Gulls, hedgehogs and graduations

As I said, yesterday evening we went somewhere...somewhere lovely. We have been to the northern wetlands several times, but Nick took a jog out there on Monday afternoon and came back with photos of baby black-backed gulls. I simply had to see for myself, so after tea we sorted the boys out with books, got our jackets on (southerly, brr) and drove the 1 km up the road to the parking area. One must walk quite some distance across shifting pebbly sands before getting to the good spots, but it's quite worth the effort. There were loads of nests, eggs, hatchlings, fledglings, teenagerlings and adults sitting, walking, running, swimming, squawking, honking and flying. It was a pretty spectacular sight and sound. The entire throng lifted into the air as Nick approached to swoop and dive around him - he had a long stick to ward off the protective parents! Spot the bird in the pic above - although only several days old they are adept at finding hiding places...often tucking their beaks in a crevice and leaving their fluffy camouflaged bottoms waving around.Bluebottles - disappointing to spot these with their long tentacles dotted around the beach, as it means the water is unsafe. Don't know how far they extend but I guess it would be foolish of me to assume they're contained to the northern wetlands and never swim to our dashing rocks beach.
To round off the wildlife experience, we met a hedgehog yesterday morning - one of the boys in our class has one living in his back yard now which they are feeding with bread and milk. It was awfully cute; the Kiwis found it amusing that we find these vermin so interesting and novel. But then, we're from Africa where we have lions and elephants roaming in our back yards, not hedgehogs and possums.And now enough about that. School work is wrapping up, and the boys received their first 'proper school' report cards. We are thrilled at how well they have settled into their new school and very pleased to hear what their teachers have to say and the various areas of strengths and weaknesses which were pointed out. When I was in school, report card day was a big one - much anticipated as we generally knew we weren't going to be in trouble :) In like manner we wanted to make it special for the boys too, so after reading through the reports with the boys, we took them out to KFC for a celebratory meal. Well done Caleb and Aaron, we are very proud of you and pray that the Lord would continue to mold and shape you not only through our influence anymore, but also through your teachers and peers. Love you guys heaps!