HOME SWEET HOME

Thought we'd post some photos of the day to day activities and our house. We've managed to get the kids into as many clubs as we can. Today Paraone played his first game of rugby for the Dunstablians (Dees) Rugby Club U10's. P and his Mum got a lift with one of his team mate's family to a small village about 20 mins east of Dunstable called Biggleswade. All the Dees age grade teams played there so it's quite a community event were everyone catches up for the week. P's team played 3 games (2 wins, 1 loss). Paraone and Ngahuia are are members of the Dunstable Swimming Club. They have already competed in 2 carnivals with P swimming a PB for his 50 free. We couldn't take photo's of that as camera's are banned from all meets (Internet safety I think). Liam has taken up rugby and water-polo. He has training on Tuesdays for rugby and Sunday for water-polo. The electric guitar that Paraone is playing is from Liam's music school which he does every Saturday morning. They're learning to play some Rolling Stones covers.














































The house we live in has a kitchen, combined lounge/dinning room and conservatory down stairs. Upstairs is the toilet, bathroom and 3 bedrooms. apparently it's a generously sized house for the UK but we'd probably call it a 3 bedroom flat in NZ. From our kitchen window Sharon can watch Grant coaching on the school rugby field.

SNOW, SNOW, SNOW

We woke this morning to our first snow covered vista. We truely looked like tourists (as waking to snow is so novel for us) we had the camera out in great excitment and the kids were fighting over who could scrap the snow off the car. The kids couldnt believe it, and ofcourse the next thought was "will we have school today?" and then Sharon thought "Oh No if there is school, I will have to drive in it!". Luckily all schools were open and Sharon managed the cross country snowy drive, the only problem was that Sharon couldn't get the car back up the driveway as it kept sliding on the ice so opted for parking it on the road before she embarrassed herself any further. Grant said for the first time in his life he ran a rugby training in the snow. It was a great day. The kids loved it at school, P had snow fights with his friends and Ngahuia and her class made a snowman. The snow was so soft and powdery. Predictions are we may wake to more tomorrow morning.

STARTING SCHOOL

All the kids and Grant have started at their new schools. Ngahuia is in Mr Ray's Year 3 class at Lark Rise School. Its great because the school's only about 200m from our front door. She has made some new friends and is really motivated to do all 12 pages of her homework. Paraone was the last to start but had really enjoyed the quality time at home with his Mum. Mum and Dad think the boys look so handsome in their new uniforms. We still don't know how Paraone is going to get on with wearing shoes and a tie. However, he was very proud of his uniform and couldn't wait to show his Dad when he first brought it home. Liam has thoroughly enjoyed his new start at Queensbury School with his Dad. He has made lots of new friends and the teachers think he's a great student. His Dad taught him how to tie his tie. He also reminds his Dad of when he was at St.Stephens School in his "Number Ones". Grant has been very busy learning the new systems and curriculum of the school and has even worn track-pants since starting. He said the staff have been brilliant and the students are pretty good as well. However the indoor Gyms aren't as good as Whakatane High School and the Gym Office is just like the small one WHS P.E Dept use to have. Liam thinks the biggest difference is that the boys and girls have different gyms and the buildings are 3 stories high. Ngahuia has noticed that the whole school is connected so you don't have to go outside to get to another classroom. Paraone is getting use to moving from class to class for each subject at StreetFeilds Middle School.

BIG BEN, LONDON TOWER AND BRIDGE

The Muru's are wasting no time we've already been to London twice. Within 4 days of arriving Grant got itchy feet and decided "lets go". Luckily Andy (the stranger sitting next Sharon on the train) our friend from Gissy was going in to London to see a frend of his so said he'd show us how to catch the train and tube. Of course Grant rated his pathfinding skills and thought he knew everything. So there the Muru's were in London. The New Years day London parade was billed as being something not to miss. And Kiwi kids as they are, managed to find the best veiwing points for the parade. You should of seen the eyes of some of the locals when they saw Paraone climb to the top of the street post. Not to be outdone Ngahuia and Liam found one as well. As far as parades go it was a bit disappointing some of the floats looked like they had driven staight from Commerce street in the Whakatane Christmas Parade. We decided that the English can probably do the Pomp and Ceremony but the Americans definitely do the parades because compared to the Disney parades this one was Kaka. The highlight for the kids was a trip on the London Eye but for Sharon and Grant was seeing Big Ben. Grant said "from now on Kids, when ever we see that on TV we can say we've been there" The veiw from the London Eye at night was pretty special also.




Our second trip was just last Sunday. It was special because we got to spend some time with the Kennedy Clan from Farnborough (Sharon's Brother). Ngahuia just can't get enough of her cousins Bethy and Rachel. We've noticed the girls tend to last a bit longer on the tour schedule when they're together. Anyway we decided to meet at London Tower at 11am and left around 5. We had a very entertaining Beefeater that took us on a tour of the grounds and told some gory stories of its past prisoners the most famous Sir Thomas More and Anne Bolen. Just the fact that the building was 900 years old was enough for us. But the absoulte highlight would have to be the BLING of all BLINGS those Crown Jewels. The two Jewels of Africa were massive 3112 karrots (thats in size). Our tour guide said jokingly to the ladies in our audience "take a look at your finger then take a look at the jewels then take a look at you husband and ask yourself was it worth it?". Other highlights were the etchings that prisoners had etched into the walls 500 years ago. Possibly the original taggers.