Sunday at our house

The guys were thinking of doing an early muster today.
But they all slept in.
Tim was waiting for Anson to wake him and Anson was waiting for Tim!
So they all got their much needed rest.

I have hung 3 loads of washing out, done some more mail.
It is such a glorious day here that the children have been outside most of the day.

I have begun my annual gall bladder/liver flush this afternoon.
So I am off food and off the cooking duties.
The family are quite willing and able to carry on in this department.
I have been trying to fit time into my schedule for weeks if not months to do this.
I just haven’t been at home long enough to get it all together.
Crazy that our lives are so busy and that it needs so much planning.

Everyone went out to do the muster in the late afternoon.
Seb went up to shop at Waterfall for his food for the week.
So I was all alone – luverly

I watched a movie early this morning – I got up before 6am and as it has to go back to the hire shop tomorrow with Anson I figured it would be a good time to watch it. ‘The Upside of Anger’ – really good portrayal of grief and anger and how destructive it all is.

This afternoon I put my feet up and watched ‘The Other Boleyn Girl’.
That was a pretty intense bit of history for the day – wow!
I could’ve done a million other things but I felt more inclined not too!

When Seb got back he finished preparing dinner.
I helped a bit and then decided to make him a chocolate cake for his week out.
I had some sour milk and yoghurt in the fridge that seriously needed using.
So all the milk went into the cake.
It turned out soooooo good, all light and fluffy and delicious looking

The crew all arrived home for a late dinner so I helped dish up.
Then because it was so late I cleaned up – all the while working my way through the liver cleanse programme and not in the slightest bit tempted to pick at the food – wasn’t I good

I have iced the cake and got Seb sorted.
He and Anson have to leave here at 4:30am to get him to work on time.
I have to be in bed by 10pm with the last step of the cleanse for the night.

So tomorrow,  my insides will be all cleaned out and gall stone free – you really needed to know that piece of information didn’t you?

End of the week round up.

Friday was kinda relaxed learning.
Tim & Anson went out on the mussel farm early.
Shanni cleaned her room and I found her working away at some of her Language workbooks – good girl!
Azzan tried to clean his room!
This is what it looked like this morning – you can just see his sleeping wee head in amongst the bunk.


I finally got Nathan raised from the dead at 10am.
He then sat and stared at the walls for a while.
Then I suggested firmly that maybe he could get moving and eat and help me.
I gave him the choice of written school work or baking.
He chose to bake.
That entailed another hour sitting on the sofa staring at recipe books.
Then, when I baled him about his tardiness he immediately blamed the fact he wasn’t cooking yet on the fact that no-one had washed the breakfast dishes and there was no room at the bench.
Fine!
Mahalia came and did them.
While she was doing them Shanni came and asked if she could bake.
She wasn’t worried about the mess in the kitchen before she started!

Eventually Nathan made Hokey Pokey biscuits – but he got side tracked doing another errand for me so they were a tad burned – but still edible. Shanni made a wonderful batch of bran muffins – so good were they she made a 2nd batch.


Mahalia & Azzan helped with the cleaning up process.


It was such a beautiful day Azzan wanted to go swimming.
Sunbathing on the old generator shed was warming too.

Nathan went in and came back up with a smile – nice

The mailboat arrived at 1pm


Tim & Anson arrived an hour later

Lunch dragged on for several hours.

Kate and Duncan from Nova Scotia arrived on the boat and were very quickly engulfed by exuberant children.


After lunch Duncan was roped in to play dominoes with Azzan…

and Monopoly with Shanni.


Then Kate and Hali went to The Croft to pick up all the washing.
While they were around there Shanni, Azzan & Duncan picked grapefruit.
Do you think they picked enough?

They actually don’t last too long around here.
They get used daily for my morning drink, and the children eat them like oranges.
Good source of Vit C for this time of year.
No scurvied land lubbers in this joint!

The trampoline was used extensively in the afternoon too.

You can see some great shots that Shanni took of Mahalia on Hali’s blog.



Kate had her hair decorated for dinner – doesn’t she look pretty

Today the guys went out mustering early.
I carried on with my clean up in the study.
I am getting to see glimpses of my desk top – most exciting!
The girls were playing in Sylvania most of the morning.
Kate was pretty jet-lagged and never woke till after 10am.

