Rainbows End

Today we all (plus Elizabeth's friend Rhiana) went to Rainbow's End (theme park) for the day to celebrate Elizabeth's birthday.

My favourite was the 3D Sponge Bob movie. Other high-lights the bumper boats, mini-golf and the dodgems.'

KFC for dinner.

Thanks Elizabeth for a great day.

Facing Your Fears - Part 2

Few days ago on entering New World (supermarket)

Elizabeth: Today I'm going to face my fear again
Patrick: What are you going to do?
Elizabeth: Touch a live mussel

(New World sells live mussels)

Also see: Facing Your Fears

Seven Years Old

Happy Birthday Elizabeth - hope you have a great day

A deal is a deal even with teachers

A few days ago our class and Mrs Smith made a deal
Mrs Smith"Since you really want to get on to your topic I'll make a deal with you"
Mrs Smith"If we do our topic now then we'll have to do handwriting in topic time tomorrow"
Our class"okay"
Tomorrow at topic time
Mrs Smith"Remember the deal we made yesterday"
Our class"no" I remembered but I said no
Mrs Smith"We agreed that if we do topic we have to do Handwriting a topic time today"
So then we carry on with handwriting

Hello everyone

On 28th of April its the day its my birthday!
Yay me!

Happy birthday dear Nadia

Nadia's birthday yesterday and the big four-o is closing in fast.

We hope she had a great day and may there be many more.

We love you lots
Patrick, Timothy and Elizabeth

Things that go BEEP in the night

Well, this started last year when Timothy brought home a toy from school he received for good behaviour. Not just any toy... one that plays a silly tune...randomly...in the middle of the night. The toy was banished to a deep, dark, drawer in the lounge, never to be heard again.

This year it was time for a beeping noise from Elizabeth's room. The first thing I did was change the fire alarm's battery but... the following night BEEP again... only long enough to wake you and get to Elizabeth's room, then quiet. BEEP... BEEP... BEEP... every night at 15 minutes past midnight. We tracked it down to the bookshelf behind Elizabeth's door. Then finally one night Patrick caught it red handed... it was the Sudoku game. Stupid toy had an alarm set... go figure.

The most frequent BEEP is probably my mobile phone... just enough to wake you but so infrequent that you don't want to get out of bed to put it on the charger. Although admittedly, Patrick has a slightly lower tolerance for the BEEP and will often be the one putting phones on the charger.

This morning I went in search of yet another BEEP, this time in the cupboard in the lounge. I knew it was the fire alarm, I knew it was in the cupboard but I simply could not find it. When Patrick woke up he spent a good few minutes looking, re-arranging the whole cupboard until finally he found it on a shallow shelf sitting next to the speaker - very simple if you know where to look.

Timothy

As requested by Peter, here's a picture of Timothy (in his natural environment)

Shore To Shore

On Sunday 30 March we all took part in the annual Shore-To-Shore fun run/walk from Takapuna Grammar to Milford Beach.

Timothy started really fast and I had to try and keep up - what seemed like a leisurely walk turned into a mad struggle. Luckily he ran out of steam at about the halfway point and slowed down to a more civilized walk.

The girls did the sensible thing and took it easy from the start. As a result I was the only one still feeling it by Tuesday.

Cricket season is over

I've been a bit lazy with the blogging lately, so I'll post a few tonight

Timothy's cricket season is over and the last match of the season was on 29 March. Although the team did not fare as well as the previous season I'm sure all the kids had a good time. After the final match it was the end-of-season prize giving. Timothy won the MVP (Most Valuable Player) for his team - well done Timothy!

From cricket straight into the rugby season - Timothy is playing tackle rugby for the first time this year. He plays for the Takapuna Rugby Club at J6 (Junior 6) level. One of the parents made a website. Have a look at www.takapunablues.co.nz.

