Games from yesteryear

Finaly we were brought into a school hall, and here the children sat in a circle. In front of them were toys children played in the olden days.

After playing for a minute or two, the children switched toys with their neighbours.

This is a giant marbel run made of wood.

My little group posed for pictures for me.

Back in the classroom after the day trip.

Washing Day

Picasa went bonkers on me and the post I wrote just now just did not respond! Grr..
okay this is 2nd last instalment of the Howick Historical Village.

The highlight for Noel was to do the washing. All the children had a turn washing, and mangling and drying the clothes. washing 200 years ago has not changed that much from when my grandma was doing it except my grandma did it more often than the Victorians did.

The Victorians had to wake up at 5am to do  get the water and boil the water for them to wash.
It's a lot of hard work and hence the mother would cook a Sunday Roast (big hearty meal so the children will have lots of energy to do the work the next day)

Here, Noel used the wash board and applied soaps and then started to scrub the cloth.

Given that they don't change their clothes very often back then, clothes would be pretty dirty, and they use this washing dolly to further wash the clothes. I think that's how the agitator of our washing machine is based on.

After washing, the object is rinsed in another basin with clean water, and then brought to the mangler to be wrung . it also act to press the clothes as well as wring out the water . Finally the clothes are hung on the clothes line to dry.

Another shot of the Washing Dolly.

Howick Historical Village Pt 3

Here's the  room of a well-to-do person in those ages. 

Here's the place a servant iron the clothes.  People need at least 6-8 irons before we have thte convenience of electric iron.

The little stove behind to heat up the iron.

I can't remember what area of the house it is.

This is a random shot i took of a Victorian Rabbit Hutch.  The Brits brought the rabbit over not for pet but more for source of food.  They soon multipled and became a pest.

Howick Historical Village Pt 2

After finding out what people wear 200 years ago, we now wander around the village, and first stop was checking out this well.  Ppl use to wake up at 5am to draw the water.
 

It's hard work....

Then we checked out different places that people lived in, they ranged from tents, wooden cottage and hut looking thing...

My group posing for photos.

This is the grass hut some people lived in.

This was a hit for the kids, everyone wanted a turn ..

Breakfast on Anzac day

My Fil made spaghetti beef chow mein this morn. To complement, I made a soy rice combo drink from my soy maker.

Ingredients:
A handful of soy beans(that's all I had)
A handful of pearl barley
A handful of multi grain rice 五谷杂粮。

Steps:
Rinse ingredients.
Soak the ingredients overnight in cold water.
In the morning, pour ingredients and the water into soy maker.
Fill the water level to 1.2lt mark in the machine.
Cover, choose programme and hit start button.
Drinks will be ready in approximately 20 minutes.

BOS Y1 to Howick Historical Village (part 1)

In Term 1, Noel learned about Now and Then.  Their excursion was a day trip to the Howick Historical Village.  I signed up to be a parent helper.  There were 2 other classes going so there are nearly 60 childresn, 4 -6 teachers and 9 parents.

This is Noel's class waiting in the school compound for the bus.  I was assigned 6 children (5 boys and 1 girl)
 

When we arrived, we were greeted by 3 women dressed in the Victorian era.  The kids were very well behaved (most of the time )

We were divided into 2 groups, and our group went to a part of the village with Mrs White (I think) to learn about what people wear in those days.  People wear cottons, and they cover themselves , only their hands and face can be seen.  3 boys and 3 girls volunteered to be dressed up.

Did you know that even a girl at a young age in an upper class family is expected to wear a bustle( butt cushion) to improve one's silhoutte. 

 

 

The boys wore different variety of things from a normal daily costumes to tophat and waist coat.

 

Viethoa Restaurant 新越华

Today we went to try out this little Vietnamese Chinese cafe in Highland park.  It's located on the Cascade Drive end of Aviemore Drive and here's what we had.



Grilled Chicken with Vermicelli  it comes with shredded carrot and cucumber and crushed peanut and the fish sauce

Jake ordered this STewed Beef Noodle Soup

Entree was the Crispy Spring Roll

This is the Grilled Pork Chop with Vermicelli.  it comes with shredded carrot and cucumber and crushed peanut and the fish sauce

The Beef Noodle Soup  (I asked for Lai Fen 濑粉 instead of the Hor Fun 河粉

Abel turns 3 ...

in Feb ....Here are some photos. I am in the mood to blog again. 
We had family dinner at a Thai place in town. 

Abel blowing the birthday candles.

Abel cutting his cake..

He wanted an Octonauts cake. He chose 4 characters to be on his cake.
If you are familiar with this cartoon, the polar bear is Captain Barnacles, the carrot looking thing is a fictitious creature from under the water called Tunip the vegimal,  Kwazii Kitten, and finally Peso penguin.   

Here Abel wanted a slice of Kwazii Kitten all to himself ;)

Meet Obi Wan Kenobi

Noel made this peg doll while I was on the phone with my mum.

He used a craft peg, some pipe cleaners, felt pen and paper.

First he made the eyes and then the mouth and hair. Next he colored the body. He then asked me for some pipe cleaners. He made arms and finally he made a cape out of paper and use sticky tape to stick to his peg doll.

After he finished, he got me to ask him questions about the identity of his peg doll.

He kindly informed me that in the olden days children made wooden peg dolls and played with them.

Easter @ Cornwall Park

Vinka took this pic of the boys climbing tree at Easter picnic with the church family.
It was a fun day. The boys had Easter egg treasure hunt and probably ate too much easter eggs that day.

Playground at Taupo

 

 

 

After dinner at Taupo, we let the boys burn their energy at the playground close to the i-centre.
They loved the climbing frame thingie and this tubey thing.