I got her to work with Azzan and get his room presentable.
She did good

We can now see the floor again!

Then she did the vege prep and helped Shanni cook fried rice for lunch.
It was really good – despite the mess I had to clean up after them


Nathan made marshmellow – green peppermint flavoured.
Then he made dessert – a recipe for a rhubarb cake that I had saved for ages but hadn’t had time to try.
It is a definite keeper
The guys came back and grabbed food and headed out for a long stint on the boat.
They went out and did mussels. caught some fish and got some scallops.

Sebastian’s boat came into Okwi Bay today so he hitch hiked home from there. He did well, got a ride from Okiwi to Cissy. Then walked to Huratini where our neighbour Ken picked him up and very kindly went way out of his way and delivered him to the door.

He arrived home around 6, just before the other guys.
So we had a big fish and scallop fry up and enjoyed a really nourishing stirfry and salad with fresh broad beans from the garden (well, some of us didn’t have them ) – a delicious family dinner.
Our numbers have suddenly expanded to 10 around the table.

We gave Seb his b’day pressies cuz he was away on the day.
Now he has a camera he can share life on the boat with us a bit easier.

Seems everyone is tired tonight – they are all heading off for an early night.
I guess Anson & Nathan’s late night of possuming last night, and the busy day on the hills and water along with a bit of jet-lag constitutes weary bodies!

I’m off to watch a movie – it is Sunday tomorrow and I have finished the accounts and can sleep in – yeeha!

Anson is home :-)

Tim and Anson got home around midnight.
We know he is home!
The noise levels and physical dimensions increase substantially when he walks in the door

Tim was out on the water doing mussel work by 7am.
He was quite peeved to know that it had been flat calm the day he had to go to town the two days previously had been horrendously windy.
The children and I did school work.
We began at the kitchen table with Maths and Reading – I had carried all my accounts out early with the intention of filing them while supervising the children.
That didn’t happen

Firstly I called up my friend Cassidy in Florida for a chat.
Shanni & Hali chatted with their pen friends Madi-Grace and Sarah-Faith.
That was so funny.
Hali came off the phone saying ‘I couldn’t understand a single thing she said.’!
I had warned the girls to speak clearly and listen carefully cuz they have strong Texan accents.
Cassidy couldn’t understand me when we first talked but now she can – just takes a practised ear.
They think they speak English in America AND they think WE are the ones with the accent!!!

Then I had a catch up chat with my neighbour Sandra – that was good – we don’t do that enough.

Anson arrived down.
First things first.
Measuring up little (well, not so little anymore) bro was paramount.
So  lessons were interrupted…..

Mum had to be measured too cuz Nathan insists he is way way taller than me now – of course I don’t believe that for a moment.

   
but why does a simple exercise in sizing up each other have to turn into a young bulls wrestling match?

It came to an abrupt end when Nathan’s foot pushed the table and the cups of herb tea flooded all over the books!
Mother was not happy

We ended up down in the school room for the remainder of the morning doing some Shakespearean stuff.
Lunch was late although the children had been grazing though out the morning.
The fresh loaf of bread Tim made for lunch got demolished for morning tea – it was warm and yummy

I tried to get my accounts filed in the afternoon.
I was so tired and stressed that I ended up with my head in my arms crying.
I had a big moan on Tim’s shoulder about how I spend so much time doing bookwork with the kids (which I do enjoy but there is never enough time to really enjoy it because of all the other demands on me) and then turn around and spend the rest of the day doing bookwork for the business – and I get so sick of doing bookwork. There just had to be more to life I reckon!!
I had a long chat with my dear friend Emma and I was able to finish the filing while talking with her.

Anson helped to get dinner ready.
I had put a chicken to roast in the Slow Cooker – it was absolutely delicious.
We gave Anson his birthday presents – his day in the 8th Nov but he was away.

He was being goofy – I found him another hunting book to read.

Despite spending so much time over in the West Island Anson is still a true blue Kiwi –  I found him this towel which he said he is going to hang on his wall.

After dinner Anson took the children up to play rugby.
Not even home 24 hours and he is at it already!

 

The children love it.
Shanni took the action shots.
I wish I could load the movies she took.
They were priceless – one day I will hook into some nice town person’s broad band to share them with you.

