  The hosts portioned everything out onto small plates for everyone who turned up, and we all ate with our hands.  Some of our clients led some songs.  It was a great way to celebrate. 
 

Amiri totally needed a nap during bike-riding

The brothers feed the birds

There were some peanuts that got all contaminated on the floor.  But they're still good food for birds!  So out we went to give our little friends some treats.

We sat on the bench and I doled out the peanuts one by one to the boys, who very nicely threw them to the ever-growing flock of hungry little sparrows.

They loved it so much!

Morning goodbyes

I say goodbye to the brothers every morning as they're having their oatmeal.  (And, this morning, knocking the full bowl onto the floor.  Thanks, Arram.)  It goes like this:

"[Child 1], I love you so much and I hope you have a wonderful day.  I will see you tonight when I pick you up at school.  Here are hugs and kisses, I will think about you all day."   *hug, kiss*  (Repeat for Child 2, wipe oatmeally kisses off my cheeks in the elevator.)

This is a heartwarming thing.  I know.  But wait for it...

Arram, who has always been good for a non sequiter, has been a little obsessed of late with our most recent trip to Underwater World.  So after my Goodby Speech (tm), he's been asking me, very earnestly, "Stingray?"

"No, darling, I'm going to work.  I won't see any stingrays."

"Oh."  brow furrowing...  "Penguins?"

"No, no penguins at the office either."

"Oh.  Shark mouth?"

"No.  There will be no shark mouths to play with either at Mama's work."

"Ohhhhh."  An expression of true regret passes over his face.

Over both of our faces.
 

A clever kid finding a solution

Amiri, at the computer:  Mama, can I watch Berenstain Bears on Youtube?

Mama:  Yes, sure.  Type 'Berenstain Bears' into the search box and see what videos come up.

Amiri:  How do you spell Berenstain Bears?

Mama:  How does it sound?  Buh, buh, sounds like...

Amiri:  B!  Oh, but wait.  I know how to find out.  I don't need you to tell me the rest.

And he hopped down to fetch his much-loved Berenstain Bears DVD from the TV cabinet.   Used it as a template to fill in the search box.
 

Just a silly little before-bed photo

They're having a chocolate-milk picnic on the living room floor.  Arram is drinking his with a straw.

Number 8 wire

A common gauge of fencing wire used in New Zealand's early history, no. 8 wire has become an iconic representation of Kiwi ingenuity and adaptability.  You can use no. 8 wire for anything.  Fixing a handle on a bucket, building a bridge, setting up a rudimentary communication system.  Number eight mentality means figuring it out and getting it done.  Maybe not perfectly, but in working order and on the cheap. 

It also refers to a forum for true fans of New Zealand rugby and is also a good example of the South Island accent; I'm still not sure what is happening here.
 

The South Island accent

I've mentioned before how it took me some time to learn to 'hear' the NZ accent.  Of course, I'm based in Auckland, so I learned to hear the Auckland accent.  But on a recent train ride where I was situated next to an extremely chatty gentleman, I learned that just as in the US, there is indeed a dramatic regional variation across NZ.

About 20% of the country's population lives in the South Island, and most of them in Christchurch and Dunedin.  The rest are spread across small rural enclaves with their own local flavour.

This gentleman of my acquaintance was from a village outside of Invercargill, right at the very bottom of the South Island.  But, he sounded (to my ignorant ear) like a Scot with a mouth full of food.  In our half-hour chat, I learned that he used to paint houses and once worked as a law clerk or something.  And that is all I learned.  It wasn't that he didn't volunteer much about himself... trust me that he gave me lots and lots of commentary to work with.  But I lost 95% of it because I simply couldn't translate it into something that made sense for me.  I eventually gave up on asking, 'Excuse me?'  'I'm sorry?' because I found that I couldn't understand the slower-and-clearer version either, and resigned myself to just having to make do with catching the odd word here and there, and hoping I could fill in the blanks.

So there is still work to do regarding assimilation.
 

Fun with our new wind-up toys

Hello

A trip to the past

Last weekend we went to see the stage show Walking with Dinosaurs.  Wow, what a show!  Here is an exciting clip from the second act, wherein the Mama T. Rex rescues her baby from a sticky situation with well-armored and overly-defensive plant-eaters.  The camera periodically pans away to the seats in order to capture the boys' reactions to the action, but unfortunately the arena was too dark to register their shining little eyes.


So I'll just show you how the boys looked when the show ended and the lights came back on.


They really liked it and Arram tried so so so hard to stay awake, but he just couldn't make it until the end of the matinee.  He slept with his head on my shoulder all the way until we got out into the sunshine.
 

He came home today and, completely out of the blue, could just do this.

Earlier, he surprised his Daddy by counting all thirteen stairs.

The little ducks

Amiri decided that he wanted to dress up as a duck for school the next day.  Not being a school-sanctioned costume day, we didn't think that was exactly a reasonable request, but we did manage this:

Matching duck shirts from Woot, and orange-coloured origami beaks.  Both big hits.
 

Hilarity ensues

Daddy picked up some noses for Red Nose Day and we pretty much had the best time with them this morning.