Well its been ages since we wrote anything more than a wee thingy under the photos and they do say a photo is worth a million words but hey ho here I am.
As we approach the end of the boys term here the summer holidays loom which is very odd when we are hearing daily reports of snow, snow, road closure, school closure and well, it seems, everything closure.  It is amazing how quickly we have adapted though to a hot December!  The boys end of year beach parties were today which involvd some fiercely competitive sandcastle building, a manic swimming session and sand in the sandwiches.  The swimming session revealed a very refreshing Kiwi lack of interest in health and safety.  The teachers did tell the kids to wait until the teachers were in the water before they were allowed in but then 150 kids then ran into the water with about 3 teachers vaguely watching them.  Marvellous! 
The twins had their kindy party today too, which was in a field, to which Santa came.  YOu have no idea how excited Rory was about that but interested in how his present was made in China!  Alfie and Rory both rode on an enormous horse (with me in Alfie's case).  We are all sad that school is finishing actually as they have all got nice friends and I am thinking another 7 weeks of entertainment - yikes!  I imagine we will be at the beach a lot!
Sorry to go on about the beach but it does feature heavily in life here, even for normal people.  EVeryone goes out fishing in some way or another (I had no idea there are so many different ways to fish), and the wharf here is a thriving commercial fishing point albeit on a very small scale.  Whitianga is surrounded by water so it is difficult to miss really.  Some Orca's decided that too last weekend and came into the estuary (through the very narrow entrance) to chase stingrays and play.  A lovely sight particuarly after the boys had got out of the water!
Hamish's birthday weekend (lots of photos of this) was action packed and involved lots of beaches, sun, water, friends and shooting!  The latter at Combat Zone which is boys heaven.  I saw a new side to Dave- even he with all his salad eating - gets all excited with a gun in his hand!
We went inland last weekend to a beautiful gorge which used to be a very busy gold mining area.  Lots of tunnels are still there so that added excitement to our walks.  It was a gorgeous river along the gorge so we did have to leap in the water a lot too.  For anyone with a bit of time (Dad!) this was near Paeroa - see if you can find that on the map!  I may have got the spelling wrong. 
Most names of places here are Maori and amazingly difficult to say or spell.  And quite a lot of people have Maori names too which I instantly seem to forget so that does not make for great social skills.  Some fantastic place names round here.... Kuotuno, Pauanui (there has to be too many vowels in that), Matamata or Katikati, combined with Whangamata (remember the Wh is pronounced F) or Whakapapa.  In a couple of  weekends we are going to the much more easy, but more confusing village of National Park, which is in a.... national park.
That is to take us to the 3 of the big active volcanoes in north island (and Tongariro National Park).  Dave and I are doing the Alpine Crossing which is a 20k walk through the volcanoes (seperately as although Hamish is now 9 and therefore highly responsible he might not manage the whole day entertaining his brothers!).  It is a beautiful area and we hope to get pretty high up with the kids (with teh help of a ski lift).
The boys are featuring on a float in the Santa parade this weekend - quite cool! - and we have sleepovers and a party... and of course the beach...some things don't change.
Christmas is here with Daves colleagues which I am sure will be fun - lots of kids, some calves, a swimming pool and buckets of top NZ fizz.  And no idea about new year yet as Dave does not know when he is working. 
And off to south island on 15th Jan for a whistle stop tour and to see my lovely sister, Daves aunty and good friends near Christchurch.  And before you know it we will be back there wanting to show you our 2000 photos!  Maybe the snow might have melted by then.
We do miss you all - honest.  But not missing that weather!
With all our love Emma, Dave, Hamish, Dougal, Rory and Alfie x x x x x x