Waihi

Sunday

After doing a couple of hours in the garden, and basically having nothing to show for, because our garden has got so over grown, I decided we would go for a family afternoon, so we cleaned up and headed over Waihi way. A year ago we went to do the Karangahake Gorge Tunnel walk, but parked in the wrong carpark, and started at the wrong place. Anyway, on our way home that day, we found the right place, and said we'd be back.

It was a great day, but forgot hats for the kids, eek, so lathered them up in sunblock and headed off.

The best part for me, was stopping by the river, and Jon teaching the boys how to skim stones, that was neat to see.

After getting back to the car (man that tunnel is deceiving, it really doesn't look that long, you can see the end, yet it is 1100m long, and takes ages to walk, and COLD) we let the kids change and have a play in the river.













































We then came back through Tauranga, and grabbed pizza's and took them down to the playground for a while, before heading home, everyone quite tired.

Well....... the dinner the other night didn't quite go as it should have, although it did go as I expected. Cameron took one look at it, and said 'I'm not eating that', which he didn't, Braden chowed it down, declaring 'this is the yummiest, mum'.

Anyway, more new food experiences. Sushi. Because I am organising a Sushi Day at school, for lunch, I thought it best I try it myself. I bought some home for the kids and I. I expected Cameron to screw up his nose, and Braden to like it, however it was the other way round, Braden took one bite and spat it out, and Cameron devoured it, and wanted more. We have only tried Teriyaki Chicken (rolls), and also tried chicken teriyaki and sweet and sour chicken nigiri-zushi's, but they just ate the topping and didn't eat the rice. Now Cameron asks everyday if we can have it, and when is it Sushi Day at school.

Check it out

New things......

....... food related.

After seeing Carl Barron when we went to Wellington earlier this year, we said we would make an effort to see other comedy shows, so when this chick rocked into town last week, we jumped at the chance to go see her.

When we turned up, and saw a cooking show set up, we weren't sure what to expect. Aaah, we were pleasantly surprised. She cooked a meal from her past, from her Dide,(grandad) and spoke as she was cooking, lots of memories, jokes, cooking tips, all thrown in together. While dinner was simmering she wandered into the crowd, still doing her show, and joking. Dinner was served, and she came and sat at our table, and had a great chat with us.

Now, if you haven't seen her, you must have an open mind, she is quite crass, which was fine by me, I wasn't sure how others would find her (my boss, the principal of the school was there, and after chatting to her the next morning about the show, I was quite surprised how open minded she is)

Anyhoooo......... when I saw what was being served for dinner, I thought, 'there is no way Jon is going to eat that'. Well.... wasn't I surprised, he did, he enjoyed it, and....... we are having it for dinner tonight.

Now it is nothing special, just a stew really, but since being together, we have never had stews of any sort, I love them, Jon's not so keen.

I shall update tomorrow how it all goes, I'm not sure how the kids will react, as they too have not had stews, but I am hoping this time, with Dad there modelling, it should go smoothly!

Aaaargh.

Ok, so, now, not only do I have to deal with sleeping issues, we have creepy crawlies here, ........ and impetigo (school sores)(and I suppose it's not helping that Cameron is not sleeping well). As if I don't have enough to deal with at the moment.

A quick call into the chemist, who confirmed we'd need to see the doc, turned into a few minutes longer, but I was so pleasantly surprised to go in to make an appointment, to be told I could get in right away, so from the time we left school, till getting home, it was only about 10 -15 minutes, not too much longer than usual.

A busy afternoon, swimming (Cameron was a bit disappointed at not swimming for a couple of days), an unexpected trip home to change pants (Cameron 'cause he'd been paddling and got wet, and Braden 'cause they'd ripped while getting changed, and wouldn't stay up) and then back to cricket.

Tomorrow, athletics, and then nothing for the rest of the week, yay!!!

More sleeping issues....

........ this time with Cameron.

OK, Cameron has always gone to sleep late, woken late!

So what is it with the last 3 mornings, awake at the sparrows fart! About half 6 (which is not early for some people I know, but for us it is) on Friday, then Saturday, according to the TV guide, 'cause that's the only way I could tell what time he got up, it was about 5.45.

This morning I hear noises, notice that it's still dark out, and go in search of the early morning riser. He has got his lazyboy ready, with blanket, remotes etc, until I send him back to bed, and look at the clock, and see that it is 5am. WHAT! I say to myself, 5am, what on earth is this kid thinking.

