Cicada Season Again.....

Oh, joy of joys!:

Breakfast, Katie-Stylez.....

We were blessed to dine with Kate and The Gang *really* early this morning, and I used blessed because of stuff like this:


Yep, that's a perfect espresso with chocolate coated coffee beans and her Mum's famous homemade biscotti on the side, and the most gorgeous spirulina smoothie you've ever had the pleasure of downing on a morning. Aunty Kate did a stirling job of shooing away any hovering kidlets while we enjoyed our little Mummy-moment in the sunshine with the trickling sound of the fountain in the background.

It wasn't long before we were treated to Katie's Fantabulous French Toast with Bacon, Banana and Maple Syrup (we, as in everyone *but* No-Carbs-Katie - that'll be why she looks like she does and I look like I do - she stops at First Breakfast, LOL!).

We love them for more than the culinary delights we get indulged with at theirs, you know ;o) There's the unsurpassed conversation, serenading, fun stuff to do, awesome peeps to glean new knowledge from, to name a few:

RIP, Judy Abel.....

A long-time friend of the Blair family passed away on Sunday (the 20th), and The Lad and his brother went down to Gisborne for the funeral today. Aunty Sokchea and James stayed with the kids and I at home, which was fabulous for us.

Aunty Sokchea turned out to be the champ at the tight-rope walking the girls set up:



And we taught her how we make Sushi, which is what we had for lunch (and what Uncle Graeme will be getting for the next few days while she relishes in her new-found knowledge, lol):

Aunty Colleen's.....

The kids love going round to Aunty Colleen's place to see her because she is always so pleased to see us and makes us such a fuss over the kids:


Her dogs are also a major attraction, here's Pumpkin on the left and Fats on the right - Duke didn't make it into the photo:


The Lad wanted his hair cut while we were there, so the girls and I had a bit of fun with it:


And, just because Nana will love (NOT!) the fact that we included it, I've tacked this photo on to the end of this post:

Grand-Nan.....

Nana with Aunty Jill, Taramea and Raukura when they went to visit her while they were back in Aotearoa:

Otaki Taku Awa.....

Yep, The Lad came back to get us after all ;o) Lucky he wasn't in time for breakfast though, because L10 and Poppa made Nigella Lawson's Hotcakes for breakfast and we had them with maple 'flavoured' syrup - he's so fussy about having 'actual' maple syrup, and not 'maple flavoured' syrup!


We had just packed our morning tea and drinks and were getting ready to walk out the door when he did arrive, so after a quick hello we decided that since we now had our car back, we'd venture further than the stream down the road. We traipsed off to Otaki River for a swim with some of the cuzzies - there's something about a (bloody cold!) stoney bottomed river, don't you reckon?:

Mahaki's 21st.....

PJ, Nathan and Keri helping to set up:


Aunty Vick running the set-up show:


Meremaraea and Tony:


Rawiri, Jodi, Tu Kaha and Davida:


Lynette and Uncle Paul:


Kalais, T and Damien:


Uncle Bill:


Aunty Helen and Aunty Elsie:


H8 and I:


L5:


Nathan and Aunty Jan:


Ra, Lees and Dazza (looking a bit worse for the wear - he must be getting too old to do the old stay up all night and then drink the next day thing!?):

Friends, Whanau and a National Treasure.....

Nana and Poppa lent us their car today and so we headed off to The Big Smoke (I LOVE WELLINGTON). On the way down, we stopped in to see the Happy Hippies *in person*:


And then we called in to Ange's to hang with her and her four kiddo's and associated extras, plus Nana, Uncle Trev and Britts and Aunty Pauline. For some strange reason, I only have two photos of this fab afternoon, and they're both of Ange - go figure?:



Then we turned down her very kind and very insistent offer of dinner and hooned into 'town' to go to Te Papa (luckily we chose a day it was open really late):




I was telling the kids on the drive in how much I loved the instant you got to see the city over the harbour when you come down the bottom of the gorge from Porirua. I was telling them to look for it, as it sort of hits you out of the blue all of a sudden, and it gives me nostalgic gooseys EVERY time I see it. One night, many years ago when we were living there, I made Barrie drive me into town (Wellington City, lol) and stop (probably illegally) on the side of the motorway and we took heaps of long-exposure photos with the roof of the car as our tripod. I was trying to find them to scan in, but I remembered we had used a slide film (actual film in the camera - that's how many years ago we're talking here, lol!), so next time you're round visiting and you've had too many Bailey's, I'll get out the projector and treat ;o) you to a slide show (thinking to myself that that might be a good Family Fun Night idea - bore the kids instead, lol!).