I had to get the accounts finished but I was so tired that I took my book and hopped in the spa.
It had an appropriate title ‘Honor Thyself’ – so I did.
I lay back soaking in the warmth.
When the children finally came down at 9pm I was ready to hop out.
I was not however ready to do the accounts.
So I shut up shop and went to bed.
This morning I was up at 5am and into them.
I have achieved far more in the early hours of this morning that I could’ve done all day yesterday.

Now I only have a phone call to make to sort out some paper work and then I can get them filed.
Today is D-day so I have to get them done or I am in for another penalty fine.

Tim and Anson are off out in the boat to do more mussel work and catch a fish and maybe a scallop or three.
I need to go get the tardy ones out of bed – namely Nathan.
He must be growing, it doesn’t matter how early he goes to bed he is always difficult to raise in the mornings.
 
Shanni is always up with the birds – literally!
She is up and out sometimes before we are.
She has to go check on all her feathered families in the orchard and the aviary.

A quiet blobby sort of day.

Tim left for town around 7am.
The children and I had a pretty cruisey day.
I never woke them – just waited for them to wake themselves.

I read my book in the spa.
Shanni read on the sofa.
Then Hali and Azzan woke and we piddled around a bit.

Then we had breakfast.
Azzan ordered runny eggs and soldier toast to dip in the yolk.
I joined him and Hali with the eggs – however in my zealousness to not hard boil I under boiled so they were not nice runny – the whites were yuck runny.
We ate what we could.

We did some school work around the kitchen table.
Nathan got up around 10am and after he had eaten he did all the beds in The Cottage for me.

Then we made pancakes for lunch.
Only Nathan disappeared up to the workshop and never got any.
Then we all watched ‘She’s the Man’.
A modern take off of Twelfth Night.
It was funny.

From there it was chores – not too many and Shanni and I made Nachos for dinner.
That was easy and yummy.

I got Hali & Azzan into bed early, helped Shanni to update her blog.
Then she and Nate hit the hay and I have just finished watching ‘The Wedding Date’.


Tim picked Anson up at the airport at 9pm so they won’t be home till midnight and I am not waiting up till then.

So all in all it has been a quiet blobby not stressful sorta day – nice

Tuesday at home

Tim and children had no power most of the day.

While Mahalia washed up the breakfast dishes Azzan played ‘Guess Who’ with Daddy.

Tim had to get wool baled and clean up the woolshed.
The children played on the beach.
The cats are ever so long suffering!

Tim had to also run the Fire Extinguisher checker-upper guy to Waterfall as the road was too wet for him to take his van down there.

The children had heaps of fun on the beach while he was busy.




  

and once again – the long suffering patient Mo

Windy Wet sorta days….

Sunday night we said farewell to Mark and Polly.
We had such a lovely time with them it was sad to have to say good-bye.
But being good British tourists they were packing a lot into their month here.

They left early Monday morning – it was just as well cuz it started raining and then it got worse and worse.
We didn’t get any wind till late in the day and then it BLEW!
We were hearing reports of flooding in Nelson.

The children and I did a morning in the school room . They also had fun doing a page about ‘Taming of the Shrew’. Shanni was not in a good frame to do maths. I ended up booting her out for while to think things over cuz I got sick of trying to get through to her. When she is in that frame of mind nothing works

Then in the afternoon after they had gotten some fresh air we blobbed out in front of ‘Merchant of Venice’.
It really takes some scheming and planning to fit watching a movie of Shakespearean proportions into our day.
By the time we have spent several hours in the school room, done all the chores etc there is not a lot of time left in the day to fit in a 2+ hour movie. So once again dinner was late – but it was easy. With just the 6 of us at home it is easy to create a meal fairly fast.

Tim had gotten Anson’s truck down for me and transferred all the stuff I was taking to town.
But it was too late and way too wet to consider loading the sofa on.

So Tuesday morning – I was up at 4:45am and int he shower.
Just getting dressed and the power went off.
No rain happening, no wind – it just decided to go off.
Tim said it didn’t come on here till 4pm.
Thankfully I have a trusty torch so I grabbed that and got sorted.
Got Tim up and we loaded the sofa on the truck and I was away before 6am.
I stopped at the top of the hill to open the gate – that was where all the wind was!
I could barely open the door to get out.
Then I had to wrestle against the wind to get back in to the truck.
Whew!

