Lunchbox Day

This is the lunch Haeata is taking to kindy today. Carrot sticks, snow peas, pop corn, rice crackers, slices of cheese and as a special treat since it's the last day of term, a waffle toastie with banana and dark chocolate in it. No fruit because Haeata's kindy provides lots of fruit and toast for morning tea.  Healthy, environmentally friendly, inexpensive and I'll be amazed if Haeata manages to finish it all. 

But I look at this picture and realise how lucky we are. Much of the food in this lunch box is out of reach for many families. At $10 a block, cheese is pretty expensive. Snow peas are a luxury. Soy & Linseed bread is definitely out of the budget. Haeata had a banana for breakfast and now there's an extra half in her toastie. Many families can only afford one piece of fruit per day per child. If that. 

It doesn't matter where you put the blame, children in our community are going to school with no food. 

There is so much we should do but for today, all you need to do is txt Lunch to 8595 to make a $3 donation to KidsCan. The Campbell Live fundraising drive goes till the end of the day so tell everyone you know! If you can donate more then deposit money into this account number: 
ASB BANK 12 3026 0348180 03 to go straight to the KidsCan Charitable Trust.

ReQuest Dance Crew free performance and workshop

The Pick & Mix gang have really saved the best for last with the final installment of the year. The amazingly talented and now world famous ReQuest Dance Crew will be performing in the Aotea Centre at 11am on Saturday along with  2011 Hip Hop Mega Crew World Champions The Royal Family.

Following the performance will be a free workshop from 12 - 1pm so the kids can learn some dance moves/burn off heaps of energy.

These ladies are seriously taking over the world right now (American Idol performance, J.Lo video, world tour...) so this is guaranteed to be pretty impressive. 

West Coast Clean Up

This weekend the guys at Sustainable Coastlines are running a beach clean up on a whole lot of West Coast beaches - Piha, Anawhata, Bethells Beach, Maori Bay, Muriwai (South) and Muriwai (Rimmers Road) on Saturday from 11am to 3pm.

Their crews will be there with sacks and gloves so just turn up and look for the big blue flags. 

Moustache - Milk and Cookie Bar

Just a little bit excited to see what this new place is going to be like. We'll check it out as soon as it's open and report back. I give and I give and I give....

Srinivasa (Balaji) Kalyanam Celebration

Who knew there was a Mahatma Ghandi Centre right here in the middle of Auckland?! That alone should be enough reason to go check this celebration out. I don't really know much about this event but I will do some research and then update this post. Sai Baba sounds like he was a pretty cool dude and I think you should take every opportunity to expose your children to different cultures and religions so this could be worth dropping by for an hour or two. I'll try to find out which parts would be most interesting for kids. This is free and the organisers say everyone is welcome. 

Free Alphabet Printables

Today's post comes to you via my favourite blog full of fun things to do when the weather's crap - Babysteps. Now that it's officially Spring I feel even more impatient with rain and Haeata is constantly trying to sneak outside so any cool little craft project I can find is a huge relief for both of us. 


These printable alphabet blocks are pretty damn fly and would make a great toy for kids learning to read. Making them might be a bit tricky for the average preschooler but they'll have fun playing with them after you've finished maiming yourself with glue and craft knife. 

I think N for Ninja is one of my favourites, along with U for UFO. I'm still trying to figure out what Q is but I like it!

Stuff To Do This Weekend

On Saturday the Pick & Mix free concert and workshops at the Aotea Centre is going all Brazilian with Capoeira Madinga Aotearoa and the Brazilian Divas. Both groups will be performing and then after a short break you choose either a Samba workshop with the Divas or a Capoeira workshop. Capoeira Madinga actually do weekly classes for kids during the school term right in the city so this could be a good way for you to check it out and see if the kids are into it.

I've seen some of those Divas out at night by the way and I can confirm that they are amazing dancers so this should be a great show! 

Also on this weekend....

The Camera exhibition is still on at the museum. Activities for kids and a giant camera to climb inside. 

Today's the last day the Flower Chandelier will be exhibited at the Auckland Art Gallery! Go stare at the giant, trippy Alice In Wonderland type flowers open and close one more time. There are usually craft activities for the whole family happening in the same area. I'd recommend conning a relative/friend/impressionable neighbour into staying there with the kids while you go watch a free screening of Dirty Bloody Hippies! It's only one hour so it shouldn't take too much conning. 

Head back to the Gallery on Sunday to see Kent Mori and Andrew Deihl perform some acoustic guitar stuff from 2 - 3pm 

The Department Store in Takapuna is having a market day today from 10 - 2pm. Cakes, homemade jam, vintage clothes and specials. And while you're there go check out the wonderful new McKenzies project. Hanging out in Takapuna is becoming so much more than just tolerable! We had a delicious lunch at Mexico the other day. Sooo happy there's one on the Shore now. 

Happy First Day Of Spring everyone (even if the last day of winter was in fact nicer). Have a great weekend!