Labels:
events,
family time,
Shane writes
Christchurch Trip
The day after Shane got back from School Camp we were off to
Christchurch for a week for Aunty Karla and Uncle Iain’s wedding. We had a
great time and the trip was filled to the brim with heaps of fun and great
memories.
Here’s a few photos {click to enlarge}:
 |
| Stopped for a break in driving | Throwing stones across the river |
 |
| Auryn became Shane's wee shadow |
 |
| Carving it up on the dance floor with Josh |
 |
| A special dance with Nana |
 |
| First time on a scooter | Waiau |
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| Hanmer Springs |
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| Hanmer Springs hot pools |
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| Ahhhh soooo chillaxxxed |
Shane writes:
My favourite part of
all will have to be us going to Hanmer Springs. Although I felt bad for Mum and
Aunty Nellie that they couldn’t go in I still had so much fun. The thing that I
will never forget there would be when Neihana almost threw up in the sulphur
pools. The thing I enjoyed most would be the diving with Neihana and trying to
convince some random that we spoke a different language. (It worked.) the thing
I was most disappointed about was not being able to eat all my fish ‘n’ chips. I
don’t know why I was but yeah. The thing I hated was losing Neihana’s necklace
because he went mad at me and once I found it he wouldn’t stop going on. The thing
I hated most about going to Hanmer Springs was having to leave because I had so
much fun there.
Thank you Uncle
Charlie and Aunty Nellie for paying for us. I can’t believe you spent that much
on us.
Labels:
events,
school,
video
School Camp
From the 19th – 21st March, just
before we went on our family trip to Christchurch, Shane went with his class to
Mavora Lakes. He had an awesome time and they had three days of fantastic
weather, which was great because they were camping in tents.
Building up to the camp, other students who had gone before
him had told him it was a boring camp, so he wasn’t really looking forward to
it all that much. But he came home on Wednesday saying that he’d had a great
time. He thinks the kids who found it boring were probably not into tramping. Shane’s
always loved tramping. He was born in the right country, because NZ has so many
amazing bush walks, and Mavora did not let him down.
One of the highlights of the trip that he talks about was
the walk that some of them did around the lakes and up to the peak of the
mountain. It took 6 hours to get to the top, and only about 15 minutes “Scree-running”
back down again! Shane said it was tough and exhausting, but he was glad that
when he was given the choice to go on the walk or stay back at camp, he chose
to do the walk. And the views from the top were breathtaking (as you’ll see in
the photos below) and well worth the effort. I was proud of him for choosing to
go on the walk. He came home covered in scrapes and bruises from the
scree-running, but he also had a sense of achievement, and the way he talked
about the climb I just knew he’d experienced something truly special. The kids
who chose to stay back at camp went rafting, which he got to do anyway.
During the trip, Shane used some of the photography skills
he learned in a course he did last year. He came home with so many amazing
photos it was impossible to choose which ones to share, so we have put them
together in a slideshow.
Enjoy J
Labels:
photo challenge
Shane has decided that just for fun, he is going to participate in Fat Mum Slim's Photo A Day Challenge for the month of April.
Here is the list of prompts for April:
April Photo Challenge
Shane has decided that just for fun, he is going to participate in Fat Mum Slim's Photo A Day Challenge for the month of April.
Here is the list of prompts for April:
Feel free to join in via facebook, twitter or wherever else you feel like sharing! And if you do join in, leave a comment with the link to your photos so we can have a look.
J
Labels:
death,
family
RIP Sophie
Saturday, 10 March 2012
0
comments
On Thursday night our lovely cat Sophie was killed when she
was run over by a car.
She had been in our family for over 3 years and we are very
sorry to lose her.
RIP Sophie
L
Labels:
school,
teenagers
Identity
Friday, 2 March 2012
2
comments
This morning Shane came to me with a notice from school, and
said “Here Mum, I have to show you this.” From the tone of his voice I thought
it had to be something bad, maybe a letter sent home about bad behaviour –
clearly he didn’t want to show it to me but had been told he had to.
It was only this:
I looked at him, a little confused, and asked “Do you want
to go to this?” I was confused because he was standing there, teeth gritted,
jaw clenched, with a look of irritation on his face, and he’d flicked the paper
at me in a way that showed he really felt there was no point in showing it to
me at all. Maybe it was something he wanted to go to but he thought we would
say no?
Through his clenched teeth he said “No. Not. At. All.”
I was even more confused then, and it must have shown on my
face when I looked at him, because he said “We’re not individuals. We’re just
maori.”
I could absolutely feel
his frustration as he stood there, and I explained to him that the school
were just trying to be culturally sensitive and allow maori families to be
connected to each other and to the school, and that this is important to a lot
of maori families. He said “Oh yeah, that’s right, because we’re all stupid.
And we can’t read. We probably just want to get drunk and go off the rails.” He
continued mumbling sarcastic remarks about how he hates maori food and doesn’t
need a stupid dinner, while Neihana acted out getting drunk and falling over
and not being able to read. I sat there having flashbacks to my own high school
years and trying to find the right words to say to him.
Shane’s not ashamed of being maori. It’s just that he doesn’t
want that to identify him entirely. He’s also part Scottish, English and Irish.
He’s also a Christian. He’s a student, he’s a teenager, he’s a boy, he’s a
Cantabrian, he lives in Southland, he comes from a two-parent home. All those
things play a part in who he is and he’s at a stage of his life right now where
identity is everything. He doesn’t want to be boxed into any particular label,
or have any assumptions made about who he is, based on something like the
colour of his skin. It’s incredibly dissatisfying. I know because I had the
same sort of experience when I was his age, and I think he has a point.
He’s 13. He doesn’t want to go to school and feel like he’s
‘different’ or ‘special needs’. And because of an invitation to a pot luck
dinner, that’s how he feels. As though the teachers have said “Hey, we’ve
noticed you’re different from the mainstream and so you need special treatment.
Come to dinner with your family and all the other kids just like you.”
To me, it was just another school notice. To Shane, it was an
attack on his individuality. Ahh the teenage years.
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