The road from there on out was good. Lots of fog along the way but the surface of the road was great. Just a wee bit of slippery stuff where there was some road works.

Then I got to the Ronga Valley and I hit water – it was like going through a violent car wash at 100km.
After realising how deep the water on the road was at that point I took it a bit more carefully.
I was getting a bit concerned as to how much water would be in the river at the main road junction.
It was lapping the sides of the road.

This photo is of paddocks – NOT the normal river – that is way over on the far right!!

Then along to Rai Valley Tearooms for a chicken and cheese pie.
I was sorta worried I may get stopped on the Wangamoa’s due to the weather and as I hadn’t had breakfast I wasn’t prepared to be sitting there for ages with an empty stomach.
The flooding was amazing just there.



Once again – this is NOT the river!!

Met a forestry guy who had been out Monday night taking photos around Pelorus.
The river broke its banks near my sisters place – c’mon Ruth – you must have some photos so show us!!
I couldn’t believe how high the Pelorus River was.
I was tempted to side track that way to see but decided I needed to keep going to Nelson.

This is where the slip came down on the Wangamoa’s the day Tim & I left to go north.
It blocked over 50m of road for 6hours.
Pretty impressive!
Cat was asking about it the other day – so this pic is for you Cat

My list wasn’t terribly comprehensive so I was trying to think my way through all I had to do.
I posted all the mail and then found another in the bottom of my bag – darn!

Dropped the sofa off – it will be all new in January
I spent a while there with Craig looking at all the wonderful fabrics he has.
He is a man after my own heart – loves funky and interesting
Managed to get to the gym, man am I out of condition.
I have to start getting into some more walking here again.

Took the keyboard to a fix-it guy Beggs recommended to me.
He is going to see if it is worth getting going again.
He spent quite a while telling me of the frustrations of his job and our throw away society and how he can’t get components for things that are not even a year old.
I can sympathise with him – totally frustrating.
Says a lot about our world doesn’t it.
We moan and complain about all the rubbish and the landfills but then turn around and allow trash to be produced that just doesn’t last the distance

I ended up out in Richmond and flew through Pak’n’Save. Trouble is I don’t like that supermarket – I don’t know it so it takes me ages to find anything.
It was 1:30pm before I got out of there so it was a mad whirl to bag up the groceries, pack ’em on the truck dome and hook on the cover on and then get into Nelson for the meeting.
Then I couldn’t find the stupid building. They have shifted and I knew the address was 19 Haven Rd. Trouble is I didn’t know that Haven Rd actually goes around a round-a-bout, round a corner and disappears behind a park. Never knew the name of that wee shortcut – I do now!
The meeting was with our rep from the Ministry of Education.
It took about 1.5hours.
I am not too sure what it was all about really – I guess just a PR exercise.
Anyway, I went. It was good to talk and see the others.

Estelle and I went for a quick afternoon tea then I was racing around to finish off the jobs and head home.
I went back to Starbucks for my final frappacino and had hald an hour to visit some shoe shops.
I was trying to find shoes to go with my wedding outfit.
I should’ve taken the dress.
However I did find a pair of sandals at Kitts. They were so lovely in there, happy to stay open late while I piddled about trying on various sandals and allowed me to take them on appro – and on trying them on this morning with the dress I am happy with them.

On the way home I stopped off at Okiwi Bay to say a quick hullo to Gaynor and Art and found them having dinner with friends.
There were 5 at the table and Gaynor insisted I take the 6th seat and have dinner with them.
It was lovely to sit and chat with them all but I was very conscious that Tim was getting packed up to head to town this morning and needed the truck. I got home just on 10pm and found that they had only just had dinner and the children were only just in bed.

Tim has gone out with a load of wool and will pick up Anson from the airport tonight.
The children and I are going to have a semi-cruisey day today.
Clean up the house and maybe watch one of the very modern versions of Twelfth Night that I found in the video hire shop.

Sunday catch-up

The past few days have been very long.
I know that.
That is why I can barely open my eyes today.

