December 31, 2021  |  Last day of the year!  It was a relatively quiet one, starting with our morning walk, then a trip in to the cricket nets in Alexandra, and a game of Risk this afternoon!  

December 30, 2021  |  Happy 17th Wedding Anniversary to us today!  And today was a repeat of our anniversary from last year I think!  This afternoon we headed to Alexandra on our bikes via the Millenium Trail, a 12km bike ride along the river from Clyde.  It's a fun, easy mountain bike, which we all really enjoy.  We had to stop of course at our annual family photo spot!

From there, it was off to the Alexandra Pools for a swim, and then back on the bikes for the 9km bike ride home along the Rail Trail.  Hayden managed to show us up by riding bike is less than half the time than us!  Austin managed to grab a ride home with Granma and Dea!

Tonight was the short ride through to Cromwell for Steve and me to enjoy our yearly dinner out for our anniversary.

December 29, 2021  |  Austin is all about "football" (not soccer!) these days!  He's already lined up to play next winter, and the rugby shirts haven't made an outing for a few months now!  

Austin managed to lose his soccer ball just before we came down to Clyde, so today he bought a new ball with some of his Christmas money.

December 28, 2021  |  The swings are still somewhat of a favourite for Austin.  This year he has been making movies on his iPad, one series of which has been called "The Swing Olympics".  Mid-filming today, I managed to grab a photo of the main star!

December 27, 2021  |  Our summer weather has departed for a few days, so a day at home with a few games outside in between showers.  Here's a photo today of what I think might become his "holiday uniform".  The Manchester United top was a birthday present; the shorts and red socks were for Christmas!  Day three of the holidays, and he's already worn this outfit twice!

 December 26, 2021  |  Boxing Day and a gorgeous Central Otago day!  Game of the day was tennis today - in 26 degrees before lunch!  A bit rusty to start with, but were getting there by the end!  Too hard to get an action shot, so a nets photo instead!

December 25, 2021  |  Merry Christmas!  There were presents this morning, with a very respectable 8am start!  The boys were very spoilt with a theme of clothes and sports gear (mainly cricket) this year!

Then between bowling practice (the kids not me), back-yard cricket, and a few hours (yes hours!) playing Trivial Pursuit, and of course lots of yummy food, that was pretty much the day!

The holidays have begun!

December 24, 2021  |  I feel like it is a very late start to the Blog this year.  Hayden is at high school now, so finished school earlier than Austin.  Then on Austin's last day, it was absolutely pouring down with rain.  Neither boys had prize-givings with parents in attendance, so it all turned into what felt like non-event, and almost like the start of a mid-year holiday instead of the end of the school year. 

So we've reached Christmas Eve, work has finished, and we have just arrived in Clyde this afternoon.  I can't guarantee we'll make a photo every day these holidays but I'll do my best to take lots of photos - I need to make up for my lack of photos during the year!  Plus, I still love looking back through all the photos from previous years!

For today, the cake and milk for Santa tradition continues!