The good thing is, tonight, after coming home from Hamilton (took my Dad out to dinner for his birthday on Tuesday) he dozed on the way home, something he hasn't done since he was 2 years old, and has gone off to bed quite easily.

We'll see what tomorrow brings?!?!?!

Absolutely knackered!

Not me, him

Braden was already pretty worn out from last week.

Jon and I had a work function on Saturday night, so the boys stayed with my sister, always full on, then we rushed home on Sunday to get Braden to a birthday party at Baywave in Tauranga. Then today, a busy day at school, and a bit of a swim after swimming lessons registration. I came into the lounge at 4.30 to find this. Actually I couldn't find him, and it was too quiet, so I went looking, I even walked past him.

Hopefully he has a good sleep tonight, as it was like pulling teeth to get them moving this morning. Athletics tomorrow night, and then nothing for the rest of the week so hopefully we can have a few quiet days.

Waiting........

OK, so the mail turns up, and there is one addressed to hubby. I look at it, put it to the side, and open the others, then notice word that catches my eye. I text Jon, asking him to ring me when he can, so I can ask him if it's OK to open it.

I'm pottering around, the phone rings........ my friend organising things for this afternoon.

I start pottering again, a knock at the door........ Jehovah's Witnesses (and sorry if I offend anyone, but that is just the lowest for me, at least they didn't have any kids with them today!)

I carry on, the phone rings again.......... Ma'am, it's so and so from Barnadoes, we are doing our annual blah, blah, blah, I politely tell me him we have already chosen which charities we are going to support.

I'm still waiting!

EDITED to add:

I really thought it might have been a speed camera ticket (which = scrapbook shopping money, LOL), but no..... it was just a reminder about the ticket he got in October (and before you ask, yes, I've already been shopping with that, bought me some new perfume)

Fireworks

When Jon worked at his old work we always had a Social Club Guy Fawkes get together, however now that he no longer works there we were at a loss what to do. We didn't want to just let off a few in our backyard, and there was nothing happening in Matamata, so after talking with a friend she told us about the event in Morrinsville, so we headed over there for the night.

It was a good one, probably a little more expensive than I would have liked, however because I had been to our Monthly Scrapbooking crop I wasn't organised with things to take.
















We let the kids have a turn on the jeep rides, and then settled down with friends for some late dinner, nibbles, and fun, listening to the entertainment (including an interesting Freddie Mercury!)

At 9, they let the fireworks start, some really neat ones. They had also lit the bonfire about half an hour before hand, but it wasn't until we were leaving at 10 that it really got going.

When we got out to the carpark we went off to the side and let the kids finish off our sparklers from last year, and we finally got home at 11pm

That week went fast........

...... I guess that's what happens when there is a long weekend.

I had an appointment with a specialist on Tuesday (anyone want to share their stories about prolapses, feel free to email me)....... mmmm........ really don't know what I want to be doing regarding that, so it's all up in the air at the moment.

The rest of the week just went quite fast, nothing exciting happened.

Athletics started. Enough said about that at the moment, I have a very miserable 8 year old, who is getting very despondent about his results.

The fine weather finally graced us with it's presence, so yay for getting in the garden, spraying for prickle weed, etc.

Sunday it was Jon's grandmothers birthday, so we all met for lunch, and for a long time, just about everyone was there, 1 daughter in the States wasn't there, and 1 grand-daughter in Christchurch, so we got some cool photos. Pleased to get this one, 4 generations.

Anyway, those lovely goodies that I ordered turned up, and I had plans to work with them tonight, but as it's 9.30, I doubt I'll get much done tonight (had a crappy sleep last night, and ended up on the couch for a bit), as I'll head off to bed soon.

Jon lets me know he may be off to Fiji on Wednesday, 'Sorry I say, I can't get organised that quickly', LOL. It will only be a couple of days, more of an emergency trip, so will be back for the weekend, where we hope to go to BayPark speedway. In the past we have enjoyed a Guy Fawkes get together with the Social Club at Jon's work, but his new place of employment doesn't have much of a social club, so we thought we'd go to BayPark for their fireworks.

I was about to say I'm off to organise getting some photos printed, but have to say, I don't like DigitalMax new site for uploading. Anyone else had a try, there seems to be lots of steps, backtracking, all for so called improvements.

North of Auckland Harbour Bridge

OK, so this week we decided to head over the Harbour Bridge (because we always stay on this side) for a day out.

