Day 17/47  This morning we biked down to the river to collect some stones.  We used to go down there a lot when I was growing up, so I always love taking the boys back down there.

Hayden had a great time finding 'special' stones to take home, and Austin loved paddling on the edge of the river and throwing stones into the water, when he wasn't adding to his big brother's collection!  The cooler start to the morning turned into a beautiful warm day, so wet shorts weren't too much of a problem on the way home!

Day 16/47  Today Stephen, Hayden and I biked from Clyde to Alexandra on the first section of the famous Central Otago Rail Trail, which starts (or finishes) in Clyde.  I have walked, run and biked this part of the track countless times in the past, but today was the first time we've biked with Hayden all the way into Alexandra.  It's about a 10km ride, and Hayden rode at a great pace the whole way, thoroughly enjoying it.  Not too bad for a 5 year old!  And after a hot, dusty bike ride, what better way to end than to cool off with a swim in the Alexandra pool!

Here is Hayden at the old Mutton Town Bridge over the Manuherikia River on the Rail Trail.

Day 15/47  This morning we made a last minute decision that we would head over to Queenstown for the day.  It was a gorgeous day once again, and we had a picnic down on the lakefront, where the boys paddled on the shore and had heaps of fun throwing stones into the lake.

As usual, I had my camera with me, and decided to try and get a family photo!  Getting a photo of the four of us together is just something that hardly happens, so thank you Dad for taking the photo for us!

Day 14/47  Hayden got this swing as a present when he was a baby, and it is probably one of the best baby presents we ever received, especially considering he's still using it at 5 (you can take the front and back off)!  It lives down at the holiday house, and without fail comes out at every holiday we spend there, even in the middle of winter!  Of course, Austin is also lining up for his turn now!

Day 13/47  It's been a cooler day here today, which has also been quite relaxing and refreshing after the high temperatures of the past few days.  We have still managed to keep pretty busy, but it has also meant a little more time spent inside, and some time for Hayden to play some games on the iPad with Dea.  However, Austin has also 'discovered' the iPad these holidays, and loves Dea to play the music so he can wiggle his little hands in the air!  And as you can see from this photo, he's also very quickly worked out how you get the iPad to work.  I'm sure it won't be long until he's playing the music for himself! 

Day 12/47  Merry, Merry Christmas!  I hope that you have all had a wonderful day with your family and friends, wherever you may be. 

We have had a very hot and sunny Christmas Day, filled with lots of present opening this morning, and lots of cooling off in the paddling pool and on the new slippery slide this afternoon.  We even managed a short bike/scooter ride before having to come home for some more cooling off!  And to finish off the day, fun pulling Christmas crackers under Hayden's direction, and Granma's yummy Christmas pudding at dinner. 

The boys both had lots and lots of fun today, and I know that there are two very tired little boys sound asleep in bed now. 

So, so many photos taken today, but I thought it seemed fitting to share the boys opening their presents this morning!

Day 11/47  Twas the night before Christmas...

It's Christmas Eve, and there is one very excited little boy in the house (and another who's not too sure what it's all about yet)!  The Christmas cake and milk is all out ready for Santa, the Christmas stories are read.  The sky is dark, and I think the house is finally quiet; two boys sound asleep ready for the excitement of Christmas morning!

May the magic last for so much longer yet.  Merry Christmas everyone!

Day 10/47  We have had an absolutely gorgeous day to start our holidays in Clyde.  The weather has been perfect and we have had a day of doing everything from playing cricket to board games, and getting the paddling pool out this afternoon and having water fights!  Austin even had his 'bath' outside tonight.  It was just one of those days that is summer and holidays!

It was also one of those days where I took lots and lots of photos, so it was a hard decision choosing which one to share today.  But I couldn't go past this one of my big boy and his smile, which I took while he was playing swing ball with Dad this morning. 

Day 9/47 It has been an incredibly busy week of packing up client orders in time for Christmas, catching up on the washing and housework, and then a late night of packing last night. But this morning we were finally on the road and off on our ‘Christmas’ holiday!

