Now I'm on holidays I'm determined to get caught up with the blog. I will have to go back and fill in some gaps, but for now I'll tell you what we did last night.
It was Christmas Eve Eve and Adam and I decided it would be good to take the kids to see the Christmas lights in the city. To make it a bit more special we planned a Polar Express trip and didn't tell the kids about any of it. In the afternoon we got them all to have a nap and then around 6pm sat them down to watch The Polar Express. While they were watching it, Adam made cookies and I got the car ready with jumpers and raincoats just in case (didn't need either - was a lovely warm night!). Then I set out their shoes, teddies, blankets and a Polar Express ticket near the door like this:
With about 30mins left of the movie I came and turned it off and told them to go put their shoes on. They were surprised and excited as we told them we were going on our own Polar Express. I punched their tickets as they went to the car and we let them watch the rest of the movie in the car on the way and then they had a cookie.
We went to Franklin Road - a road in the city where almost every single house/business goes all out decorating with lights and at the end of the road is Victoria Park where the Telecom tree is. It's a huge tree made from strings of lights that run through colourful sequences.
Here are a few of the photos:
There were a load of bean bags on 3 tiers under the tree to lie down and watch
What an amazing week we've had! Last Friday was the last day of term so we're in the spring holidays at the moment.
On Saturday we eagerly awaited the arrival of Jared and Alisa from Perth, although they weren't getting here til about 2am. We've been looking forward to seeing Jared again (and meeting Alisa) so soooo much! We really miss him now he's moved to Australia, he's one of our best friends, who we really count as family. He left for Perth 9 months ago and this is his first trip back. So we excitedly welcomed them at 2am on Sunday morning, and despite the time stopped and talked for a long while before finally giving up and going to bed at 4.30am (the kids still woke me up at 7....). On Sunday we went to church in the morning, home for a nap in the afternoon before dinner, when Jared and Alisa went to see his mum. And then when they got back on Sunday evening we had our first game of Catan in ages - Jared brought it with him as his present to us, so we know have our own set - yay! Alisa had also bought him the expansion pack of seafarers, which is really good. We spent quite a bit of time on Catan while they were here :) (For those of you not familiar with the game, it's great and I'd highly recommend giving it a go if you have the chance. The full name is Settlers of Catan.)
On Monday morning Jared took Adam into work and stopped to say hi to everyone (he used to work there). I don't think he realised how many people would want to say hi and just how much he is liked - he ended up being there a lot longer than the half hour he thought he'd be! Meanwhile Alisa, the kids and I went to Kelly Tarlton's and waited for him to get there. His Mum, Mum's boyfriend and little brother met us there too. It was a good trip - the kids loved seeing the animals and we got to see the stingray being fed. Tilly went back to the start with Jared and Alisa to see the penguins being fed, but Lani and Zach didn't want to - they were eager to get on and see the sharks.
We also got to see the cast of Finding Nemo! Just keep swimming...
The only downside is we only spent about an hour and a quarter there - it's not very big. And for the steep prices you really would like to be able to get more for your money.
That evening we went out for dinner at The Food Store in the city. It was amazing! We all loved our food so much, and we got one each of the four desserts and shared them around - also amazing. So so yummy. (Sorry photos aren't that great - very low light!)
On Tuesday Jared and Alisa went in to the city to do a bit of shopping, so I stayed home with the kids and got some bits and bobs done. Including buying my first ever pair of proper running shoes:
That's right, I run. Well, I try! I never EVER thought I would enjoy running, but I do, weird huh?!? So I decided it was time to get some proper shoes for the job (my casual trainers I was using were more casual shoes than for doing anything properly sporty). We were given a treadmill (and a pretty good one too!) and we've been doing half an hour on it most days since. I go walking with two friends up here - Kim and Amie and have committed to do a half marathon in May. That decision came as quite a surprise to me too.
On Tuesday evening we had an open house for anyone who wanted to come and spend some time with Jared while he was here.