We had intended to go to Snow Planet, but were unsure if it was going to be suitable, especially at that price. We also intended to have a look at Auckland Luge, and do a bit of shopping. Bendon Outlets had half price of Bendon Sports Bra, and as my favourite fits that criteria, that was always going to be a stop.

We got to Snow Planet, and after going in to have a look, lots of discussion with various people, (and I even rung them the night before) we decided it probably was suitable for just playing around, it seemed a bit serious, all skiers and snowboarders. The kids were a little disappointed, but when we headed to the Luge they were happier. It was absolutely freezing, and unfortunately 1 of the sweatshirts had got wet on the way up there, so after much shuffling of clothes to get everyone warm we headed off for our turn.

A little different set up than Rotorua. You grab your luge, (we each took one kid the first time) get in line, get your ticket 'clicked' and head up the Travelator. This was seriously the most uncomfortableist thing I have been on! Get to the top, and choose 1 of 3 tracks, so we went with the Scenic route first, pretty good. You stay in your luge if you are going again, so we joined the queue again, Cameron jumped in one of his own this time, and we went again. We had 3 turns, then I let the others go again, while I took some video/photos.

Comparisons between the 2? A lot cheaper at Auckland, as you don't have to pay to go in the Gondola aswell, but price per ride is the same (actually cheaper inAuckland if you become a member). Tracks, probably about the same...... I felt the tracks in Rotorua were possibly a little steeper and more thrilling. Auckland has only been open a few weeks, so has some cosmetic work to be done, and could be great when finished. The ride back up, the points definately go to Rotorua on that one, sorry Auckland, very uncomfortable.

Then..... to soften the blow from missing out on Snow Planet we went to the GoCarts/Bumper Boats next door. Unfortunately the kids were too little to go by themselves, and too big to go with us, so we headed back towards town, intending to go shopping in Albany, but got completely lost, and after driving for a bit ended up at Wairau Park. We had a game of 10 Pin (and I won this time, for a change, we are big on 10 Pin, my hubby plays quite well), and I had a nosey at Spotlight.

We then headed to Botany, and we going to let the kids have a turn on the Bungy Tramp, but it wasn't operating that day, and they were a few minutes too late to make a Sand Picture at the Sand Wizard place, so we went to get some dinner, and tried Nando's for the first time. Cameron refused to order anything, Braden had a wrap, which was too hot for him, although he ate quite a bit of it. I thought it was OK there, but probably wouldn't go back, although if I did, I wouldn't order the burger with double chicken, the 'normal' would have been fine. It was quite expensive with what we got, but I think it was the sides that made it expensive ($3.70 for 2 half corn on cobs!!!)

After a wander around the Warehouse (which would have to be one of the messiest I've ever seen) we headed home, with 2 tired very kids (and 2 adults!) sleeping in late this morning!

I is for investment..........

............

OK. First I was going to mow the lawn, and it starts raining, so I thought I'd come and post here.

Secondly, we are going to Auckland tomorrow, and the 2 shops I wanted to go to are not going to be open, so I did a bit of online shopping, bought some of this in 4 styles, plus some new BG papers and more chipboard letters to add to my 'collection.'

I'll have to make the most of this, as we are going to have to watch spending a bit more, now that we've.......

......... invested. Yep, we've bought a rental property in Hamilton, these aren't the exact pictures, but they come from another unit the same. This is also a 'single' unit, ours is a 'double', so there is a double garage, and the lounge/master bedroom are a little bigger. The only problem is, now I've seen it, I don't want to rent it out, I wanna live there!!!




























Anyway, had a great cyber crop at SBD last night, had a good run of luck, winning a couple of games, so I am looking forward to lots of mail this week.

Layouts

As I have decided not enter the SBD Design Team Call, it means I can now share a couple of layouts that I was thinking of using.
I haven't done much scrapping lately, but looking back over my blog entries for this year, I've seen quite a few photos that I uploaded here, but haven't had printed, so will have to get onto that.

Well, it's turned quite cold and yucky here, so I've just lit the fire, will turn it down just to keep the chill away, and better go find something for dinner.

Thanks to Trina, here is a funny for you!

H is for holidays.........

........ and where did they go?

I had all these great intentions to do catch up housework, you know 1 room a day, completely tidy it..... what did I do? Nothing, none, zip, zilch, nada...... and worst of all, I didn't do anything else. I really don't know where the days went. We went on 2 day trips, and you can't really count one of them because it was the first weekend. In the second week we went to Auckland for the day, just to Chipmunks, and Mini Putt, and then dinner...... Cock and Bull at Botany, it was absolutely packed, but the boys were actually reasonably well behaved. We also went to my nephews birthday, and one day I had to go and pick up my boys so I spent the day at my sisters, but that was about it.