Thursday morning we continued with our clean up and then got into the school room.
Not really entirely sure what we did.
I do know that over the couple of days that we were in there we read the story that pre-empted The Merchant of Venice – ‘A Bargain is a Bargain’.
We have also watched ‘The Taming of the Shrew’.
We have done some maths and reading.
We also made pomander balls from limes and cloves.


They are now rolled in spices and sitting on the window sill in the sun to dry for a while before we add ribbons and lace. It was a hit project. The children really enjoyed doing them. Nate and Shanni both made two.

Tim took the troops out mustering late one afternoon.
It was a big muster.
It was a beautiful day

But it turned really cold and they got back very late.
I was glad to see Tim had given Mahalia some extra clothing as she has a bark like a dog right now.

The mailboat arrived Friday – it was a lovely day and Azzan was there to meet it.


Home sweet home from the wharf.

Shanni tried on her new dress.
It is not quite finished but she loves it.

Mark arrived from Wales bringing his wife with him.
He visited us in Feb 1987 when he was a lad doing his gap year.
We met up in the UK 10 years ago – he was still a shy single farmer.

He married Polly 4 years ago and had to bring her to NZ on a belated honeymoon.
It has been lovely spending time with them both pover the past few days.

Azzan has enjoyed them too.



They are quite normal despite the scary faces!!
They have been enjoying doing lots of walking around the farm.

Herbie arrived with a group of guys for the weekend too.
Tim took them all out fishing on Fri & Sat.
The weather was pretty yuck Sat but they still enjoyed themselves.
Then Herbie cracked the whip and got his slaves working on the Waterfall track.
There were a few trees down so they have cleared them away and made it more user friendly.

Tim was pleased to hear rain yesterday.
It was heavy but gentle and very needed.
The guys cleaned up and most left after breakfast.
It was great to catch up with Johnny before he left.
We have known him for 20 years now but don’t see much of him now he lives in Picton.

I made a huge carrot cake for lunch.
There has been a baking drought here lately and Herbie was making noises about checking out the safe and pantry for baking during the weekend. So I figured maybe I should bake him a cake.
It did go down well

Herbie, Gary and Alan stayed on for lunch after fellowship.
There was a mountain of dishes and I was very appreciative of Herbie’s cheerful dishwashing skills.
I was feeling so tired and wasn’t looking forward to facing them

Thanks Alan & Herbie

The sun is now shining so I had no excuse not to hang out all the washing.
So I have done that.
Mahalia’s choice of movie for the afternoon is ‘Twelfth Night’.

Tim has gone for a nana-nap and I am thinking it would be a great idea.
So I am off to catch a few zzzz’s.

Happy Birthday Sebastian

18 years ago today our lives were totally blessed by the arrival of a strapping young man.

Sebastian Luke weighed in at 4320gms.
Or in terms that we can all understand 9 1/2 pounds.
He was the cutest wee fella.
We all loved him to bits.

He had a good hearty appetite right from the beginning

 
He was the 6th in the line up or top of the team – whichever way you want to look at it!

He was and still is totally gorgeous – he has a lovely gentle spirit…

….but he was all boy…..

…..and still is!

Sebastian means majestic
–
and today he is becoming a majestic young man.

We love you Seb
We all wish you a very Happy Birthday.
We hope that this year to come brings you many blessings and the desires of your heart.

Was that Wednesday that just flew by?

We have had a very industrious day.
Tim went out mussel working so the troops and I got stuck in and have begun to de-junk and clean.

Nathan did a vehicle manouver this morning so I could have the Terrano right at the back door ready to load stuff directly into ready for dispatch to the recycling centre when I go to Nelson on Monday.

I am so tired of mess and stress.

So We went through the hall way and got rid of stuff.
We have begun cleaning and re organising the living room.
Shanni cleaned out all her art gear.
Hali cleaned up the Sylvanians and changed her clothes into a new duchess.
The old one is now living a new life as a computer table and dvd storage system.
Amazing what you can do with some South American woven covers – they transform wonderfully

Hali is not too great – she has had a sore throat for days now and it has now deteriorated into a hacking cough and I think she may have had a slight temp today as well.

There was an emergency call this morning.
The turkeys had escaped!
It was so funny.
I was hanging the washing on the line and there were children stalking about with nets trying to locate them.
They have found 3.
The 4 is still on the run.
Hopefully it will be caught the morning before anything nasty happens to it.

