Bella's Reward!

Bella has a good behavior flower. When she does something that we think should be rewarded, she gets petal on her flower. When she gets a time-out, she loses a petal. She has to earn 10 petals to get a reward. We have been doing this for a while and always have let her choose some little trinket from a surprise box. Recently, we have seen that this really stopped working. We decided now when she gets her flower filled she gets to choose somewhere special to go. She has been working really hard to fill her flower and has just finished!!!

She chose to go to chipmunks play land which we went to today! she had the best time! We ran around, went on slides, in tunnels, told stories, went on a merry-go-round....just had the BEST time!

And Charlie got to come along for the ride!

GOOD JOB BELLA!

Train Ride

The second most photographed building on the southern hemisphere is the Railway Station in Dunedin. (The first is the Sydney Opera House in Australia) We drive by the railway station almost everyday and even go there for the Farmer's Market almost every Saturday. It still is a working railway station and has a train that goes to the Teori Gorge everyday. It is said that this is an amazing train ride. I have wanted to go on it but it is a 4 hour trip and I was always afraid that my kids wouldn't hang. So, while my mom was here we decided to give it a go.
The other reason I never did it before was because the only trip is from 12:30-4:30pm and Charlie naps from 1:00-3:00pm and I was afraid...
We made it to the stations with not a lot of time to spare and armed with books and toys and tons of snacks.We boarded the train, found our seats and waited to leave. Charlie has been into Thomas and trains lately so we have been reading a lot about trains and learning all the terminology. So, every time Bella heard someone talk over the speaker or a train employee walked by she would say"Is that the conductor?" I never wanted to disappoint her so I said "yes!" every time. She never caught on which was good! She was so proud when she handed her ticket to the man who may or may not be the conductor!

The kids did really, really well on the train. Bella loved looking out the window and seeing all of the bridges and scenery.
Charlie also loved looking out the train window but he loved spotting all of the diggers and water!
Our tour took us over 12 bridges and 9 tunnels. Everytime the train was about to go through a tunnel the whistle would blow. Charlie's eyes would get really big, he would put his hands on his cheeks and say "Here that? Whistle?" It was the cutest thing!
At one point, the train stopped and everyone was able to get off and stretch our legs. My mom and Bella hopped off the train but Charlie and I stayed on because he was snoozing. Bella and my mom and all the other passengers walked across a big bridge and then waited for the train to cross and pick them up again. Bella really enjoyed that.

We took one more stop to get off and check out the scenery. This time Charlie was awake so we all got off of the train. We saw some sheep grazing but didn't stay off for too long because as you can see in the picture of the kids, it was really windy!



There were open air platforms between each train car where you could stand and look at scenery or take pictures. My mom took Bella out there and after she got over her initial scared she really enjoyed being out there and kept asking my mom to take her.
we had an amazing train trip!

For Beck Fans....

Charlie is so into guitars and dancing now....so cute! Here he is dancing and thinking about playing his guitar to a Beck song. If you listen carefully you can hear him say the name of the song, "Que Onda Guero".... So Funny!!!

Bella is 4!!!

Isabella Mary Dunbar turned 4 years old last week. It seems like just yesterday that we brought her home from the hospital and our lives were changed forever. She is an amazing little girl. She has such spunk and determination and she is quite clever and witty.
From day one, anyone who meets Bella says that her outgoing, independent, stubborn personality is going to keep out trouble. She won't do anything she doesn't want to do.
I have always prayed that that would be true.


A couple weeks ago, while my mom was visiting, we took Bella and Charlie to Chipmunks, an indoor playground. The kids love it there and were having a great time. There is an area that has all sorts of tunnels and slides and climbing structures that go clear up to the ceiling(a vaulted ceiling). Bella found a couple girls to play with that were about 5 years old. She was following them around and doing what they were doing. She followed them to the top of the structure and girls started sliding down the area which is meant for climbing up. Bella looked hesitant but started to do it anyway. She looked unsure and I told her that she didn't have to do it. Eventually she came down and started playing basketball with a little boy. The girls called her to come play with them again and again she found herself with the girls at the top of the playstructure. This time one of the girls told her to go through the tunnel(Bella doesn't like tunnel slides at the moment). Bella looked back at the little girl and said "I don't want to". The girl yelled and said "Go in there!" Bella yelled back and said "I'm scared, I don't want to" she looked down at me and I said"you don't have to do anything" The girl then pointed her finger at Bella and had a mean look on her face. Bella looked back at her and said "I don't want to" and climbed down the ladder and moved on to something else.