G is for grill.....

..... Stone Grill to be exact.

We headed up to Auckland for a day out on Sunday, don't really know why, 'cause there are movies in Hamilton, (and Tauranga, Rotorua, several places closer than Auckland). We saw Evan Almighty, took the kids, it was a good fun family movie.

By the time we got out from there it was 4pm (we didn't leave home till 11.30am), so we had a wander around Botany Downs. We had to buy the boys new shirts at Farmers, 'cause Braden had had M&M's at the movies, and had a lovely rainbow coloured t-shirt.

Then Jon said we were going somewhere special for dinner. We went here, which was something different.

I was very unsure, but pleasantly surprised how effective the stone grill was for cooking. The basalt grill is heated to 400 degree farenheit and is slow to cool so don’t think cooking time is against you. Either deftly turn the quicker cooking items onto a side place while you attend to longer cooking items or vice versa – deal with the quick cook items first then take time to slice away pieces from longer cooking cuts and cook them one or two at a time. (Not my words, from the review I found)

The kids weren't too keen to try it, but chicken kebabs were an option, so next time we are just going to get them for the kids, give them an experience.

I'm in love....

.... OK, I'm not a materialistic person, but I am so in love with this, our very own DVD recorder.




When the other staff were leaving at Jons work, they received luggage. We went to them and said "we seriously do not need luggage, if you want ideas then........." so we were very fortunate to receive a voucher towards this baby. The best part, the chase and play feature. Let's say you're going to miss the start of a movie/programme by a little bit, you can start recording it at the start time, and when you get in from 'work/shopping' 10 minutes later, you can start watching the movie from the start, while it continues to record, isn't that just the greatest.

Anyway, while I'm on the topic of tv, etc, who has been watching America's Got Talent? We only started watching it about 5 weeks ago, so missed a few of the previous talents, but wow, what a variety. Tonight is the finale, and seriously they could all win (although I have reservations about the rapping granny, LOL.)

(By the way, I will be back with my ABC's, just need to find some photos to do the E post!)

F is for ........

........ family.

Yes, I know, I've skipped E, but I'll have to come back to that, partly 'cause I can't think of anything else, and I want to share our family photo.

This is my immediate family, my husband and I, (together for 15 years at the end of this month), my eldest who, as you know if you are following this, is 9 at the end of the year, and my youngest just turned 7, (aha, I just had a lightbulb moment for E, will do that tomorrow),

These were the fundraising photos you get done, you know, pay $10, get the photo, go back and look, and get sucked into buying more. Cameron was not in a good mood, and refused to co-operate, although the pose after this one he did give a little smirk, but unfortunately this was the one for the freebie. I hope we can laugh about it in 10 years time.

D is for.......

...Dad

This is my Dad, the first was taken at what used to be called the Hilldale Zoo, now Hamilton Zoo, and I was 15 months old.

The second photo is taken at a place called Bulmers Landing, (out the back of Arapuni way) somewhere we used to spend quite a bit of time as a family, and with extended family. I was 23 months in that photo.

Growing up my Dad used to work at a timber yard, and would do shift work, starting early in the morning, one week, finishing at 2, (and the alternate week he would start at 2 and work through to 11ish) and then would go mow lawns. When we got old enough we were allowed to go help him, often the little old ladies whose lawn we mowed would have little treats for us.

(PS, I wanted to add more to this, and probably come back to it, but felt it appropriate to post it today, and not that my father would see it, he doesn't even know how to turn a computer on, but Happy Fathers Day Dad!)

C is for Cameron......

..... my first born, nearly 9.

Cameron has an obsession with dinosaurs. The whole world revolves around dinosaurs, he can tell you which is which, probably about 30 different ones, and what characteristics they each have.

Cameron does very well at school, excells in spelling, reading is well above average, enjoys maths, and does well across the board!

He does not enjoy sports, although will happily participate at school, but he does tell me he wants to do athletics this coming summer (because he saw the fun they had on the last night, don't know if he realises he needs to participate on the other nights too).

He also follows in his fathers footsteps, and has trouble sleeping, he will often still be awake at 11pm, although we have since got some sleeping tablets, and he has them a couple of nights a week to make sure he gets his 'quota' of sleep for the week, otherwise he is like a bear with a sore head.

Speaking of him and sleeping, I'd best go see him to bed, and it shouldn't be too long before he's asleep.