Holidays - Chapter 2.

Our next adventure saw us going to the zoo. A lovely day out visiting the animals. Ryan was very interested in the elephant (Burma), however anything with a grey hard skin became an elephant (ie. the rhinocerous). Maggie loved, loved, loved the himbo (hippopotamus). She has a hippo hot water bottle named Himbo. All he did was swim back and forwards under the water, but she still packed a big sad when it was time to move on. Charlotte was hanging out to see the bats (not sure why). They sat up in the corner of their cage and never moved, yet when we left Charlotte still said they were her favourite! I loved watching the sealions swimming around and found a few other odd creatures fascinating that i had never seen before, like the flamingos.

Auckland and Hamilton holiday. Chapter 1

The kids and I, in the holidays, had an awesome adventure holiday to Auckland and Hamilton. I will write about it in installments here as there is soooo much to tell (and more to the point, sooooo many photos to share!)
Our adventure started with an aeroplane ride to Auckland. I have to say i was a little nervous about having to handle three on the plane by myself, but they were stars!! No hassles and a really nice flight.
In Auckland we stayed with Jeremy and Alana, which was really nice and for me nice to have a good catch up with my little brother.

Our first full day in Auckland saw us visiting Kelly Tarltons. A wonderful place, where for me the highlight was seeing the penguins up close. Awesome creatures. Maggie and Ryan were a little intimidated by the big sharks and stingrays, but still had lots of fun and especially enjoyed seeing a diver in the tank. Charlotte enjoyed racing around seeing EVERYTHING!!

Small task = major renovations!!

What is it about us and silly little tasks turning into major renovations? We recently decided we wanted a vegie garden, so Daryl managed to get a good deal on some retaining and the vegie gardens were built, which lead on to a fort being built for the kids which lead on to the whole pool fence being replaced. We now have a great looking completely renovated back yard that simply started with a vegie garden!!
Now we have had a situation where Daryl was doing a minor task in the bathroom and dropped a drill gun thru the bath. OOOOPS! Insurance called and we were getting the bath replaced. Builder here today pulled off the melamine surround and discovered pretty manky wood underneath. Now we were always going to renovate the bathroom, however it was supposed to be a year or two down the track. It's now happening starting tomorrow!! Since we have to replace the wall we might as well do the whole lot!
Hmmm, remind me to not give Daryl any new tasks (however minor they might seem) for at least a year!!

Stress relief

I have discovered a new way of relieving stress. Having just introduced Ryan to the wonders of lego (the proper small stuff) I have discovered that it is very theraputic to pick up. Ryan has a big tub of the stuff that he likes to complete tip up and empty over the floor, but this is good it turns out. The feeling of scooping up big handfuls is just loverly. My only problem is that Ryan is a little helper and likes to help. No...Mummy wants to do this one on her own. Heeheehee, wouldn't really say it. There is no way i want to curb his helping tidy streak!!
However if anyone wants to know what to by Ryan for his upcoming birthday. LEGO!

Woohoo!! Thunderthighs are good for you health!

Article on the news last night. Apparantly smaller waists bigger thighs are the key to longevity! Okay, so i need to work on the waist bit a little, but i've got the thighs well and truly covered!!
Waist should be no bigger than 89cm and thighs should be no smaller than 60cm.
Where do i fit in? Hmmm are you aloud to measure your waist as being just below your boobs? No?...okay well waist 96cm and thigh 65cm. A few sit ups and lunges maybe and i could be perfectly healthy.... I WISH!

food coloured flowers

A fun experiment to do with the littlies. Get the lovely white flowers and pop them in water with some food colouring in it. (Try different colours) and then over a few days watch how the colour appears in the petals of the flowers. Very pretty!

Missed August

Okay, so i managed to completely miss any August posts. And even now don't really have any plans of what to say.
Kids are great. We're ticking along and that's life!

Daryl has been working hard on the back yard, retaining and building us up a vegie garden. Can't wait to get some vegies in and growing in a couple of weeks time. YUM! He's also built the kids a huge fort which now dominates the back yard. Still have a few finishing touches, but the kids are loving playing in it already. He's been having such fun doing all the DIY stuff too. Getting up at the crack of dawn (seriously 6.50am on a Sunday. Banging and bashing with no regards for the neighbours Sunday sleep in!!LOL!) He's been getting terribly frustrated with the wet weather interrupting his fun too.