A Fishy Tale.....

While I was away at a Girl Guide training weekend, the rest of the whanau were off having fun, after biking through The Redwoods, they went to the Trout Hatchery and caught us all feed or two - yum, smoked trout!:

The Morning After.....

We played marathon games of Monopoly in our pj's and we played endless games of cards to see who got to pack up what. The Lad has an extra day off work, so although this has been an extended little break for us all together as a family, it's coming to an end tomorrow :o(

In Your Own Backyard.....

H9 pulled out "Go camping at Bowentown" from our holiday lucky-dip bowl of exciting-things-to-do-when-we've-done-all-our-jobs. We rang them and it was going to cost us $140 but we couldn't get in till 2pm and we had to be out by 10am, so we bought ourselves a supply of gourmet sausages and loads of marshmallows and pitched out tent on the lawn.

We built a campfire, invited the neighbours over for damper and camp milos and the compulsory 'show', as kids are wont to do when there's an audience of adults who can't escape ;o).

We did a spot of stargazing, and because we were getting bitten by the mozzies, we got our sleeping bags and mattresses out of the tent and gazed for hours. So long, in fact, we never ended up going back into the tent, we all slept out under the stars - magic!:

Tryathletes.....

L11 and H9 took part in their first ever Weetbix Tryathlon this year, they had a blast and L6 reckons when he's old enough he'll be giving it a go, too:

Omokoroa.....

The Lad and I went for an early morning kayak - with the kids at Nana's it's a luxury we don't often get as usually one of us has to stay on shore with half of the kidlets while the other one is out on the water with the reminder. It was gorgeous, very calm and peaceful - we paddled out to the little island in the last photo and back:




We also called in to our fave second-hand bookshop on the way home, for hours, in peace ;o) No-one wanting to go home because they're b-o-r-e-d, or h-u-n-g-r-y, etc!

Little Waihi.....

We cruised out to Little Waihi to meet a few of our peeps and have a splash around:

Happy Birthday L11.....

Thank Goodness for Nana and Grandad who *always* send birthday pressies that arrive before the birthday, so they have something to open on the day - these days she asks for the cold, hard cash in lieu of a pressie from us. Here she is with her very own Yates Garden Guide, some new facecloths, a new funky notebook and some talc:


Her and her Bro's:


The fairly predictable birthday breakfast of choice - sushi rice, salmon, fried egg white and buttered toast:


Her first bean harvest of the season from her plants - and tasty they are, too!:

OMG! What Kind of Mother Am I?.....

"I don't WANT to go!"

"You'll be fine, H9, once you're there you'll be so busy having a fantastic time, you'll hardly even miss us. The days will whizz past in a blur and we'll be down to join you before you even know it. Take your phone, and I'll text you each night before you go to sleep"

Well, that lasted for the first night! How crap am I? (I didn't even text her the second night, The Lad (who obviously cares more than me) did ring her, though). I said to The Lad as we fell into bed last night "Shit, I forgot to text Hannah tonight!"

We knew she would be fine during the day, but it is the getting to sleep that our little bed-hopper finds so hard. Getting to sleep by herself is nigh on impossible, and she is often found wandering the house looking for an obliging sibling or parent to snuggle up with. I have been known to be woken past 11pm by:

H9: "Mum! Mum!"

Me: "Hmmmmm, wahhhh?"

H9: "I'm really worried. I've been laughing a lot today."

Me: "Why is that worrying you, honey?"

H9: "Well, remember you said ages ago that you nearly died laughing? I don't want to die."

And other such notions that seem to surface at sleeptime.

Which is probably the underlying reason we received this text at 3.09am this morning:



1 3/4 hours is such a long way when your baby wants some lovin' :o(