Chantelle is 9 years old!

It was Channy's birthday on the 3rd of March. She had her first sleepover - and invited her friend Nicky from school (she is the one second from the right, standing next to Chantelle). Nicky was the first friend Chantelle made last year when she started at Mt. Primary. The two of them got into mischief quite a bit last year so I was trying to keep them separated - but they are very "connected" so it hasn't worked. Nicky is in a different class this year but they are still the best of friends. Nicky lost her mother when she was 6 years old - so I think that is the commonality that they share. She now lives with her older sister Anna - and I had a chance to meet her. She was a lovely soul. Kind and gentle natured. We got to talk about the girls - and found out that they are very very similar. Nicky has never had a close friend before she met Chantelle... and this was the first sleepover for the two of them. It was very special. Nicky isn't a trouble child as I first thought - she is just a lost child like Channy was.

Chantelle invited three other girls over for the following day from 1-5pm. We went down to the beach for a swim and Brian and I prepared a "beach dig" for the kids. I wrapped 8 presents and numbered them. We had 8 clothes pegs which were also numbered that we buried in the sand. The object of the game was that the kids had to dig for the pegs - and whatever number peg they found, that's the present they got. It seemed like an easy enough task... but only three pegs were found! I even got in there to dig... and found nothing. A friend of mine was out for a swim with her dog Oscar - and Oscar got into the dig too!!! But came up with nothing. I guess we buried them TOO well. So I got the kids to chose a number between one and eight.

We had doughnuts and ice cream and Channy unwrapped her prezzies. It was a great party. I was delighted that Chantelle has made some new friends this year. It was a huge change from last year when she kept to herself and bullied other kids. The kids at her party were sweet and lovely girls - similar to Chantelle's true personality. She's finally discovering who she is.



Granny Goose's parcel arrived the morning of Chantelle's birthday! You have impeccable timing mom! She was thrilled with all of the goodies you sent. There's nothing more exciting in this household than when a parcel arrives from Granny Goose.


And this is a photo of the courgette (zucchini for us Canadians) that came out of our garden! It grew that big in just over a week! I stuffed it with mince (ground beef) and tomatoes (from the garden) and onions with lots of spices... smothered with cheese! It was DELICIOUS!!!

2007 Weetbix Tryathlon

On February 25th Natalya and Chantelle participated in their first Kids Triathlon! They've been biking to school everyday (weather permitting) and even though we've moved further from school and the traffic is heavier - they are still biking! You'd never know they were little country kids just one year ago!

Last year they watched the kids do the triathlon down at Pilot Bay where we lived with Mrs. P - and they REALLY wanted to do it - but they weren't ready yet. So I prepared them mentally and physically so that they could enter this year. They practiced their swimming, I made them sweat their little butts off riding to school and they are already agile little runners. They were ready.

The Weetbix Tryathlon was held at Memorial Park in Tauranga this year. There were 1400 entries and Pilot Bay just couldn't support those numbers. Memorial Park was a great venue. The kids swam 100m in the pool (of course not all at the same time - they went in age groups and divided into small numbers), a 4km bike ride (the kids ride farther than that to school each way), and a 1.5km run.

When we arrived the girls were so excited! They got settled in to their age groups, parked their bikes in the transition area, donned their swimming caps and enjoyed the excitement and entertainment of the day. In the bike ride portion - the kids had to ride up a pretty steep hill - Chantelle looked at it and said, "We get to ride down that hill?!" She has never ridden down a hill before (Mt. Maunganui is pretty flat). Her wheels were clearly spinning - and it was her aim to "fly" down that hill. Chantelle was determined to WIN. I told her it wasn't a race... that she was just to do her best... but it fell on deaf ears. WIN WIN WIN chanted in her little head.

Natalya went first and I got photos of her getting out of the pool. I ran with her to the transition area and waited until she got on her bike so I could get a shot of her. Then I ran across the park to the fountain (which someone had put washing powder in so it was all soapy and foam was everywhere!) so that I could get a good shot of her doing the final leg of the event - the run. I was sprinting around so much and I almost knocked a few unsuspecting parents over trying to get action shots with my camera! I was so excited. Now I understand how parents live vicariously through their children. Unfortunately I didn't see her finish because Chantelle's age group was about to begin. Natalya did so well... she was consistent and focused. She took it all very seriously. Natalya wanted to do her very best! I was so proud of her.

