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Early October pictures

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One of the smallest praying mantises I’ve ever seen (that’s Esther’s hand). It was incredibly hard to get the picture because the camera didn’t want to focus there, and it kept moving (jumped onto the lens once!).

And this is something I was glad to have not known about until I found the pictures on the memory card later! This is my daredevil second boy, way up high in a gum tree. He hauled the ladder up after him to bridge the gap between branches. He did make it back down safely!

The second and fourth boys have been diligently working at lining their sleepout walls with cardboard, and then painting it.

This little boy (our youngest) is so cute! I love the way he walks so purposefully across the yard. His favorite place in the kitchen is up on the countertop, where he can see what’s going on.

One evening our silly boys had a contest to see who could put the most different items on their bread. It started when one put plum jam, grapefruit marmalade, and pumpkin butter on his bread, in separate stripes—that one was actually sensible, in Mom’s opinion. This boy, #2, was the ultimate winner (in his opinion)—he found 15 things to put on his bread! Yes, I made him eat it.

Ryan Craig, from Twizel, is walking the length of New Zealand for the fourth time pulling a cross, carrying the message of forgiveness. He stayed with us for a night, and our boys really enjoyed him. To learn more about him, visit https://www.facebook.com/RyanCraigsWalk2014/timeline

Last Sunday on our way home from church we stopped for a little while along the coast, which we haven’t done in a long time. The boys sure enjoyed climbing around on the rocks! Top picture is James, our 4th boy; next is Joseph, the 5th. Beyond them was a huge flock of birds on the water. Next picture is James, then Elijah, then Simon. The next two include Seth and Joseph with us.

A beautiful spiderweb I noticed while milking one morning.

The calf we were given a few weeks ago. She was born in the yards where Gayle works, just before her mother was butchered. She was initially given to a friend of ours who works there also, who got her started eating but then decided she couldn’t afford to keep her cattle and gave her to us! This calf is very healthy and frisky, and absolutely loves her foster “mother”—Seth, our first boy!

We got our potatoes planted last week, and then I assigned the boys to mulch them with a bale of straw we had. They did a great job!

August Pictures

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And here we are at the end of August again! I’ve been spending my spare time packing. I hope to do everything we can do without for a week or two in the kitchen, today. Gayle has next week off work, and we plan to load all we can into the container, then get that moved. He and the boys will also move the outside stuff, including firewood, and then next Saturday we hope to move the last of our things and the animals. I’ve been putting a lot of thought into what goes into the container and what doesn’t—what can we live without for a week or two, in case the container doesn’t get moved on schedule? It’s an interesting exercise. At this point, I’m thinking we need to keep out mattresses (but bed frames can go in), table, benches and chairs, clothing (and dressers), some food, and just basic dishes for cooking and eating. We can sit on the floor in the living room for a little while, although I do want to keep my rocker/recliner: I need a comfortable place to sit down once in awhile! Busy week ahead. Anyway, here are this month’s pictures that I haven’t already shared.

We took one, and then two lambs with us to church and Dead Boring for a couple of weeks. They’re big enough now not to need so many feeds, so we can leave them home now.One Sunday afternoon, we went to the waterfall north of Kaikoura to see the baby seals. We were almost too late; most had already gone out to sea. There were seven, though, and a couple were really putting on a show just upstream from the beach. They are so graceful in the water!

After watching the seals for a bit, we walked across the road to the beach and watched the big waves. It was high tide, and the waves were really crashing up and over a large rock right below us. Two boys had fun running out onto that rock between waves, then dashing back to safety. The cliff in the picture above was across the road, over the path back to the waterfall.

One of our boys (Simon) is getting some practice fabricating. He cut apart a broken sack bearer, then welded it back together to make this small one for his little brothers.

We have three teenagers now! We had an informal birthday party for the birthday boy (Simon), and he requested this game.

We’ve had a bad flu go through the house this week. The youngest got it first, and was down two days. Several days later I got it and was in bed for three days. Two other boys got it right after I did, and they were down for two days each. A few days later, three more got it; one was down only a day, but the other two for two days. This morning, everyone is feeling better! We’re praying that Gayle and Esther don’t get it. The downside of homeschooling (from a child’s perspective) is that sick days don’t mean days off school! Teacher Mom insists that they do at least a little! This boy did extra, though; he completed three lessons yesterday while he was down sick!