Most years we head down to Central Otago to my parent’s holiday house for a couple of weeks of backyard cricket, bike rides, board games, picnics and every now and again even maybe a few minutes to sit down with a magazine to read! At the end of a hectic year, we all look forward to our holiday in Clyde.

So today we made the long drive down. It’s not that long of a drive, but sometimes it can feel it when Hayden is asking “How much longer” every 5 minutes! Thank goodness for technology and portable DVD players though! (In Hayden’s words, today’s trip was “Three movies long.”)

We usually stop along the way for some lunch, and with a one year old in the car, there’s often an extra stop or two! Luckily today it was a gorgeous day when we stopped in Omarama mid afternoon for a bit of a run around and a play. So here are the boys enjoying the swings, and even a photo of me today! As I’ve looked back over the past year, I have so few photos of me with my boys, so as part of this Summer Holidays Project, I want to try and get on the other side of the camera at least a few times!

Day 8/47  One very excited boy today!  It was Stephen's last day of work for the year today, and he decided to see if Hayden wanted to go and spend the morning in at work with him.  Needless to say, it didn't take long for Hayden to say 'yes'!   So, it was favourite t-shirt on, bags packed (with paper and pens - and the iPad of course),  breakfast eaten, morning tea made (but left on the bench in all the excitement!), and then it was time to go to work!

Hayden has never been to work with his Dad, so it was something pretty special!  However, I think he might have been even more excited about the fact that he got to sit in the front seat of Dad's work van on the way to work!

Day 7/47 As many of you will already know, Austin loves outside! He would be out there the minute he woke up if he had the chance! So, if there's an open door, he's usually out it, and more often than not ends up wandering around the veggie garden - just as happened today. He also loves to get the watering can and 'help' with the watering. Of course, he gets a little distracted by the odd flower or two to pick along the way : )

Day 6/47 This afternoon we met up with Hayden's Plunket Group. We all met over five years ago now when our babies were only a few weeks old, and then met every week for nearly five years. Now that our 'babies' are all at school, we don't catch up so often, but we always have a get together in the school holidays, look back on how much they've all grown, see what everyone's up to these days, and take a photo of course! Only one of our original group have moved away, and we have a few extras now with younger siblings, but it's always a great catch up, and one I hope we'll be doing for a few more years yet! It's always fun to compare each year's photo too!

Day 5/47  A little bit of a Christmas theme today, and I am kind of breaking the rules a little as I'm sharing two lots of photos!

This year, my wonderful and talented Mum has spent many hours making Hayden and Austin the most beautiful patchwork train Advent Calendar.  I had been hearing all about it, so I think I was just as excited as the boys when it arrived in the mail, full of little goodies too of course!  Hayden has loved taking the little 'surprise' out a carriage each day, and Austin is all very taken by it too, giving it a little tug on the bottom every now and then.  He also loves being picked up to have a look at it.  As well as this Advent Calendar, Granma also spoilt the boys with a chocolate  store-bought Advent Calendar.  Hayden is definitely winning out on that one this year as he gets to eat Austin's chocolates too.  Somehow I don't think he'll be quite so lucky come next year!






Even though we have now lived in Christchurch for eight years, it is only less than a month ago that I heard about the amazing Christmas Grotto in Spreydon.  (You can find out more information about it here.)  I decided that I definitely wanted to take the boys to see it, so that was our little adventure this afternoon.  And it didn't disappoint!  The displays were all just fantastic.  Hayden's favourites were the trains and the present wrapping machine, and Austin was pretty much just mesmerised by it all!  It was quite dark in there and there were just so many people, so not really an easy place to take any photographs, but I did manage to sneak in one to share!  But if you live in Christchurch, and you haven't been before, then I definitely recommend you go and have a look.  We will be going back next year again too!  