Fun things we did over Easter Weekend

Picnic with fish & chips on Mt. Victoria

Super14 rugby at Eden Park for Patrick and Timothy

Lunch at Columbus Coffee at Smales Farm (except the bit where the lady panicked when she could not get out of the bathroom)

Relax in the sun with a good book at Premier Lounge at Albany Westfield

Kids sleepover at Oupa and Ouma

Curry and Rice take-aways for Mom and Dad

Dear Vaughan's
Um, well I need help for one of my videos on http//www.clubpenguin.com/. Timothy be your oldest, Patrick and Nadia be your penguin (Note: Do not throw snowballs like mad dogs) and I will be my second oldest.
Server: Rainbow
Place: Timothy's igloo
When: Tomorrow 10:10
I'll put it on You tube. Patrick can film too.
Love from,
Elizabeth

Happy Easter

Happy Easter from the Vaughans

Teachers don't know everything

Last night while sitting round the “klein tafeltjie” having dinner, Elizabeth proclaimed: “Teachers don’t know everything”
“Why?” I asked.
“Because Mrs Smith didn’t know what a Pub Crawl was and she had to ask Finn’s helper.”
“How did Pub Crawl come up” I asked, partly knowing the answer.
“We had to write about our weekend in story writing, so I wrote I went for a Pub Crawl”

We may have to rename our “safari-ete” down Takapuna’s main drag.

House Cleaning

Elizabeth: "What are you doing Mummy"
Nadia: "I'm cleaning the house"

Elizabeth: "Who's coming to visit?"

The Best Weekend Ever!

The last weekend was the BEST EVER!
1.Friend came over
2.I went to a friends house
3.Swimming (first lesson)
4.Tenpin Bowling!
5.KFC
and that is my great weekend bye

Cricket at it's best

Today my team had our best practice yet!
I had a really high catch (for our age) and it just whistled past my head and colapsing with my cap.
The good parts are that I was exelent at batting hiting our coach for 6!
Allthough our coach wasn't really balling properly it was still a good hit that rocketed away over the fence.
Our team cought 20 balls in a row on only our 2nd 3rd or 4th try!
I was glad to get my bat back

Hot Water

After many years of putting up with ridiculously slow flow from our hot water cylinder, today we had a brand new high pressure unit installed. It's fantastic - I have no idea why we waited so long.

Thanks to Nadia for organizing this.

The wonder of e-mail

Today I received this e-mail from Elizabeth:

From: Sky Wishs
Sent: 27 February 2008 5:51 p.m.
To: Nadia Vaughan
Subject: Sad

I'm 100% board can you please please please think of something to do!PLEASE

/Elizabeth\

North Shore Times - 26 February 2008

Junior learn from the best

Former All Black Ian Jones has helped a young team reach the grand final of an inter-school touch tournament.

Under Jone's coaching, five and six-year-olds from Milford School's year 1 and 2 team have been competing at Becroft Park every Thursday since mid-October last year.

By the end of the 10-week tournament they had qualified for the final.

For most of the players it was their first taste of the sport.

Bayview were the eventual winners, but with further coaching from Jones, Milford will be looking to go one step further next year.

Update by Patrick: For those of you who haven't seen Elizabeth in a while (or ever), she's the lovely little girl on the far right.

Milford School Newsletter - 21 February 08

Yr 1 / 2 Milford Kiwis Touch Rugby Finalists
Becroft Park touch rugby finals were held on 14 February. Yr 1 / 2 Milford Kiwis put up a strong game against Bayview Mixed team. Despite daring skills, speed, energy and excellent sportsmanship, Milford Kiwis were runners up with a 12 to 3 loss.
Harry Tiger-McNamara scored the first try 4 minutes into the game. Jansen Pallesen scored twice in the second half.
Inclement weather did not dampen spirits. Milford Kiwis consistently played as a team, supporting and encouraging each other. The turf was wet and slippery, many players became grass casualties, but bounced back with enthusiasm. The team was well supported by peers and family.
Congratulations Milford Kiwis on your efforts and dedication for the 2007 – 08 season. Thank you to coach Ian Jones, manager Janine Jones and parents for their support.

Last night we became...

New Zealand Citizens (finally after almost 10 years)

Along with 500 other North Shore Residents.

