The Dinosaurs of Patagonia

Thursday this week we hit the Dinosaurs of Patagonia exhibit in Auckland. Beforehand we spent time enjoying the great weather at Orakei Park on Tamaki Drive in Auckland. The kids enjoyed swinging, climbing and of course playing infinity tag amongst the trees.

It was a lovely turn out and the kids really enjoyed catching up as always.

We all marveled at the pure size of the replica skeletons which included some carnivores and herbivores. Especially impressive was the Patagonian a titanosaur dinosaur that was discovered in Patagonia, Argentina in 2012. It's one of the largest dinosaurs ever found, and one of the largest land animals. There was lots of interactive fun to be had by digging for little dinosaurs though rice, 'splatting' some dinosaurs with eggs, creating our own dinosaurs that would then roam on a giant screen and watching documentry videos of digging for the dinosaurs in Patagonia. We learned a lot about how much work and how complex it is for not only nature to make fossils but for people to find them and dig them up. Before departing the kids fueled up having an afternoon tea outside the exhibit showing all the little treats they earned with the fact finding challenge.

The build so far...

It has been very busy months. We have had amazing help with realizing the dream of a permanent home for our families to catch up together. There has been an amazing amount of support from parents, kids and businesses making such a big project a little easier.

So far the Room of Requirement is taking shape with new windows, doors, wiring, roof and cladding. The paint is giving it a much needed facelift and we can't wait for the carpet and finally the drum kit, piano, tv and couch to go in. This will be the home of our Musician Club, any instrument lessons and also give a quiet professional space for guest teachers from the community and art classes. Ground work is under way for our covered all weather area and workshop. The massive posts have arrived and we are furiously trying to fundraise for a concrete floor which will make clean up so much easier.

The gardens are expanding and should be ready for garden to table in Term 2. The total garden space should be around 200sq allowing for families that wish to take part the ability to learn gardening and preserving skills as well as taking produce home each session.

Kiwi Slip 'n' Slide Day...

After having to postpone our slide day the day before the next day was a real stunner and the kids absolutely loved going down the massive water slides and playing on the water castle.

Life Learners provided a cool pop up cafe area with treats to sell for our fundraising and we thank all our parents who made this possible with your yummy baking donations!