NZ Trip Nov 2009

So we set off last Tues the 3rd to the land of the long white cloud to celebrate my brother Philip, marrying Jan. The girls were very excited as it's been two years since we were there last. Sadly Phil & Brendan couldn't make it due to work, but we had a good time anyway.

saying goodbye to Brendan at Perth airport


We flew through the night and with the time difference we were utterly exhausted by the time we arrived in Hawke's Bay. After spending all day with my family we needed an early night. I left everyone at the cabin and headed out to get some dinner. By the time I got back, everyone had crashed and didn't wake up for 16 hours!


Nana & Grandad meet Jonah

We only really had 2 or 3 really warm days while we were there. The day we arrived , the WEDDING DAY and the day we left! It was a beautiful wedding, the girls enjoyed their first ever wedding. I'm so glad we could make it. I kept forgetting to get the camera out of my bag though, so I don't have many photos. I'm hoping to get some more of other people.

delightful four year olds
Cole & Ruby

The church was beautiful and the vows were ones to always cherish. After the ceremony we had a bit of time before the reception, and as everyone was starving we went to a seaside cafe for some afternoon tea. The trick was to keep the girls dresses clean whilst eating mud cake! (there wasn't much choice)

Ella having a sit down in-between dances

Philip & Jan dance the Bridal Waltz!

We didn't have much time for sight seeing as we were only there for a week, and we really just wanted to spend the time with the family. But we did visit this wonderful playground at the beach. Kate loved searching under the rocks for crabs, hence her dirty knees!


The girls were really looking forward to swimming in the heated pool at the camp. That and shopping were high on their lists of what they were most looking forward to. However the pool was freezing! So much so I couldn't even get in half way. The girls managed just two swims - but they are much tougher than me.


We visited the Arataki Honey House which was just down the road from where we were staying. I love their honey but unfortunately we can't get it into WA, so I have to make the most of it while I'm in NZ.

Mum & Dad with all the kids
Napier airport.

Alltoo soon our holiday had come to an end but not without a bit of drama first. Our first flight was at 8am, so after dragging the kids out of bed at 5:30am and finishing the packing we checked out of the camp and drove to the airport. Checked in at 7am. Found out closer to 8am that our plane had engineering problems and they would have to fly and engineer in to access it.

watching the planes at Auckland airport

However after 3 hrs of waiting and no engineer in sight, they flew us down another plane from Auckland. That was all well & good, except we had now missed our flight to Sydney! So straight to the Qantas desk to see what we could do. No worries, we could get on the next flight to Sydney. Fine. What time would we arrive in Perth? Oops sorry, there are no more flights to Perth that day. Okay. So they arrange to put us on a flight to Melbourne, then onto Perth. Perfect! So we check through with our passports and luggage. Then get told, sorry, can't go on that flight either as their are no meals left!!!! So we ended up flying to Brisbane. Problems in Bne getting from International airport to domestic. Trains delayed. Can't get a Maxi Taxi for love or money. Finally all organised and we make it home to Perth. By the time we get to bed we've been on the go for 24hrs. We could have travelled across the World in that time :)

waiting in Brisbane for our
final flight home

Amie had had enough too :)

Trick or Treat

As we don't allow our girls to go door knocking, they have always felt like they were missing out on something. This year their dancing school held a halloween disco last night, so they didn't feel left out this year. Then their school which holds a disco once a term decided to make it a halloween theme. As their school one was on Friday night and the dancing school held theirs last night they had the opportunity to go to two this year. However as we had Ruby, Jonah, Amie & Brendan here for tea last night, Ella decided not to go to the one last night and instead chose to stay home and play with Ruby. So Kate went by herself and had a ball.

Saving at the Supermarket

I bought this book a couple of weeks ago, and I am thoroughly enjoying the recipes in it. For next to nothing I can create delicious meals that the kids love. Amie got a copy too, as it has so many ideas about saving money at the supermarket. I've lent my copy to a friend at present, will have to get it back tomorrow as I'm missing it.

For Today October 18

Outside my window... Cloudy, but not cold

I am thinking... what time will Kate get up today?

I am thankful for... Sundays when we don't have to be anywhere

I am wearing... my nightie still

I am remembering... what my old vege garden used to look like before it was destroyed for demolition work

I am going... to clean the car inside and out today

I am reading... The War Children

I am hoping... Kate is better again when she wakes

On my mind... finding the luggage for our holiday

I am hearing ... Mary Poppins in the background

Noticing that... I should be cleaning the kitchen


From the kitchen...dirty dishes

Around the house... pretty good apart from the kitchen and Ella's pile of dolly clothes she is playing with tipped out on the floor

One of my favorite things~ checking our strawberries

The Week Ahead... watching swimming lessons every day, work 2 days, dancing after school ...usual stuff

A new look

I had been promising Ella I would paint her bedroom every holidays all year. I painted Kate's last Christmas and then Ella has waited patiently ever since.