Anyway, this rather bad shot of Wellington's night lights from A11's camera tonight reminded me of that story:


We called in to see Aunty Vick to say Happy Birthday (while it was still officially her birthday) before we headed back to Nana's and to bed:

Hmmmm.....

Don't read this, Hay!

Here's some of Poppa's sheep this morning:


Here's one of Poppa's sheep (the naughty one, who kept escaping from the paddock, and getting into the neighbours glasshouses, really expensive glasshouses, with his (legitimate) livelihood growing in there) this afternoon:


Now, I'm not usually one for shirking food, but although I did (or have in the past) partake in (and enjoy immensely) sweetbreads, brain, kidney, liver, tongue, heart, etc. I *did* draw the line at mountain oysters. Nana thought they looked a bit like baby dolphins, and L10 thought they looked a bit like titties, I just couldn't get past the fact that they were testicles.

Didn't bother Poppa and A11 though, they fried them up and ate them up.

Nope. Still not for me.

Foxton.....

This morning we dropped Poppa at his physio appointment and then went to Otaki Library to overload Nana's library card. Apparently, they don't have anything similar in the Tauranga Library, and we can't possibly wait a few days until we get back to get out books on our own library cards!

Nana and Poppa took us for a drive this afternoon to Foxton, we saw the windmill (an actual working flour mill, don't you know?):


Then we went to Foxton Beach for a look around, and the kids had a swim off the jetty near the river mouth:



And because Poppa had packed the fishing rods, tackle box and some bait, we had a bit of a fish, too. This was the extent of our catch, and so we stopped in at the supermarket on the way home for fish for sashimi for our dinner:

Playing at Nana's.....

Today was a bit drizzly in the morning, so we spent that inside doing jigsaws and playing boardgames from the cupboard that we used to play when I was a kid, like Squatter and Grand National and Hi-Q and Funny Bones and.....

After lunch, the girls and Nana took off to the pond to see if they could catch some frogs they had heard earlier in the day, and the girls found these pigeon eggs in the barn (Nana and Poppa are secretly hoping they won't hatch - they are not pigeon-in-the-barn fans):


Then Uncle Trev and (my) Nana called in on their way back from Palmy airport picking up Britts, so we spent the afternoon with them.

Here's a cool hat that Jacque, Dorothy's Mum, bought Nana from Malaysia for her hat collection. It folds up like a sort of hooked fan and pops in your handbag when you're not using it:

The Exodus Begins.....

The worst part of a big family gathering is when everyone starts going home :o( Uncle Paul started it by leaving first:


But not before A11 got a play on his motorbike:

Mahaki's 21st.....

Thanks Aunty Jill for the photos, forgot to take the bloody camera, didn't we!!!!!

You knew it was going to be a great night when these folk were on side for the preparation! PJ, Nate and Keri:


Aunty Vick folding streamers:


Meremaraea and Stephen:


Lynette and Uncle Paul:


Damien, T and Calais:


Uncle Billy:


Aunty's Helen and Elsie:


The world's most unflattering photo of sweaty moi, but it shows of the difference between how H8 inteprets "party clothes":


And how L5 interprets it ;o):


Nathan:


Ra and Lees trying to avoid having their photo taken with Dazza:


See why?:


4 generations - Nana, Aunty Jill, Tara and baby Raukura:

Croquet Under The Sprinkler.....

Do you get the feeling we kinda like croquet?