See pics:

http://www.toppix.co.nz/OathFebA-Z/210.htm (en Nadia pak haar tande uit)

http://www.toppix.co.nz/OathFebA-Z/209.htm

Stickybeak's Adventure - By Timothy

Stickybeak came to my house. He was very tired when he got to my house because we had to walk. He got a rest when we sat down. Then we went to the computer. He saw a snail race and Stickybeak said: "Those snails look yummy." I forgot to say he was watching with his three friends, Harry, Rocky and Greeny. He had trouble getting to sleep because of the fan and my mum vacuuming but he got to sleep in the end. In the morning he watched me read my Glory Gardens book from the library along with three other friends, Mike, Lily and Princess.

From: Stickybeak's Journal (Room 5's very own platypus)

The difference between boys and girls

The other day Elizabeth explained to me when girls fight, they fight with words and say really hurtfull things to each other, but boys have a bit of an argue at lunchtime and it's soon all over.

Great insight for a six year old I think.

A+ Student

The other night while having dinner Timothy said: "If I was a teacher and you were my student, mum, I would give you an A+ for three quaters of the time"

The Tooth Fairy

Growing up, whenever a milk-tooth came out, we would leave it in a shoe overnight and the Tooth Mouse would come along, collect it and leave 5 cents in it's place. The Tooth Mouse has now been replaced by the Tooth Fairy who leaves 2 dollars - which is probably not much more, if at all.

The other night Elizabeth had a wiggly tooth - after several attempts by the parents to get it out (on her request) and lots of tears (from her), we suggested she go to bed and try again in the morning. Fifteen minutes later she came into the lounge, very proudly holding up the offending tooth.

She has real determination, that one.

Doctor Zhivago

When I was in high school, there was this weird kid (and I mean that in a good way), that was absolutely crazy about the movie Doctor Zhivago. I wanted to see it ever since and last Thursday (28 years later) me and Nadia sat down and sat through the full 3 and a half hours.

It was excellent.

Amazing Race - Vaughan Style

What is the price of Coco Rocks 385g at New World?
What is the price of a Long Black at Columbus Coffee?
How many steps up to the first floor in Borders?
Find the hours of business of two banks
What is the name of the shop between Just Jeans & Jeans West?
Name 2 animal of which they have life size statues in Natures Window
How many cash registers in Number 1 Shoe Warehouse?
What is the price of a return ticket to London at Flight Centre?
What is the price of a style cut at Just Cuts?
How many step from Columbus Coffee to street level?

These are the questions we had to answer on 21/1/08 for our own little Amazing Race.
We ran through Albany Mall, searching high & low, left, right and centre...
And the winners are...
Well, the boy team finished first but...
answered one question wrong (or not quite right)
so we had a tie...

Hoe ry die trein ...

Timothy, Elizabeth and me went on our annual train trip to New Market on Monday. Turns out the train is much cheaper than the bus .. go figure.

Anyway, we had a look around the Sony shop, then some lunch (yay, MacDonalds) and back to Britomart.

A great time was had by all

New Zealand vs England 20Twenty

Yesterday night Patrick and me went to the 20Twenty match between New Zealand and England at Eden Park. New Zealand had won the toss and selected to bowl first. (What was McCullum thinking) Two early wickets for New Zealand in the second and fourth overs. Pietersen was getting the score going until he departs with around 40 runs off around 20 balls (WOW). England put up a total of 184/8 New Zealand had to chase that with a terrible start. They were getting a lot of runs behind the stumps. The best score was from J Oram with a total of 61 but went out with a catch by Ian Bell. It was hopeless, with Oram out we were never going to win. Martin had come in. Most people thought he was gone first ball but no he got 5 runs and every one of those runs got a cheer cause he can't bat at all. England had beet New Zealand by 32 runs. Man of the match was Mascarenhas for England. Four people made there 20Twenty Debuts at this match they were
(England)
P Mustard
GP Swann
(New Zealand)
JD Ryder
TG Southee
I was very tired after the match. It was after 10o'clock