On Wednesday we hit Waiwera Hot Pools. We got there nice and early at about 9.30 and had such a great day. I'm glad we went early, it started to get busy in the early afternoon. We chilled out in the pools, went on the slides and even braved up for a quick dunk in the Lava pool - 48C. The kids absolutely loved it and it was really great to see them grow with their confidence in the water. By the end of the day all of them were happy to swim off on their own with their armbands on.
That evening we went out for dinner again - this time at Wildfire in the city. A great experience and we came home stuffed full of delicious brazilian meats :D But before heading the the car we stopped at the ice rink ANZ had constructed and had a quick go (after a long wait in the queue!) before grabbing some Movenpick ice cream.
We had another big day on Thursday. We got up early to leave at 6.30am and travel down to the temple in Hamilton, stopping for early morning breakfast ice cream and Pokeno. When we got to Hamilton, I stayed outside with the kids and went and got us some lunch from Pak n Save while the other 3 went in. It was nice to surprise them with lunch right there and ready when they came down to the car.
After lunch we drove on to Whitianga where we had a booking at a little back packers lodge right on the beach. It's actually called On the Beach. We had to go out our door, cross the road and walk about 50m to get to the sand :) Jared also picked up his brother Garth and his wife Trish on the way. We got there fairly late in the afternoon so just went to the supermarket, shared dinner and got the kids to bed before starting another evening of Catan.
Snapped this on Friday morning whilst out for a run on the beach
The kids with some spray in hair dye that Alisa and Jared bought - we all had patches of green and red for the day
On Friday we managed to go to 4 beaches in one day! Whitianga first - we took kayaks from the place we were staying in and spent some time out in them fairly early in the morning. We loaded the kids up with Adam and I in two double kayaks, but it was hard work with only one person paddling! Then we dropped them back at the beach with Alisa and Trish while we went out in a double and raced against Jared and Garth. It was so much fun and full of a lot of laughing.
After taking the kayaks back we drove down to Cathedral Cove - or the start of the trail anyway. The kids were brilliant. They did really well on the hike to get there and we had a lovely couple of hours down there with our lunch.
Before the start of the trail
At the highest point on the trail
After walking back up we drove to the far end of Hahei beach to go on the huge rope swing, only to find it had been wrapped round the tree branch so couldn't be reached :( We have quite a story to go with this particular rope swing which can be read here.
Still we stayed and played there a while. The kids drew in the sand, I made them some mazes and chilled out with Adam, Jared and Alisa had a sand fight that ended with them both getting a proper dunking in the sea while we watched on amused :D
Tilly drew a person
Leilani did her name as big as she could manage
Then on to the last beach of the day - Hot Water Beach, to catch it at low tide at 5pm. It was so lovely! It took a bit of hunting and digging to find the right spot that wasn't too hot or too cold, then we all just laid down and chilled out for about an hour. Even the kids just lay there and soaked it up. They actually came close to falling asleep in the lovely warm water.
Our last game of Catan on Friday night, which I won!
And then this morning (Saturday) we tidied up and drove home. The kids fell asleep about 45mins into the journey and slept for at least 1.5 hrs. Zach actually slept for 2, so we were nearly home by the time they woke up. And my wonderful husband Adam drove the whole way and let me sleep too. (I've actually been quite sick today, so he's been looking after me. I got too much sun on Friday and didn't drink enough water so woke up feeling the effects of sun stroke and dehydration...). Jared and Alisa headed off to the airport and are probably there checking in right now :(
So we've had an amazing, busy, fun-packed week with such awesome company. We've decided it needs to become an annual thing that we do something like this every year. We miss Jared too much already!
Just found some things on my phone I forgot to blog about. Back in June there was a primary talent night at church. The nursery class and sunbeams (Tilly and Zach's classes) did a fashion show of whatever character they wanted to dress up as. Zach chose spiderman and Tilly chose a lady bird. They could do an extra individual talent if they wanted to, so Zach had decided beforehand that he wanted to do a dance. So I prepared a little track of Bad, Michael Jackson, just keeping it to 1 min long. It's his favorite - he knows it from the closing scene of Megamind. I thought he may not go through with it, but he had no problems. Got up on stage and did his moves :) Unfortunately I didn't get a video of it - I was using my phone to provide the music over the PA system at the time.