I was so proud of her. That was her first real experience with peer pressure and she handle herself really well. It was hard to witness that because I could see the struggle in her face. I could of gone up there and saved her and yelled at the little girls but I think it was good for her to handle it herself. I just wanted her to know that she always has options and she never has to do anything that doesn't feel right.

What a big lesson for such a little girl! When we get back to California, Bella is going to start pre-school. We started talking about it and she couldn't be more excited. I just can't believe she is so grown up!

Happy Birthday Bella!

Climbing the Steepest Street in the World!

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the steepest street in the world is Baldwin Street. It just so happens that it is right here in Dunedin. While my mom was here we decided to give it a go. We were anticipating a really hard climb, but either we are in better shape than we thought or it isn't as steep as we imagined.

The gradient of the steepest section is 1 in 2.86 giving an angle of 19.3 degrees from horizontal.

There were many other people on Baldwin street while we were there. Some were walking, some were running and others were driving. Mom and I walked and ran the hill. On one side of the street there are stairs and the other side there is a foot path so you can pick your poison.

Once a year they have The Baldwin Street Gutbuster where participants sprint to the top and back again. The current record is 1min 56.06 sec. Also, once a year, Cadbury holds a lolly race down Baldwin St. It is similar to the Ducky Derby, if you are from Santa Cruz. They number Jaffas(a round type of cadbury chocolate) and you can sponsor a jaffa and if your number wins you win! Pretty fun!

I found a book at a local bookstore on Baldwin St. and it showed how you could take some interesting photos by tilting the camera even with the street.

Bill showed the picture to Bella when I wasn't around and she said "The house fell and mommy is running to get help" Bill said he laughed so hard he was crying!

What he didn't know was that I had told her that earlier when I showed her the picture! HE! HE!

Another fun day!

The prince and princess return to the castle...

We visited the Larnach castle for the second time while my mom was here. It was really fun! The last time we went, we opted not to go inside the castle but rather just look around the garden. It was early evening when we went and we were afraid that the castle wouldn't be the same after letting a tired pre-schooler and curious toddler have a look at it! It was gorgeous and warm that day so we were able to spend alot of time outside and really enjoy the spectacular views. This time, however, it was very cold and windy. We did look around the garden but it was a pretty quick trip and then we decided to go inside....

We had a great time! The kids did really well. I was glad that there weren't many other people around so we were able to move pretty quickly throughout the rooms. It was really fun for me because I was able to tell Bella things about what we were seeing and she was actually listening! I wasn't sure if she was listening but when we went into a room for a second time she repeated back to me everything I had told her before. It was pretty cool.

Charlie loved that there were tons of stairs to climb and he wasn't riding in a stroller and was actually walking!
One of the coolest parts was when we got to climb the narrow winding stairs to the turret where we had a view of the whole area. Bella was a princess in the tower, as she was wearing her tiara and had a princess gown on over her jeans that day.
Another fun day in Dunedin!

Charlie(and Bella) and the Chocolate Factory...

A couple months ago the kids and I took a tour of the Cadbury Chocolate Factory. Ever since, Bella talks about it a lot! She would tell my mom all about it, so of course, that was something my mom wanted to do while she was here.

The kids did really well on the tour. I was afraid that they would be bored because they have already heard everything but I was wrong.

One if the biggest differences, this time was that my kids know what chocolate is and so wanted to eat it the entire tour. On the tour you are given chocolate throughout, so that when the tour is over you walk away with 6-7 chocolate bars. I used to pride myself on the fact that my kids didn't know what chocolate was. Halloween candy could always be traded for healthy snacks because they had no idea what candy was. Boy am I in trouble now! Ever since the last tour they pick it out in grocery stores, gas stations and sometimes in our pantry...yikes!

At the end of the tour, we get to go into one of the three cadbury silos. Inside there is a dramatic chocolate waterfall. It is just for show, they don't use the chocolate in their candy. The waterfall is quite loud and last time Bella was afraid. So, this time I warned Bella beforehand so she could cover her ears. What I forgot to do, I guess, was warn Charlie because he was very scared and started screaming. I had to leave the room until the waterfall was turned off.

All in all, it was a really fun tour. The kids got to eat a little bit of chocolate and then we got rid of the rest!

Kiwi's

Ever since we have arrived in New Zealand we have been talking about kiwi birds with the kids. They can spot them anywhere...on shirts, signs, posters, etc. So, when we found out that there is a conservatory in Queenstown that held real kiwi birds we thought we had better go.