So these school hols were time to just get on with it! At the last minute before buying the purple paint, she decided to swap bedrooms and have the spare room, even though it is smaller.

So here it is. Now I have a bigger spare room to iron/fold washing/scrap/whatever else takes my fancy!

I have some gorgeous prints of fairies/mermaids etc on layby. They should finish off the walss just nicely.

before: the girls start clearing the room out!

Nude Lunches

I discovered these from my friend Libby, and as I'm always on the look out for little containers for the girls for snacks, plus they needed new lunch boxes I thought these were perfect.




The girls had a wee practice run with them last night and enjoyed filling them up with all sorts of goodies.







We try not to use any gladwrap etc in our lunchboxes, but everynow and then we have to as we don't have the right size or shape container for something. I am hoping these will help. Our school is hoping next year to steer towards a waste-free environment by cutting out all the prepackaging that unfortunately most people tend to use in making lunches. They held a day in Term 3 where this was put into practise. My girls were two of the few who succeeded.

We got the snack cups too which hold 3 individual snacks. All we need now is the cooler bags (Woolworths didn't have any) and then they are all set.

You can read more about it here plus get lots of great ideas for snacks and lunches!

Ice Skating

Well after I finished work today we made the decision to take the girls ice skating. Kate said she felt upto it, although I'm betting maybe she didn't really, but she tried very hard to be better.
The session went for 2 hrs, but by the time we got there, nearly one hour was already up, which suited us fine as I didn't want Kate getting too cold for too long. Plus it was plenty long enough for Jonah, for Ruby who needed alot of help, and for Amie who had to keep stopping to feed Jonah. Ella was in her element and after going around once holding onto the sides, she took off like she had been doing it forever. Kate was pretty cold and wet afterwards, so we headed to the cafe for hotdogs and hot chocolates. We will definitley have to go again.

Poor Kate

Kate is not well at all. She has a strep throat which is causing her to cough and cough and cough some more. All day and all night until she vomits. She's on AB's which have stomped the fever out, pretty soon we are hopeful that the other symptons will subside. She also has either Swine Flu or a croup type virus that is going around at present. It's nearly the end of the school holidays. We have two things left on the list the kids wish to do. Swimming and Ice Skating. This afternoon is the only day we can go skating as Ruby goes to her grandparents tonight for the weekend. Dancing starts back tomorrow and they can't afford to miss any more classes with a concert coming up! School swimming lessons start on Tuesday, in term 4. Get well Kate, you poor poppet!

Telethon 2009

Amie & I packed the kids in the car today and headed to the Perth Convention Centre to the Telethon kids carnival.

Balloons are always a favourite, by the end of the day they had collected a whole lot more- yellow, green and red ones too.

Kate & Ella loved rolling in these huge balls!

Jonah was a very good wee boy!

Face painting is a must!

Finally a shot (or two) of the fabulous four!!!

Bunny Rabbit Ella giving Jonah a cuddle

Kate having a slide!

They also enjoyed many free activities- colouring-in, play doh, lots of ball games, their was dancing and Fat Cat show but we managed to miss all this! Lunch was expensive (thanks Amie!) and the car parking cost outrageous!!! Never mind, the kids had a fun day out.

Picnic in the Park

We packed up a picnic today and headed over near our old house to one of our favourite parks. It was really busy being school holidays, plus there was a birthday party going on too. The kids had a great time playing on the playground, riding their bikes and playing soccer. Ella is still fascinated with Jonah and spent a great deal of the afternoon pushing him around on the grass. The pram is very easy for her to push, now she just needs to grow a bit taller to see where she is going!!









Ruby's favourite thing to do was playing soccer - she could run much longer than any of us, and was always disappointed when we wanted to sit and rest. Hopefully she'll sleep well tonight.





Kate spun around on a spinning thing at the playground until she nearly made herself sick. This is not unusual for her to do this. Jonah was a good wee boy and slept most of the time!

Sunday in the Sun

A busy day today, on such a beautiful spring day! Some gardening, the girls filled up the paddling pool to cool off, we went to a birthday party after lunch. On the way home we stopped off and bought some plants for the garden - strawberries, celery, lettuce, parsley and fairy flowers! The girls had fun planting them.

Moscow Circus

We kicked off the school holidays today with an outing to see the famous Moscow Circus while it was in town. It was the first time Kate & Ella have been to a circus, so it was a huge hit. Ella got a bit bored near the end (and couldn't stop yawning!) but apart from that the girls sat wide-eyed, amazed at the skill and magic! We weren't allowed to photograph during the performances, so the only inside shots are the actors at the very end of the show! The weather was gorgeous today too - finally.

We stopped off at the garden centre on the way home and got a Jasmine for the front garden. It smells beautiful.


We finished off the day with a trip to our local park. The girls rode their bikes and I walked. Phil stayed behind to cook tea (omelettes - yummy!)

After dinner we watched Mrs Doubtfire on telly, complete with popcorn.