Saturday
Ro has been sick for the past few days. During the day he seems fine, if a little more subdued than usual (read: about the same energy level as a typical kid), but at night he's got a bad croupy cough and is spiking fevers. When his fever is up, he's very clingy and doesn't want to do much except cuddle on the couch. Sherry has kept him out of school the past couple of days, because she knows that as soon as the teacher heard his seal-bark cough, she would have called Sherry to pick him up anyway. His friend MJ had to spend half a day in the school sick bay just because he complained of a sore throat, waiting to get picked up. Swine flu is rampant here, and the school doesn't take any chances.
Sherry and Ro's nights have been pretty sleepless as a result of his illness, so we skipped rugby this morning. He was feeling better by mid-morning, though, and with Mark having the weekend off we decided to check out someplace new. Ro had gone to the Te Puna Quarry Park on a field trip when his class was studying butterflies last term to see the butterfly farm there, so Sherry checked it out on the internet and it seemed like a good place to spend a warm (Yes!) Saturday afternoon. The park used to be an abandoned quarry in the blink-and-you-miss-it town of Te Puna, just west of Tauranga (on the way to Waihi and Auckland), but has since been transformed into a really beautiful botanical garden.
http://www.quarrypark.org.nz/
We got to the park around noon, and found a place for our picnic lunch, right next to a big stone dragon and a medieval-looking stone building with a curved slide around it. Ro would come back to us every few minutes to nibble his sandwich, then run off to play again. It didn't take him long to meet a new friend, Kirsten, who was there with her parents and baby brother. Ro started off by hiding in the bushes and spying on her...kinda creepy if he was thirty years older, but cute when he's five. We had a bit of fun with Ro and kept intentionally blowing his cover, eliciting several scolding glances from him. As the girl and her family wandered off to explore the park, he egged us on, "Go talk with her parents so we can walk together!"
Ro has been sick for the past few days. During the day he seems fine, if a little more subdued than usual (read: about the same energy level as a typical kid), but at night he's got a bad croupy cough and is spiking fevers. When his fever is up, he's very clingy and doesn't want to do much except cuddle on the couch. Sherry has kept him out of school the past couple of days, because she knows that as soon as the teacher heard his seal-bark cough, she would have called Sherry to pick him up anyway. His friend MJ had to spend half a day in the school sick bay just because he complained of a sore throat, waiting to get picked up. Swine flu is rampant here, and the school doesn't take any chances.
Sherry and Ro's nights have been pretty sleepless as a result of his illness, so we skipped rugby this morning. He was feeling better by mid-morning, though, and with Mark having the weekend off we decided to check out someplace new. Ro had gone to the Te Puna Quarry Park on a field trip when his class was studying butterflies last term to see the butterfly farm there, so Sherry checked it out on the internet and it seemed like a good place to spend a warm (Yes!) Saturday afternoon. The park used to be an abandoned quarry in the blink-and-you-miss-it town of Te Puna, just west of Tauranga (on the way to Waihi and Auckland), but has since been transformed into a really beautiful botanical garden.
http://www.quarrypark.org.nz/
We got to the park around noon, and found a place for our picnic lunch, right next to a big stone dragon and a medieval-looking stone building with a curved slide around it. Ro would come back to us every few minutes to nibble his sandwich, then run off to play again. It didn't take him long to meet a new friend, Kirsten, who was there with her parents and baby brother. Ro started off by hiding in the bushes and spying on her...kinda creepy if he was thirty years older, but cute when he's five. We had a bit of fun with Ro and kept intentionally blowing his cover, eliciting several scolding glances from him. As the girl and her family wandered off to explore the park, he egged us on, "Go talk with her parents so we can walk together!"
Ro trying to keep his balance walking down the slippery slide
Ro meets Kirsten on the slideWe headed for the orchid garden, which Sherry wanted to see, reassuring Ro that we would likely meet up again with Kirsten since all the trails connect. Sure enough, she and her family were coming the other way on the trail 5 minutes later, and Ro and Kirsten were inseparable for the rest of the afternoon. Although the park was very beautiful, we probably hit it a few weeks too early to catch the best of it, blooming-wise (with the exception of the roses, which were peaking). From multiple places in the park, you have striking views of Mauao (Mt Maunganui) and the western Bay of Plenty.
Stopping to smell the roses
Sherry checking out a crockery-mosaic couple
Making music together
Ro & Mark with Mauao seen faintly in background
Expansive view from the quarry walls
Sherry still rocking the scarf and hoodie in T-shirt weather
Helping Robbie onto the log train
Inspecting the mosaic stream running under the footbridge
The western face of MauaoKirsten was carrying around a white stuffed dog named Mittens, which she kept intentionally throwing in the bushes for Ro to fetch for her. After the kids ran themselves tired around the trails in the park, Ro and Kirsten commandeered the stroller, displacing her baby brother Robbie. Her dad didn't seem to mind as he pretended to keep letting go of the stroller on the steep hillside, much to their faux-fright delight. Although we didn't end up seeing even half of the park, we were there for several hours and the kids wanted to play on the dragon again before we left. Mittens got stuck up in a tree after an errant toss, and Mark had to subtly retrieve it (lacerating his finger in the process) so Ro could still play the hero. Kirsten even gave Ro a hug as they said goodbye.
Enjoying the ride
Just kidding!
One last slide down the dragon's back
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