When we went to the conservatory, we first listened to a talk on some of the birds that they have there. Kiwi birds are semi-nocturnal, secretive birds so they were not able to show us a live one in the show but we got to see one afterward. Kiwis have the shortest beaks out of any bird! Anyone who has seen a kiwi may find that hard to believe because they are super long. But, when they measure a birds beak they measure from nostril to tip. Kiwis being the only bird to have their nostrils at the end of their beak don't really measure up.

Kiwi's are fairly small birds, weighing between 3 and 9 pounds. One other interesting thing we found out about Kiwis is that Kiwi eggs are proportionately larger compared to the size of the adult female than the eggs of any other bird. An egg may reach one-quarter of its mother’s weight. After the first egg is laid, the male takes over incubation and nest maintenance. Wow! They showed us an x-ray of a pregnant Kiwi. It was pretty cool!

After we saw the Kiwi birds we were able to walk around the conservatory with headphones for a self-guided tour of birds, ducks and some historical displays of the area. It was cute to see the kids starring into the cages, listening to their headsets. Bella enjoyed following the numbers and listening but Charlie thought it was more fun throwing rocks into the water. We didn't see much of the famous Kiwi birds as their area was dimly lit and they were hard to spot. Charlie talks about Kiwi birds and so we were hoping to see more of them.

Charlie and the diggers

Charlie is fascinated with diggers, helicopters, airplanes, trains, any kind of transportation or big machinery. He is really good at spotting them from a long way off. Usually he yells "digger" and then I look around and sure enough there is one. On our road trip we saw a lot of diggers and helicopters. Charlie was in heaven.

On our way down from the ski resort we saw a steam roller in a parking lot. We pulled over for a closer look. When we pulled over and he heard us talk about getting out, he immediately threw down his water bottle and his book and said in a very loud voice "BUCKLE OFF". As soon as my mom released the buckle on his car seat, he was across her lap and out the door. His grin was ear to ear when he got to stand on the step by the door to the big machine. He also sat in the tire and couldn't be happier. It was so cute.

We went on a train trip and at one point the train stopped for about 5 min. It happened to stop right in front of an excavator(a word Charlie can say really well, surprisingly). He was so happy. He kept staring out the window and saying "excavator". It was as if he were in some trance. When he sees a digger he drops everything in his hands and stares! What a boy!!!

Snow Day!!!!

Our next stop on our adventure was Queenstown. It was a two hour drive from Te Anau and we were not ready to get back in the car but nevertheless we started our journey. Bill and I and the kids have been to Queenstown once before and loved it so we were pretty excited to get back there. For the rest of the day we let the kids play, checked out our apartment(a two bedroom with one bath and a full kitchen) and unpacked a little.

The next morning we woke up, had some breakfast and headed for the slopes! It was a beautiful day, perfect for the snow. We bundled the kids up(they looked so cute in the their snow gear) and headed for The Remarkables Ski resort. The road to the resort was a windy, narrow road so we were very glad that it wasn't icy that day. We saw some of the most dramatic views on the way up the mountain. We made it to the top, got the rest of our gear on and road the magic carpet(a moving conveyor belt) to the lodge. The kids really liked doing that! We heard that there was an area dedicated to sledding at this resort but quickly found out that that particular part was not open yet as this was the opening day of the resort. We were pretty bummed but quickly got over it and found a big area of snow off the side to play in. The kids were having a great time trudging around in the snow. Bella kept falling and getting up and falling again laughing all the while. She and I also had fun making snow angels and throwing snow at each other. Charlie, on the other hand, was a little more timid. He could walk pretty well on top of the snow but if his feet sunk at all or any snow touched his skin, he would whine. Bella saw a little girl go down the slopes on skis and decided that she wanted to do that as well. Bill and I took her to the lodge to get skis. He rented skis as well so that he could teach her and ski with her. In hind sight and from looking at pictures the whole thing was a bad idea but you never know until after, right? She was not at all interested in getting fitted for boots. She fussed and whined when they took her boots to fit her skis and pretty much threw herself down when I said let's go outside and go skiing....I mean how dumb are we? We got outside and Bill really tried to show her how to ski but unfortunately Bella had other ideas. I think, in her mind when she put on the skis she would magically know how to do it and it didn't work out that way. So bad led to worse and needless to say she ended up having the worlds biggest screaming tantrum on the top of the mountain. All was not lost, however. Bill picked Charlie up, held him dangling between his legs and sailed down the hill of the bunny slope. Charlie loved it and kept saying "More, More!" After Charlie was through we gathered up Bella and left the mountain. It was a fun and eyeopening experience...