Day 4/47  One thing about doing a project like this is that you tend to carry your camera around in places you might not normally do so - like the laundry!  I hadn't actually intended on taking a photo in the laundry, but sometimes there's just a perfect moment right in front of you. 

Austin is so quick these days, and often you can look in the other direction for a moment or turn around to get something else, and next thing he is plopped in the middle of something!  He's quite fond on the buttons on the washing machine too since he discovered it a week or so ago, so it's often a port of call on his little walkabouts! 

I love these two little expressions, which sum him up pretty well: the look of innocence, what me, I'm not doing anything wrong; and then the famous cheeky grin, which usually follows pretty quickly afterwards!

Day 3/47  It was a gorgeous day today, so after lunch it was out with the paddling pool and time for some fun in the water!  Austin did have a little paddle in the pool, but after he had sat down in the water a couple of times, he decided he'd had enough and headed off to play with the tap and hose!

Meanwhile, Hayden loved having the pool all to himself and had a great time playing around, creating his own little games along the way as usual!  It's days like these that you just love in summer!

Day 2/47  Gardening day today!  Time to get all the outside in order before we head away for Christmas next weekend. 

As many of you will know, Austin loves being outside, and I mean really LOVES being outdoors.  As soon as he gets up in the morning he is pointing outside, and look out if anyone dares to go out the door without taking him with them!  In fact, Austin would literally spend most of the day outside given the chance, and just loves to wander around.  Therefore, it's not too much of a problem to spend a day in the garden, in between kicking a ball around and numerous slides of course! 

After Austin's sleep this morning and before we'd even left his room, action was spotted outside, and there was one very excited (and not very patient!) little boy.  So, it was shoes on, sunscreen on, and out the door without a moment to spare!  And the first thing to do, sit up on Dad's mower and pretend to drive around!  I love this little series of photos of him, and his different wee expressions.  Just a shame I can't post the sound effects to go with them! : )

I have a feeling there might be quite a few days in this little project where there is a photo of Austin outside somewhere doing something!

School is finished for the year, the sun is out, and the holidays are here! Client sessions are also over for the year and I've got lots of great changes planned for the blogsite next year, but in the meantime it's that time to pick up the camera, take some photos of my boys again and photograph our summer and us!

In past years I've done a 'January Photo-A-Day' and 'February Photo-A-Day' (because I missed January, lol), but this year since we now have a school boy in the house, so officially have 'school holidays', I thought that I would attempt to take of photo each day of the holidays - 47 days! :)  I'm hoping that I can make every day and not miss too many along the way!  Sometimes it may be a photo of one of the boys, or both together if I'm lucky!  Or it may be something else all together.  Sometimes it will be a fun day out, other times it will be a glimpse at my boys doing what they do everyday, playing with their favourite toys, riding a bike, running around outside - just them being them!  So, over the next nearly 7 weeks, you'll be seeing lots of my two boys, and maybe even a little of me!  And of course, you'll know exactly what we did for our summer holidays.

 Of course, you could always join me for taking a photo a day.  You don't need anything special - your point and shoot camera, even a smart phone, anything that will take a photo!  It's such a fun challenge to take on, and so rewarding when you look back over the time.  Of course at the end, the photos from each day put together make a great holiday photo book that the kids will love looking at!

Now, even though Hayden went to school this morning, he did finish at lunch time, so that was excuse enough for me to say that today is officially our first day of the holidays, and Day 1 of our little photo project.  Plus, I couldn't have a post without a photo!  From now on, I'll post a few days together, but for today, I'll just start of with our first day.  


Day 1/47  It's hard to believe that Hayden has finished his first 'year' at school.  He suddenly seems so much more grown up than the little 5 year old who started school only back in May.  So to start off my Summer Holidays project, I thought it was pretty fitting to take a photo of the school boy himself; last photo in his school uniform for the year!

Although, he did tell me that he was only going to have one photo taken since I only need to share one a day!  Unfortunately, he is going to be a little mistaken of course (I can never seem to take just one photo!), so I'm not quite sure how he's going to feel by the time we reach day 47!