Ro pitching in by vacuuming up his crumbs
Ro slept in this morning, which gave Sherry a chance to start decorating Cerine's surprise birthday cake. Sherry was wracking her brain trying to come up with a theme for the cake, but didn't like any of the LOTR ideas she could come up with, so she asked Mark for some insight into what made Cerine tick. His idea required a web search for a design and a run to the store (after dropping Ro off at school) for more red food coloring, but we were confident Cerine would love it.
Cerine has been excited about having her first spring birthday, and the weather today didn't disappoint. Perfectly blue skies, with a few scattered puffy clouds, and flowers blooming all over. Of all the sights around here, the one she really wanted to go to that we could talk Norma and Carver into also was Hobbiton. The Alexanders were busy sorting sheep in pens around the Shire's Rest when we arrived, and we sat outside in the warm sunshine, drinking coffee and watching the organized chaos while we waited for our tour.
Sherry putting her feet up at the Shire's Rest
Heading for the shearing shed
Our tour guide Carolyn shuttled us and four other visitors through the Alexander Farm on the "Frodo" van. The tour was a much different experience without Ro, to say the least, as we got to hear much more of the tour guide's insights into the movie production. Norma and Sherry took all the excruciating LOTR details in stride, as everyone else avidly snapped photos of former movie set parking lot locations, bushes, rotting wood, etc... The hedgerows and trees that had just been planted the last time we visited were greening up nicely. The tour guide was a little evasive when it came to direct questions about the timeline for the upcoming The Hobbit, which will be filmed as two movies and continue past where the book ends, telling some of the in-between story leading up to LOTR.
Sherry, Carver, & Norma arrive in Hobbiton
It may not have been her eleventy-first birthday, but Cerine celebrated anyway by dancing across the very same Party Field on which Bilbo had his. The trick was to convince Norma and Sherry to do it with her, with a little persuasion from Carolyn. As convincing as Carolyn was, it wasn't enough to get Carver, Mark, or the other four guys on the tour dancing. Some recent storms have made the Party Tree look a little worse for wear, so today's tours were supposedly the last ones where you get to actually hug and touch the thing so they can get it back in shape for the movie.
The Hobbit dance also known as: "Avoid the sheep poo!"
The Hills in the same spot where Bilbo put on his ring
We eventually wound our way up The Hill to Bag End, taking the requisite pictures from every angle. After checking out the dismantled oak tree on top of The Hill, and the expansive view of Hobbiton, we left via Bagshot Row. We'd missed that part of the tour our first time around due to Ro's hasty dash up the slope to Bag End.
Bilbo's view out his front door
"Sam's window" at Bag End
More Hills Under Hill
On top of Bag End
Sherry & Mark along Bagshot Row
As we were leaving, the "Gandalf" bus was bringing in a group of 19 tourists. Word to the wise, if you're planning on visiting Hobbiton, take tours earlier in the day, because the 12:20pm tour seems to be much more crowded. Carolyn pointed out one last interesting fact: the Shire's Rest is located on Buckland Road (you Tolkien fans should recognize the significance). Mind you, the road was given that name about 100 years ago...preceding even the books. Eerie, huh?
Our tour ended at the Wool Shed with a sheep shearing demonstration. Our sheep shearer Matt entertained us with a little shearing humour ("Everyone stand up and come to the stage...now, who wants a haircut?"), then commenced separating a sheep from his wool. Just in time for summer. The real fun, though, was when the girls all got to bottle-feed the little lambs. Norma had a rough time with an especially aggressive one; Sherry was pleased to get a rare black lamb.
This Romney wishes he was somewhere else
This wool is exported to China to make carpets
These pet lambs were hungry!
I can't believe I'm doing this
After stopping by the rather unique "facilities" for a potty break, we hit the road back home. N&C had us over for lunch (grilled cheese), where Cerine finally tried tea and TimTams, to which she quickly became addicted. Sherry needed time to finish icing the birthday cake, so Mark picked Ro up from school. Ro had Ball Blitz after school today, which was mostly soccer skills. He seemed less interested in dribbling the ball with his feet than just kicking it as hard as he could and running after it.
The loo
Clowning around at Ball Blitz
Ro likes a strong woman
Godric would be proud
After Ball Blitz, Mark and Ro stopped at Te Ngaio Reserve for a little free play, where Ro enjoyed showing off for a couple of two-year olds. He must have been tired, because he was a little ill when he got home. Sherry knew the cure for that: food!
Sliding off the swing less than gracefully
Surf's up!
We celebrated Cerine's birthday dinner at Ajo's Restaurant. While waiting for our food, Cerine read to Ro from his new book on monsters that Sherry had found at the library, which he found fascinating. Ajo's is noted for their wood-fired pizzas, so Sherry, Ro, and Cerine enjoyed a Margherita one, Mark and Norma shared an Italiano, while Carver stuck with chicken fettuccine. All of it was delicious.
Captivated by monsters
Ro could scarcely contain his excitement when we got home, because he knew it was time for cake and ice cream! We had Cerine turn her back while we unveiled the cake and lit the candles, which took a while since Ro wanted to help. Her overjoyed gasp when she turned around and saw the cake was a great relief to Sherry, who wasn't sure if Cerine would get the reference, but Mark knew she would. We gave Cerine a silk caftan as her gift, something Sherry had bought from Kathryn, who brought a bunch from Syria to sell. We could tell Norma was a little envious, as she noted that none of her caftans were as nice, but we regrettably had to tell her it was the last one Kathryn had.
Cerine had to explain the reference to Norma. Note Ro caught in mid-pick
"Oooo, I love it!"
As we sat around the table eating the delicious cake and some orange chocolate chip ice cream, Ro and Cerine debated what movie to watch. In keeping with the theme of the cake, Cerine wanted to watch Harry Potter, to which Ro replied very matter-of-factly, "Hmm, that's a good option...but no." We all cracked up. He must have heard that from us at some point and it lodged somewhere in his sponge-like brain. Needless to say, we ended up watching his DVD on sea monsters. After a half-hour or so, Sherry put Ro to bed, while Mark went over to N&C's with them to take a few pictures of the sunset. Cerine was still riding high, having celebrated a perfect spring birthday punctuated by two of her favorite themes.
Pilot Bay with the sun setting behind the Kaimais
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