This little boy loves his books! One of his most common sayings right now is, “Can’t read it!” as he presents you with a book he wants to hear. The boy who made the sack bearer also made this cradle by cutting apart a big plastic drum and putting wooden ends on. In my opinion, it’s too tipsy for the new baby, which is who he intended it for, but the first day this little boy loved it as a place to sit and read.

Kaikoura Peninsula

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One Sunday afternoon, when we had visitors from America at church, we went with them to the Peninsula. It was a gorgeous fall afternoon. We really enjoyed visiting with our new friends and showing them around.Mountain climbers.
Very tired and ready to go home–Daddy is still talking!A bed of bull kelp.
Gazing out to sea from the overlook at the top of the Peninsula.

Gore Bay

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One day last week, we went to the sea for an hour or so. The older four boys rode their boogie boards in the surf, while the little ones played at the edge of the waves, and built a house from sand. The littlest was diligently taking handfuls of sand from the wall his brother built, and patting them down onto another part of the wall!
Just before we left, we saw this container ship offshore.Waiting for the last few to finish dressing.

We went up the hill to look for Banana Passion Fruit. Esther stayed on top of the hill to tell the boys when to come back.

Scrambling down the hill after looking for the fruit.

Sunday Afternoon

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After leaving church late Sunday afternoon, we went to South Bay, intending to stay about an hour. The boys were playing at the edge of the water as the tide was going out, and we were watching them while Esther took pictures, when some acquaintances came along on the boardwalk/bridge above us. We ended up talking to them for a long time, and stayed a total of two hours! The boys, especially the two littlest, enjoyed themselves immensely and didn’t mind staying while we talked. Throwing rocks. Good thing we had extra clothes along for the two youngest!
It’s hard to get such a good picture of this boy!Not hard at all to get a good picture of this one.Snagging driftwood to make a bridge from one rock to another.
Sea anemones
Shags

Kaikoura Peninsula

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We went to South Bay, the south side of the Kaikoura Peninsula, after leaving church yesterday.  We walked up the steep path to the top of the peninsula, and then Gayle offered to go back and drive around to the other end to pick us up if we wanted to walk across the top.  Sounded like fun to me, so we did that!  I had never been across the entire top; we’ve walked around at sea level twice.  It was a gorgeous day!  The sun shone part of the time, and part of the time clouds came over.  The colors were so vivid.  A sailboat left South Bay about the same time we did, and we watched it tacking around to the north side of the peninsula.  It arrived about the same time we did.

The sailboat leaving South Bay.Right after the carpark, we crossed this bridge along the edge of the bay.

Cabbage trees are in bloom!

New Zealand Flax is blooming, too.

Starting up the path up the cliff. These two went back for the van.See the sailboat?

Near the end–they came back to meet those of us who lagged behind. The sailboat entering the bay on the north side of the peninsula.

Beach Clean Up

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We were given a trip on Whale Watch this week.  They asked that, in return, we spend some time doing a beach clean up.  Last week, we had a day that was so lovely and warm that we decided we would do it then, at Gore Bay.  We split up into two groups; three of the boys went one way and the rest of us went the other way.  I told them to start back after half an hour and we would meet up near the start.  It is amazing, and disgusting, what you find on the beach!  Why don’t people pick up after themselves?  Most of what we found had been thrown under the bushes at the edge; there were a lot of beer bottles.  Yuck!  We also found an old tire and some lumber, but the most unusual find was the huge wad of frayed rope that the boys found!

One group went north.

One group went south.

He said he wouldn’t help, since he couldn’t go on Whale Watch, but when we got started he couldn’t resist! After our time cleaning up (and deciding we should do it again in a few weeks), I let the boys play on their “raft” again for awhile.  They sure are having fun poling that around the lagoon!

While we waited for the rafters to come back, these two built a bridge. I found this mermaid’s purse.Mussel shell with coral on it.The biggest find of the day!

And then, the camera got dipped into the water, so we had to buy a new one in order to take pictures when we went on Whale Watch!

