The last few weeks of Project 52 in 2014

A portrait of my children once a week, every week in 2014.

There's nothing like finishing a 52 week project a month late....ahem. Better late than never though I say!

The week before Christmas you boys got to hang out with our dear Nikki - what a treat that was for us all. One afternoon we went downtown to see the Kirkcaldies Christmas windows - Nikki had never seen them (despite living in Wellington most of her life!) so it was great to introduce her to one of our annual traditions. After a quick hello to the resident Santa, we enjoyed an ice cream in the glorious sunshine together afterwards on the hottest day of the summer thus far!

 





Eddy the elf finally made an appearance and you enjoyed seeing all the hijinks he got up to leading up to Christmas. Although you were equally excited to get early Christmas presents from your aunty and uncle in Wales - LEGO advent calendars to open each day!

 

 

 

 



We had so many adventures on our Christmas holiday that there isn't space to tell it all and some adventures are worthy of their very own story! That being said there were a few highlights for you boys like getting your own mask and snorkel sets for Christmas in preparation for our holiday to Rarotonga next year.

 

 

The snorkels seemed to have been used more times out of the pool than in so far if you see how often you've been caught with it on Mylo!

 

 



 

 

 

But you so enjoyed the chance to try them out for real in the outdoor pool at the Aquatic Centre in New Plymouth.

 



But what took your fancy even more were the two diving boards there - a 1m and 3m board. You both loved them so much that we ended up taking you to the pool three times in two days! Noah you were so confident going off the big board and although you preferred the lower board, even you gave the big board a go Mylo! And you managed to convince your mum to try the little one too - what fun!

 



You both  tried out body boarding for the first time and loved it - we all had such a blast at Oakura Beach - with thanks to my aunty who had the foresight to meet us at the beach with all their boards!

 



There were so many opportunities to get out and about enjoying water sports over the holiday too - another day we took a trip up the Coast to the splash pad, had a dip in the sea and a ride on the miniature trains at Raumati!

 

 

 



One day while at Nana and Poppa's we had perfect kite flying conditions - I thought this picture of you flying the kite Noah epitomised the perfect childhood Kiwi summer!

 

The other success of Christmas this year was receiving your very own Barcelona and Real Madrid football kits which did not come off your bodies for DAYS afterwards. We even found you'd slept in yours on Christmas night Noah!

 

 

Another winner were the new onesies Grandma and Grandad sent over from the UK - one would think it a little warm for onesies right now but that doesn't seem to bother you two in the slightest! You had an epic LEGO building session last weekend wearing them and when you got a bit hot just stripped down to the waist and carried right on with your building!

 

On New Years day we went and saw Paddington at the movies with our lovely Nikki - it was definitely a fun afternoon out if your face is anything to go by Mylo!

 

 

And no holiday in the Waikato would be complete without a ride at the Cambridge bike park. I love this shot I captured of you Noah - you've grown so much this year we are having to think about a new bike already!

In keeping with my decision to be a bit less scheduled in the blogging department I'm not going to be officially doing the 52 week project this year but that won't stop me sharing little snippets of your lives over the course of 2015. I'm so excited to see how you both develop and grow - and on the growing front you're both rocketing up - both of you have grown 2-3 cm over the last three months - all this Kiwi summer sunshine has definitely helped!