Heart Felt

Hot Air Balloons

A couple of weeks back we enjoyed the return of the annual hot air balloon festival in our region.

  I got the kids up early to see them take off into the early morning sky.

Quite extraordinary.

Last day of summer

 
Last day of summer and we found ourselves in the park cicada shell hunting. 

Oscar said... "I can't believe how our walk has turned into an adventure!" 

Blackberry hunters

The chicken coop

River swimming

Long summer days for river swimming.

 

Raspberries & Blueberries

It's that time of the year!  Evidently it's not so good for raspberries this year,

but the blueberries are loving it!

Handmade mozzarella

We have been buying raw milk from a local farmer and Ian has been experimenting with making his own mozzarella cheese. 

Practice makes perfect.

Oscar putting the money into the 'honesty box' at the milk shed.

 

Raw milk...... yet to find better containers than recycling milk bottles.

 

Where the milk comes from.

 

One of the steps in making mozzarella.

 

Stretching the cheese in hot water.

 

A ball of handmade mozzarella.

 

Apple Blossom

Picking daffodils in the rain

It rained, but that's what spring is all about.

Hugo wasn't impressed and snuggled into mama in the front pack.

Charlie was reluctant at first, but he had a great time and proved to be rather good arranging his daffodils into a beautiful bunch.                                            

Oscar and Sadie enjoyed running around with their novelty umbrellas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spring blossom obsession

It would be hard not to be obsessive about spring blossom after a long dreary winter.

We are finally enjoying the sunshine, blue sky and lots and lots of tui birds.

Today I counted eight tuis in one tree at the same time.  

They were very noisy and playful with each other.