Whale Watch

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The children and I had the privilege yesterday to take a tour with Whale Watch.  There is no way we could afford the tickets normally, but we happen to know a lady who works there.  She sent me a note recently, saying that they were taking the Year 4 classes from Kaikoura on a tour, which they do annually, and had extra space.  She thought of us, since she knows we homeschool, and asked if we’d like to go.  Would we!  You should have heard the excitement here!  The two youngest were not able to go, but a dear friend in Kaikoura offered to keep them for me so I could go along.

Thursday morning was the day of the tour.  We got up early and ate our breakfast on the way to Kaikoura (a one-hour trip) as we watched the sun rise over the hills and enjoyed the snow on the mountains.  When we got down to the coast, we noticed high waves.  We dropped off the little boys and went to the Whaleway Station–to be met with the news that sailing had been canceled for the day due to the high waves!  What a disappointment.  So, we picked up the little boys again, went to a secondhand shop, and came home to do school.

The trip had been rescheduled for Friday, so yesterday morning we got up early again, again ate our breakfast while we enjoyed the early morning beauty, and again dropped off the little boys.  The waves were still high, but not as high as the previous morning, so we got to go on our tour.

We were informed, soon after we got underway, that a whale had been spotted not too far away.  He had just sounded (gone under) and would surface to breathe again in about 40 minutes.  The primary whale in Kaikoura waters, by the way, is adolescent male sperm whales.  They like the deep water in the trench that comes close in to land here.  They can dive 3 km deep, and stay down for about 40 minutes at a time.  While we waited for that whale to come back up, we went to Goose Bay, where the continental shelf comes within 500 meters of the shore for a special treat:  a pod of dolphins was feeding there!  Normally, in the winter, the dolphins are in the Marlborough Sounds, so they would not usually be seen on a Whale Watch tour right now.  There were probably around 200 Dusky Dolphins, and we got to be right in the middle of the pod for 15-20 minutes!  That was fascinating!  They leaped out of the water, spun in a half circle, and fell back in with a splash.  They frequently slapped the water with their tail, scaring fish so they could feed on them.  I was intrigued to see that they often swam in pairs, two dolphins side-by-side.  We’ve seen them often from the highway, but it’s much better out at sea, right in among them. The mountains were so beautiful!
Soon it was time to head over to see the whale.  We all went back in the cabin and sat down.  As we were traveling, I happened to see, out the window, a spout off to our right!  After I saw it a second time, I started pointing it out to people around me, and after the third we were able to catch the attention of the Whale Watch crew–they hadn’t seen it!  They immediately altered course and went that direction, but just as we got there the whale sounded.  So, we turned and went back toward the other one–but as we got there that one sounded, as well!  What a disappointment.  So, we slowly moved around, searching for another whale, and they turned the engines off at one point so they could listen with the hydrophone to try to locate a whale.  After awhile they did find one, and we got to watch it breathe on the surface for several minutes.  Then, the whale waved his tail at us and was gone.  What a special experience!

At last–a whale! There he goes!After we picked up the little boys and visited for a while with our friend, we headed for home.  We stopped along the coast on our way home and had a picnic, and explored the rocks for awhile–it was too beautiful a day to just go home immediately!

A live sponge. Usually we find them dead, washed up on shore.

A sea anemone.

He enjoyed investigating the anemone!

Baby Seals at Ohau Falls

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Sunday after church we made our annual visit to the waterfall, north of Kaikoura, where baby seals play while their mothers are out at sea eating.  The baby seals swim and crawl about 1/4 mile up a creek to the pool at the base of a high waterfall.  Sometimes there will be 100 or so there; this time there weren’t nearly so many, but still a lot of fun to watch! It’s so dark back in there that it is hard to get good pictures.  If our videos turned out any good (I haven’t watched them yet) I’ll post one or more sometime soon.

Swimming in the pool at the base of the waterfall.

This is steeper than it looks! Those seals climbed about 10 feet, nearly straight up! The lower one climbed right over the other while we watched. After visiting the falls, we stopped at Ohau Point Lookout, a place where the mother seals come to feed their babies and rest after being out at sea fishing.  I had never seen a baby seal nursing before; that was fun!

Shags Aren’t those little pups cute?