Brian and I split up and I watched Channy do the swim(she's the third from the left in the photo above in the pink)... and ran to the transition area to get her coming out on her bike. I was sweating at this point... I think I had run 10k myself! I really knocked a woman over - but she was in my way! I had a kid to chase! I stopped and apologized for being so rude... but luckily she understood my excitement! Channy had a HUGE smile across her face the whole time! I knew she was going to enjoy herself but it was obvious that she was having a ball! I got a shot of her heading up the hill - where she passed 6 kids easily. I ran over to the transition area to get a shot of her coming in to do the run...

She took a long time... gosh it was a long ride... then my phone rang... OMG!

It was Brian, he was in the ambulance with Chantelle. There was an announcement over the speakers, "would the parents of Chantelle Nicoll please report to the Weetbix tent"... I didn't hear it but Brian was at the finish waiting for Natalya so he was right there.

Channy flew down that hill alright! She flew right out of her seat and landed smack on her chin (she wouldn't dare graze her brand new helmet!). The poor little poppit was so brave and didn't even cry! They presented her gold medal to her in the ambulance and she just beamed! That's all she wanted. It was pretty gruesome - and I'm really glad I wasn't there to see the crash because I would have been hysterical. There was SO MUCH blood!

Brian went to the hospital with Channy and I found Natalya (who was waiting at the finish to see her sister come in). We stayed for the awards and enjoyed the entertainment - and got in line for a few autographs. Hamish Carter was there signing kids shirts and presenting the gold medals. He was really gracious and wonderful - because people were constantly calling out to him and he remained very composed. I was one of those people - the pushy mother who pushed Natalya through the crowd to get her shirt signed. Hamish kindly signed her shirt and said, "tough break" when I told him that we had to go to the hospital to get our other kid.

Channy was so brave. When we got to the hospital she was still waiting to get stitched up. They took x-rays of her jaw which showed a possible hairline fracture - we have to watch that - it could snap if she bites down on something hard)... but otherwise she was incredibly lucky. She had a number of cuts and bruises on her chest, arms and legs - and a pretty nasty gash in her chin. Nat and I sat outside while she was getting stitches... we have weak stomachs. Chantelle didn't shed a tear... she was tough man!

Her face was pretty swollen - but she insisted on going to school the following day. This was very good brag material... kids are fascinated by stitches.

The Cat Garden

Okay, I'm making some time to update you all! Life is certainly busy and I am still not connected to the internet at home yet. Actually, I AM but it's just dial-up and it drives me mad because it's so slow!

We are all settled in the house. My office is set up and I have started doing massages again. I have to admit, it feels great getting back into it! I feel a bit rusty - but apparently I haven't lost my touch. I already have two regular patients and a list of others waiting to get in once I'm officially set up. Brian is going to start constructing the waiting area and we've been tidying up the garden - and preparing areas to install a water feature and the spa tub of course.

I've been content exploring my garden. The Tamarillo fruit is beginning to turn colour (I can't wait until they are ready to pick - they are SO yummy!), the lemons are growing and our Swan Plant has fed dozens of fat caterpillars which are now happily turning into Monarch Butterflies in their chrysalis'. I check on them everyday. It's so fascinating.

The garden is such a bonus with this house. Of course, a great garden not only attracts good birds and insects (AND mosquitoes!) but it also attracts cats! Our house came with it's very own cat - who was happily living in our bushes. I assumed he was a stray because he's quite skinny and he looks a bit rough around the edges.... but he's SO friendly! I took him to the vet to have him checked out and discovered that he belonged to our next door neighbours (who just moved and left their cat behind). He had been hit by a car a few months ago - and they didn't pay the vet bill - so they skipped town! A bit drastic isn't it? Well, I just so happen to love cats and this one is especially lovely so we're keeping him. We named him Buster - because I kept asking him "who do you think you are Buster?" whenever he ate Mac's food. Mac has a love/hate relationship with him which I hope settles itself out soon. Mac has a bit of an issue with sharing - and I think is a bit jealous of Buster.

Plus, our other neighbours have a little white kitten who practically lives at our house too. I don't know what it's name is so we just call it Kitten. It looks like a little skinny white rat - and I'm sure they don't feed it or play with it. So we're looking after it. He is just so adorable - and he's got one blue eye and one green eye!

I'm turning into the little 'ol woman who lived in a shoe it seems!