Leilani's class did a little skit to the music Kung Fu Fighting.
This morning we went to the first concert of the Polkadots New Zealand Tour.
The kids were very excited about it, but once we got there Lani and Tilly were both very shy about getting involved. Zach got straight into it as soon as the music started. He loves to dance. Actually he started dancing in the middle of an electrical shop the other day and had all the staff entertained and they thought he was very cute :)
So today he was boogying his little heart out. And Tilly got over her shyness and joined in too.
And now, it's late at night and we're waiting up for Jared to get here - yay!!!!
Maybe just a little duckling that will let you stroke it! We have a lake near our house and on Saturday we walked down with the kids to feed the ducks. When we got there we found ducklings :) They were very cute and came right up to us. And then, after a while they got used to us and if we moved slowly they would let us stroke them. Only downside was the nasty seagulls trying to get all the bread crumbs. Twice we saw a seagull pick up a little duckling by grabbing the bread it had in its mouth. The first time it lifted one about a foot in the air before it fell, but the second time it was about 6ft up before the duckling let go. Luckily it was above water, could have been painful!
After we'd been there about 10 mins two black swans came over with their cygnets. Beautiful.
I love my husband. I think he's great. That's why I'm with him :)
I have a bit of a bee in my bonnet... it makes me sad to see how many times there are public exclamations of how annoyed someone is with their spouse, usually on Facebook. Your husband/wife is the person you should hold above all else. The person you are dedicated to build up and promote. Why would you moan about them in public? Sure, things annoy you and you need to talk about them, but find a more appropriate outlet - a private journal, a best friend, or better yet, communicate with your spouse - maybe after you've calmed down :) How would you feel if the person you loved and trusted most in the world was talking badly about you in public, even if it was half joking?
I'm making a plea for anyone who comes across this to decide to only post positively about your loved ones, especially your spouse. You should be their strongest supporter, their cheer leading squad and most trusted ally.
Adam is wonderful. He's not perfect, but he's perfect for me. He does things well that I find hard and fills in the gaps. He works really hard for us and is a great Daddy. He's also lots of fun. We have a lot of silly times in our family and he's often the one to start them. I love him more than is possible to verbalise.
Last week Lani played in her last netball match of the season. She played centre and did a great job. Worked hard and ran a lot, finding the space and making quick passes.
They won 18-2. They had a close loss the week before of 5-3; up until then they had been in 2nd place in their grade (year 3 grade B) but that bumped them down to 3rd. They finished the season in 3rd place and so were invited to the official prize giving where they got a badge each and the team were presented with a trophy.
Waiting for prize giving to start
Most of the team after the prize giving: Caitlin, Leilani, Chantelle Brook, Leah, Kyan (not here: Mia and Janna)
Leilani's birthday was on a Friday and her baptism the next day, so we put off doing any sort of party thing til the next weekend. We kept things pretty simple, after last year when we let her invite most of her school class round to the house for a party. We told her she could invite 3 friends to the movies and Burger King, so she took Olivia, Riley and Winter and we went to see Ice Age 4.
I've spotted some photos I've forgotten to stick on here and document the stories that go with them, so here they come...
This one is a painting Leilani did at school. She hand drew each picture, and then painted them in contrasting colors. They were studying this style at school and I think she may have had some Andy Warhol stuff to copy.
When I came back from England for Jess's Wedding, Adam convinced me that Tilly needed her first hair cut because her hair was getting too tangled. So I did it. I was very reluctant because she had such beautiful curls over about the bottom half of her hair, that would make her whole hair go curly.
Pretty long to start with!
Excited for her first haircut
Bye bye baby curls!
Checking herself out with her new cut
Adam brought Krispy Kreme doughnuts back from Australia
