Paul had a meeting in Wellington yesterday learning how to give his 'pitch' next Wednesday for the NZ trade and enterprise awards. As it's school holidays I decided to take Noah and Isaac along for the ride.
We had to get up at 5.15 am and leave at 6am, which I was proud to manage. We had just got to the bit of the journey where you drive by the water front when a tsunami alert was called on National Radio! (Luckily this ended up just being a 40cm wave in Gisborne that did no damage)
The weather was very miserable so it was a grey harbour as only Wellington can do. We parked at Te Papa at about 8.50 and Paul raced across to Willis st while I went and waited at Te Papa entrance. I hadn't realised there was an inclusion conference on and bumped into two people that I knew in that typical NZ way!
The kind attendant told us that Te Papa didn't open till 10am so as the weather was by now pouring with rain, we spent an hour waiting in the Te Papa cafe which luckily has some fantastic big lego bricks. Noah built a lovely enclosure for Isaac to sit in!
We raced to get tickets for 'story place' which although it is intended for pre-schoolers was just right for Noah. He loved the bit where they pulled back the curtains to show a previously hidden play area and the children had to shout for the sun to come up (the attendant just pressing a button to turn the lights on!)
Afterwards we went to see the 'Big Baby' - this is a baby's face you can control with levers built by Peter Jackson's Weta workshop. Noah was fascinated by this and soon discovered you could look underneath, round the sides and through the back of the baby's head to see how it worked.
Luckily by then Paul had finished his training meeting and met us for a cup of coffee and a slow trip back to Palmerston North.
As we arrived Noah asked if we could go straight to Mighty ten (Mitre 10 a DIY store) to buy some rods to make a 'giant baby' at home! This morning he has thought about it too and wants to cut up my silicone baking sheet - I'm not sure if this is for the baby's skin or part of the box but I've told him dad would be much more help than me so to talk to dad!
We had to get up at 5.15 am and leave at 6am, which I was proud to manage. We had just got to the bit of the journey where you drive by the water front when a tsunami alert was called on National Radio! (Luckily this ended up just being a 40cm wave in Gisborne that did no damage)
The weather was very miserable so it was a grey harbour as only Wellington can do. We parked at Te Papa at about 8.50 and Paul raced across to Willis st while I went and waited at Te Papa entrance. I hadn't realised there was an inclusion conference on and bumped into two people that I knew in that typical NZ way!
The kind attendant told us that Te Papa didn't open till 10am so as the weather was by now pouring with rain, we spent an hour waiting in the Te Papa cafe which luckily has some fantastic big lego bricks. Noah built a lovely enclosure for Isaac to sit in!
We raced to get tickets for 'story place' which although it is intended for pre-schoolers was just right for Noah. He loved the bit where they pulled back the curtains to show a previously hidden play area and the children had to shout for the sun to come up (the attendant just pressing a button to turn the lights on!)
Afterwards we went to see the 'Big Baby' - this is a baby's face you can control with levers built by Peter Jackson's Weta workshop. Noah was fascinated by this and soon discovered you could look underneath, round the sides and through the back of the baby's head to see how it worked.
We went to see the giant squid and the simulated earthquake but Noah decided both were too scary so we didn't go in. He lost it at one point and lay on the floor refusing to move and kicking at anyone who came near but I am so used to these kind of outbursts that I wasn't even embarrassed and luckily had his wrist attachment on him so he couldn't run off.
By 12.15 we were really getting to the limit of Noah's concentration so braved the rotten weather and found a food court then went up the cable cars. When Noah saw they started with a tunnel he decided he didn't want to get on, so I ended up physically lifting him on - while also hanging onto Isaac's mountain buggy and all the time speaking reassuringly about how you could even see daylight at the end of the tunnel. Of course once we'd started Noah loved the cable cars and was amazed at the continuously moving cable. We had a quick view of Wellington covered in cloud then watched an old movie of cable cars in the little museum.
By 12.15 we were really getting to the limit of Noah's concentration so braved the rotten weather and found a food court then went up the cable cars. When Noah saw they started with a tunnel he decided he didn't want to get on, so I ended up physically lifting him on - while also hanging onto Isaac's mountain buggy and all the time speaking reassuringly about how you could even see daylight at the end of the tunnel. Of course once we'd started Noah loved the cable cars and was amazed at the continuously moving cable. We had a quick view of Wellington covered in cloud then watched an old movie of cable cars in the little museum.
Luckily by then Paul had finished his training meeting and met us for a cup of coffee and a slow trip back to Palmerston North.
As we arrived Noah asked if we could go straight to Mighty ten (Mitre 10 a DIY store) to buy some rods to make a 'giant baby' at home! This morning he has thought about it too and wants to cut up my silicone baking sheet - I'm not sure if this is for the baby's skin or part of the box but I've told him dad would be much more help than me so to talk to dad!
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