Tim went over to Waterfall this arvo to get stuff.
We managed to cook some dinner while he was gone.
It was delicious.
I boned out the left over chicken from our eat-in-the-Safari dinner last night.
Threw that into the slow cooker with veges, pineapple, cranberry sauce, garlic and coconut cream and a bit of chicken stock.
We had it with rice and salad.
Man!! Was it good

We waited for Tim to get home so we could all watch Mamma Mia together.
Tim had never seen it before so the children really wanted him to enjoy it.

The children have been hanging out to get it on dvd ever since we saw it on the big screen in Chch.
I found it in town the day Tim and I left to go north so I bought it and left it with the children.
They had all watched it at least 4 times at the Ashton’s while there – so they are all well versed in the story and songs

Now it is late.
The wind is blowing very strongly – whistling around the corners.
The penguins are singing loudly under the floor – looks like a noisy night ahead.

But we are all too tired to let them worry us tonight.
It’s been a happily industrious day today – we should all sleep very well.

Home again!

While I am waiting for children to wake I will take the brief interlude in my day to update the past few days.

I have just found photos of the previous few days on my SD card – there were cute so had to post them.

Pei Lin left on Friday.
Here she is with the children.


And here is Shanni & Pei Lin

The two temporary farm managers during our absence – and a fine job they did too

Hali and Azzan showing off their gifts we brought them back from Waiheke Island.

Mahalia’s bracelet matches her wee bag and Azzan loved his chain of hand painted elephants – they fitted snuggly into his beaded wee bag too.


These are the humungous balloons I found for them.
You blow them up and let them go and make sure your fingers are in your ears – they are loud as they zoom around the room-!!

Right!……. on to the trip to town.
I woke at 4am with wind screaming around the house and rain pouring down
I showered and got the children up and we were loaded and gone by 5:30am.
I was glad to get an early start as it was a disgusting morning, foggy, windy and wet.
But the road was firm and not at all slippery which was good.
We made good time and no one was sick

It was fun to see another oil rig in Admiralty Bay – much smaller than the previous one but it was lit up like a Christmas tree so gave the children some focus on the trip both ways.

I did have a whoopsie on the Wangamoa’s though.
The tarseal must have been slippery on one corner as I was just coming over the crest and around a tight corner when all of a sudden I spun a 180′ – gave me quite a fright but no harm done as there was banks on each side and no traffic near me.

We were able to zip around and do a heap of chores before the 10am dentist appointments. James got the two children’s teeth fixed and then he had a wee look at my crown. It seems to be taking a while to get it right. Still isn’t so I guess I will have to go back again sometime. It is cool to have a dentist we all love. He is such a great guy. The children were fascinated the Cousin John was telling them about his experiences as a young person at ‘the Murder House’!! They certainly couldn’t relate that to James

We met up with Estelle and Jayden at Deville for lunch. That was another pleasant interlude in the day. I was commending the guy at the counter for their food. It has never failed to impress me yet – he explained that ‘it’s the love.’ The chefs love their job, love cooking and baking. And you can certainly tell by what they produce – it is wonderful. Nourishing, healthy, imaginative, well presented, delicious and great friendly service.

From there we headed towards Motueka – doing jobs on the way.
Not a wasted moment.
I had a long list and was whittling my way through it in a very systematic way – great

We found the lady with the quail.
Secured them into the cage – they were so tiny we had to tape a bag around the bottom to stop them forcing their way out.


Then we drove down the street looking for ‘Astrolabe‘ – a dress shop Phillipa had said she thought I would like and might find something to wear to Sunni & Ryan’s wedding.
Janice met me there.
I found a dress liked, not wedding stuff though.
Then the shop lady brought me a beautiful dress.
I tried it on.
It was gorgeous.
We loved it but it was so expensive that I really wasn’t sure.
So Janice took me down the street to another shop – ‘Beetees‘.
The lady there got all carried away and I must have tried on about 20 dresses.
I was so over trying them on by the end of it all.
There were some pretty ones that were nice – but as Janice said – the one in the other shop was stunning.
So I bought one of the dresses that I particularly liked and went back to ‘Astrolabe‘ to try on the other dress again.
I bought it!
But you are not going to see it until the day

Then it was over the road to the shoe shop.
I found a really comfortable pair of sandals.
Not really what I wanted for the wedding but as I have such a battle finding nice shoes that fit and are comfortable I decided to get them.
They went well with the other dress anyway

Back to Janice’s for a quick cuppa.
Seb was staying there so I caught up with him for a few minutes and then we had to race back to Tahunanui for dinner.
After dinner John took the children out to get an ice cream – they returned just as I was heading off again.

