Mountain Adventures
Although we’ve been having some storms, the weather is definitely getting warmer so won’t be long till spring is here! It’s generally around 14-15 degrees when I get in the car at 6am so it’s much warmer than it has been.
We decided since the weather is better that we had to get out and about at weekends again. Ruled out the tramping option (that’s walking to you non kiwis!) as not sure our ears could cope with the constant … “mum, my legs are hurting!”. Decided to go for something that would seem much more like fun so went out and bought some mountain bikes a couple of weeks ago. Kyle already had his new bike from Christmas so once we were all kitted up, we headed out somewhere flat to get Kyle used to the whole cycling thing.
On our first outing, I think we probably did about 8 or 9km and he LOVED it! I should point out incase you think we’re horrible parents that Regan obviously wasn’t cycling! We bought her a new bike seat and although she was rigid with fear (which is VERY unlike her) when we first put her in … by the end of it, she was pointing to the animals and giggling at mummy coming up beside her on a bike.
The following Sunday, we went back to the same place as we hadn’t done the full run and we knew it was do-able. I think the full run is around 14km and Kyle did most of it before he ran out of steam which is really good. Bobby ended up having to push him along a bit near the end but he still had alot of fun and wanted to do it again.
Last weekend, we decided to be more adventurous and found a nature reserve with a supposedly easy run for families. It was in South Auckland so was quite a trek before we even got there. You’ll guess from the “supposedly” used above that it actually wasn’t very easy …. the tracks were very big gravel and not easy to ride on at all. I had a couple of “moments” when I nearly fell off as it was really slippery so it’s not surprising that Kyle absolutely hated it! At one point, he was riding down a hill screaming his head off that he wanted to get off and go home … looking back it’s actually quite amusing but it wasn’t at the time! We cut that one short and came home … I just hope it hasn’t put him off too much.
Bobby is not feeling very well this weekend (flu) so maybe the break will help Kyle forget about his bad experience. We’ll probably go back to the place we went to the first couple of times to get his confidence back before we try anything adventurous again.
The cycling hasn’t had much of an impact on my ankle which is good. Must mean that it’s finally on the mend. The gym is still going well although still not doing as much as I was before the ankle issue.
Work has been really busy recently … it’s been one of those periods where I work my 8 hours and then start again once the kids are in bed. Shutting down the laptop at midnight when you get up at 5am is not very sustainable ….
I mentioned in the last blog entry that we’d been looking at summer holiday options .. so we’ve had confirmation back re the Blue Lake camping … so tent it is! Also booked a couple of weekends away … one during next school holidays where we’re going to the bach in Coromandel that we went to at Easter and the second in Russell when George and Sandra are over. Hopefully the weather will be even better by then.
Other than that … all is good down under. Kyle and Regan continue to grow and change. They are both coming on well at swimming … although Kyle finds the whole breathing thing a bit hard! :o) Regan’s speech is coming on in leaps and bounds … she chatters away constantly now .. usually at a very high volume! I do wonder whether it’s just my children that are this loud or whether it’s related to them having been in nursery since an early age and having to shout to be heard above the other children?! They really should have a volume control button built in on children .. ;o)