Today was a bit of a twist on the norm, as we all donned our togs and played under the sprinkler:


We decided we had enough water:


And it was definitely hot enough!:


They let me win, the little darlings (if Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy, lol!):


This kid is a poseur-extraordinaire!:



Peter has been sharing his ducklings with us over the last few weeks and they are so cute, they follow him around everywhere. L5 was delighted to discover that they'd follow him, too. He spent an entire afternoon down there, just hanging with the ducklings.

Sadly, Peter flew to Australia this week, on to bigger and better things.....

Reminiscing on Swimming Lessons.....

I was taking A1 to water confidence classes in Wellington when we lived there. It was the first class and I was 8 1/2 months pregnant with L-1 (I'm a very big lady anyway, so you can imagine how gorgeous I looked!) and late! I quickly got A1 and myself ready at the side of the pool (we already had our togs on under our clothes) and leaped in to join the rest of the mothers in the pool floating around with their babies. Well, I found out with a sharp jolt that all the other ladies were on their knees in the shallow end! I was so glad A1 was only 15 months old and didn't realise how embarassing his Mum was that day!!! Never mind, we were one of only two out of the class that actually finished the course, so we may not have succeeded in the glamour department, but we had stickability (actually, A1 finished the course with his Dad, because I had L0 in between
times!). Apr 13, 2000 10:25 am

Groan.....

Why does a snake not have a sense of humour?

Because you can't pull it's leg.

Sex.....

Mon Jun 19, 2000 9:05 pm: "Just a quickie to share a little gem with you from last week! A3 came and asked me what sex was. I thought about it for a split second (he's not quite four yet!!), panicking a bit, remembering my promise that I would try and answer any questions as honestly as I could, according to the age-appropriateness, etc. Anyway, before I started on the birds and bees, I wondered where he had heard it so I asked him if he could put it in a sentence for me, like it was when he heard it. He obliged with "You know, Mum, when you say you'll just be two secs?". Another HUGE sigh of relief (after last months "playing mummies and daddies" - A3: "Let's play Mummies and Daddies." L2: "OK." A3: "I'll be the Daddy and you be the Mummy." L2: "OK." A3: "You go on that side of the bed and I go on this side of the bed and I kiss you." L2: "OK." A3: "Now, we watch TV." The Lad didn't see much to laugh about, that's about the extent of it, he reckons!)!!!!

Lazy, Hazy Summer.....

We've had such a great summer this year, loads of people are saying it's been one of the best in recent times. There's nothing like a long Indian summer, the kids get to play all day and we have nowhere we have to be and nothing we have to do in the holiday period, and while we love being busy and getting out and about during term time, we love having the choice not to do it in the holidays.

Here's A11 laxing at the "Ranch" they've spent the morning creating:

Cute As Buttons.....

The Lad went down the forest to chop up a tree he had dropped (manly, I know), and noticed two little quail on the track, calling to their mama. When he came back up about 3 hours later, they were still in the same place, and still calling for their mama, so he picked them up and bought them up to the house.

Later in the day, when The Lawrences were visiting, the kids all went down to pick berries and came back with another wee button (I think that's what a baby quail is called?), from the same place on the track. They are just gorgeous, like little bumblebees, and very friendly:


We took them to the Vets and got some chick raising mix, some wild bird seed and some insect substitute, and hoped and hoped they would survive. Check out their little mowhawks - awwww!:

There's A Rat In My Kitchen.....

Fri Oct 20, 2006 8:14 pm: "So we're sitting down to our Jesters Pies and our BBs muffins for our takeaway dinner tonight and we notice a big fat maggot on the table, eeeeewwwww! We assume it's from the newspaper that's been left out overnight and bought in tonight and thrown on the table, because we sometimes get an earwig or two in them, we hiff it outside and continue our dinner.

We find another one on the Jester's box and we wonder - the place hasn't even been open for a week, surely not? L4 gets stopped from dipping his potato into his sauce because there's a big fat maggot crawling in it! Hiff the sauce and wedges and frantically search for the Jesters number to give them a ring. As we're searching another maggot is spotted crawling along the floor. This is foul. The Lad goes out to check the newspaper and wrapping and finds only the obligatory earwig, while he's out there a maggot falls onto L9's muffin, yep - falls!