They were all very happy

I had to zip back into Nelson to pick up some speakers for Bri. She had bought them on TradeMe.
I have never come across such a rude person in my life.
Knock on the door once.
No response.
Knock on the door again.
Door opens.
He looks at me and disappears.
Came back with the speakers.
Dumped them into my arms and shut the door without a word!
Okay

Down the street was The Bug backpackers where Pei Lin was staying. So I popped in to see her and give her Hali’s letter. She was pleased to see me and we had lots of farewell hugs.
She was heading south on the early morning bus.

Back to the motel.
Put the children to bed.
Crashed out with a Milo and biscuit on the couch in front of the TV.
Talked to Tim on the phone, dozed off and woke up half way through the news.
I guess I should’ve gone straight to bed.

I was woken at 4:30am by Azzan tossing around in bed.
Snuggled him back down and took ages to go back to sleep.
Was then woken at 6:30am by a text from Bri.
No point in trying to sleep any longer so got up and showered.
Packed and watched the morning news while I waited for the children to wake.
They went over and had breakfast with John & Sally while I packed the Safari.

Then we were on the road again by 9am.
Got the groceries and did the last few errands.
Had time to go to Curves.
The children were really good.
They sat out on the balcony and played in the sun while I worked out.

Then we zipped up he street to Cafe Affair for our Sounds Women’s luncheon.
It was so much fun to catch up with everyone.
So many of my neighbours and ex neighbours that I never see from one year to the next.
We ate and talked for a couple of hours.
And I left my camera in the car

Once again the children were very good.
I got them to choose their lunch menu before us and Azzan was absolutely sure he wanted ‘that’ – a chicken satay panini. I wasn’t sure if he would eat it all but that was the only thing he wanted so he got it. Hali had a half order of nachos.
Sandra was pouring water for us all and before she had poured the 3rd glass Azzan’s was already empty and he was lining up for more. Must have been a thirsty boy-!!

They ate ALL their lunch – Azzan’s panini disappeared so fast, I needn’t have worried-!!
They disappeared downstairs to play in the toy room under the stairs.
Rachel arrived with Shanni’s dress, (her flower girl prototype) so I have that for her to try on this morning.
It is very pretty. Such a simple pattern but looks lovely.

As soon as lunch was over we grabbed a frappacino and headed over the Whangamoa’s towards Blenheim.
Got to the library about 4pm. Selected several boxes of books. Was good that Nathan & Shanni had chosen theirs online the night before so they were all there waiting for me.
Then the guy that Shanni was buying her turkeys arrived so we packed them in with the library books. The Safari was beginning to get rather full by this stage.
Around the corner to pick up something for Nathan from Billy and then another corner to pick up Tim’s injector pump for his Safari, (let’s hope this one is a runner). Then it was over the river to Granny’s to wish her a Happy Birthday.

At 6pm we left. Got a few more groceries and some food for dinner to eat along the way.
Stopped off at Renwick to pick up ten more budgies.

We were literally flying home with all those birds in the vehicle.

The children sang and talked all the way.
I was cracking up.
They sang their way through all the ABBA songs from ‘Mamma Mia’.
Then Azzan sang ‘Memory’ from ‘Cats’ and immediately went off into ‘Tomorrow’ from ‘Annie’.
Then as Mahalia would join in with him he would fade out and a few moments later would begin another totally random song like ‘The Lion Sleeps tonight’.
It was rather amusing to say the least

We got home just before 10pm and were greeted by Shanni – of course she couldn’t possibly go to bed before she had seen all her new babies.



The other news I had for her which put an even bigger smile on her face is that the Barraband eggs hatched on Monday so she will be able to go out early in December to get her new baby which she is going to hand raise