Another one on the Jesters box and another one crawling across the tablecloth. This is too disgusting and too much for us to handle, even A11 is put off finishing his dinner.

The Lad decides he has to check out the roof cavity in case there is a dead something up there and the maggots are falling through the cracks in our ancient villa's ceiling - "While I'm changing out of my work clothes, can someone please bring me a shovel, some flyspray and a sturdy bag" is the request when he gets down from his initial inspection. OMG! So *that's* where the rat disappeared to from our kitchen......"

(We still haven't been able to get Jester's Pies since!)

Cute.....

Luckily for me, The Lad gets up early and takes photos of various wildlife on the lawn for me, because by the time I'm up and about, they're long gone ;o)

Angus at Ours.....

Uncle Tony and Aunty Donna found themselves homeless for one more night than they had originally bargained on, so we had the pleasure of their company for the night (not to mention the use of the boat to chuck half our stuff in for the drive home, so our car wasn't so cramped). Angus is growing up:

Smashed Eggs.....

Wed Dec 17, 2003 9:46 am "Probably more than you wanted to know, but I'll share it anyway - it takes approx 12 minutes to semi-dry a size 22DD cotton bra under a burger king hand dryer if you accidentally store an egg in it during the day (because you found one in the nesting box and you didn't have any pockets and you weren't going inside for a while...) and only remembered it was there when you were out doing some Christmas shopping for the kids that night, because you broke it when you lifted a big box into the van."

Was thinking about this story today as I plucked an egg from one of the nesting boxes and popped into my makeshift-pocket-when-you-have-no-actual-pocket bra ;o)

Whanau, Water and Near-Death Experiences.....

Well, it wasn't really *that* bad, it was more comical than life-threatening, lol!

We headed down to Rotorua for New Years with a few of our favourite cuzzies, we crashed their holiday at their lakeside house and made ourselves well at home:






We had great fun jumping off the jetty:


We played loads of games - card games, board games, jigsaw puzzles, croquet (ya think?) for the dishes, etc.:


We did loads of sitting round chatting, solving the problems of the world:


We did loads of eating:



The Boys and some Straggler Kiddos went fishing at dawn and again late afternoon around Mokoia Island, and the bonus was they were successful (because Uncle Tony knew a secret - ssshhh!!!) and we got to dine on perfectly smoked fresh trout:




We went biscuitting, L5's first time by himself - and he LOVED it:




The Lad, showing us how it's done - "Look, No Hands!":


Look - Some Wake:


This isn't going to end prettily:


Ah, well, it was fun getting there:


WARNING! PICTURES OF A HALF-NAKED FAT LADY LAUGHING HYSTERICALLY FOLLOW!!!!

So I tell our driver that I've NEVER been biscuitting before, I'm not water confident AT ALL, and I'm not a thrill seeker of ANY way, means or shape, and he should just go slowly, or I might cry. He looks trustworthy enough right?:


Here I am ready to go, I can tell that because my life jacket is zipped to the top:


We had to take off with a bit of speed, because the lake is quite shallow and he needed to get above the weed. So I'm clinging desperately to the handles in anticipation of the jolt of the take-off, and when it happens my boob promptly pops out of my new togs and lodges itself between my chins (plural) and the top of my life jacket. I start to find it a bit difficult to breathe, as every bump we go over seems to wedge my boob harder and harder into my windpipe, lol! The more I think about the fact that if I *did* actually manage to asphyxiate myself, nobody would appreciate the joke until after the coroner fathomed a theory from a crushed windpipe and a severely bruised boob!

The more I think about it, the funnier it gets.
And the funnier it gets, the more I laugh.
And the more I laugh, the more the driver thinks I'm enjoying it.
And the more the driver thinks I'm enjoying it, the faster he goes.
And the faster he goes, the bumpier the ride gets.....


So you can see my predicament, and I finally decide that it's probably worth my while unclenching my fingers and arm from the biscuit handle and tucking myself back in. I can tell this is after that, because the zip is not quite done up to the top on my life jacket:


So now I can say I've been biscuitting ;o)